Blog
By PT Hut
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.
You do not have to join CIMSPA to work as a personal trainer, but the course you train on is a different matter. CIMSPA's own careers advice is to take a CIMSPA-endorsed Level 3, and it is one of the checks worth making before you pay. Our Level 3 Diploma Practitioner in Personal Training is awarded by Focus Awards, regulated by Ofqual and recognised by CIMSPA, and those are three organisations doing three different jobs.
CIMSPA holds a Royal Charter, granted by the Privy Council on 5 October 2012 and amended on 16 June 2019. The charter sets it up to work for public benefit by developing professional standards for the sector, and it allows CIMSPA to award Chartered Status to individuals who meet one of its occupational standards.
In practice, CIMSPA sits between the people who employ trainers and the people who train them. Employers help write the standards, training providers build courses to meet them, and CIMSPA checks the courses against the standards.
CIMSPA keeps a library of professional standards, one for each job in the sector. The one for this job is called Personal Trainer, and it sets out the minimum knowledge, skills and behaviours someone needs to do it.
CIMSPA describes the role in one line. Personal trainers "work on a one-to-one or small-group basis to coach clients towards their health and fitness goals". There is a separate standard for gym instructors, which is the Level 2 job, and CIMSPA's careers advice for personal trainers says you complete the Level 2 gym or fitness instructor certificate first, unless your course combines the two.
CIMSPA describes endorsement as more than a quality kitemark. An endorsed qualification or CPD course has been checked against the employer-led professional standards, which is why CIMSPA tells employers that endorsed training is aligned to the standards they helped write.
For you, that means an endorsed Level 3 has been measured against what the job needs, rather than only against what one provider decided to teach. CIMSPA lists endorsed training in its Endorsed Training Directory, and endorsed courses can carry CIMSPA's endorsed logo.
Three names turn up on almost every personal training course, and they are easy to run together. Each one checks something different.
| Organisation | What it does | For our diploma |
|---|---|---|
| Focus Awards | The awarding body, which owns the qualification and issues the certificate | Awards the Level 3 Diploma Practitioner in Personal Training |
| Ofqual | Regulates qualifications, examinations and assessments in England | Regulates the qualification, number 603/5233/4 |
| CIMSPA | The professional body, which writes the standards and endorses training | Recognises the qualification |
| PT Hut | The centre, which teaches and assesses learners | Daniel and Clinton teach and assess the course |
Ofqual regulates the qualification, not the company that teaches it. A provider can be teaching a regulated qualification without being regulated by Ofqual itself, which is our position too. So "is the qualification regulated?" and "who is teaching and assessing it?" are two separate questions, and a course should be able to answer both.
No. Membership is a choice. The National Careers Service, which sets out what the job requires, lists enhanced background checks and, usually, a first aid certificate with CPR. CIMSPA membership is not on that list.
CIMSPA's membership for individuals is organised by job role, and members get access to CPD and offers from its partners. Whether that is worth it depends on how you plan to work and what your employer asks for, so it is a decision for after you qualify rather than before.
The qualification is the part that matters at the start. Level 3 is the standard UK gyms and health clubs ask for when they hire personal trainers, and a regulated qualification is what insurers want to see before they cover you to train clients.
You may still see older courses mention REPs, the Register of Exercise Professionals. In February 2020, CIMSPA and UK Coaching agreed to combine REPs with CIMSPA's directory of exercise and fitness professionals, with REPs members able to move across to CIMSPA membership and the REPs name retired. If a course is still advertised as REPs-accredited, ask the provider what that means now.
A few checks tell you what you are buying.
Our diploma has ten units worth 51 credits, five at Level 2 and five at Level 3, so the gym instructing half that CIMSPA's route puts first is built in. Each unit and its Ofqual reference is on the course page.
It is taught and assessed by Daniel and Clinton. Clinton is a Level 3 personal trainer and online coach with more than 20 years in the industry, and Daniel holds a BSc in Sport Therapy and Rehabilitation and runs his own coaching and therapy businesses. Both have worked with more than 400 clients, so the people checking your work against the standard are doing the job the standard describes.
The written work is evidenced through workbooks, and the practical is assessed live on 1 to 2 practical days in person, with five places in each intake for learners who cannot travel and are assessed on film instead. The assessment page explains how both halves work.
The dates page shows the next intakes and the fee. If you want to ask how our diploma maps to the CIMSPA standard, or anything else before you decide, get in touch through the reservation form. Nothing is paid on the website, and we will reply by email.
Blog
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.
At a Level 3 personal trainer practical assessment, you deliver a real personal training session while a qualified assessor watches you and assesses you against criteria you have seen in advance. The assessor is checking that you can coach a real person safely and well, which is something no written test can show. The written side of the qualification is assessed separately, through coursework.
Reserve
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.
