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If you’re visiting this site then you’re interested in a career as a personal trainer in the fitness and wellness industry. But you might still have questions about how to become a leading personal trainer. We’ve put together some tips to help you on your journey.
In order to become a personal trainer you must first complete a Level 2 Gym Instructor qualification. When looking at a gym instructor course, ensure it is accredited by an awarding body such as CYQ and Active IQ and is found on the REPs website. After that, you can move onto your Level 3 Personal Trainer Course. This is the level you must be at before you can be a practising Personal Trainer. Also, remember that you must be a Level 3 that is recognised by REPs in order to work as a Personal Trainer.
Here is some advice from our experienced Personal Trainer, Caroline Newton:
Having worked in the personal training industry for many years, I have found it has become more and more competitive. There are so many options available to individuals that it can sometime become quite confusing which personal trainer course to choose. As a result of this, I’m going to highlight some key facts that you need to know when choosing a personal trainer qualification and subsequently a personal trainer course.
Explaining the types of qualification:
I’ll start out by explaining what types of qualifications are out there. This can be very confusing at times for someone who is new to the industry, so I will endeavour to make it as simple as I can. There are a lot of different qualifications that will allow you to work as a Personal Trainer.
The first qualification you can do is via a Vocationally Related Personal Trainer Qualification and are commonly known as taught programmes. These tend to be the most common and preferred type of personal trainer qualification out there as they’re shorter and easy to access. Vocationally Related Personal Trainer Qualification focus on developing and assessing on an individual’s knowledge and understanding of a specific subject.
The second type of qualification is the National Vocational Personal Trainer Qualification and are commonly known as work-based personal trainer qualifications. That means you need to either have a job or have work experience in the personal trainer industry. These Personal Trainer Qualifications aim to assess and individual’s competencies in specific tasks and skills common to the job role in the workplace.
You will need to decide which qualification would suit you. If you would like to be qualified as quickly as possible and do not have a job in the fitness industry, then the Vocationally Related Personal Trainer qualification is the best choice. If you are currently employed in the fitness industry and are able to do a number of tasks applicable to the qualifications, then the National Vocational Personal Trainer Qualification is the best choice.
Explaining Awarding Bodies which accredit Personal Trainer Qualifications:
Awarding bodies write up personal trainer qualifications for training providers to deliver. Their main role is to regulate and police the training providers to ensure that they are offering quality personal trainer qualifications and ensuring that their assessments are standardized and meet the industry standard. They are responsible for issuing the personal trainer certificates for the various personal trainer qualifications. When choosing your personal trainer course, make sure it’s approved by a recognised awarding body. The most common personal trainer awarding bodies that I have come across in my time are CYQ (Central YMCA), Active IQ, OCR and City and Guilds. So make sure the personal trainer course you choose are accredited by one of the above personal trainer awarding bodies.
How to choose the right personal trainer course:
Before I explain the personal trainer courses out there, you need to think about the direction in which you’re going, whether it’s freelance or full-time employment. Just to set the scene for you—76% of Personal Trainers are freelance, while only 16% are employed on a full-time, permanent basis. These stats are taken from the “Working in Fitness 2008 Survey” (http://www.skillsactive.com/resources/research/Working-in-Fitness-2008.pdf).
Therefore it is vital that the aim of your Personal Trainer Course both increase your earning potential and equally increase your employability. Employers are looking for a true fitness professional that has a range of qualifications. The range of personal trainer courses may include taking on specialist personal trainer components such as nutrition and weight management, posture analysis and correction, self myofascial release and functional training. You might also choose going down the route of group exercise, such as indoor cycling, exercise to music and circuit training. Personally, I would do a combination of both specialist components and group exercise. By incorporating the group exercise components, you will increase your exposure to more potential personal trainer clients where you can sell your personal trainer services. The specialist components will help you sell your personal trainer services to meet their specific need, whether it is injury recovery, weight loss, posture correction or improved sports performance.
Many training providers are putting a number of qualifications and courses together to form one personal trainer training programme. The aim of these advanced personal trainer programmes is to equip you with a basket of skills that will be both attractive to future employers and broaden your spectrum of potential personal trainer clients. For example, weight loss, ante natal, older population, children, etc.
To summarise: You need to not only take an accredited Level 3 Personal Trainer qualification, but choose a variety of additional courses to make you a true personal trainer specialist in the field that will set you apart from other personal trainers out there.
Click here to read more about qualifications.
Click here to read about the difference between a freelance and employed Personal Trainer.
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