There are no two ways about it, group exercise is the mainstream and people of all
shapes, sizes and interests are attracted to classes each and every week. The
numbers back this up as well. A recently industry survey found that 4.86 million
participants per week take part in group exercise. This only seems to be increasing
year on year.
If you're already qualified in exercise to music then you really don't really need us to
tell you how exciting being instructor is, but what if you're keen to grow your
audience and branch out into other things? There are obviously a couple of ways to
do this, one being to teach more classes or more locations. Another is to increase
the services you offer and the range of clients you can work with. This is where CPD
and new qualifications come into play.
The beauty about our top 5 is a lot of the hard work has already been done when
you gained your Level 2 Exercise to Music qualification, in terms of entry
requirements. The following will help you take things to the next level...
Pre and Postnatal
It's not that long ago that pregnant women were told to put their feet and just take
things easy. It's a fact that rest is going to be important for mother and baby, but now
pregnant women are being encouraged to remain as physically active as possible,
for as long as they possibly can.
The Level 3 Pre and Postnatal Exercise Instructor course is designed to help you get
more people moving. It's a great opportunity for exercise to music instructors to
expand their horizons and learn about exercise guidelines for pre and postnatal
clients; nutrition and pregnancy; child birth and more.
With this information, you'll be able to welcome pre and postnatal women into your
classes with open arms.
Gym Instructor
A bit of a change of pace if you're only used to working in a studio. This qualification
greatly expands your repertoire allowing you to also work with clients on the gym
floor. Also, if you ever have designs on becoming a personal trainer, then the Level 2
Gym Instructor acts an entry to requirement for that qualification.
As a gym instructor, day to day you're be involved with performing inductions for new
members, giving diet advice, maintaining exercise equipment and planning sessions
for clients.
Pilates
If you're already comfortable in a studio setting, mat-based Pilates is a great string to
add to your bow. This qualification helps you get to grips with founder Joseph Pilates'
original techniques and concepts. From there you'll be able to teach your own
classes and help participants gain a range of strengthening and flexibility benefits.
After qualifying in mat Pilates, a reformer Pilates course is the next logical step and
it'l help you get hands on with the specialised universal reformer.
Yoga
There are plenty of similarities between yoga and Pilates though many choose the
path of yoga for its holistic and even spiritual benefits. Becoming a fully qualified
yoga teacher is a great way to ensure your clients develop a strong, mind, body and
spirit collection. It also acts as the perfect complement to a higher energy and more
intensive exercise to music class.
As with other courses on this list, there are no formal prerequisites, so providing you
have an interest in yoga, you'll be able to pick things up really easily.
Older Adults
As with the pre and postnatal CPD, Level 3 Exercise for Older Adults is fantastic
opportunity for you to widen you client base. The NHS predicts that life expectancy
will rise to the late 80s by 2030 so demands for your services is only going to
increase.
This course tackles a range of interesting subjects including anatomical and
physiological ageing, the benefits of exercise for older adults and behaviour change
and motivation.
About the author
Written by Josh Douglas-Walton, a writer for HFE, the UK's leading provider of
exercise to music courses and fitness instructor qualifications including personal
training, Pilates and yoga.
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