Good news, my Level 2 Fitness Instructor exams are out the way and now just a few weeks away from the Level 3 Personal Trainer exams, both with No.1 Fitness Education.
Having Level 2 under my belt means I’m qualified to work in a gym environment, show people around the gym floor, instruct the resistance machines and free-weights and write generic programmes for clients, advising generally on machines and exercises and helping clients feel more comfortable navigating the gym floor alone.
So what’s the difference between Level 2 and Level 3 certification? As a Level 2 Fitness Instructor I wouldn’t be able to create personalised fitness and nutrition plans – that only comes with Level 3, as you’re then qualified to work as a personal trainer. With that, comes the wider scope to programme for individual needs and specific training or weight loss goals.
What is the Level 2 Fitness Instructor training like?
If you’re thinking about doing a Personal Trainer course then Level 2 is your gateway to get there. I chose No.1 Fitness Education because it’s one of the last remaining classroom based personal trainer courses, which I feel is super important when learning to teach something physical and practical.
There were eight of us in the class and the sessions were every Saturday for seven weeks in London. To complete Level 3, it’s a total of 12 weeks.
- LOTS of anatomy and physiology – it’s was most definitely school years that I last looked at the inner workings of the body so it was time to brush up and get familiar with the heart, lungs, muscles, nervous system, etc again. I thought I’d struggle but actually the e-learning materials were easy to follow and I found it all surprisingly interesting.
- I had to organise my time – in between each weekly classroom session there was homework and e-learning modules to complete, which probably took around five to six hours a week. I had to prescribe set hours each week to get this work done and then enough time ahead of the exam to revise.
- Having real teacher time was invaluable – now I’ve seen how valuable teacher-student contact is on a PT course, I think choosing a class-based course is essential. The collective of tutors at No.1 were so dedicated to our learning it was impressive. We had them on WhatsApp whenever we needed and there were regular checkins throughout the week. Plus, it was more than just delivering the curriculum, as they were continuously imparting personal experience and industry knowledge along the way, which is what made them stand out.
- We learnt useful teaching techniques – it doesn’t matter how well you know the gym floor, what’s important is being able to relay that information clearly, concisely and safely to a client. So we learnt specific teaching cues and formats. Once you learn the techniques of how to teach, you can apply it to all aspects of fitness instructing so spending the time to get this foundation right it’s super useful.
- We became very familiar with the gym floor – if you already train in a conventional gym this part will be familiar to you. It’s been years since I’ve used traditional resistance machines in a conventional gym (literally can’t remember the last time I used a leg adductor / abductor!) as I train in a functional training CrossFit box so I was a bit rusty on some of the machines but after spending every weekly class practising our teaching cues on each other, by the time the exam rolled around I felt like a pro.
- I learnt a few new moves – we spend much of the classroom sessions learning how to plan and instruct a full hour’s session with a client and the practical exam was based on this. This included dynamic warm up stretches and mobility moves so I was pleased to learn a few new moves to add to my repertoire such as the squat and lunge matrix where you take a client through a 360-degree range of motion.
- The Level 2 exam felt quite scary but worth it – I won’t lie, we were all terrified of doing the exams but it’s a hill not a mountain and once over it, it’s a smoother and more enjoyable ride through to Level 3. Working through past and mock papers was the trick that helped me through.
- Level 2 is a good foundation for what follows – however uncomfortable it felt at the time, learning the anatomy and physiology at Level 2 has set me up for Level 3 as everything else is layered on top. The teaching techniques are also a good grounding for whatever you go onto do in your fitness career.
So far, Level 3 has been diverse and super interesting. We’ve been learning about all the different training systems, how to programme a nutrition plan to meet a client’s goals, eg for weight loss or building muscle, and most importantly how to have an effective consultation with a new client so that we meet their goals and exceed expectations.
The consultation process at No1 Fitness Education is particularly detailed and multi-layered so it’s an area of learning the tutors take a lot of pride in.
As I write this, we’re currently in lockdown for Coronavirus so our Level 3 exams have been postponed until we don’t know when. While on the one hand it’s frustrating as we were just a few weeks away from qualifying, it’s actually not so bad as it means more time to revise all the nitty anatomy and physiology details. Those 50 muscles, origins and insertions will be printed in my mind by the time lockdown is over!
UPDATE: Since the Coronavirus lockdown, No1 Fitness Eduction has been quick to adapt and has just launched a new online PT course that is actually as face to face as possible, with the live calls and live group sessions. Once the lockdown is over students can come in person to do assessments and catch ups.
See you on the other side with my final Level 3 review.
