Darek Garman

Responsibilities

At Legacy Fitness I had quite a few responsibilities in order to learn as much as I could. I shadowed a lot of the trainers and in doing so I helped assist in personal training sessions, small group classes, and fitness classes. I also got to work the front desk a couple of times and learned the responsibilities of that position as well.

Accomplishments

My greatest accomplishment at Legacy Fitness was helping develop a fitness class for kids. We found a need for an outlet for kids with the new hybrid schedule. The biggest challenge was figuring out a good timeframe to hold the class. I really enjoyed running this class and I am thankful for the leadership skills I developed from taking on the challenge of creating a program and running it myself.

Learning experience

I learned quite a bit throughout my internship experience at Legacy Fitness. Sales is a big aspect of personal training and the fitness world in general. We learn all of these skills throughout our course work at Iowa State but we don't learn much about marketing ourselves or the skills we learned. Another lesson I learned was that I enjoy working with kids and I have started to make that my focus for training. We all learn the same things throughout our time at Iowa State so it is important to find something to focus on in the fitness industry. Having a niche on top of the skills we have built in our course work will help make you more successful in the fitness industry.

What advice would you give?

My advice for future students is to work on your marketing skills. If you have the time in your schedule look into taking a marketing class or even focus on a marketing minor. I think that would help you a lot in the long run. Also, we have some great fitness facilities so I would try to apply for a job at one of them. I worked at State Gym for a few semesters and that experience helped a lot with my confidence in training clients.