16 Side Gigs for Athletes and Athletic Trainers

Have you always excelled in sports? Stayed fit like it’s your day job? Try out some athletic side jobs for extra cash. Use your muscular body to do jobs others can’t. All those hours in the gym can pay off for your bank account.

From running to dog walking to dancing, your body is a wonderful creation. Others will want to have a body like yours someday. Give them a chance with a group activity such as Soul Cycle.

Or, be fit by yourself by aerating a lawn. Either way, you’re getting out there and using your body to improve your financial situation.

These types of jobs are also proven to make you happier. Moving will send endorphins to your brain. So, if you’re in a rut at school and need to get moving, these are a sure-fire way to spark up your mood.

1. Flash Mob Organizer

Plan and choreograph a flash mob. Charge the participants $5-10.00 each. (Or pay them if you plan on uploading the video to YouTube.)

People: Find participants in person, online, with flyers, or through word of mouth. Advertise it as a fun, active dance class with a live performance at the end.

Choreography: Flash mob choreography doesn’t have to be complex. If you’re stuck on what to do, look up dance videos and get inspired.

Victim: Pick someone to surprise with the flash mob. While it could be done just to shock strangers, you can also do it as a gift for a loved one.

Song: Choose a song your victim will enjoy, or the public will tolerate.

Setting: Find a mall, restaurant, bus, or plane to perform your flash mob. Maybe not a plane, unless you feel like getting arrested. Your call. Just a public setting to get as much attention as possible. If you go viral, extra money.

2. Referee

Get irrationally angry when the ref makes a bad call? Never let it happen again. Make your own calls for your favorite sport.

Sport: Find a sport you’re most passionate about. Learn all the obscure rules you’ll need for exceptional situations. You need to know what happens if a plane landing on the field, and other such obscurities.

Attend: Go to a few games and get a feel for the hand signals and procedures. You can get to know other refs while you’re there to gain connections in the biz.

Fitness: Some sports require a physical fitness test. Make sure you’re up to the challenge, as you may need to run up and down a court all night.

Train: Take a training course. This will give you a rundown of rules and regulations.

Get certified: Find your local sports association to get certified in your sport of choice.

Fairness: Don’t be a ref you’d yell at. Give fair calls and people will respect you.

3. Yoga Instructor

Flexible? Hardworking? Love stretchy pants? Make great money and get a workout in by teaching your own yoga class.

Learn: Learn basic yoga positions yourself before teaching others. It’ll help you understand how the students’ bodies should be shaped, as well as how hard it is. A teacher who doesn’t demonstrate demands little respect.

Setting: Rent studio space at a gym. Host an outdoor class in a park. Invite people to your house/backyard. The location options are endless since there’s almost no equipment required.

Students: Post an ad online. Give out flyers. Ask your friends to spread the word. If all else fails, ask your mom to tell her yogi friends.

Practice: Go over your opening speech and position instructions. You should be calm and confident to motivate your students. Good luck, young flexible one.

4. Lead a Group Run

Ever see people running and think, “Is someone chasing you?” But then, you realize they’re running on purpose? Get paid to be that person. Lead a group run.

Train: If you’re going to organize a group run, you’ll need to be in good shape. If the runners are looking at you as an example, you’ll need to train for a couple of months, at least.

Students: Post an ad online, give out flyers, or ask your friends. Make it seem like the coolest, most fun group run to be a part of. Charge $5.00 or $10.00 per person and offer a cheaper price for a month/year long commitment.

Path: Find an attractive path with greenery, hills, and declines to keep the run interesting. You can advertise your unique path as a reason to join.

Decor: No running group is complete without T-Shirts. Make everyone feel like part of a team by matching. You’ll look like the coolest runners on the block, by far.

5. Personal Trainer

Get your clients rock-hard, washboard abs. Keep them motivated after the hundredth crunch. Become a personal trainer.

Gym: If you’re going to tell people how to work out, you need to look the part. Clients will trust your process if you show it works on at least one person (yourself.) So, hit up the gym prior to training.

Study: Find a personal training course, study your butt off, and pass the exam to become certified. If you get hired at a gym, they may be willing to pay for your course.

Clients: If you don’t want to work at a gym, you can work as a private contractor. Build your profile and find clients you can train. Many personal trainers use social media to show off their work and advertise to potential clients. Lots of people have a gym in their condo/apartment and could use a trainer.

Branding: Brand yourself as the coolest, most successful personal trainer. Get your clients to tag you in a post for a free session. More photos = more clients.  

6. Carry Heavy Stuff

Nathan Fielder convinced people to move furniture as a workout. Do it yourself! Start your own moving company, or join an established one, and get a good workout in while you’re at it.

Join a company: If you don’t want the responsibility and time commitment of starting your own company, join an existing business. Apply online and advertise your responsibility. Bosses want workers who won’t fool around and drop furniture.

Start your own: If you’re ready to make some hardcore cash on the side, start your own business. It’s a much larger time commitment, but you get more profits. Most people own moving companies as their full-time jobs, so make sure you can handle the workload.

Workout: To make moving an effective workout, you must stay in shape at the gym. If you’re not regularly working out, you may sustain an injury. Now, you get to use Nathan’s joke business in real life.

7.Landscaping

Work in the great outdoors. Look like you went to Florida in a T-Shirt. Become a landscaper.

Company: Find a landscaping business hiring labourers. Apply online or at their headquarters in person. 

Start your own: This will require much more time and effort but will have a greater pay off. You can freelance work and find your own clients, but then you also must provide all the expensive materials needed for landscaping.

Detail: You need a high attention to detail to successfully landscape. Sloppy work means no return customers (which will be much of your work.)

Gym: Keep your muscles in good shape to make the day go by faster. If walking across the lawn makes you out of breath, shovelling soil will destroy you.

Sunscreen: If you’re out in the sun all day, you’ll get a great tan. But make sure you wear sunscreen to protect against harmful UV rays.

8. Join the Army Reserves

Love to workout? Disciplined? Know how to make a bed? Join the army reserves.

 Workout: Stay in tip top shape. You’ll have to pass a physical exam and do training every year.

Apply: You can apply online or in person to join the military reserves.

Enlist: Enlist for three to six years. There will be twelve drill weekends and one two-week training period.

Basic training: Attend basic training for ten weeks to learn tactical and survival skills.

Advanced individual training: You will specialize in your specific career choice which will take fourteen to twenty weeks.

Civilian life: You can have a family and a job while staying active in the military reserve. You just must be ready for active duty when it is called for. This can mean anything from crowd control to war to natural disasters.

9. Soul Cycle Instructor

The bass shakes the floors. The multicoloured lights are blinding. It smells like perfume and plastic. You’re instructing a soul cycle class.  

Apply: Apply online or in person. They’ll invite you in to audition.

Train: You will attend an eight-week instructor training course to prepare for the job (however, you can do the course with no guarantee of a job.)

Workout: As a soul cycle instructor, or equivalent, you’ll need to be extremely fit. If you’re cycling for four classes a day, you need to be loud and positive the entire time.

Practice: Practice speaking loudly in front of large groups. It’ll make it easier when it’s the real thing. 

Confidence: The cyclists can smell inexperience. Simply act like you’re a star and show as much experience and positivity as you can muster. This job will make you more fun, fit, and prepared for public speaking.

10. Athletic Trainer

Help athletes perform on the field by helping them off it. Become an athletic trainer for a school sports team. A much better job than water boy!

School: You need a bachelor’s degree in sciences to become a professional athletic trainer. However, you can do it as a side job in school while aiming for a degree.

Not a ton to learn: Learn how to wrap and ice injuries that could occur in the sport.

Support: Study how to stabilize a body directly after injury. You will be on the field/court right away post injury to help get them off, so you should know how to lessen the damage.

Concussion: Don’t let players go back if they have a concussion, as a second hit could cause lethal damage.

Professional: Stay professional with your players and coach. If you become too close to the team, you could make poor calls, such as putting winning before taking off a concussed player. State isn’t worth a life.

11. Dance Class for Kids

Lots of children grow up learning dance. Use your knowledge to teach children. Get the tissues ready for the parents in the audience. 

Practice: Brush up on your dancing skills. You should be a trained dancer already if you’re looking into teaching as a side gig. The students will prefer a teacher who can give examples of great dancing technique.

Company: Find a dance company to teach for. Learn as many different types of dance as possible to be competitive. 

Independent: Make your own dance class and recruit children to join.  Post online, give out flyers, and ask your friends to spread the word.

Children: Remember they’re children. You should want them to succeed, but don’t punish them harshly for mistakes.

Competitions: Competitions are stressful for all parties. Guide the babies to their best performance with a low stress environment. It’s just for fun. Unless you’re against Kathy, then you can’t lose.

12. YouTube Fitness Trainer

Love to work out? Maybe you’re even a personal trainer. Bring your skills online and teach others with this lucrative virtual business.

Fitness: Work out. A lot. Your body is a representation of what your exercise plan can do. Then, figure out which exercises you like and would recommend to others. 

Following: Post your workouts online. Try to develop a following with quality content.  

Attention: You need to market yourself. Even if you didn’t go to business school you can still use little tricks to boost your clicks, such as this subtitle.

Revenue: Set up an app. Sell clothes. Advertise products on your social media. Teach workout classes. There are endless revenue streams for a fitness guru.

Catchphrase: If you want an army of fans, develop a funny or clever catchphrase. Wear it on a T-shirt? Free advertising. For example: Be like Matt, don’t get fat.

13. Lawn Aeration

Don’t mind manual labor? Aerate your neighbor’s lawns once a year for mad cash.

Rent: Rent a lawn aerator at a Home Depot or equivalent. You can buy one if you want to commit to a serious business. However, renting is a safer choice at first.

Supplies: Get compost or sand to put in the holes after aeration. Then, get grass seed and fertilizer to place on top.

Clients: Go door to door and ask if neighbors would like their lawn aerated. Tell them if their neighbor got it done. They’ll want to “keep up with the joneses.” Offer a price that’s profitable, but not one that will make them do it themselves.   

Partner: It can save time to get a partner who can go door to door finding clients while you aerate. That way, you don’t waste time looking for clients. You go straight to the next house.

Advertise: Get more clients by putting up flyers and making online ads. Soon enough, your side gig will be your main squeeze.

14. Writing for Sports News

Keep up on sports like it’s your religion? Get paid for your knowledge. Write dialogue for sports news.

 Apply: Apply to write one-liners for a sports broadcasting channel. Give examples of your writing in your cover letter.

Practice: Get into the flow of writing catchy one-liners for each subject. If you’re doing this on the side, you won’t be writing more than a sentence or two for each entry.

Learn: Even if you know “everything” about sports, you can still look up interesting facts in case. Make your content as intriguing as possible so that you’re a contender for full-time employment.

Quotes: Add quotes from famous athletes. Audiences love to hear about stars they adore.

Bias: Obviously you’ll have a favorite team. However, as a journalist, you can’t hate on Tom Brady as much as usual. You must remain objective and realize he’s the best.

15. Dogwalker

Love petting big floofers and smol puppers? Get them their daily exercise. Become a dog walker.

Apply: Post an ad on Kijiji. Join Rover (the dog walking app.) Ask your friends and family if they need their dogs walked.

References: Most owners love their dogs more than life itself. A sure-fire way to build their trust is through references. They need to know you won’t run off to Canada with their pride and joy. Find trustworthy sources, such as friends and family, who can vouch for your competency.

Supplies: Get treats, poop bags, leashes, special collars, and anything else you think you’ll need for a walk. Most dog owners will provide, but you should always be prepared in case. 

Build a clientele: Repeat customers make this side hustle almost seamless. The dog knows you. The people know you. There’s no stress and you get some fresh air with man’s best friend.

16. Planting Trees

Grew up camping? Love the outdoors? Try tree planting for the summer. Plant trees so that lumber companies can level them.

Apply: Apply online to popular tree planting businesses. There’s lots, so you’ll most likely be able to find one in your home state.

Prepare: You’ll need a tent, sleeping bag, therma-rest, bug net, bug spray and sunscreen. Add anything you would normally bring camping.

Physically prepare: Get your steps in beforehand to prepare for walking while carrying the large tree bags all day.

Mentally Prepare: The hours are long. The work is draining. You get paid per tree, so you must plant all day.

Have fun: Everyone hangs out after planting. Grab some apple juice and kick back around the campfire. Cherish the moments instead of just going to bed right away. You’ll make friends for life.