entertaining your community

Introduction

The industrialist, Henry Ford, claimed that exercise is bunk. If you are healthy, you don’t need it: if you are sick, don’t take it. It is difficult to see many people agreeing with that today. It is fashionable to be fit. There are health and fitness clubs in abundance and health advice is a major industry. As a Roman philosopher once said, “as long as you live, keep learning how to live.”

All types of local authority except for county councils provide a range of leisure and recreational services for the public to enjoy: tourist information offices, museums, art galleries and sports and leisure centres. Fitness instructors can be found in leisure centres where they are trained to help people have healthier lifestyles. Job titles can vary from Health and Fitness Instructor to Health and Fitness Consultants.

Work Environment

Work takes place mainly in the gym or swimming pool where instructors help people of all ages and abilities to pursue their chosen activity and achieve realistic goals. It can be noisy and busy and constant vigilance is required. Swimmers and gym users have to be prevented from getting into difficulty.

It is a standard 37 hour week but this is variable as hours are allocated on a sessional basis and can involve unsociable hours (including evening and weekend work). There are also a number of ad hoc hours available in a variety of classes.

Daily Activities

Instructors may supervise sessions involving anything from exercise to music to relaxation and stress management. Some instructors specialise in only one or two activities. As clients pound away at the treadmill, cycling like mad and getting nowhere or struggle with huge weights, they can rest assured that they are in safe hands. Properly trained fitness instructors have basic medical knowledge and know how to deal with clients who are not in the best physical condition - including the dangers of being overweight. With the appropriate education and training, instructors may be asked to:

• take initial appointments and assessments
• take induction sessions for new clients
• devise individual exercise programmes
• take mid and end of session checks
• ensure equipment is in safe working order
• perform fitness assessments
• offer dietary advice
• supervise the gymnasium
• oversee GP referral sessions
• maintain a centre diary/file
• distribute and collect talkback sheets and summarise them
• offer advice on possible adaptations to a clients’ training programmes to provide variety and ensure they stay with the course
• provide incentives/challenges to keep users motivated
• monitor drop outs and those who complete a course, and submit the results to the Community Fitness Officer.

Skills & Interests

To do this job well you would need to have:

• energy
• a healthy constitution
• a mature, responsible, inspiring and empathic attitude
• excellent communication skills
• some sporting ability.

It is also desirable to have knowledge of people who are ‘out of condition”; twelve months practical experience of working with a variety of atypical populations; basic medical knowledge (arthritis, coronary heart disease, diabetes) and experience of fitness testing.

Entry Requirements

It is essential to have a:

• fitness qualification in weight training
• fitness qualification (awarded by the RSA, for example) in at least two of: exercise to music, circuit training, aquafit or resistance training, fitness room inductions, fitness assessment, relaxation and stress management and de-conditioned clients.

It would also be helpful to have an awareness of, and be working towards, membership of the Fitness Industry Association (FIA). This is a trade organisation representing operators of health and fitness clubs. Members of the FIA must adhere to a code of practice which promotes standards, quality and customer welfare. The association has taken over the register of exercise and health professionals which maintains details of ‘approved’ instructors. It is also desirable to have:

• a personal trainer award
• first aid qualification
• Physical Education Association (PEA) certificate or higher
• a recognised qualification in exercise counselling and fitness assessments.

Estimated salary range

Sessional pay around £9 per hour.

Please note that salary information is a guide only and there may be local agreements in place. For further information about salaries for particular positions, please contact your local council directly.

Future prospects & opportunities

The health and fitness industry is a growth area and there are many opportunities for work in different specialisms by getting more qualifications. There are also administrative positions such as Leisure Manager and Sports Facility Manager.

Many major hotels and private leisure complexes employ fitness instructors and the pay is sometimes better than in local government but the work is often less varied.

Related Occupations

Follow this link to view a list of all related occuptions in Entertaining Your Community.
Alternatively, follow this link to view all career profiles placed in the same job area.

Further Information & Services

Recreation Management journal.

Institute of Leisure and Amenity Management www.ilam.co.uk

English Sports Council www.sportengland.org

Scottish Sports Council www.sportscotland.org.uk

SkillsActive www.skillsactive.com

Fitness Industry Association www.fia.org.uk

Institute of Sport and Recreation Management www.isrm.co.uk

Swimming Teachers’ Association www.sta.co.uk

Lifetime Health & Fitness www.lifetimehf.co.uk

Physical Education Association www.pea.uk.com

You may find further information about this area of work in your local Connexions service/careers office/school careers library - under MB.

What should I do next?

Look for current local government Fitness Instructor vacancies in the following places:

• LGjobs.com - the official recruitment website for local government.
• Weekly, bi-weekly or monthly jobs bulletins produced by local councils themselves, available from libraries, community centres, town halls/main civic buildings and central council personnel departments.
• Local council websites.
• Local newspapers
• National newspapers - The Guardian is particularly well known for its public sector job advertisements on a Wednesday.

Find out about the council and get some work experience if possible by:

• Making the most of work experience placements arranged through your school, college or university.
• Contacting councils close to your home to find out about the work experience opportunities they offer.
• Talking to someone who does the job you are interested in - ring your local council to see if someone can spare some time.
• Making an appointment to see a careers adviser for more specific information about jobs and training.