For my final interview, I met with a personal trainer working at a gym in Seoul. I was introduced to her by a good friend of mine who has been her client for several months and has had a very positive experience working with her. As I am interested in personal training and other fitness careers I thought meeting with her would be a great opportunity to learn more about what being a personal trainer entails.

She did not start out as a personal trainer. She was originally a designer, but discovered that the job did not make her happy because of long hours, constantly working overtime, and having no time to exercise. She then took a front desk job at the gym she currently works at and, liking the environment, decided to go to an academy to study to become a personal trainer. She studied muscles, the body, and nutrition for about six months before taking an exam and receiving her certificate.

I was very curious about the finer points of what one does at work on a daily basis as a personal trainer, so she described to me in detail her schedule and how she interacts with clients. When she meets with a client for the first time, they discuss the client’s goals and measure their BMI, then make a plan for their fitness program from there. She said about 80% of clients wanted to lose weight and diet, and others just wanted to work on a healthier lifestyle and work/life balance. She develops their program based on the client’s BMI and personal goals.

During personal training sessions she usually starts clients off with some cardio either running on the treadmill or spinning, and then proceeds to the strength portion of the workout. She teaches them how to do the exercises and use the equipment. She assigns them weights beforehand, and keeps track of how they do with them as well as what they do well on, improved on, and struggled with during the workout. She uses this information to make adjustments and note things to work on the next time she meets that client. She usually has clients end the workout with some running or spinning again. Sessions are all individual and last around 50 minutes. If they are aiming to diet, clients can also opt to send her photos of their meals during the day to get feedback and keep themselves accountable. At the time of the interview she had about 10 clients and would meet each of them 1, 2, or 3 times per week. Many clients will also take the skills they learn in the sessions and apply them in their personal workouts.

She told me that one thing she likes about the job is the hours. She arrives at work at noon each day, and from 1-5pm she doesn’t have set tasks. She works on whatever needs to be done around the gym, and if she has spare time she can use it to do her own workout. Then she does personal training sessions every hour from 5-9pm. Other trainers have a flipped schedule where they do sessions every hour in the morning starting at 6am, and then have flexible time in the afternoon afterwards.

Finally I asked her what she likes most about her job and what is most challenging. One challenging thing for her is seeing several clients in a row every night with no breaks. She said the hardest thing is that being the youngest and newest trainer at the gym, she receives a lot of chores and criticism, but she loves her job so it is worth it. She said the best thing about working as a trainer is simply that it feels natural to her. She feels this job makes her truly happy—she can do what she loves and feels much more comfortable in the gym than in an office. The people she works with often become not just clients, but friends as well. In addition, because female trainers are somewhat hard to come by in Korea, many women are seeking a female trainer, so she can help her female clients feel more comfortable than they perhaps would working with a male trainer.

This conversation was very valuable to me because before talking with her I didn’t have a very clear idea of what working as a personal trainer would be like in everyday life. I gained a lot of insight from this networking meeting and am now more seriously considering a career in fitness.