Becoming a Personal Trainer at 40: Is It Too Late?

Becoming a personal trainer at 40 is realistic, and many people do it. There is no upper age limit for a Level 3 personal trainer qualification. Your age can help you, because most clients are adults with jobs, families and busy lives. This guide shares what three PFCA graduates in their 40s worried about, and what happened after they qualified.

Is 40 too old to become a personal trainer?

No. You can qualify at any age over 16, and gyms hire coaches in their 40s and 50s. What matters to a client is whether you understand them and can help them. A coach who has lived a full working life often understands them very well.

Think about who pays for personal training. Most are adults who want to feel stronger and healthier. Very few are athletes. Many feel nervous walking into a gym. A coach their own age can feel easier to trust.

Abi qualified with the PFCA in her 40s. She has two children and runs small group training. She told us:

"With my clients, I am them. I feel like we're similar."

What do career changers in their 40s worry about?

The three most common worries are money, fitness, and feeling like a fraud. Our graduates had all three. None of the worries stopped them.

"I can't afford the drop in income"

Diane had worked in market insight for big brands for years. At 40 she felt something was missing. Then redundancy came up, and she took it. She now coaches at a personal training studio in Solihull.

"I've never hated my career. I just felt when I hit 40 that there was something missing. I was looking for something more meaningful."

She was honest about the money.

"I was fairly well paid. I lived a certain lifestyle that I'd gotten used to. I knew that by taking a side step I would be better off mentally and emotionally, and the rest can come."

You can lower this risk. You can qualify while you keep your job, then build clients before you leave. Our guide on the cost of becoming a personal trainer helps you plan.

"I'm not fit enough, and I don't have a sport"

Many people think a personal trainer must look like an athlete. Diane thought so too.

"I enjoy training, but do I know how to train others? Are they going to take me seriously? I don't have a sport. I purely train for the fun of it."

Then she saw it from the client's side.

"Not everyone's an athlete. What I do it for is shared by a lot of people who just want to get fit for their lifestyle. There's a lot of value in that."

"Who am I to coach anyone?"

This feeling has a name: imposter syndrome. It means feeling like a fraud even when you are doing well. It is very common in career changers. Diane called it the hardest part of her move.

"The hardest part was having an idea of how a PT should be, should look, should train. Am I going to be good enough for this industry?"

What helped her was learning that there is no single right kind of coach.

"Everybody's an individual, including the coaches. We all have something unique to offer."

What do you bring at 40 that a 22-year-old does not?

You bring life experience, and clients can feel it. This is the point most guides on this topic miss. They treat age as a hurdle to get over. In our experience it is often the reason clients choose you.

• You know what a busy life is like. You have had the long days, the school runs and the poor sleep.
• You can talk to people. Twenty years of work teaches you to listen.
• You are reliable. Clients stay with coaches who turn up and remember things.
• You are patient. You know that change takes time.

Abi put it this way:

"Women are busy. Kids, careers. I wanted to be a bit more real about what's happening, what you can do, and what women are capable of doing."

What does life look like after qualifying?

It looks different for each person. Here is where our three graduates are now.

Jen found the PFCA on Google while looking for a Level 3 personal trainer course. She has just started as a personal trainer at a PureGym.

"I'm excited to be at the start of the journey, and keep learning, and keep moving forward."

Asked for one word to describe the course, she said "transformational".

Abi coaches about 10 hours a week alongside a part-time job. Read her full story in part-time personal trainer: how to coach alongside your job. She also runs a weekly track night that brings in 40 to 50 people.

Diane coaches full time. She told us about one client who has had arthritis all her life.

"It made a huge difference to her coming into the gym, and then being able to stand up on the train all the way from Solihull to London without needing to sit down. That's something she never thought would be achievable."

She also noticed a change at home.

"I'm more present at home because I have so much more fulfilment and enjoyment in my career. I'm more patient, I'm kinder."

How do you get started at 40?

1. Be clear on your reason. Know why you want this before you spend money.
2. Choose a Level 3 personal trainer course with live teaching. Jen chose hers because "it wasn't just going to be a tick box exercise".
3. Study around your job. The PFCA course runs for 11 weeks, with one live Zoom session each Monday evening.
4. Start small. Coach a few hours a week first. Abi still does.
5. Keep learning on the gym floor. Nobody knows it all on day one.

Abi's advice for the last point:

"Don't feel like you have to know it all, because you never will know it all."

Common questions

Is there an age limit for a personal trainer course? There is a lower limit of 16. There is no upper limit.

Will a gym hire a personal trainer in their 40s? Yes. Jen started at a PureGym straight after qualifying.

Do I need to be very fit? You need to be healthy enough to show exercises and be on your feet. You do not need to be an athlete.

Can I do this alongside my current job? Yes. Read can I do a personal trainer course while working full time for how the hours work. You can also read how AJ went from teacher to personal trainer.

Is my old career wasted? No. Read why coming from a different career can be an advantage.

Your next step

Watch Diane's story and Jen's story on our YouTube channel.

Then see how the Level 3 personal trainer course works, and ask us anything you want to know.