Exercise Physiologist's salary

Kinetix…I would hope that I know what an exercise physiologist does…seeing as though I work in that field.

Tungsten,

Degrees and certifications don’t make a trainer worth hiring. However, I do agree that most commercial gyms wouldn’t know a good trainer if it hit them in the face. If you want to train people then focus on gaining knowledge, but more importantly focus on TRAINING PEOPLE. Practice in the industry (even if you have to start privately) is the way to go. Make the gyms regret not hiring you.

nikkiknockers…if you’ll read my post again you’d note that I said that the position mentioned did sound like a clinical physiologist. I just stated that the people I know don’t do that and that they would probably make up the bulk of exercise physiologists out there.

Academics and six figures? On what planet? Maybe in Yen. Check out average salaries of tenured faculty anywhere. Then consider the assistant prof.s salaries. Then see what a post doc makes.
You can make more lifetime $ being a public school teacher in a good district.

dynosar13

If your interested in corporate fitness, having your masters in EX PHYs only makes you more expensive. Most of the salaries are based on the client site contracts (if it’s outsourced like most). So an entry level Fitness Specialist in NJ might make $25,000 - $27,000. The plus side is the hours usually do not include weekends and there is no sales.

I have a Master’s degree in Ex Phys. What do I do with it? I am a Personal Trainer in a private facility that only does one-on-one training. I am my own boss, keep my own hours, charge my own fees…etc… I did work as a strength coach at the school I attended but frankly the money is not good.

I agree with others who have stated that the classes will not teach you much about program design. But what they will do is give you the background to understand why a program will or will not work. They also teach you how research gets done correctly and this will allow you to effectively read research papers that otherwise wouldn’t make sense.

It’s true that nany professors in the field do not look like they lift weights. The reason is very simple, most of them don’t. Most of the research in the field has involved cardiovascular exercise, so it’s not surprising that many runners have been attracted to the field. Research involving resistance training has been on the rise though. The program that I graduated from at the University of Maryland had a multi million dollar grant from NIH to study the effects of weight training on different populations. My thesis came out of that study, which brings me to my next point. DO NOT go to a school that is doing research that you are not interested in. As a grad student you are the professor?s peon research assistant and unless you find the work interesting, you will hate it.

I agree with dcb. Education always helps. If you can’t read research and decipher it’s validity and application to your field you won’t get anywhere anyway.

There’s an issue here where somebody is comparing Canadian salaries with US salaries. It is not that easy to compare. $10,000 Canadian income is not the equivalent of $10,000 US income for a variety of reasons spanning everything from exchange rates, taxation, cost of living, etc.