The road to becoming a successful Personal Trainer can be a little daunting.
Here, Peter Lemon our Chief Trainer guides you through what you can expect and how, with a little determination you can quickly realise your passion and be on track to an exciting career as a Personal Trainer.
So your passion is to become a Personal Trainer?
You enjoy fitness and love the idea of helping others?
You enjoy learning new things and sharing your skills and know how?
Personal Training is an exciting, challenging and evolving profession. Over the past decade the market has expanded considerably and having a Personal Trainer has moved from a somewhat elitist activity to much more of the norm.
This is great news! The market is expanding. As people live longer and value their health more they are prepared to invest in the right expertise to keep them feeling and looking good.
You role as a Personal Trainer is to coach, mentor, demonstrate and advise clients on effective exercise and nutritional habits to support them in achieving their personal goals.
Typically, this includes weight loss, improved stamina, flexibility, injury rehabilitation, a better shape and muscle definition. But one of the things I’ve learnt in over 15 years of practice is this list is endless!
If this sounds like you, I hope you’ll consider qualifying with us here at the Academy of Fitness Professionals. We guide our students through their qualification and career path into the fitness sector and beyond tailoring this to each personal individual goals and aspirations.
What can you expect from your qualification?
Personal Training combines expert knowledge of the human body with practical skills to design effective programmes and demonstrate safe technique.
Our industry experience has taught us that the human element is key. It is essential that you can communicate with and motivate your clients and all our courses include these core skills;
Client service
Coaching and mentoring
Interpersonal skills
All of our courses are divided into easy to follow modules which you’ll study at your own pace, with check-ups along the way. These consolidate your learning and flag areas where you may need a little help from your personal tutor who will be on hand to help and assist.
When you’re ready we’ll plan in your practical workshop teaching you all the hands on skills you need to confidently practice post qualification. We like to spend lots of one to one time with our students and so the maximum group size we’ll work with on a workshop is 6 at a time.
Once you’ve completed all of your self-study modules and practical you’ll be good to go.
How long does it take to qualify?
If you have lots of time to devote fully to your study you can qualify in as little as six weeks. If you are looking to combine your study with other commitments a typical study time would be around 3-6 months. If you’d like to go at a slower pace it can of course take longer depending on what suits you best.
We don’t believe in shoe-horning people into timescales and your dedicated tutor will work alongside you at your chosen pace. Of course you can pick up and slow down the pace as you need to. For example, if you are new to the human body and anatomy you may choose to spend a little more time here than someone who already has some expertise in this subject matter.
What happens next?
It’s sensible once qualified to register with one of the main personal training organisations who maintain a register of industry recognised accredited personal trainers. REPS, the Register of Exercise Professionals is a good choice although there are other reputable ones to choose from including the NRPT, National Register of Personal Trainers.
Once registered, it’s highly advisable to arrange your insurance and complete a certified first-aid course.
How to get started?
We cover all these skills on our ½ day Personal Trainer – Business Skills workshop.
Here we show our qualified Personal training students;
• How to start and build their client base
• How to set price
• Managing finances and the numbers
• Time management
• The secrets behind client delight
Click here for further details on our outstanding Personal Training courses.
Thanks for reading.
Peter Lemon – Chief Trainer at the Academy of Fitness Professionals
T – 0845 270 1990
E – info@aofp.co.uk
W – www.academyoffitnessprofessionals.com
