Personal training is becoming an increasingly popular career choice. It gives you the chance to do something you enjoy while helping others and earning a great income! To get started as a personal trainer you first need to get qualified. You’ll find tons of information online about the best route to go down, this article will help clear up some of the confusion and give you a concise guide to follow to get qualified and start your new career.
It’s no wonder people get confused; Level 2, Level 3, Level 4 or Level 5?! Fortunately, it’s a lot simpler than it seems. To understand levels, regulated qualifications in the fitness industry such as the level 2 gym instructor or level 3 personal trainer follow what’s called a regulated qualification framework, or RQF. This is a framework set by OFQUAL at government level. Providers like ourselves then follow this RQF to ensure we’re delivering all the material required to meet government standards.
In academic terms, Level 2 is equivalent to GCSE, Level 3 is equivalent to A-Level and Level 4 qualifications are supposed to be equivalent to the first year of a degree.
This is the entry-level qualification for the fitness industry in the UK. It will teach you the basics required to start your career in fitness but does not qualify you to train clients 1-2-1. With this course you’ll be able to work at a gym teaching classes, doing inductions and helping out with whatever they need you for.
This used to be a very popular qualification however gyms are less likely to hire gym instructors these days because they cannot monetise them. Instead, they employ level 3 personal trainers who can do all the same things a gym instructor can do, but they can also charge for 1-2-1 personal training. The gym can then make money from them by either charging rent, taking a cut of earnings, or having them work for free in lieu of paying.
As such, over the past 10-20 years the level 2 gym instructor course as a standalone course has become more of a stepping stone to the level 3 course. You can by all means do just level 2 if you want, just be wary that most employers will be on the lookout for level 3 qualified PTs.
This course is the main requirement when it comes to personal training. The level 2 is a pre-requisite to this course, so you need to either complete the level 2 first, or do a combined diploma which incorporates both the level 2 and 3 into one course.
What you’ll find with some companies is they offer the separate level 2 and level 3 courses together, but instead of it being an integrated course, you just complete the level 2 then move onto level 3. The problem with this is the amount of repetition, there are multiple modules that require you to do almost exactly the same thing, just in more detail when it comes to level 3.
At Create PT we have consolidated all the course content from level 2 and 3 into one qualification, meaning a more fluid learner journey with no repetition. You’ll still be fully qualified upon completion, and we still meet all the OFQUAL requirements, you just don’t need to waste time repeating A&P exams and redoing the exact same consultation assessment twice.
In addition to this we’ve added a ton of useful content to the level 3 that the OFQUAL RQF does not require. You’ll learn in detail how to perform, coach and troubleshoot a range of compound movements, you’ll go into detail on how to analyse your clients’ food diary and offer recommendations for a range of client types. Plus we have added loads of detail about how to build a successful business once qualified, giving you a tried and tested route to earning £50k plus per year.
personal training. However when reviewing the course content, we took the decision not to offer it. The four modules include:
The problem with this course, is that the first three modules are all covered in the level 3 PT course. The “advanced” personal training sessions do not expand much on what is required in level 3, and the 4th module (although an interesting topic) is not relevant to personal training at all!
So when providers offering this course tell you that you’ll become an “advanced” personal trainer, please understand that you are barely learning anything more advanced than what you learn at level 3. Given that level 4 should be equivalent to 1st year degree, we do not deem the level 4 PT course to be anywhere near this level and should be avoided.
Unfortunately, if you’ve seen a level 5 personal training course anywhere, it is a scam. This does not exist, it is not an OFQUAL regulated qualification, so anyone promoting a level 5 course is making it up. As discussed above, the level 4 barely goes into enough detail to justify it being a level 4, so even if level 5 did exist, it would be completely useless.
As you can probably tell from above, our answer to this is a resounding NO. We don’t just want you to take our word for it though, here are a few more reasons not to…
The last point above is KEY. By recommending that you avoid the level 4 and non-existent level 5 courses, we ARE NOT recommending that you stop learning once you complete level 3.
In fact, level 3 should be seen as the foundation upon which you should build your education and career in fitness. Once qualified, the learning should not stop. Unfortunately, the fitness industry in the UK is not well regulated, once qualified there is no legal requirement to continue your learning in any way. CIMSPA are trying to counter this by making it an expectation with employers that fitness professionals complete a certain amount of CPD (continual professional development) each year, but this is still not a legal requirement.
Instead of a Level 4 “advanced” PT course we would recommend finding a niche that you would like to specialise in. For example if you’d like to coach women then complete a pre & post natal course, a menopause course, a training through the menstrual cycle course or similar. These will educate you in a more more specialised way and help you to appeal to a specific demographic rather than a generic “advanced” course that appeals to no one.
CPD is another way to continue your education, this can be in any format, it does not need to be regulated courses. CPD could be online courses, workshops, reading books or online resources, or even watching Youtube videos. Anything that will help “Continue your Professional Development” is beneficial, so find an area that interests you and get learning!
Further regulated courses may be a great alternative too, topics such as strength and conditioning or nutrition may really add to your personal training business and help you appeal to a different audience. Or something complementary such as sports massage, this may offer an alternative revenue stream and would likely appeal to your existing PT clients as well.
If you’re thinking about becoming a personal trainer, don’t let the confusing array of qualifications on offer put you off. To get started, you just need a good quality level 2 + 3 PT course, make sure you do your research to ensure they credible and the course includes more than the minimum RQF requirements.
When it comes to upskilling we highly recommend choosing a niche you want to specialise in and focus on that, don’t get tempted in by generic level 4 qualifications promising “advanced” education, from our experience, they’re not that advanced, and you’re better of focussing your efforts on specialist knowledge that will help you appeal to a specific demographic or client type.
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