The aerobics craze started two decades ago with energetic exercises done to music, and while it's slowed down somewhat, jobs for fitness trainers haven't missed a beat.
Aerobics and other exercise programs are big business in health clubs, colleges, universities, dance studios, community centers and park districts.
Workout centers provide thousands of jobs for fitness instructors with credentials that range from on-the-job experience and associate degrees from community colleges to four-year diplomas capped with master's and doctorate degrees.
Starting salaries range from minimum wage to $35,000 for trainers with management responsibility.
In 1988, there were an estimated 100,000 fitness trainers, a field that also includes personal trainers who work one-to-one at health clubs and in private homes with clients -- and travel with celebrities.
The federal "Directory of Occupational Titles" states that fitness trainers work in private health clubs or gymnasiums. But a new employer is corporations. In an effort to reduce mounting health costs and to increase productivity, U.S. businesses are hiring fitness trainers to work with employees.
"There are some 12,000 companies with fitness programs, and business doesn't offer them out of the goodness of their hearts but because the bottom line is that health care costs for employees have skyrocketed," said Marilynn Preston, co-author of "Dr. Jock," a nationally syndicated fitness column. "Corporate fitness trainers will continue to be a growth industry because business has no choice but to invest in their employees' good health."
Growth in membership in the Association for Fitness in Business Inc. in Indianapolis reflects the trend. Founded in 1974 with 25 people involved in corporate health and fitness programs, the group today has 3,282 members, says Leann R. Bacon, membership marketing coordinator.
"Our individual members represent 2,800 corporations," said Ms. Bacon, among them Apple Computer, Aetna Life & Casualty, AT&T, Baxter International, Cigna, Dow Chemical, Ford Motor Co. and Tenneco.
"I see a lot of new companies starting health programs -- of which fitness is only one part -- and others expanding them," said Richard Watson, manager of corporate fitness at Hartford, Conn.-based Aetna.
"The majority of Fortune 500 companies are incorporating them into their strategies. Fitness jobs at corporations are highly sought after and competitive. Requirements are four-year degrees or more and good leadership, communications and interpersonal skills."
