Blog
By PT Hut
Yes, you can do most of a personal trainer course online in the UK. The theory, from anatomy to nutrition to programme design, can all be studied from home, and CIMSPA, the professional body for the sector, says a Level 3 can be taken online, in person or as a mix of the two. What cannot happen entirely on a screen is the proof that you can coach, because a regulated personal training qualification assesses you delivering real sessions to a real person.
So the useful question about an online course is how it assesses the practical. Ours is mostly online and studied in your own time. Most learners then come to 1 to 2 practical days in person, and each intake holds five places for learners who cannot travel, who complete the same practical assessment on film. Either way, you finish with the same Level 3 Diploma Practitioner in Personal Training.
The written half of a personal training qualification suits online study well. On our diploma, that covers how the body is put together and responds to training, applying nutrition inside what a personal trainer is allowed to advise, planning programmes that progress for one person, and running yourself as a business. The Level 2 units add health and wellbeing, client motivation, professional practice and health and safety, and how to run a first consultation.
That work is evidenced through workbooks you complete in your own time, with your tutor checking in along the way. There is no exam hall and no timed paper, and no single sitting decides whether you pass. If you work full time or have a family, studying around them is the whole point of doing it this way.
CIMSPA's careers advice notes that cost, study time and guided learning hours vary with the format, the qualification and the provider, so compare like with like when you look at two courses.
Two of the units on our diploma are about coaching people rather than knowing things. At Level 2 there is supervised gym instructing, and at Level 3 there is delivering personal training sessions, which at 9 of the 51 credits is the largest unit in the qualification. Both are assessed by watching you do it. All ten units are listed on the course page, and Focus Awards, who award the diploma, publish the full list.
A written qualification can prove you know what a hip hinge is. Only a live session can prove you can teach one, to a person who has never done it, while watching their back and listening to what they tell you. That is why a course can move the reading online but not the coaching.
There are two ways it can be done, and both are worth asking about before you enrol.
The first is in person. You come to a venue and deliver a session while an assessor watches. On our course that happens over 1 to 2 practical days at the venue published with your intake, and the days build up to the assessment rather than dropping you into it cold. Our post on what happens at the practical assessment walks through the day.
The second is on film. Your session is recorded and the assessor assesses it from the footage. We hold five places per intake for learners who cannot get to the venue, and they complete the same practical assessment that way. There are only five, so mention it when you reserve if you need one.
Whichever way a course does it, a few questions tell you what you are getting.
Some people searching for an online personal trainer course want something else, which is to train clients over video once they are qualified. That is a separate skill with its own qualification. Focus Awards' Level 3 Award in Delivering Online Personal Training is aimed at learners who already hold a Level 3 personal training qualification, and it covers the technology and how to plan and deliver sessions online.
It is also part of what our tutors do. Clinton is a Level 3 personal trainer and an online coach, with more than 20 years in the industry. If online coaching is where you want to end up, the order is the same. You qualify as a personal trainer first, then learn to do the job through a screen.
A course being online tells you how it is taught. These checks tell you what it leads to.
It suits you if you need to fit study around work, family or distance, and if you would rather work through the theory at your own pace than sit in a classroom on fixed days. On our course, the practical days are the part you travel for, and the five filmed places exist for people who cannot make that journey.
However much of the course is online, at some point you will coach a real person while someone who trains people for a living watches. The practical days are there to build you up to that, and Clinton teaches them the way he coaches, getting the movement right first and then loading it.
If you are still working out the route as a whole, our post on how to become a personal trainer in the UK covers the steps around the qualification, from first aid and insurance to working for yourself.
The assessment page explains how the written work and the practical are assessed, and the dates page shows the next intakes and the fee. If you want to ask about a remote place, or how the online study works week to week, get in touch through the reservation form. Nothing is paid on the website, and we will reply by email.
Blog
CIMSPA is the Chartered Institute for the Management of Sport and Physical Activity, the professional development body for the UK's sport and physical activity sector. For a Level 3 personal trainer it matters in two ways. It writes the professional standard that sets out what a personal trainer must know and be able to do, and it endorses the qualifications that meet that standard.
To become a personal trainer in the UK, you need a Level 3 qualification in personal training, with the Level 2 gym instructing qualification underneath it. You can take them as two courses, one after the other, or as a single diploma that includes both. Once you are qualified, most trainers also hold a first aid certificate with CPR, take out insurance and pass a background check, then either join a gym or start working for themselves.
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Tell us which intake you want. Nothing is charged here: we email you to arrange payment, and paying is what confirms your place.
Rather talk it through first? Email pthutuk@gmail.com.
