How to Become a Bodybuilding Coach

To become a bodybuilding coach, you need to learn the principles of hypertrophy and fat loss. Once you pass your bodybuilding certification exam, you may want to experience competing yourself, and then you need to find your first clients. 

This is a step-by-step guide to becoming a bodybuilding coach. I’ve been a fitness professional for 12+ years working as both a fitness and bodybuilding coach. Here I use my knowledge, alongside the PTPioneer staff insights to give you the most complete article on the topic of bodybuilding coaching. After reading this article you should have a template for how to succeed as a bodybuilding coach.

I recommend looking at a good personal training certification prior to becoming a bodybuilding coach. If you’re on the fence about which option to pick take my quiz to find out.

Step 1: Select Your Bodybuilding Certification

Before you work as a bodybuilding coach, I recommend picking from the top bodybuilding certifications, so you educate yourself and build credibility as a coach.

The two top bodybuilding certifications are the ISSA Bodybuilding Specialist and the NASM Physique and Bodybuilding Coach. I have articles on all the top bodybuilding certifications, but those are definitely the top two.

The ISSA Bodybuilding Specialization and NASM’s PBC both offer complete online platforms for studying for the exam and are the most reputable. 

Education is always a good investment, so I’d highly recommend looking at these certifications or specializations. 

A bodybuilding coach certification should teach you specifically bodybuilding techniques like how to maximize hypertrophy, fix muscle imbalances, and prepare physique athletes for competitions. You’ll get an introduction to all the categories you need to know as a physique coach. 

A bodybuilding course should cover areas of fitness like exercise programming, but also content regarding nutrition and supplementation. Nutrient timing, hydration, and diet are almost as important as training and recovery, so I’d recommend considering a nutrition certificate as well. Most of these exercise certifications give you a foundation in macronutrients and food strategies, but the more you know, the more you can put your clients on the success path. 

Fat loss is a super important topic for bodybuilding coaches to master because you can only really see the details in the muscles at low body fat percentages.

You also need to know how to provide the motivation for clients to stick to their diet and training plan, especially right before competition. 

I’ve found that clients often find it difficult to follow their nutrition plans when they feel depleted, tired, and hungry. This means you’ll need to provide advice. There are other peaking challenges you’ll need to deal with, so getting your information from a credible source is important from both an efficacy and safety standpoint.

To become a successful bodybuilding coach, you will need to have a handle on several things besides just being certified.

In fact, and even though this article is all about certifications, you don’t technically need a certification to be a bodybuilding coach.

So why am I speaking about certifications?

Well, there’s a difference between unnecessary and non-beneficial.

PT Pioneer is about providing maximum benefits, which means we’re not looking for minimum requirements. I’m trying to give you the best shot at building a career as a fitness professional. 

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Step 2: Determine Your Prerequisites

It would be best if you met the prerequisites to be allowed entry into a certification program.

For most certifications, including the ones I will be discussing here, all you need is to be at least 18 years old, have a valid high school diploma or equivalent, and ensure you have current First Aid, CPR, and AED certs.

But why do you need first aid certifications?

Well, fitness instruction brings some risk as you are pushing clients to extreme levels of fatigue.

You must be prepared to be the first line of support should a client experience an accident or medical emergency.

Trainers also need to get the correct insurance coverage and protect themselves and their clients in the event of an incident.

Step 3: Prepare for Your Certification Exam & Pass!

Once you’ve chosen and enrolled in your preferred bodybuilding trainer certification, it’s time to get busy.

Your study process is only as good as the curriculum materials you have. 

Studying effectively is as much about having the right study materials to prepare as it is about having the right study structure. Students may prefer a guided home study program or to review at their own pace.

After you go through the table of contents, and read through each chapter, review everything.

I recommend that you manage your time effectively, schedule your studies, and break down key units and concepts into chunks, making the knowledge easier to retain. Each organization offers varying levels of resources, but both ISSA and NASM have good online platforms for studying. 

NASM and ISSA provide some of the best CPT courses, and they’ve perfected the online studying experience.

From there, it’s time to nail the final assessment, which may come in different forms. In this case, we’re dealing with written, multiple-choice exams.

Knowing what the exam will look like beforehand lets you practice your exam-taking approach and quiz yourself.

Should you fail your first attempt, many exams allow a retest for a nominal fee or completely free.

Step 4: Think About Competing Yourself

As a bodybuilding coach you need to build a name for yourself. People need to know that you can get results. You’ll also need experience peaking someone for a show and sometimes the best way is to first do that for yourself. You can either hire your own coach or take what you’ve learned from your certification and go for it.

Just taking a certification on the internet has certain limitations. It’ll give you an overview, but it doesn’t teach you all the tiny practical aspects you’ll learn from being in the field yourself. 

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Sometimes you might know a friend who wants to compete and is willing to have you help them, but, if not, start by competing yourself. Then, you can be your own best spokesperson and start taking on other clients. 

The more you know about the sport of bodybuilding, the better. What better way to understand the process, the diet, the fatigue, the guidelines, and importance of peaking properly, than by going through it yourself? 

In fact, you find that most of the top bodybuilding coaches have competed themselves. 

If you have the ability to get yourself in contest-ready shape using weights, a sound diet, and hard work, you can use those techniques with other bodybuilders. 

Furthermore, when you compete as a physique athlete, you’ll meet other competitors. These individuals may be your clients later on.

Finally, you may meet bodybuilding coaches at shows who can mentor you. 

Step 5: Decide Where and How You Will Coach

As a bodybuilding coach, you may work with clients on an everyday basis, or just in the final weeks leading up to a competition. It can vary from situation to situation. 

If you just provide overall coaching, it’s easy to become an online trainer and give directions and track progress via video, but if you decide to be more of a hands-on trainer who personally takes clients through their exercise programs, you’ll need to find a location to train them. 

This can mean working for a gym yourself, or finding a public space to work out. 

Other factors to consider include understanding your target market and how to reach them. What category of bodybuilders do you want to work with? Are you going to be coaching just open-division bodybuilders, or bikini competitors? Do you want to work with a wide variety of divisions or work with just one? 

I highly recommend making a business plan to decide these things. The fitness industry is a competitive area, so you need to take things seriously if you want to maximize your chances of success. 

Step 6: Start Working with Bodybuilding Athletes

Once you’re certified, and you get all your credentials lined up, it’s time to take on the role of bodybuilding coach.

Unlike many other coaching and instructor careers, bodybuilding relies predominantly on who you know and what you can prove.

For instance, if you’re considering becoming a sports coach, you would search for jobs through professional recruitment platforms and job classifieds for sports performance specialists in the strength and conditioning field.

Bodybuilding is a bit different; many coaches attain their roles through word of mouth, reputation in the game, and even social media presence.

It’s a community-based environment with a lot of culture and tradition that goes into it.

That means being a trusted coach is as much about having the right credentials. If you want to develop training programs for the best bodybuilders, make sure not to cut corners. 

What Is “Bodybuilding”

Bodybuilding is a competitive physical activity that differs from most other sports.

That’s because, in the world of bodybuilding, you are judged on aesthetic conditions rather than athletic performance.

However, that should not diminish the athleticism and physicality that goes into bodybuilding.

To achieve an optimal physique, a very strict and precise weight training program needs to be developed and executed, and a heavy emphasis on stringent nutritional protocols.

With that being said, the ultimate mark of success is a matter of physical appearance.

Bodybuilding competitors are judged on their appearance through several poses where judges look at the size, shape, conditioning, and posing skill. 

If you want the full scoop on what a bodybuilding program is about, I’ve gone into detail in a separate article. Becoming a bodybuilding coach requires a combination of knowledge, experience, experience, and dedication to help individuals achieve their fitness goals while maintaining a healthy lifestyle. It is a rewarding profession that allows you to inspire and transform lives through the power of physical fitness. 

You Need To Know How To Build Muscle

To be a bodybuilding coach, you’ll need to know how to build an aesthetic physique. Ideally, this should start with the experience of building your own body.

Building muscle in bodybuilding follows some very standard principles regarding exercises and nutrition, which most fitness professionals are familiar with.

The main key for exercise is resistance training, a fine balance between strength and muscle hypertrophy training.

Nutrition plays a huge role, if not the main, in achieving success in bodybuilding.

So I would suggest you get as clued-up as possible on nutrition and sports nutrition before tackling the role of bodybuilding coaching.

If you have a background in participating and even competing in bodybuilding, that’s a huge bonus; if not, you’ll have your work cut out from you when it comes to understanding the correct protocols for exercise and nutrition.

Therefore, I suggest obtaining a personal trainer certification before diving into bodybuilding. As a coach, you’re essentially a personal bodybuilding trainer. Just as trainers help a client reach their fitness goals, so do physique coaches help a bodybuilder achieve their physique goals.   

Conclusion

In order to become a bodybuilding coach, it is crucial to have a deep understanding of anatomy, nutrition, exercise physiology, and the principles of strength training. Additionally, obtaining certifications from reputable organizations such as the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM) or the International Sports Sciences Association (ISSA) can provide credibility and knowledge in the field. 

Once you have obtained the necessary certifications, it is important to gain hands-on experience by working with clients and developing personalized training plans tailored to their specific goals and needs. Sometimes your first clients will be yourself or your friends and that’s okay. You need to gain valuable experience taking someone through the muscle building and contest preparation process. 

Lastly, networking with other professionals in the industry, attending workshops and seminars, and gaining hands-on experience through internships or assistant positions can also greatly enhance your skills and knowledge as a bodybuilding coach. With dedication, passion, and continuous learning, anyone can embark on the rewarding journey of becoming a successful bodybuilding coach.

FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)

References

1. Glassdoor.com, www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/fitness-coach-salary-SRCH_KO0,13.htm.