Fitness Guides

Although this page is written about personal trainers, the vast majority of the information applies equally to physical therapists, martial arts instructors and other fitness professionals. There are a great deal of very good trainers out there who are highly qualified, well insured and very, very good at their jobs. Fitness Guides is here to help you to find these quality trainers amongst the less reputable out there.

There are many fine points on the way to choosing a personal trainer or other fitness professional (see our downloadable checklist at the end of this page) but without a doubt, the following three questions are the most important:

Qualifications

The main awarding bodies at the moment are CYQ (YMCA), Premier Fitness and Future Fit. Once again, qualifications vary, and a fully qualified personal trainer will have been trained at level 3 in a variety of disciplines (eg gym, outdoor, nutrition)  Some trainers will have competitive backgrounds or sports science degrees, but this alone does not mean that they know how to pass their knowledge on to you, the client. Many of these trainers will have taken the time to complete a recognised personal training award too or will have done a more hands on higher education course. The best way to find out is to ask them - you are looking for a trainer who knows the science behind the training and how to relate that to individual clients. Other good organisations to look out for qualifications from are the Australian Institute of Sport, the ACSM, NSCA and NASM. If in doubt, ask the trainer about his course - 100% correspondence courses do not really cut the mustard in our opinion.

Insurance

Every reputable personal trainer will carry Public Liability insurance to the value of at least £2m. And a bona fide professional will not even need asking to show you his insurance.All our advertisers had insurance at the time of posting - just check it is still valid!

Registration

The "Big 3" for registration in the UK at the moment are the NRPT, REPS and FitPro. These bodies require trainers to be both qualified and insured each year, and therefore allow some regulation within the industry. The price of registration is low, so whilst registration is not compulsory, it is advisable. If your potential trainer is not registered then you have to ask yourself why not!