Dallas – Turning Passion for the Body into a Personal Training Career

After graduating from MaKami’s Massage Therapy program and working in the field, Dallas wanted to help his clients improve their long-term health.  

At the time, MaKami had just introduced its Personal Trainer pilot program, which Dallas realized was a way for him to gain those complementary skills. 

 “I wanted to see how far I could push my anatomy knowledge and help my clients progress to get better, faster. Personal training was a good way to do that, because I could give my clients something they could use while I wasn’t with them in a treatment room.” 

Dallas was also interested in the program to improve his own health. Since he wanted a long career as a massage therapist, he knew he needed to get in better shape. So, when MaKami offered the Personal Trainer pilot program, he leapt at the chance to enroll. 

He loved the experience, saying, “Our program head, Noel, taught me so much about movement, how to exercise properly, set up exercises in the most beneficial way.” 

Initially, he wanted to learn how to create exercise programs, exercise properly and develop the skills needed to help his clients improve their long-term health. Yet he learned so much more, building on existing knowledge and adding new knowledge in areas such as health, nutrition, injuries and injury prevention.  

An unexpected bonus was the program’s focus on communicating, since being able to talk to clients is crucial.  

“That is something that I didn’t really think I would ever be focusing on, but learning how to communicate has given me way more confidence.” 

The Personal Trainer program offered many technical skills, but Dallas emphasized the importance of motivation. During the program, he was on his own fitness journey and motivating himself was his way of achieving his goals.  

“Personal training really helped me in learning how to manage that motivation, how to maintain that, how to push harder, how to drive myself to keep going even when it’s difficult.” 

As he hoped, being a personal trainer has made him a better massage therapist. 

“I have another set of skills that I can use to try and help my clients in the long term,” he says. “I can find muscle imbalances way easier and see different things that may be causing problems. It gave me that capability to narrow in, find the issue and correct it significantly faster.” 

Since he graduated, his career has taken off. 

“I thought I would go to a gym and train people. Instead, I got hired by MaKami College to first be a tutor for the school, eventually moving into being a lead instructor. I teach second-year massage therapy students as well as a cohort in the Personal Trainer program.” 

Although he never expected to teach, he loves it.  “There’s always something new, and for me, variation has always been key.” He adds, “I think that’s actually what MaKami has taught me the most: how to be flexible and versatile in what I do.” 

While Dallas wishes he had started his career in massage therapy and personal training sooner, he loves where he’s ended up. 

“It’s never too late to start something new. MaKami is a great place to learn and an amazing place to be.”