Excerpt from IDEA Fitness Journal  July-August, 2008, pg. 84.

Maybe you find that after carefully mapping out your career path, you actually want to travel in a different direction. Maybe you discover that a career milestone you thought would take years to achieve is now within your grasp. Or maybe you are still blissfully happy in your job but find that outside forces dictate a change.

As the old saying goes, “There is nothing constant but change itself.” Sometimes you find change; sometimes it finds you. While shifting careers within the fitness industry can be extremely exciting, it can also be challenging. Discover how other fitness pros have directed their career changes, and learn how you can best make your own changes when you’re ready or when life throws you a curve.

Earning a Doctorate Degree

At the time her marriage dissolved, Wendy Williamson, PhD, ACE-CES, ACE- and NASM-CPT, was working as a personal trainer and as an adjunct faculty member at a university in Wichita, Kansas. She had long dreamed of going back to school for her doctoral degree and decided to go for it after the divorce. She recently completed her doctorate in philosophy, health and human performance: exercise science at Oklahoma State University.

What Motivated the Change? “I knew that I would never be able to teach at the university level full-time without a PhD,” explains Williamson. “I wanted to improve my knowledge and skill sets and see if I could succeed.”

Challenges. Her degree program took 4 1/2 years, during which she continued to work full-time. While attending classes at Oklahoma State University, Williamson encountered several challenges. “I commuted 2 hours each way at least once a week for several years,” she says. “I would leave work at noon after training since 5:30 AM and arrive home about 11:30 PM. The chair of my PhD committee changed three times during my school tenure, due to retirement and resignations. Emotionally, I learned not to react but to problem-solve.”

Support/Resources That Helped Her. Williamson credits her flexible work schedule as key to completing her doctorate. “Also, having clients who were supportive was wonderful,” she says.

Effect on Personal Life. Her personal life was basically put on hold during her doctoral course work. “Every available minute that I was not working seemed to be spent studying or working on papers, projects, research, etc.,” she says. “I tried to focus on the task at hand and pace myself. I did not skip exercise but often neglected sleep.”

Joys of Working Toward Her Doctorate. Williamson wrote her thesis on how supervised and directed forms of exercise affect low-back pain and functional activity. “There was a great deal of satisfaction to ‘getting into the books’ and getting credit for the work,” she says. “Another joy was sharing my knowledge with the respective faculty of my discipline who were not aware of the opportunities that are available to fitness professionals.”

Tips for Other Fitness Pros. What advice does Williamson have for anyone who wants to pursue an advanced degree? “Be focused [and] serious, plan for the financial impact, pace yourself but don’t take any semesters off, if at all possible. Know that relationships take a beating, and there must be commitments from everyone involved [in order to] survive.”

Impact on Career Satisfaction. She now runs Williamson Fitness Consulting and serves as a senior personal trainer/post-rehabilitation specialist at Genesis Health Clubs in Wichita. And the future looks bright: “The degree will advance my career options and allow me to apply my academic accomplishments,” she says. “The opportunities, though fewer, are tremendous. Few fitness professionals in the ‘active’ career phase have [this] advanced degree.”