Americans today appreciate the importance of fitness as integral to a healthy and well-balanced lifestyle. There are more than 15,000 companies operating around 25,000 fitness and recreation centers nationwide to the tune of more than 15 billion dollars a year in the fitness realm alone. In the last few years the personal training industry has more than tripled with no signs of slowing.

Health and Fitness Technicians provide information and instruction (individual and group) in the areas of nutrition, flexibility/exercise, strength training, cardiovascular training, kinesiology, injury prevention and other related topics.

According to estimates by the Washington State Department of Employment Security, there were 5,183 fitness trainers and aerobics instructors employed in Washington in 2002. It is projected that by 2007 there will be 5,871 and by 2012 there will be 6,369. Nationally, there are about 182,700 fitness trainers and aerobics instructors. Median salaries are listed as $15.05 per hour with average hourly wages at $13.68.