Why Colleges and Training Providers Must Ditch The Classroom and Team Up With Gyms and Current Personal Trainers to Deliver Fitness Education.

I have been working in Fitness Education for almost a decade. Starting as a tutor then worked my way to course director of a large training organization. I now work independently with some of the UK's largest College Groups and private providers to consult, develop and manage their fitness and sports curriculum.?

Over the years, I have seen courses start and run with some fantastic completion statistics and outcomes. In absolute contrast, I have seen courses start and be an absolute disaster. This article hopefully gives an insight on how providers can guarantee full courses of highly motivated learners that complete and move into fantastic outcomes. I also hope this helps providers avoid absolute train wreck provisions.

Ultimately the success of all my provisions comes down to the very same principles and model I consult time and time again.

First and foremost and importantly the very topic of this article. For a fitness provision to be successful it must be delivered within the fitness environment and around those that are currently operating in the profession. I would even go as far as saying the Tutor must also be current as a personal trainer or coach, active with clients and up to date with the industry trends. I have seen far too many providers allocate someone that has never operated as a PT to deliver the course, on common occasions I have seen the tutor from a different department jump in on an evening to deliver the course. This results in the same outcome each time, MASSIVE drop-offs.

?I will go into the following areas and expand why this is important and the benefits of delivering the course in an active Gym or leisure centre.

1. Recruitment of GOOD quality and highly motivated learners
2. Competency of Learning outcomes and learner confidence
3. Retention of learners and success rate
4. Information Advice and Guidance (IAG), Career Opportunities, and Industry currency.

Recruitment of GOOD quality of learners

Although bums on seats are not the priory in our industry, we still need moderate class sizes to ensure the course is worth running. Without learners, there is no course, with no course we don’t have a job. Therefore recruitment of learners is number one on my list of why we must deliver courses in gyms alongside experts.

As you notice I say, good learners, we must spend time on screening the learners to ensure they are not only going to be suitable but also will commit and complete the course too. By recruiting in a gym you already have exposure to the best candidates, they are already actively involved in the exercise, they have an interest, they are already committing to achieving results and developing themselves. The Gym membership base acts as a captive audience, you can run career evenings, induction days, and even promote via the gym marketing channels. We will discuss retention in more detail later but recruiting from the gym's client base increases retention dramatically. Overall the type of learners that are recruited and enrolled at the gym, generally are more motivated, more committed, and have a strong passion to complete and secure progression afterward.

Recruiting in a gym is also more cost-effective! Rather than wasting cash flow and staff time on managing and closing leads from pricey marketing campaigns, that draw in a lot of "tire kickers", the Gym owner is more than likely to recommend half the cohort themselves with no cost at all.

By recruiting online or using alternative methods, you have to draw the candidates to your site instead of going to where they go up to 4 times per week already. You run the risk of bringing in poor-quality candidates that may apply via the ad but not ever sign up or even turn up to the enrolment.

There is also an element of trust associated with recruiting from the gym. If the candidates see that the gym is allowing the provider r into their "home" and endorsing the course, the prospective learners will trust the provider and are more likely to buy into the program and choose you. By marketing online or from the college, you have no way to stand out from other providers offering the same program and course.

When recruiting from a gym site, you must also remember the indirect audience you can reach. Gym members may not want to do the course but they may have family members or friends interested. It is surprising how many people apply for the course indirectly via a friend or a referral from the gym.

?Rule 1 - If the gym endorses it, it’s the best option! This principle also works for me when chatting to new gyms, They trust me and I have relationships with other gym owners. Therefore if they trust me, they trust the provider! Rule 2 - You must have a relationship with the gym to enter their home and market to their members.

?Competency of outcomes and learner confidence.

Without great delivery staff, Fantastic learning material, and innovative gym space, a fitness course is quite literally a list of aims and outcomes on a piece of paper. The learning experience is how the learners truly learn and develop the skills they need to go off and practice as personal trainers and fitness professionals.

By running a course from a gym environment, the learners are exposed to not only a fantastic tutor but other coaches, professionals, and even clients that can give real-world feedback and advice. Learners that get the chance to practice in a working gym environment also experience what it feels like to be on a commercial gym floor. Training clients on the gym floor for the first time after completing a course remote or in a classroom can be extremely daunting.

I generally find from exit reviews that learners who complete courses in a real-time gym environment find themselves leaving the course more confident and more equipped to head into a role over their college or online counterparts.

Retention of learners

When it comes to retaining learners and achieving a 100% success rate, operating out of a gym with a tutor that is currently in the industry is paramount. Ultimately this comes down to recruiting good candidates initially from point 1. However, I have seen time and time again that the learners that come directly from the gym tend to stick with it for the following reasons.

• They already attend this gym and come to the site regularly, this means it makes sense logistically for the learner and they have no problem attending.
• They are representing the gym and want to stay committed and focused through the studies
• They are already highly motived and committed to making personal changes, they have a membership and show commitment already
• If the tutor is working in the industry the learner will be motivated and inspired a lot more than a tutor that has just been allocated the course and is not currently in the industry
• The environment is exciting, it’s a real-world environment they want to work in they will enjoy it, in contrast, adults do not want to go back to college.
• Community, the gym is not only a place to get fit, it is a community. The learners will become a part of the community and build relations with members, staff and feel a part of the community.

All these points synergized together to create a fantastic environment to learn and therefore produce retention and outstanding completion numbers.

?Career guidance and opportunities

?It's important as providers that we offer IAG and career guidance to learners. Be it signposting to the next course or pointing learners into the right direction for employment. What better way to advise a learner and give them a look at what roles they could move into than being in the very working environment that the roles are operated from. Personal Trainer, Managers, Sales staff, Membership consultants, and even rehabilitation staff all operate from the gym commercially and can be available to chat to at any time. The advice on starting in the industry and information on what career paths to follow is priceless to a learner on their journey as fitness professionals.

What better place for a learner to gain exposure to potential employers than a place that is actively looking for new staff, people to gain work experience, or even begin working as a self-employed coach.

All the gyms I work with see the courses as an opportunity to look at potential candidates. We have seen a lot of learners go directly from the course into employment. This opportunity simply does not exist by completing the course externally. The gym has had the chance to gain feedback from the tutor and look at the candidates for 10- 12 weeks over the course before the end date.

To wrap up - working with industry experts and delivering from fantastic sites is what providers should be doing to give the very best learning experience. That being said it is never straightforward to organize and manage a program like this. It takes a lot of relationship building and constant management to ensure the experience is the very best.

I have a vast network of gyms, delivery staff and find myself continuing to recruit new sites and tutors on behalf of the colleges.

If you are a provider or a gym that would like to work on a project like this, please drop me an email anytime.

Chris Fairless

Independent Consultant - Former Army Physical Training Instructor

[email protected]?