[marcus clarke]

I was thinking the other day about when I leave the Army, 5 years left, and I have always dreamed of becoming a fitness instructor in Civ street with the end result being an owner of my own gym.

Unfortunaltey I have no fitness quals at the moment, but have been around it all my teen/adult life and I can get education credits through the army for many courses in preperation for military to civilian transition.

I guess my question is where do I start? what would be the ideal starting course? I was thinking of a course that I can study a home / online, and go through it wherever I am posted and then come over to UK for the evaluation and examining parts.

I know some of the guys / gals on here are coursed up to death and must have started somewhere.

Any guidance and help would be much appreciated. I dont want to leave the Army and continue CIS computer stuff as it bores the life out of me.

[Tick88]

Hi Mate,

I’m just finishing up the last unit of my Personal Training Diploma with a company called FutureFit. This was all driven by my interest in CrossFit 24 months ago and wanting to be ‘qualified’ enough to run my own business on the side.

I chose this particular qualification provider because they enabled my to do the modules part time with home study with several weekend tutorials in London

Modules covered:

1) Anatomy and Physiology – Home Study (multiple choice test done on-line and at Gym Instructor workshop) – I had a life sciences back ground so this wasn’t too bad
2) Gym instructor – 3 days workshop and practical test…write programme, instruct client etc.
3) Nutrition and Weight Management – was a weekend workshop but looks to be on-line now – case study needed to be done with client – took about 4 months to complete
4) Torso and core stability 1 day workshop (with the below over a weekend) no test
5) Circuit Training 1 day workshop – no test
6) Personal Trainer and Advanced Instructor (5 days workshop 2 – weekends then case study that you need to do with a client) took about 4.5 months to complete
7) Nutrition for Sport and Exercise Home study and Case Study – subject provided – took about 7 weeks to complete

I’ve spent about two years working through it.

In this time I’ve also done:

CrossFit Level 1 cert
BWLA – Weight lifting for other sports Part 1.

This qual is just that, a qual to give me the required paperwork to coach people in fitness. I won't be using much of what I learnt.

The most useful and enjoyable courses were the CF and BWLA course…but neither will give you REPS (Register of Exercise Professionals) points if that matters to you….I’m not sure if this is going to matter to me in the future tbh.

Would I recommend this course?
They’ve (FutureFit) been good on the basis of the time flexibility on which they’ve allowed me to complete the modules ..which may suit you, and their service has been good... As you probably already know, the qual and ones like these are something that is geared to more mainstream fitness industry and will not touch on the stuff you and most people on here do.

Given your background I’m not sure you’ll learn too much from doing one of these courses, it may just be a case you just need to do the paper work to be qualified….unless someone else here can tell you a different route…if there is a quicker option I’d recommend that, but this one just worked for me on the time flexibility.

I think there are companies that provide courses which require a few weeks of solid workshops...but I'm not sure which

Bit of a ramble but hope some of that helps

[marcus clarke]

thanks mate, very useful. I'll look into this FutureFit company.

[absolution]

I used YMCA and Premier Training initially to gain my level 2 then level 3 quals. They have both changed over the years and included more functional stuff in. Premier can be expensive but can choose differernt study options. I did look at ISSA distance learning. They have some courses but never done myself. I have also done the GB Fitness nutrition diploma and Cain also does level 2 and level 3 courses I think.

Get all the prospectuses and have a browse

[Alex Lacy]

I'm currently finishing off my PT qualification with www.fitnessindustryeducation.com. I once started a course with Premier, and I prefered the set up from FIE. Everything is distance (apart from assessments), and it's all online. Again, it's geared towards mainstream exercise, but it's quite easy to 'jump through the hoops' and get qualified ASAP. If you want to do some time in most UK gyms you will need to be REPs registered, which means doing a level 2 or level 3 instructor course.

I'll have polished this course off by the end of Jan, so it's taken me about... 4 months? If you go with FIE hammer through the theory so you can book the assessment, and then start learning it properly so you can pass. That will speed up your qualification no end.

[greg]

just be aware that if you work for a regular gym then the chances are you'll be working with complete retards

my friend did a stint in the industry, including becoming level 3 certified, CF level 1, and training PTs, he's now gone back to teaching (in schools)

if you plan to open a box it might be better to do it straight off. I'm not sure what qualifications you need to actually run a gym.

[Andy]

To run a gym you could open with no qualifications as long as you weren't training anyone (obviously you would need qualified instructors). Insurance wise you can get public liability and private indemnity from reps or a few others which will cover any qualifications you have achieved. The tricky part comes when you teach things you have never studied for. I see it all the time it Fitness First. Gym employees with no level 3 or Oly lifting experience teaching gym members oly lifts. If the member injured themselves they could sew the gym or employee and the employee or gym wouldn't have a leg to stand on.

Luckily we have a governing body that outlines that to coach people you need to be level 3 PT. While I have taken the decision to not register with REPS they at least work towards keeping the public safe.

[Alex Lacy]

Andy, on 11 December 2009 - 02:57 PM, said:

To run a gym you could open with no qualifications as long as you weren't training anyone (obviously you would need qualified instructors). Insurance wise you can get public liability and private indemnity from reps or a few others which will cover any qualifications you have achieved. The tricky part comes when you teach things you have never studied for. I see it all the time it Fitness First. Gym employees with no level 3 or Oly lifting experience teaching gym members oly lifts. If the member injured themselves they could sew the gym or employee and the employee or gym wouldn't have a leg to stand on.

Luckily we have a governing body that outlines that to coach people you need to be level 3 PT. While I have taken the decision to not register with REPS they at least work towards keeping the public safe.

Here here. For all their faults, at its core REPs is about protecting the public from idiots. To be clear: there is no legal requirement for anyone to have any qualifications (or be REPs registered) to teach exercise or call themselves a personal trainer. The difficulty comes in getting insurance, and whilst you will be able to get cover to teach unqualified I expect you'll be paying a bit more.

I'm a bit unsure about whether, in practice, you would be operating outside of your insurance policy if you taught oly lifts or kettlebells without attending a separate course. There could be an argument that you are applying your personal learning, and that your exercise and fitness knowledge qualifies you to make responsible decisions about training options. Of course, I'm assuming that you know what you're doing- the above might be a valid argument if a client hurt themselves doing a kb shoulder press, but not if you told them to balance a 40kg kb on their face. Of course, when things go wrong the insurance company will do their best to wriggle out of paying up, so it might be best to check the terms of your insurance and amend them if needs be.

I think that's quite good advice: if in doubt, sit down with your insurance provider.

[Andy Mac]

Marcus,

Premier do a very good deal with ECDL mate and it's nest if you use it whilst your still in (you have to pay tax when you leave and something they never told me...)

Spend your re-settlement (534.00) on a kettlebell course and do the premier stuff.

To a client all the courses mean nothing- if you get results you will build a reputation and that is what really matters- so choose a course, do it and then gain experience. Too many PT spend time looking at the latest course and collect badges. Better to focus on being awesome because lets be honest its either push, pull, jump or run hard...lol

Your military experience will be great especially with current trends in training.

Get as much as you can whilst your in mate and go for it!!

Andy Mac