Personal Trainers Aged 50+

(and their stories)

Brett Whitcher (Ballarat, Victoria) - Qualified at 48

Brett Whitcher (Ballarat, Victoria) - Qualified at 48

July 04, 20243 min read

Brett started his working life in engineering as a design draughtsman at the age of 18. This led to toolmaking and a while at an office job. His inner entrepreneur took over at one point and he started his own home maintenance business. This was great but at some point Brett questioned how long he wanted to be up on roofs in the heat. 

Inspiration for a fitness career change  

Throughout his life Brett was always into fitness and loved to be trained. He joined a running club through a local gym, not so much because he was an avid runner but he really enjoyed the community spirit and being part of a group competing in many a Tough Mudder. Brett came to love running and became a certified running coach. All of these experiences fit together and led him to becoming a personal trainer. 

Studying Cert III & IV

Brett was still running his business and working part time at the gym as a running coach while he was doing the Certificate III & IV course. His routine involved the discipline of doing some study every day before and after work, and having his own deadlines for when certain aspects of the course would be completed. Brett studied mostly online over about 12 months and really enjoyed it. He had a great attitude of the study not being something that he had to do but something he got to do. Very wise!

Fitness industry experience & the future 

Brett’s start in the fitness industry was working full time at the gym where he trained, undertaking all the roles - training clients, admin desk. This transitioned to more of a contractor relationship with Brett training his own clients in the gym. Brett also loves doing group fitness sessions at the gym. He now mentors Cert III & IV students, not just helping them develop the required fitness industry knowledge, but also imparting his valuable personal and business experience. Through training a client to prepare to walk the Kokoda track, Brett wants to help more people achieve this life goal and is working on how to do that. 

Advice for over 50s considering a change to the fitness industry 

Being a PT is great for our own fitness, We can experiment on ourselves with new techniques that we’re learning in our professional development. Brett also believes that being a PT is also brilliant for our personal development and we must keep growing so we can be better at helping our clients. And a very practical piece of advice, Brett encourages everyone coming into the fitness industry to get familiar with and use social media to get your messages out there. 



Want to hear Brett's story in more detail?
Listen to them share their story on the Masters Fitness Academy Podcast!

Click here to listen on Spotify

Click here to listen on Apple

PS: Are you interested in becoming a Qualified Personal Trainer? Check out our Certificate III and IV in Fitness.

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