By, Andrea Hughes, Discovery Learning Sales Team

I can’t believe it.  I look outside my window and I just cannot believe my eyes.  The sun…it’s burning bright in the sky…in London!! It’s finally happened.  The sun has proven it hasn’t forgotten about us!

Well, this has been a great summer so far and I can’t say I’m not enjoying it! Well, there are some things that I’m not enjoying.  The main one—the lack of good air conditioning in this city! The worst of which is my gym! I go in at 6:30 in the morning and basically walk in with the Gym Instructor and that’s when he switches on the air conditioning.  Well, it takes the gym about an hour to get cool and by the time it is I’m dripping in sweat (I mean, gracefully glowing), and it’s almost time to go home!

So, I’ve thought up some alternatives to training in my increasingly hot gym, and they also help us appreciate this amazing weather we’re experiencing.  My solution is to train outside! Obviously you have to be careful not to train when the weather’s at its hottest, but there are plenty of ways to train while still being comfortable and enjoying the weather!

Here are some ideas:

• Do your cardio outside, but make sure to run/walk/skip/hop in the morning or early evening before the weather gets too hot.
• Swim! Why not find a nice lido near you so you can get a great cardio workout and work on your tan at the same time?
• Grab a TRX and go! Training with a TRX offers a great full body workout and, the best part is, you can do it anywhere! You can hook it to a tree or post and go! It’s a great way to enjoy the weather and an even better way to keep fit!
• Kettlebells! You might want to keep this one closer to home as they might be a bit heavy to lug all over town, but they’re great because they provide the weight you need when training and they’re portable.  Always a favourite with outside training.
• Outdoor boot camps. These are so great because it’s practically like a PT session with someone pushing you, but for less money! And, if you’re a PT yourself, these are so popular at the moment because people are tired of the gym!
• Any other exercise that you can do on the go! Some ideas are: lunges, squats, press-ups, step ups, chin ups and duck walks.  All of these are effective exercises that can be done while appreciating this beautiful weather!

So, what are you waiting for? You and I know that this weather won’t be around forever—before we know it we’ll be in dreary November and we’ll all be complaining about the rain! Enjoy it while you can and get out of the gym to train! Now, if we can only figure out a way to move this office outside then we’ll be in business…

Comments(0)

By, Caroline Newton, Discovery Learning Tutor

The foundation qualifications are the personal trainer certificate (offered by CYQ or Active IQ awarding bodies). This is your basic license to become a Personal Trainer. However, if you wish to earn more money, then we recommend that you specialise in certain areas. This means that you will have to gain more specialist qualifications on top of your personal trainer certificate.

Specialist areas can include Weight Management and Nutrition, Posture Correction and Functional Training, Strength Conditioning, group exercise, etc. You will need to decide which route you would like to take (remember you can do more than one route, but it also means more training).

Many training companies, like ourselves, offer Personal Trainer Packages. These aim to get you to your desired level in the shortest time possible, and at an affordable price.

There are three levels of personal training (however, different companies will have different names):

• Personal Trainer (can charge £25-£35 per hour)
• Advanced Personal Trainer (can charge £35-£45 per hour)
• Master Personal Trainer (can charge £45-£65 per hour)

You can progress at your own time through these categories, depending on the amount of time you have available to study and how much you can afford. However, it is often cheaper to book onto one of the specially designed personal trainer packages, as they have been specifically designed to meet the employers’ needs and increase your earning potential.

Ideally you want to aim to become a Master Personal Trainer. This is when you can charge a higher rate and stand out from the rest of the Personal Trainers in your gym or area.

The most “in demand” specialist modules that employers and clients are looking for are:

• Posture correction/ functional training/injury prevention and treatment
• Weight management and nutrition
• Strength and conditioning
• Boot camp/circuits

At Discovery Learning we offer all of these in our Master Personal Trainer Course (apart from Strength and conditioning).

So if you would like more advice on choosing a personal trainer course, then please email info@discovery.uk.com or phone 0208 543 1017 and we will help you choose the correct courses for you.

Comments(0)