You know your Glenn Hoddle from your Eddie Hall.

You understand the intricacies of American football and can explain the offside rule standing on your head while doing multiple keepie-ups with a ping pong ball.

Worst of all, you actually enjoy going to the gym and playing sport.

But it’s not simply not enough.

Your love for sport and fitness has gone beyond simple enjoyment —it’s now an obsession.

You think about sport and fitness while you’re in the shower.

You dream about them while pouring your morning coffee.

You discuss the Lithuanian curling team’s performance over lunch.

Your colleagues are at breaking point. Your boss knows you’re not interested. It’s time for a change.

Rather than cooling your heels in a career you’ve no love for, why not turn your passion for sport and fitness into something more than a hobby?

How? Check out our tips below.

1.Strengthen your options with a fitness course

Fair enough, we all know you’re a fitness buff. You know your way around a squat rack and can deadlift four Mini Coopers—but would you know how to demonstrate to a complete beginner how to train properly? What if they had questions about nutrition? Could you answer those?

Without the proper qualifications, the answer is likely a resounding no, but by gaining the relevant personal trainer qualifications through an accredited provider, you can get your career in the fitness industry off to a great start.

2. Gain a university qualification … in football coaching

If football is your thing, you might want to think about gaining a university qualification in the beautiful game. Yep, you can actually study football at university—Anglia Ruskin Distance Learning allow you to take a BSc (Hons) in Coaching Performance in Football.

This degree is designed to improve your performance and enhance your career opportunities in the top tier of football. It’s delivered online too, which offers the flexibility to fit your studies around coaching (although there is a mandatory one-week residential in Cambridge each year).

3.Lead by example

If you’re a fan of sickly sweet pop music, you’ll remember the S Club 7hit ‘Don’t Stop Movin’’, which reinforced the importance of pushing on and letting the right education take you forward—and there’s a real lesson to be learned among the auto-tune and dodgy dancing.

After all, just because you have one fitness qualification, it doesn’t make you an Arnold Schwarzenegger or a Gunnar Peterson. Instead, you’ve got to be prepared to keep looking to the future and pick up more credentials in an effort to drive your career forward.

Now it’s over to you …

Have you jacked in your job for a life in the gym? Have you swapped the corporate treadmill for an actual treadmill? Do you guzzle more protein than a coachload of bodybuilders visiting a cheese factory? Please tell us your story in the comments section, we’d love to hear from you.