Personal Trainer Resume: Downloadable Template & Easy Guide

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As a Personal Trainer, you know how to assess your client’s fitness levels to get them into the best shape. But have you dedicated as much time to the health of your resume? We can help you build an individualized resume exercise program to get your career fighting fit.

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As a personal trainer, it takes more than just fitness to excel—you have to know how to get under peoples’ skin.

Whether you’re applying as a seasoned gym trainer, a first-time gym instructor, or crafting your first fitness trainer resume, the approach is the same: clear, results-focused, and full of the right skills of a personal trainer to impress employers.

In case you’re wondering what the best way to impress some old-school gym owners and potential employers are, we’ve prepared just the resume-writing guide for you!

In this guide, you’ll learn the answers to the following:

• What experience should a Personal Trainer have?
• What skills does a Personal Trainer need?

You’ll also go over:

• Certifications for Personal Trainers
• How to write a Personal Trainer summary
• Creating a resume as an entry-level applicant
• Personal Trainer resume sample

With our AI resume builder that offers instant suggestions along with the tips below, your resume will be as strong as your future clients.  Our targeted tips can make your fitness trainer resume stand out even if you’ve never worked in a gym before.

To give you a look at a Personal Trainer resume, we have included the following example. Use it to give yourself an idea of what you should include in your different sections.

Resume Example

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[Jane Doe]

[Certified Personal Trainer]

[Email: janedoe@email.com | Phone: (555) 123-4567]

Summary

Passionate and dedicated Certified Personal Trainer with over 5 years of experience in helping clients achieve their fitness goals. Specialized in creating personalized workout plans and nutrition strategies to improve strength, endurance, and overall health.

Certifications

• Certified Personal Trainer (CPT), National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM)
• CPR/AED Certified, American Red Cross
• Nutrition Coach Certification, Precision Nutrition

Professional Experience

FitPro Gym – Miami, FL
Lead Personal Trainer
January 2021 – Present

• Designed personalized training programs for over 50 active clients per month, resulting in an average 15% increase in strength and endurance within 3 months.
• Conducted over 1,200 one-on-one sessions, with a 90% client satisfaction rate as measured by post-session surveys.
• Implemented a new client onboarding process that reduced consultation time by 25% and improved conversion rates by 10%.
• Created and led weekly nutrition workshops that saw a 35% improvement in client dietary habits, as tracked by regular food journals and progress assessments.
• Boosted client retention by 20% over two years through engaging and results-driven fitness programs.

StrongFit Studio – Miami, FL
Personal Trainer
August 2018 – December 2020

• Trained clients with tailored workout routines to promote muscle gain, fat loss, and overall fitness.
• Managed fitness assessments, body composition analysis, and personalized nutrition guidance for clients.
• Assisted in planning and executing fitness challenges and group classes.
• Collaborated with physiotherapists to modify workouts for injured or recovering clients.
• Built strong relationships with clients, achieving a 95% satisfaction rate in feedback surveys.

Education

Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology
University of Miami, Miami, FL
Graduated: May 2018

Skills

• Personalized workout program design
• Strength and conditioning training
• Client progress tracking and assessment
• Nutritional guidance and meal planning
• Group Fitness and HIIT training
• Client motivation and coaching
• Injury prevention and rehabilitation
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills

To solidify your chances of getting through the elimination rounds (lots of resumes are run through Applicant Tracking System software before reaching the eyes of a human recruiter), you need to know how to properly format your personal trainer resume. 

To get there, you need to bear in mind the two unwritten rules:

• Abide by one of the three main resume formatting options
• Make your resume well-organized and visually pleasing

First, let’s elaborate on the three main resume formats you can consider.

Essentially, these resume formats are the ways in which you present your key information to the recruiter. All patterns give off a different vibe to potential employers, which makes each option suited for different kinds of personal trainer job applicants.

First, let’s elaborate on the 3three resume formats you can consider.

Essentially, the three Personal Trainer resume formats are the ways in which you align your key resume information. All patterns give off a different vibe to potential employers.

The resume formats to consider will depend on your experience as a Personal Trainer and your skills. Take a look at the following formats:

• Reverse chronological: Highlights recent roles like “Lead Personal Trainer” first, with achievements like client retention. Best for Trainers with steady work history and proven results at gyms or fitness centers.
• Functional: Focuses on skills like strength training and nutrition planning. Ideal for Trainers with limited experience or someone changing careers.
• Combined: Mixes skills and experience. This format starts with top skills like program design, client coaching, followed by work history, connecting skills to roles like “Personal Trainer” or “Fitness Coach.”

A resume summary or objective is that little paragraph at the top of your resume where you present yourself and succinctly summarize your past achievements.
Or try to capture the employer’s attention by showing that you are motivated for the role and have a strong drive and ambition for the job.

In most cases, summaries are favored by recruiters; even if you don’t have direct experience as a Personal Trainer, you can still list the following: 

• Internships 
• Volunteer work
• Education 

Here’s a breakdown of what a summary and objective do:

• Personal Trainer resume summaries: Best for experienced trainers to showcase expertise and career highlights. It’s a brief overview of your experience, training, certifications, client success rates, and more.
• Personal Trainer resume objectives: Suited to first-time applicants who need to rely predominantly on their goals for personal improvement and career progress to get the job.

Personal Trainer resume summary example

Let’s see what to do and to avoid when writing a summary. First, a type of summary that will definitely NOT get you the desired job:

Who could even guess that this is a summary of a personal fitness trainer? Even the position’s name has been abbreviated (CPT). 

The lack of enthusiasm is showing here, so no gym owner would want you to pass that on to the gym-goers. It’s the last thing they need. There is also no data or proof that the applicant was successful.

What they do need, though, is something like this:

Precise, supported by numbers and figures, and, clearly motivated—this is what a personal trainer summary should look like. 

Just like in this example, use your past success and experience to boost your chances for better employment in the future. 

How to write a resume objective for a Personal Trainer without experience

Are you worried that being an entry-level Personal Trainer will hurt your chances?

As we mentioned earlier, recruiters prefer resume summaries, but that doesn’t mean you can’t write an objective.

All you have to do is focus on your exceptional skills and, most importantly, on your passionate drive to learn and improve.

Personal Trainer resume objective example

First, an example of a not-so-good fitness instructor resume objective:

This resume says “professional” and “enthusiastic” but only shows indifference.

Try to go for something like this:

The difference is obvious. This objective oozes confidence, it backs all claims with concrete examples.

What’s more, it also shows the applicant’s interest and knowledge in health and medicine—They’re already discussing stubborn fats, and body mass index levels!

Importantly, it mentions some education, like the relevant certification that they have completed and transferable skills.

Arguably, the most important part of your resume is experience.

Showing you’ve been successful in the past during any relevant experience can put you over the top.

The best way to achieve this is to quantify your past achievements: the number of years you worked at “gym so-and-so”, the number of clients you managed, and your most successful client results. 

Organize this information into bullet points and leave out any unnecessary details. If you don’t have much or any work experience yet, remember to list your experience in personal training or fitness in other scenarios, such as at college, volunteering, or in your free time.

Personal Trainer experience section example

If you’re still wondering what your experience section on your resume should look like, here are some examples:

On paper, this example covers everything that it should. In reality, however, it says nothing about the applicant’s capabilities, enthusiasm, or success rate. 

Now. Let’s see how much better a resume sounds when all these aspects are covered.

As you can tell, the vibe is completely different. This trainer seems enthusiastic and proud of their past achievements. 

Also, they know how much they contributed to the gym where they used to work—and want their potential employer to know it as well. 

How to write a Personal Trainer resume with no experience

So, what do you put on your resume if you have no experience?

There’s always something to put under the experience label—participating in a training, internship, workshop, or even showing you have a nutritional background.

Entry-level Personal Trainer resume sample

In order to illustrate it more clearly, here are some examples:

Sorry to break it to you—but irrelevant experience without many details won’t get you very far. 

Did you provide nutritional advice in your old job? Or did you work as an intern in a gym? Think about these questions before writing your section.

That’s how you sell yourself!

This example demonstrates great people skills such as communication, team-work, and active listening.

A Personal Trainer certification is more than enough to testify that you have enough knowledge to help gym-goers pump iron and stay in shape. 

Yet, the education section is precisely that little power asset that will help you go the extra mile. The cherry on top, if you will. 

If you’ve studied any of the following in college, it will also add some points:

• Exercise science
• Physical education
• Kinesiology
• Sport medicine
• Nutrition

So, as long as you clearly put forward the essential aspects of your education, you’re good to go!

Personal Trainer education section example

Let’s see what an education section on a Persona Trainer resume should look like in practice!

resume Example

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Education

Christ Church High School

2014 – 2018

• Captain of Soccer team
• Rowing for Mental health core member

Shenton University – Boston

2018 – 2022

• Bachelor’s Degree in Exercise Science.
• Maintained a 3.8 GPA throughout my studies
• Participated in an internship at Boston Nutrition & Wellness Center

As you can see, this applicant made sure to mention their:

• Relevant degree
• High GPA
• Internship information

If you write your education section like this, it will demonstrate to employers that you know how to keep clients in shape and that you are dedicated and organized. 

Your fitness skills are one of the main criteria that will help you land a Personal Trainer role. The most successful gym trainers know that the skills of a personal trainer go beyond lifting weight: they include motivating clients, building trust, and adapting workouts to individual needs.

This is why it is essential to know how to organize the skills section of your resume. 

First off, you need to prove that you’re proficient in physical exercises, but also in creating good nutrition plans and managing nutrition-fitness balance for different clients of different body types. 

Moreover, you need to prove that you’re good at motivating people, listening to their needs. boosting their confidence and morale, and encouraging them to want to improve their shape and health. 

List of skills to put on a Personal Trainer resume

Knowing which gym trainer skills to include in your resume can be tricky whichever way you approach it. 

To make all of this simpler, we’ll organize the types of relevant skills into two groups. 

1. Hard (technical) skills 
2. Soft skills. 

In most cases, you’ll need to possess both in order to qualify for the personal trainer job.

These are the skills that you should be looking for:

Of course, more skills can be added to both categories, but you get the gist.

Just know, that you shouldn’t list all skills you have, but select a few essential ones and integrate them into statements organized as bullet points and backed by numbers. Make sure you keep this part of your resume truthful!

If you’re still not sure if you can come up with a list, writing your resume with AI can help you think of skills much faster.

We all have lives outside work, so it’s completely normal to have interests and activities that are not directly related to being a personal trainer.

Hence, the “Other Sections” section in your fitness trainer resume. 

The key here, however, is to actually include interests and activities which are, at least somehow, related to your main application.

If nothing, try to stress how much you love physical activities, or how dedicated you are to the things that interest you. 

Personal Trainer resume sample “Other” sections to include

For instance, a good sample would look this:

Example

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Publications

• Guest Article writing about little known weightlifting hacks on “ShredSmart”
• Blog Post on effective vegan diet published in “Earth & Gains”

Conferences

• 2020 TELF Gym Life Conference, on a panel discussing mental health and exercise.
• 2018 CLL Live Weights Workshop Cleveland.

Additional Activities

• I teach aerobics twice a week.
• Ran my first triathlon in Santa Monica, 2016.

All “extras” only serve to show how widespread the applicant’s interests in fitness are.

They may include:

Additional Activities

Any sort of hobbies or extracurriculars that you do on the side, such as courses, sports training, or competitions. In a fitness trainer resume, the right hobbies can reinforce your dedication to health and performance.

Publications

Articles or essays can go under publications! You can write about anything, of course, but given your field, any publication should probably be related to fitness or personal training. Use this section to draw attention to it. 

Conferences

Finally, it’s your time to shine! If you’ve happened to attend any conference related to your field, do yourself a favor and include it. That way, you’ll seem even more serious and invested in what you’re doing.

Certifications for a Personal Trainer resume

Certifications are a huge help, especially when you don’t have a relevant degree or experience just yet. 

There are a number of different options for certifications that you can list, such as:

• ISSA Certified Personal Trainer
• Precision Nutrition Level 1 Certification
• ACE Fitness Nutrition Specialist
• ACSM Certified Personal Trainer 
• CPR/AED Certification

If you don’t have any of these trainings, it would be extremely helpful to add one or more! It’s quite simple to add certifications—list all of your fitness-related, Personal Trainer certificates as bullet points.

Example

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Certifications

• NASM Certified Personal Trainer (CPT) – National Academy of Sports Medicine
• CPR/AED Certified – American Red Cross
• Precision Nutrition Level 1 Certification (PN1)

Creating a Personal Trainer resume can be harder than coming up with the right workout routine. 

However, if you remember the following tips, you’ll get your resume into shape in no time:

• Mention transferable skills if you don’t have personal training experience
• Recruiters prefer resume summaries over objectives
• Include quantifiable data when mentioning your past Personal Trainer duties
• Mention your fitness skills throughout your resume
• Add certifications, especially if you lack experience or a relevant degree

No matter if you’re a gym trainer with years of client transformations, a newly certified gym instructor, or someone just starting to build their fitness trainer career, keep your focus on the skills of a personal trainer that prove you can deliver results.

By using our tools such as our AI builder and free templates, you’ll be able to easily beef up your resume before sending it in.