A passion for fitness can take you places beyond your local gym.
If becoming a personal trainer (PT) is something you’re interested in exploring, UOW College offers vocational fitness courses with flexible study options to give you the best start on your journey towards achieving your career goals.
What does a personal trainer do?
As a PT, you’ll ensure that your clients’ fitness and health goals are met through assessment, planning, and monitoring of their progress.
- You’ll listen to your clients’ goals and assess the best course of action based on factors such as weight, current health status, diet, and lifestyle.
- From here, you’ll be able to create an individualised training plan that meets their goals and health needs.
- An important part of being a personal trainer is being able to educate your client on how to exercise effectively. This includes demonstrating the safest and most efficient methods of completing a workout, whether that means using gym equipment or showing clients exercises they can practice at home.
- You’ll meet with clients regularly to measure their progress, provide motivation and support and check that their personalised routine is going smoothly.
If this doesn’t interest you enough, you may have the opportunity to work in more exotic locations than your local gym. PTs are needed anywhere gyms exist, which includes cruise ships, health and wellness retreats, and hotel resorts. In short: you might be able to take your passion for health and fitness around the world, with transferable skills that allow you to work in any location.
What qualifications do I need to become a personal trainer?
Being a PT requires you to have background knowledge on health and fitness, as well as experience on what it’s like to be part of the fitness industry. Through UOW College, you’ll be able to gain the education and work placement needed to be the best PT you can be.
UOW College offers a Certificate III in Fitness (SIS40221) and a Certificate IV in Fitness (SIS30321), which will give you the qualifications needed to pursue this career. Even better, you can complete either course within just 5 months.
A Certificate III in Fitness will equip you with basic knowledge surrounding the fitness industry. If you gain this certificate alone, you can become a gym instructor or group exercise instructor.
A Certificate IV in Fitness builds on the Certificate III, and delves further into one-on-one client services, collaboration with allied health professionals, administration, and how to be a team leader in a fitness environment. This provides the qualification you need to work as a personal trainer.
The best part is, you don’t need an ATAR to be able to qualify for these courses. UOW College can determine your entry into the course based on a basic online literacy and numeracy assessment. Plus, completion of these fitness courses can guarantee you entry into the UOW College Diploma of Medical and Health Sciences (Fast Track).
This provides a pathway to the second year of a UOW degree, such as a Bachelor of Exercise Science, Bachelor of Nutrition Science or Bachelor of Medical and Health Sciences. Choosing this pathway will allow you to work in the industry whilst continuing to advance your education with a UOW bachelor's degree.
Through UOW College, you can gain each necessary qualification in a way which suits your needs and lifestyle. You can study these courses either by distance (online and face to face) or on campus. Plus, as a College student, you’ll have added support services to assist you in the course and advance your study skills.
Meet Ryan
Ryan Jackson left school at 15 to study a trade but at 26 decided it was time for a career change. Ryan heard about UOW College through one of the trainers at the gym he attended, and he decided the time was right to follow his dream.
“He told me the UOW College course was fast-paced and something that I could still fit around my landscaping business,” Ryan says.
Although it was sometimes difficult juggling work and study commitments, the staff and students at UOW College made the experience supportive and one he will not forget.
“Coming into the UOW campus and completing practicals and meeting like-minded people who were invested in learning was perhaps the most enjoyable part,” Ryan says.
“It made it feel like we were in it together and not just doing it on your own. And the trainers were great. I really bonded with them.”
Meet Alice
Alice is a third-year student studying a Bachelor of Communications at UOW, and while she’s always had a passion for fitness, she was never sure how to turn this into a career.
"I really wanted to go into exercise science as I enjoy fitness and want to be involved in that somehow. But science isn't my strength," she says.
Alice decided to begin her Certificate III in Fitness at UOW College while studying her bachelor at UOW, using a unique blend of skills to carve a career path for herself that would previously have seemed impossible.
Alice owes her ability to study both a vocational course and university degree to the flexible study options available at UOW College. She’s able to attend online courses in between face-to-face practical sessions within the course.
For Alice, this kind of approach, along with the added support of her peer leading coaches, has been an essential factor in her success as a college student.
“With the fitness course specifically, it is very small and intimate. I've made good friends in my class, and we are all very close," she says. “The trainers are very hands-on and they reach out to us individually to ask how we are going."
Where do I go from here?
If fitness and health are your passion, personal training can be an extremely rewarding career choice. Through UOW College, you’ll be able to take that leap towards making your love of fitness into a career.
Find out more about fitness courses at UOW College.