by One Playground
Fitness industry education isn’t working.
What’s not working?
We see three main problems with most Certificate 3 and 4 in Fitness courses.
Firstly:
The rise of online learning means convenience is prioritised over quality. Online courses fail to focus on the fact that personal training is a people-centric role that’s all about human connection. It’s near impossible to learn a face-to-face profession via a screen.
Secondly:
Courses fail to give people the skills that they actually need to become great PTs. They don’t just need to gain expertise in the areas of fitness and exercises – they need coaching skills so they can make meaningful impacts on clients’ lives, and business skills for running successful, enduring businesses.
Thirdly:
The courses are just too short – with some education institutions, students complete their Certificate in a matter of weeks, then people’s health is put in their hands.
It’s no wonder that Fitness Australia found 51% of personal trainers don’t last two years in the industry. And that PT clients often get a bad experience – membership cancellation rates in some gyms can get as high as 90% annually.
These huge gaps in fitness industry education are what spurred us to educate our own trainers for roles at Fitness Playground, and to now launch the Fitness Playground Academy.
Through the Academy we are working towards completely transforming the fitness education industry and significantly raising standards industry-wide, for the sake of PTs, gyms and gym members across Australia.
What’s different?
Fitness Playground Academy’s Cert 3 & 4 is all about providing the skills fitness professionals actually need to enjoy a successful career in fitness. The coaching and business skills as well as the exercise expertise.
We do that by providing 22 weeks of face-to-face, people-focused, practical education. This includes 10 weeks of coaching real clients, in real gyms, under the guidance of real fitness professionals – as opposed to having to “practice” on your co-students who are used to the gym. (Practicing on fit people is very different to working with people who are new to exercise.) All this gives you experience in a safe, supported environment before you have to go out and do it on your own.
Free courses
We’ve also introduced free education options at the Academy, including ‘Industry Ready’, a free eight-week course that people who’ve done a Cert 4 (perhaps at another institution) can do to become ready to work. In this we teach the coaching skills that Personal Trainers need, as well as the sales and business skills required for a successful long-term career.
And then there’s our free Industry Insights workshop, a 90-minute event in which successful industry professionals give people considering a career in fitness an honest overview of the fitness industry landscape. You’ll learn about career options, the challenges you could face and what you need to succeed, before you decide to commit to study.
We’re all about helping people do what they love, and helping them become great at it, so that fitness can become taken seriously as an industry at the frontline of preventative healthcare.
The next Industry Insights free event is on 16 June 2021. Click here to find out more and register for free.
To find out more about the Academy, click here.
