The American Council on Exercise (ACE) has launched a self-paced course with the online learning platform Coursera catering to aspiring fitness professionals.
The course – “Intro to Personal Training: A Career Starter Certificate” –equips students with fitness industry essentials to ensure they are job-ready and includes helpful video interviews with gym owners to learn what employers are looking for in trainers.
“For nearly 40 years, ACE has been dedicated to providing high-quality, evidence-based education for exercise professionals and health coaches,” ACE president and CEO Cedric X. Bryant, PhD, FACSM, said. “This collaboration with Coursera reflects our mission to empower individuals to begin their journey into the fitness profession with accessible, foundational resources that make career entry achievable in a relatively short amount of time.”
The course also includes training in sales skills to engage and retain clients, the fundamentals of designing personalized fitness plans using the ACE Integrated Fitness Training Model, behavior-change coaching, and strategies for creating an inclusive, supportive environment for clients.
ACE and Coursera’s personal training program comes as the future looks bright for hopeful fitness trainers and instructors, as the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that employment will grow 14 percent to 2033, considerably faster than the average for all occupations.
