115+ Motivational Quotes For Personal Trainers & Fitness Professionals

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Updated: March 26th, 2025

115+ Motivational Quotes For Personal Trainers & Fitness Professionals

Sometimes, all it takes is a quote or piece of advice to help stay motivated when times get tough.

Whether you are looking for quotes to keep your client motivated, or you need some words of wisdom for yourself and business - we've got you covered.

We put together 115+ quotes from entrepreneurs, athletes, and thought leaders to inspire your fitness business.

Here they are:

Inspirational Quotes

“An athlete cannot run with money in his pockets. He must run with hope in his heart and dreams in his head.”– Emil Zatopek
“Keep an open mind and a closed refrigerator.”– Anonymous
“If you wait, all that happens is you get older.”– Larry McMurtry
“Mental will is a muscle that needs exercise, just like muscles of the body.” – Lynn Jennings, Long-distance Runner and 3-time Olympic Gold Medalist
“The scale is merely a measure of my relationship with gravity.”– Lauren Harris-Pincus
“It is not the size of a man but the size of his heart that matters.” – Evander Holyfield, 4-time World Heavyweight Champion
“Leave all the afternoon for exercise and recreation, which are as necessary as reading. I will rather say more necessary because health is worth more than learning.” ~ Thomas Jefferson
“The biggest shifts in business come from working on yourself.” – Simon Lovell, Fitness Marketing Coach and Mentor
“The cardiologist’s diet: If it tastes good spit it out.”– Anonymous
“What do you do with a mistake: recognize it, admit it, learn from it, forget it.” – Dean Smith, 2-time Division 1 Men’s Basketball Champion and a Member of the Basketball Hall of Fame
“Set your goals high, and don’t stop till you get there.” – Bo Jackson, NFL Pro Bowler, MLB All-Star, and Heisman Trophy Winner
“The question isn’t who is going to let me; it’s who is going to stop me.” – Ayn Rand, Author
“If you are afraid of failure you don’t deserve to be successful!” – Charles Barkley, 11-time NBA All-Star and Olympic Gold Medalist
“You can have your cake and lose weight, too!”– Anonymous
“If you fail to prepare, you’re prepared to fail.” – Mark Spitz, Swimmer and 9-time Olympic Champion
“You miss 100 percent of the shots you never take.”– Wayne Gretzky
“Don’t work out because you hate your body — work out because you love it.”– Author Unknown
“Without self-discipline, success is impossible, period.” – Lou Holtz, Multi-time Coach of the Year and a Member of the College Football Hall of Fame
“Age is no barrier. It’s a limitation you put on your mind.”– Jackie Joyner-Kersee
“Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.” – John Wooden, 10-time NCAA Division I Men’s Champion, 5-time Coach of the Year, and a Member of the Basketball Hall of Fame
“It would be far easier to lose weight permanently if replacement parts weren’t so handy in the refrigerator.”– Hugh Allen
“Exercise should be regarded as a tribute to the heart.”– Gene Tunney
“There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.” – Colin Powell, American Statesman and a Retired Four-star General in the US Army
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do.” – Mark Twain, Author
“Nothing will work unless you do.” – Maya Angelou, Poet and Civil Rights Activist
“My favorite exercise is a cross between a lunge and a crunch. I call it lunch.”– Anonymous
“When you’re riding, only the race in which you’re riding is important.”– Bill Shoemaker
“Dream big and dare to fail.” – Norman Vaughan, American Dogsled Driver and Explorer of the South Pole

Professional Quotes

“If you don’t do what’s best for your body, you’re the one who comes up on the short end.”– Julius Erving
“Strength does not come from what you can do. It comes from overcoming the things you once thought you couldn’t.”– Nikki Rogers
“To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift.”– Steve Prefontaine
“A diet is when you watch what you eat and wish you could eat what you watch.”– Hermione Gingold
“Age is no barrier. It’s a limitation you put on your mind.”– Jackie Joyner-Kersee, 3-time Olympic Gold Medalist
“Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.”– Maria Robinson, Author
“Somewhere behind the athlete you’ve become and the hours of practice and the coaches who have pushed you is a little girl who fell in love with the game and never looked back… play for her.”– Mia Hamm
“Fall seven times and stand up eight.” – Japanese Proverb
“If it doesn’t challenge you, it won’t change you.” – Fred Devito, Member of Exhale Mind Body Spa’s Founding Team and Executive Vice President of Mind-body Training
“A trophy carries dust. Memories last forever.”– Mary Lou Retton
“In baseball and in business, there are three types of people. Those who make it happen, those who watch it happen, and those who wonder what happened.” – Tommy Lasorda, 2-time World Series champion, 2-time NL Manager of the Year, and a Member of the Baseball Hall of Fame
“A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.” – Albert Einstein, Scientist
“Give yourself an even greater challenge than the one you are trying to master and you will develop the powers necessary to overcome the original difficulty.” – William J. Bennett, Author and Political Theorist
“The man who has no imagination has no wings.” – Muhammad Ali, 3-time Heavyweight Champion
“Eliminate the mindset of can’t — because you can do anything.”– Toni Horton
“Today, you have 100% of your life left.” – Tom Landry, 2-time Super Bowl Champion and NFL Coach of the Year
“My body is less judgmental of my diet than my mind is.”– Mackenzie Banta
“Courage doesn’t mean you don’t get afraid. Courage means you don’t let fear stop you.” – Bethany Hamilton, American Champion Surfer
“Be patient with yourself. Self-growth is tender; it’s holy ground. There’s no greater investment.” – Stephen Covey, Businessman, Speaker, and Author
“Once you learn to quit, it becomes a habit.” – Vince Lombardi, 2-time NFL Coach of the Year, 2-time Super Bowl champion, and 6-time NFL champion
“It doesn’t matter what your background is and where you come from, if you have dreams and goals, that’s all that matters.” – Serena Williams, Tennis Player and 39-time Grand Slam Champion
“Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.” – Robert Louis Stevenson, Author
“My weight does not determine my worth.”– Kristin Oja
“The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, not to worry about the future, or not to anticipate troubles, but to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly.” ~ Buddha
“When you feel like quitting, think about why you started.”– Author Unknown
“Obstacles don’t have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.”– Michael Jordan
“I attribute my success to this: I never gave or took any excuse.” – Florence Nightingale, English Social Reformer and the Founder of Modern Nursing
“Happiness is the highest form of health.” ~ Dalai Lama

Life Quotes

“The first wealth is health.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Everything you’ve ever wanted is on the other side of fear.” – George Addair, Inspirational Speaker
“Decide. Commit. Succeed.”– Justin Seedman
“Talent is God-given. Be humble. Fame is man-given. Be grateful. Conceit is self-given. Be careful.” – John Wooden, 10-time NCAA Division I Men’s Champion, 5-time Coach of the Year, and a Member of the Basketball Hall of Fame
“The greatest of follies is to sacrifice health for any other kind of happiness.” ~ Arthur Schopenhauer
“When we lose twenty pounds, we may be losing the twenty best pounds we have! We may be losing the pounds that contain our genius, our humanity, our love and honesty.”– Woody Allen
“An apple a day keeps the doctor away.” ~ Unknown
“You can’t get much done in life if you only work on the days when you feel good.” – Jerry West, 14-time NBA All Star, NBA Champion, and Olympic Gold Medalist
“You can have results or excuses. You can’t have both.” – Bret Contreras, Personal Trainer, CSCS Certified, and Author
“He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life.” – Muhammad Ali, 3-time Heavyweight Champion
“Unless you puke, faint, or die, keep going!”– Jillian Michaels
“I hated every minute of training, but I said, ‘Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.’”– Muhammad Ali, 3-time Heavyweight Champion
“It’s hard to beat a person who never gives up.” – Babe Ruth, 7-time MLB Champion and a Member of the Baseball Hall of Fame
“Always make a total effort, even when the odds are against you.” – Arnold Palmer, 62 PGA Tour titles and 7 Major Championships
“When I buy cookies I just eat four and throw the rest away. But first I spray them with Raid so I won’t dig them out of the garbage later. Be careful, though, because that Raid really doesn’t taste that bad.”– Janette Barber
“Too many of us are not living our dreams because we are living our fears.” – Les Brown, Former Member of the Ohio House of Representatives and Motivational Speaker
“The greatest wealth is health.” ~ Virgil
“Procrastination is one of the most common and deadliest of diseases and its toll on success and happiness is heavy.” – Wayne Gretzky, 4-Time Stanley Cup Champion, 9-Time NHL MVP, and Hockey Hall of Fame
“New meal; fresh start.”– Michelle Hyman
“If I don’t eat junk, I don’t gain weight.”– Paula Christensen
“To uncover your true potential you must first find your own limits and then you have to have the courage to blow past them.” – Picabo Street, Olympic Gold Medalist
“Number one is just to gain a passion for running. To love the morning, to love the trail, to love the pace on the track. And if some kid gets really good at it, that’s cool too.”– Pat Tyson
“I would rather die of passion than of boredom.” – Vincent van Gogh, Painter
“To ensure good health: eat lightly, breathe deeply, live moderately, cultivate cheerfulness, and maintain an interest in life.”– William Londen
“Today I will do what others won’t, so tomorrow I can accomplish what others can’t.” – Jerry Rice, 13-time Pro Bowler and 3-time Super Bowl Champion
“People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing. That’s why we recommend it daily.” – Zig Ziglar, Inspirational Speaker and Author
“Food can be both enjoyable and nourishing.”– Alyssa Ardolino
“I am a better person when I have less on my plate.”– Elizabeth Gilbert

Positive Quotes

“Obstacles don’t have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.” – Michael Jordan, 6-time NBA champion, 5-time NBA Most Valuable Player, Olympic Gold Medalist, and a Member of the Basketball Hall of Fame
“Some people want it to happen. Some wish it would happen. Others make it happen.”– Michael Jordan
“It’s not about being the best. It’s about being better than you were yesterday.” – Stephanie Chapa, NPC National Bikini Competitor and Fitness Model
“Persistence can change failure into extraordinary achievement.” – Matt Biondi, Swimmer and Eleven-time Olympic Medalist
“Show me a guy who’s afraid to look bad, and I’ll show you a guy you can beat every time.” – Lou Brock, 6-time All-Star, 2-time World Series Champion, and a Member of the Baseball Hall of Fame
“I’m allergic to food. Every time I eat it breaks out into fat.”– Jennifer Greene Duncan
“Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence.”– Vince Lombardi, 2-time NFL Coach of the Year, 2-time Super Bowl champion, and 6-time NFL champion
“The only way to prove that you’re a good sport is to lose.”– Ernie Banks
“Moderation. Small helpings. Sample a little bit of everything. These are the secrets of happiness and good health.” ~ Julia Child
“If you have discipline, drive, and determination… nothing is impossible.”– Dana Linn Bailey
“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” – Winston Churchill, Politician, Statesman, and Noble Prize Winner
“There may be people that have more talent than you, but there’s no excuse for anyone to work harder than you do.”– Derek Jeter, 14-time All-Star
“Most people give up just when they’re about to achieve success. They quit on the one yard line. They give up at the last minute of the game one foot from a winning touchdown.”– Ross Perot
“If something stands between you and your success, move it. Never be denied.” – Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Actor, Producer, and Professional Wrestler
“The tragedy in life doesn’t lie in not reaching your goal. The tragedy lies in having no goal to reach.” – Benjamin Mays, Civil Rights Activist
“I believe that the greatest gift you can give your family and the world is a healthy you.” ~ Joyce Meyer
“Never eat more than you can lift.”– Miss Piggy
“If you are going to achieve excellence in big things, you develop the habit in little matters. Excellence is not an exception, it is a prevailing attitude.”– Charles R. Swindoll, Politician and founder of Insight for Living
“If you aren’t going all the way, why go at all?” – Joe Namath, Super Bowl Champion and a Member of the Football Hall of Fame
“Adversity causes some men to break; others to break records.”– William A. Ward, Author
“You have to do something in your life that is honorable and not cowardly if you are to live in peace with yourself.”– Larry Brown
“It isn’t the mountain ahead to climb that wears you out; it’s the pebble in your shoe.” – Muhammad Ali, 3-time Heavyweight Champion
“Push yourself again and again. Don’t give an inch until the final buzzer sounds.” – Larry Bird, 12-time NBA All-Star, 3-time MVP, 3-time Champion, and Olympic Gold Medalist
“Make time for it. Just get it done. Nobody ever got strong or got in shape by thinking about it. They did it.”– Jim Wendler
“Instead of indulging in ‘comfort food,’ indulge in comfort meditation, comfort journaling, comfort walking, comfort talking, comfort manicures, comfort reading, comfort yoga, comfort hugging.”– Karen Salmansohn
“Wisdom is doing now what you are going to be happy with later on.”– Joyce Meyer
“Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.” ~ Hippocrates
“The groundwork of all happiness is health.”– Leigh Hunt

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Becoming A Personal Trainer: Everything You Need To Know

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Pat Walls

I'm Pat Walls and I created Starter Story - a website dedicated to helping people start businesses. We interview entrepreneurs from around the world about how they started and grew their businesses.

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