As a personal trainer, one thing you want to make sure you keep doing is to continue perfecting your craft. There are many ways to do that, one being completing Continuous Professional Development (CPD) courses throughout your career.
After all, competition is fierce, and new scientific discoveries and developments come to light every month. If you want to stand out from the crowd and make sure that your business is a success, you need to keep moving forward.
A while back, we discussed in detail the best way for personal trainers to choose the right CPD courses for them. This article aims to list 10 highly regarded CPD courses that would suit a wide range of personal training specialities. Let's dig in.
Do you have a keen interest in Olympic weightlifting, and you'd like to be able to coach your clients in learning Olympic lifts safely? Maybe you want to train athletes. British Weightlifting has you covered.
There are two levels of qualifications. Level 1 gives you the ability to assist another coach. However, Level 2 permits you to take athletes to weightlifting competitions yourself without any supervision.
The course itself is highly practical, and the assessment will take place over two days. For L1, you need to show that you can correctly cue weightlifting movements, i.e. jerk, clean, and snatch, and assist individual athletes in correcting mistakes. At Level 2, you can support many athletes, and the focus here is on developing your skills as a coach.
www.hfe.co.uk/special-populations
Training the ageing population can become a lucrative niche for a personal trainer, even if you feel a little anxious about working with 60+ clients. First of all, they are super underserved by trainers so that you wouldn't have as much of a competition. Secondly, they have the time and the means to exercise when other populations are busy with work or family.
The Level 3 Exercise for Older Adults Course by HFE is an excellent place to start if you want to learn the specific needs of the elderly population. Seniors need special attention when exercising. Their body is more prone to injuries.
Their bone and muscle mass might have already decreased, so it's super important that you learn the specifics on how to take care of them and achieve progressive overload in their training. You'll learn all that and also how to screen and lead consultations, so they feel welcome and encouraged in a training environment.
www.hfe.co.uk/exercise-specialist
You may also want to consider developing yourself as a personal trainer by taking the HFE Level 4 Low Back Pain Certificate Course. This is one of the most highly regarded qualifications in the industry regarding lower back management.
Pain in the lower back is frequently experienced by adults today due to sedentary lifestyles. Chances are, whatever population you work with, most of your clients have already experienced lower back pain at some point in their life, or they quite like will do. When you add low back pain specialist skills to your resume, you'll be able to help your current clients better and attract niche clients who want to manage their low back pain through exercise.
You'll learn how exercise affects clients with lower back pain, assessment methods to identify the source of the problem, factors that may aggravate low back pain and how to control them, and you'll learn how to work effectively as part of a multidisciplinary team.
origympersonaltrainercourses.co.uk/course/level-4-obesity-weight-management-course
You do not need us to tell you that there is a big problem regarding obesity. Sadly, this is a market that is growing. Therefore, you may want to consider taking an obesity course so that you can help clients lose weight safely and effectively.
In some instances, you may work alongside a GP to get client referrals and help the person in question manage their weight over the long-term so that their health improves. Obesity is a significant risk factor for many lifestyle diseases, including hypertension, type 2 diabetes, digestive problems and many else. Becoming a specialist trainer able to help clients through a life-changing transformation is a rewarding career path.
The course is accredited by both REPs and CIMSPA. You'll learn everything there is to know about obesity. You'll understand the defining factors and also metabolic syndrome. During the course, you'll learn how to assess the gravity of the clients' obesity, what treatment considerations there are before prescribing a plan, how to deliver the programme and support your client's weight loss journey. You'll also have an understanding of long-term behaviour change.
If your dream job is to become a strength and conditioning coach for athletes, completing the UKSCA's S&C course is paramount. However, strength and conditioning training is crucial for any client with specific athletic goals in mind.
If you want to work with people who already have a fitness base, this is an excellent option to consider. Whether recreational sports fans or athletes, you can help people achieve their goals by putting together effective programmes.
The UK Strength and Conditioning Association is the governing body in the UK for this. They hold workshops for specific areas like Applied Coaching Science, Weight Lifting for Sports Performance, Plyometrics, Agility and Speed and Planning Effective Programs. Once you feel confident in your skills and have case studies to prove them, you can register for the ASCC assessment and get accredited by UKSCA.
The Level 3 Personal Trainer diploma doesn't provide in-depth education on nutrition. If you'd like to learn more and add nutrition coaching as a service feature, it might be a good idea to complete additional courses on the topic.
The course by Precision Nutrition is an excellent option because you can learn at your own pace, and the course is delivered entirely online. Focused on habit-based coaching, you will have several modules to complete, and you will get online support and a textbook.
Another way to widen your personal trainer skills is to learn about using and coaching people to use specific fitness equipment like the kettlebell. Kettlebells are a piece of flexible and beneficial equipment that can be suitable for all fitness levels, whether an experienced athlete or someone new to exercise. One of the great things about this is that you are focusing on a piece of equipment that does not take up a lot of room and is easy to purchase.
The course provides blended learning. You'll go through a series of online learning materials then attend a 2-day workshop in person. The course is available for both fitness instructors and personal trainers. We highly recommend checking with the Future Fit Training team about upcoming dates in your area before purchasing.
origympersonaltrainercourses.co.uk/course/level-3-exercise-referral
Exercise Referral is another exciting path to consider if you are a personal trainer looking to develop and achieve more. By taking an Exercise Referral Course (used to be called GP Referral), you will have the ability to work with people who have chronic illnesses or physical conditions. You can help them enhance their health and well-being to enjoy a better quality of life.
You can build relationships with private medical clinics or the NHS to provide support for people currently under the care of a doctor. People living with hypertension, asthma, being overweight or having other lifestyle diseases can benefit significantly from working with a personal trainer qualified in exercise referral. This course can also provide you with foundational knowledge if you'd like to go ahead and become an obesity specialist.
If you currently offer personal training services and you have female clients, there is a high possibility that some of them are going to require your support and expertise during pregnancy. This is why it makes a lot of sense to develop your skills further by taking a pre and postnatal course.
Postnatal symptoms tend to last for several years once a woman has given birth, so this sort of service is a lot more beneficial than you may realise. If a woman has ever given birth, she is deemed postnatal. Therefore, it is undoubtedly an excellent idea to think about taking the Level 3 CPD Qualification that Active IQ offers if you have many female clients.
EMD UK is the national governing body for group exercise. If your goal is to learn how to safely and effectively work with pregnant or postnatal women, this course will certainly provide you with all the knowledge you need to get started. The course delivery is entirely online, and you have a whole year to complete the course, worksheets and case studies.
origympersonaltrainercourses.co.uk/course/cpd-boxing-pad-workout
Last but not least, you may want to think about developing your skills by doing a Boxing and Pad Work Course. These courses are great because they enable you to help those with a keen interest in boxing. Still, many people are using this as a method of losing weight.
After all, pad work is known as being a highly successful method for burning calories. The Origym course will be delivered via a 1-day workshop, so it's best to check with the organisers to see when the next available time is in our area. You will need to have a Level 2 Gym Instructor qualification to be eligible.
The flexibility of boxing and the low equipment cost make this a highly viable option for many aspiring personal trainers who want to add to their skill set. Padwork is also a great way to exercise outdoors if you are one of those personal trainers who train clients outside.
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