Personal Fitness Training FdSc

This course will give you the skills you need to enter the fitness industry in personal training and exercise referral. You will be provided with the knowledge you need to aid and support a client to change their exercise habits along with the principles required to maintain healthy exercise behaviour.

Overview
About the course
Structure
Fees
Entry requirements
Applying

This programme provides you with the skills you need to enter the fitness industry in personal training and exercise referral, and also aims to equip you with the necessary skills required to manage self-employment and the financial aspects of personal training. You will be provided with the knowledge you need to aid and support a client to change their exercise habits along with the principles required to maintain healthy exercise behaviour.

Why should I do this course?

The course is designed for individuals who are already working within the fitness industry, or would like to progress to a career in personal fitness training.

What's covered?

Subjects studied on this course include:

Year 1:

Anatomy and physiology for fitness
Planning exercise for health and fitness
Fitness industry experience
Fitness management
Exercise adherence and behaviour change

Year 2:

Advanced fitness instructing
Nutrition for health and weight management
Advanced fitness industry experience
Exercise for specialised populations
Exercise for rehabilitation

How will my work be assessed?

Students will be assessed in a number of differing ways that will provide them with opportunities to develop all aspects of skills required in the fitness industry. Assessments will involve students delivering practical sessions supported by portfolio session planning, theoretical essays designed to consolidate knowledge and real-life case studies. FdSc Personal Fitness Training course will also provide students with Register of Exercise Professional (REP’s) recognition up to level 4.

What can I do after this?

Graduates progress into industry upon completion of the course, either in a health and fitness club environment or the NHS on exercise referral programmes. Alternatively students are provided with the tools and skills throughout the course to become a self-employed personal trainer with endorsement and membership of the Register of Exercise Professionals (REP).

Register of Exercise Professionals* (REP) membership: Upon completing the programme, you will not only graduate with a Foundation Degree but will also be eligible for REP membership, which is essential when seeking employment in the fitness industry. This programme is provisionally endorsed through SkillsActive against the Register of Exercise Professionals at Levels 2 and 3.

Careers

Sport, leisure and tourism

Year 1: The first year will provide you with the foundation of fitness training and management skills necessary to work as a personal trainer in a gym or fitness environment. Modules such as Anatomy and Physiology for Fitness cover aspects of the structure and function of the human body and the effects of exercise on anatomical adaptations.

In addition, you will study modules that deal with the experience of managing participants with differing levels of fitness and you will engage in the study of relevant psychological aspects, such as adherence and motivation for participation. Finally you will explore the management aspects of the fitness industry, gaining experience of how to work in a self-employed capacity, manage accounts and market the services you will provide as a personal trainer.

Areas of study: Include anatomy and physiology for fitness, planning exercise for health and fitness, fitness industry experience, fitness management, exercise adherence and behaviour change.

Year 2: The second year focuses on advancing the skills developed in the first year of the programme to specific target groups; this is especially the case through the modules Planning Exercise for Specialised Populations and Exercise for Rehabilitation. These modules focus on specialised areas in which personal trainers can become involved and covers areas such as exercise during pregnancy, obesity and more specifically, exercise referral schemes for cardiac rehabilitation.

The second year of the programme also enables you to gain experience of nutrition for managing a client’s weight and healthy lifestyle as part of real-life case studies.

Areas of study: Include advanced fitness instructing, nutrition for health and weight management, advanced fitness industry experience, exercise for specialised populations and exercise for rehabilitation.

Low-cost higher education

Our fees are well below the national average and are among the lowest in the region, so studying with us is great value for money!

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Entry requirements

At least 40 UCAS points are required.
GCSE Maths and English at grade C or above (or equivalent).

If standard entry criteria is not held then relevant industry experience may be considered.

CRB checkAs the work experience part of the course may involve regular access to children and/or vulnerable adults, you are legally required to complete a CRB check for which you will pay a small fee. Further details will be issued as part of the admissions process.

Full-time courses

Applications for full-time courses should be made through the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS), quoting institution code S43 and the UCAS code for your chosen course.

Part-time courses

Applications for all part-time Honours Degree, Foundation Degree, Certificate of Higher Education and Diploma of Higher Education courses at South Essex College should be made directly to the College using the online application form or by completing a paper application form and mailing it to our freepost address:

HE Admissions
South Essex College
Freepost SMU 110
Luker Road
Southend on Sea
Essex
SS1 1BR

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