I'm thinking of doing a personal training course - its something I've always wanted to do. I know that there are lots of very knowledgeable peeps on here so I thought I'd ask for your opinions.
Would it be better to just do a personal training course or go through the gym instructor route and work your way up ? I work full time so I would be looking for a course that was part time or distance learning.
What's the best course of action ?
0 ·
Comments
Lots of gyms offer personal training with their instructors or offer deals to allow personal trainers to use their gyms (bit difficult to explain but I believe Esporta does this and other chains do too).
I did all but the sports massage part of the Premier Training course. If you do all of it, the course is 12 weeks full time. Or you can split it into the modules and do those when time and money allow.
I'm not sure how the YMCA courses work - if they were weekend attendance then that would work better for you...
Do you buy Ultrafit magazine? They usually have several of the big education providers advertising in there.
Sorry I can't be more helpful.
Did you both find it easy to get work after you had completed your courses?
I am a YMCA qualified PT...I did mine part time by taking various modules. Premier are very well respected in the industry too. However, my advice would be to check out some of the newer UK based courses too that may be more advanced and put you ahead of the game - try Institute of Australian Fitness, ACSM for eg. I've benn PTing for about 3 years now but have had to take extra qualifications (Chek, Premier PTS) to raise my game..there's more and more of us out there now...
Good luck whatever you end up doing...it sure beats sitting in an office all day!
Quit my job and went for it, 1 of the best things I'v ever done!!
Likewise, if you want any advice or info feel free to email me, and good luck with what ever you decide to do!
I didn't get loads of SMS messages. The only ones I got were to remind me of the course I was about to go to.
very good value and a decent standard of teaching.
I'm now fully qualified and I did it alongside a full time job.I'm still working full time but have a few people that I train in the evenings and I'm about to start a couple of circuit classes.
For some modules you need to do distance learning and some you just need to take a couple of days off here and there to fit them in.
And they are REPS approved.
My rationale for saying this, is most of popular training providers design their content around the needs of the fitness industry - what for example Fitness First and Esporta want from prospective personal trainers. If you want to stand alone, and in effect, sell yourself to the outside world (and most likely carve your own niche), it may be more effective to go the IAF/ACSM route.
I'm starting out next spring, and I found it helpful to go to http://www.exerciseregister.com/ and see what people out there at the moment had in terms of quals and experience, and how that sat in terms of what I wanted to do.
Hope you go for it!