What’s it like to train to be a Fitness Instructor is an obvious questions that springs to mind if you’re thinking of embarking on a fitness course. So with the help of our acclaimed student Andrew Carson who recently graduated as a Level 2 Fitness Instructor we aim to take the mystery out of what it’s really like to gain your fitness trainer certification.
What made you decide to complete your Fitness Instructor training?
I’ve always loved fitness and nutrition and it’s important to me to exercise, eat well and keep active. I enjoy teaching people and to train to be a Fitness Instructor seemed like the perfect solution. There’s nothing better than helping others accomplish fitness goals that seemed a huge challenge at the outset and seeing them progress and go from strength to strength.
Fitness Instructing as a career offers flexible work patterns and shifts which means it’s possible to keep up with my own training whilst working in an industry that I really enjoy. For me, gaining my fitness certificate was a great place to start my career in fitness. It’s given me lots of information to build on and I’ve proven to myself that I have the right combination of skills to apply to the various course subjects and practical workshops to accomplish my goals. There’s also the option to progress a little later on to my level 3 Personal Trainer qualification.
Why did you decide to qualify with the Academy of Fitness Professionals?
I was looking for a REPs Fitness Instructor certification and really liked the flexibility to study from home whilst being able to work with my course tutor when I needed some help or advice. The information on the website was really clear and easy to understand and everything is personalised.
How did you find the Fitness Instructor course itself?
It was brilliant! Once I’d enrolled the course induction talked me through all the course materials and explained everything I needed to do. There was plenty of really helpful course information supplied with lots of diagrams and examples to ensure I fully understood everything. The course is divided into 6 modules across different topics and my course tutor guided me through each stage making sure that I was achieving my goals and meeting all the required learning criteria as I went along. The course guides contain lots of check-in questions and exercises so when it came to completing the assessment workbooks I felt really confident and had gained valuable knowledge on how to apply it to real life. My course tutor was always on hand to help me out and very knowledgeable, you could see the passion he had for his work.
How easy was it to train to be a fitness instructor and fit this into your lifestyle?
Everything is clearly set out and the easy to understand instructions made it all pretty simple. I was able to pick up and put down my study as I liked so I could do as much or as little of my Fitness Instructor training as I wanted to when it suited me. The practical workshops are really informative and I was shown lots of different techniques to help develop the exercise programme I’d taken along and build my thinking of client exercise prescription.
Overall it took me about 5 months and fitted into my lifestyle and other commitments really well. My course tutor supported me all the way with encouragement, support and helpful advice to help me be successful. I thoroughly enjoyed the course and felt it covered everything required to begin a career in the fitness industry.
Now that you’ve completed your Fitness Instructor training, what are your career goals?
My short term plan is to help grow the business where I work with a view to running my own workout space in the future. For me the path to train to be a Fitness Instructor was just the start so I plan to continue to build up my knowledge of fitness and nutrition in the workplace by working with lots of different types of clients and helping them achieve their goals. A natural next step is my Personal Trainer qualification, so that’s also on the list!
