Personal Trainer

Special Strong SWFL; Naples (FL); On-site; USD 21,000 - 34,000; Part time

Job summary

Special Strong SWFL is seeking an Adaptive Fitness Trainer to join our mission-driven team, working with athletes at partner gyms and community spaces across Collier County, including Naples. This part-time role offers flexible hours—often just a few hours weekly to start—and is designed to fit around your existing commitments.

You’ll work one-on-one and in small groups, designing and adapting programs to meet each athlete’s unique needs, while building strong relationships with families and

Qualifications

• Patient, empathetic, no-judgment approach.
• Comfort with individuals of all abilities, including nonverbal or behavioral needs.
• Reliable and self-motivated; you don’t need someone standing over you to show up ready.
• CPR/AED certified, or willing to get certified before starting.
• Experience with individuals with disabilities is a strong plus, whether that's professional or personal.
• A personal training certification is preferred, not required; pathway to certification is provided.

Responsibilities

• Running initial assessments and tracking progress over time.
• Building and adapting fitness programs to fit each athlete's physical, cognitive, and developmental needs.
• Communicating consistently with families so they always know how their athlete is doing.
• Showing up reliably; the families and athletes counting on you are the reason the schedule matters.
• Creating a training environment that feels safe, patient, and welcoming, every time, even on hard days.
• Growing your skills through Special Strong's training and certification pathway

Skills

Empathy

Nonverbal communication

Reliability

CPR/AED certification

Disability experience

Education

Personal training certification (NASM/ACE/NSCA/ISSA)

Job description

This is not a typical personal training job, and we'd rather tell you that now than have you find out on day one.

Progress with our athletes doesn't always look like a new personal best or being five pounds down. Some days, a win is an athlete making eye contact for the first time in weeks, getting through a full session without needing to step away, or just showing up and trying. Some sessions will be hard. Some families are exhausted, and you'll be one of the steadiest parts of their week. If you need fast, visible results to feel like you're doing good work, this probably isn't your role.

But if something about that description made you sit up a little, if you've ever wished you could do this kind of work and didn't quite know it existed, keep reading.

About Us:

Special Strong SWFL is the proud franchise of the nationally recognized Special Strong brand, dedicated to providing adaptive fitness training for individuals with physical, cognitive, and developmental challenges. We don't train the diagnosis, we train the individual in front of us. Families come to us after searching for someone who actually gets it — someone who sees their athlete, not their diagnosis. Our compassionate, results-driven approach fosters confidence, strength, and independence, and our job is to be that person, every session.

About the Role:

We're looking for an Adaptive Fitness Trainer to join our mission-driven team and work directly with our athletes at partner gyms and community spaces around Collier County. In this rewarding role, you'll work one-on-one and in small groups with individuals of all abilities, building real relationships with athletes and their families, not just running a program.

This is part-time work, and for most trainers, it won't be a full schedule on its own. Hours flex with athlete demand, your availability, and your location within Collier County — often just a few hours a week to start, sometimes because that's what fits your schedule, sometimes because we're still building the roster in your area, with hours growing as demand does. We cap any one trainer around 20 hours a week so no single trainer, or athlete, gets stretched too thin. That's a great fit for someone adding meaningful work on top of what they're already doing: a personal trainer wanting more clients, an ESE teacher wanting to do more outside the classroom, a caregiver ready to bring those instincts into a paid role.

Responsibilities:

• Running initial assessments and tracking real progress over time, in whatever form that progress takes
• Building and adapting fitness programs — including modifying exercises and techniques — to fit each athlete's physical, cognitive, and developmental needs
• Communicating consistently with families so they always know how their athlete is doing
• Showing up reliably; the families and athletes counting on you are the reason the schedule matters
• Creating a training environment that feels safe, patient, and welcoming, every time, even on hard days
• Growing your skills through Special Strong's training and certification pathway

Requirements:

Attitude and heart first. Experience second. We've met plenty of "qualified" trainers who weren't right for this, and unlikely candidates who turned out to be exactly right.

• A patient, empathetic, no-judgment approach where curiosity comes before conclusions, always
• Comfort and confidence working with individuals of all ability levels, including those who are nonverbal or have behavioral needs
• Reliable and self-motivated; you don't need someone standing over you to show up ready
• CPR/AED certified, or willing to get certified before starting
• Experience with individuals with disabilities is a strong plus, whether that's professional (PT/OT, special education, direct care) or personal
• A personal training certification (NASM, ACE, NSCA, ISSA, etc.) is preferred, not required; the right person without one will be supported through Special Strong University's certification pathway