Becoming a Personal Trainer in North Dakota

The residents of North Dakota attend church services in a greater per capita percentage than anywhere else in the US. As a personal trainer, it will be your goal to coax them into showing that same dedication when it comes to showing up at the gym to get their workouts in.

While North Dakota is mostly known for snow and food festivals, as a personal trainer you will have your work cut out for you in also making it known as the home of the healthy. With some motivation, provided by you, it will be your goal to get your clients on a healthy eating and exercise program and then help them stick to it.

Penn Foster Career School's Online Personal Trainer Programs

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Personal Trainer Career Diploma

Over the course of the year, the people of North Dakota will look to you, their personal trainer, to help them prepare for annual events such as:

• Fort Union Rendezvous Run in Williston

• Fargo Marathon

• Extreme North Dakota Iceman Triathlon in Grand Forks

• Bismarck Triathlon

As a personal trainer in North Dakota, you will play a role in the overall fitness of your clients that goes beyond preparing them for events. You may find clients coming to you seeking assistance on issues like improving their posture, better nutrition, or finding joint friendly exercises that help them remain more comfortable performing ordinary activities. Whatever it is that your clients request of you, the key to providing it all is having the proper knowledge to do so.

Professional Qualifications to Become a Personal Trainer in North Dakota

As a personal trainer, there are two different ways to pursue the qualifications necessary for a career in the industry. The first is by completing a traditional degree program at a college or university, and the other is by via a personal trainer certification program. You will find, however, that many of the better health and fitness clubs in North Dakota will require both of their employees.

College Education for Personal Trainers

North Dakota has several colleges and universities that offer degrees relevant to becoming a personal trainer. Whether you choose to pursue and Associate`s or Bachelor’s Degree, you will find that some institutions offering each will have some of the coursework available for completion online to better accommodate the busy work schedules if their students.  

Because having a strong knowledge of the human body and how it works is essential to being a personal trainer, you will find that many employers strongly prefer or require that you have a degree that is relevant to being a personal trainer. A degree lays the foundations for the skills you will use with your clients on a daily basis. Some of the relevant North Dakota programs you can choose from include:

Exercise Science – a degree in this field includes courses such as:

• Human anatomy and physiology

• Cardiopulmonary rehabilitation

• Advanced exercise physiology

• Pathophysiology

• Community fitness methods

Kinesiology – this degree will incorporate classes like:

• Motor learning and fundamentals of physical conditioning

• Testing and evaluation of exercise

• Exercise assessment and prescription

• Movement and performance analysis

• Methods in cardiovascular conditioning and resistance training

Dietetics – earning a degree in this field will entail studying subject that include:

• Advanced medical nutrition therapy practices

• Behavior modification and health psychology

• Nutrition and its metabolic basis

• Food selection and preparation

• Nutrition, development, and growth

Nationally Recognized Certification Organizations

One of the most common employment requirements for personal trainers in North Dakota is having a nationally recognized certification as a personal trainer. Below we have included some of the better known sponsoring agencies, please keep in mind each have their own eligibility requirements, and some do require a relevant college degree.

• American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM)

• Aerobics and Fitness Association of America (AFAA)

• National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA)

• National Exercise Trainers Association (NETA)

• The Cooper Institute

• Professional Personal Trainers Association (PROPTA)

• National Personal Training Institute (NPTI)

• Lifetime (LT) Academy

• American Council of Exercise (ACE)

• International Sports Science Association (ISSA)

• National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM)

• National Federation of Personal Trainers (NFPT)

• International Fitness Association (IFA)

Working as a Personal Trainer in North Dakota

When you begin your employment search in North Dakota as a personal trainer, the most likely scenario is that your first job will be at a larger health and fitness club. Included below is a sampling of job postings from March of 2015, for illustrative purposes only, of what you can expect to encounter as an applicant for jobs as a personal trainer.

Gold’s Gym in Bismarck was looking for a personal trainer with a current nationally-recognized certification or the ability to obtain such within three months of hire. Candidates were preferred to have a college degree in a fitness-related field.

A survey of all the personal trainers at a local university in Grand Forks found that all held nationally-recognized certifications, with many also having a bachelor’s degree in a related field.

Complete Nutrition in Fargo was searching for a fitness consultant with the highly desirable qualification of a professional certification, and the preferred qualification of a related associate’s degree or higher.

A survey of the personal trainers at Sanford Health Women’s Health Center in Bismarck found that all had a professional certification while some also had a college degree.

Ultra Body Fitness in Fargo was advertising for a personal trainer with the ideal qualifications of:

• Nationally-recognized personal trainer certification

• Current CPR certification

• Positive attitude and outlook

A good example of what you can expect as a personal trainer in a health club in North Dakota can best be seen by taking a look at Ask Performance and Fitness in Minot. Ask not only offers personal training and fitness services, they offer group fitness classes, massage and tanning services as well. In this type of environment, you may be expected to help out with those duties as well as leading classes like the following:

• Yoga

• Olympic Lifting

• Urban Boot Camp

• Zumba and Zumba Toning

• Plyo

• Mobility Training

If working in a fitness club environment is not for you, you may wish to pursue working as an independent personal trainer offering classes one-on-one at clients’ homes or outdoors taking part in activities like these:

• Cycling through the Badlands on the Maah Daah Hey Trail

• Canoeing down the Sheyenne River at Fort Ransom State Park

• Snowshoeing in Icelandic State Park near Cavalier

• Mountain biking down the Pipestem Creek Trail near Jamestown

• Hiking in Des Lacs National Wildlife Refuge Backway near Kenmare

Sound like fun? Look into becoming a personal trainer in North Dakota today.