The role of a personal trainer is to support and coach clients, both on a one-to-one basis and in small groups, to help them achieve their health and fitness goals. Through the design and delivery of creative, personalised exercise programmes, nutritional advice, and lifestyle management support, personal trainers help clients improve their overall wellbeing. They motivate clients to make positive and lasting changes to their behaviour by providing specialist, tailored advice within their scope of practice.

Personal trainers must also recognise when a client requires specialist support and refer them to an appropriate professional, such as a physiotherapist, registered dietitian, or medical specialist. A comprehensive understanding of business, finance, sales and marketing is also essential to enable the personal trainer to build and retain a stable client base. Personal trainers play an important role in improving the health of the nation, creating opportunities that get more people, more active, more often. They are typically employed by a fitness or leisure centre or, once qualified, can be self-employed.

Gateway to completion requirements

For the Level 3 Personal Trainer, the requirements are:

•  the off-the-job requirements have been met, as per the funding rules
• English and maths qualifications in line with the apprenticeship funding rules
• confirmation from the employer that the apprentice has met the behaviour requirements as set out in the apprenticeship assessment plan
• all assessment components have been taken and passed.

Apprenticeship Assessment

The apprenticeship assessment for Personal Trainer contains two methods of assessment. A Portfolio with Question and Answer (Q&A) that must be NCFE assessed and an Observation with Q&A, which can be delivered using one of two models offered by NCFE.