Whether youre a professional marathoner or you only get off the couch for a chip run, its hard to overlook the growing interest in health and fitness issues in the U.S.

With more Americans taking a proactive role in their health, careers in the health and fitness sectors are experiencing unprecedented growth.

In the last five years, Ive seen trainers and athletic coaches grow their businesses by 500%, says John Romaniello, author of Final Phase Fat Loss and founder of Roman Fitness Systems in New York City.

Ten years ago, Romaniello says personal trainers were paid around $75 an hour to train one person. Today, theres been a shift in training methods and many instructors now take on four clients per hour at $60 each. Additionally, things like bootcamps, outdoor group classes with up to 40 people, are also big money-makers for fitness pros.

Today, instructors are making $240 an hour, but the clients are happy, too, because theyre paying less overall, says Romaniello. With bootcamps, you can charge 30 people $20 per class without the overhead of a studio rental, and all of a sudden youre making $600 an hour.

For those interested in pursuing a career in health and fitness fields, Todd Galati, spokesperson for the American Council on Exercise, says the current environment makes for an easy transition.

Public awareness is up that fitness is not only for the fit, says Galati. Fitness professionals aren't just working in gyms. Its going to be a solid growth industry over the next 10 years.

Fitness careers are also expanding online, according to Jake Steinfled, owner of the Body By Jake franchise and chair of the National Foundation for Governors Fitness Councils.

The change thats happening in the industry has to do with education and the fact that more people interested in getting in shape now have access to a professional, says Steinfeld. People are very private and a gym can be a very intimidating place if you are not in shape and not feeling good about yourself. Thankfully, more people are turning to the web to get their personal training sessions virtually.

Steinfled launched online fitness hub FitOrbit.com in 2009, and now employs more than 400 personal trainers all over the country that work with thousands of clients each month from the comfort of their bedrooms or living rooms.

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