Thursday 1 November 2018

I've *finally* gained my level 3 PT! Part 2

Over 65 hours of online learning and five full weekends of physical training complete, I am so happy to say I've finally gained my level 3 PT qualification! If you have no idea how we got here, take a look at Part 1 of this journey here. I've since had a few questions about what the qualification entailed and what I thought of No1 Fitness Education as a course, so here it is.


The course
To be honest, the hardest part was getting through the online learning! It was quite repetitive but they do have to cover all the basics too, even the things that are common sense (which means yes, you have to read about the potential hazard of slipping on wet grass when training a client outside..) You can complete this at your own pace though and it's fairly easy to do on the go as it's all online. It was ideal for me to do between patients!

The five physical sessions, however, went a lot faster. It was a great opportunity to put all the online information into practice and reinforce things such as technique for the major lifts. We were also able to programme sessions for each other and learn about all the different systems of training, which is something that is much easier to learn in person than it is to do online. 

One thing I would say the team at No1 Fitness were great at was the support and reassurance they provided for us. A Whatsapp group was set up, where we could voice any concerns we had and bounce questions off each other. They also sent us some mock papers and made sure we were thoroughly prepared for each exam, which is obviously ideal.

Another perk at No1 Fitness was the chance to use the gym whilst completing the course. Everyone had full access to both studios and can join in a class or train themselves whenever they wanted to, which I thought was pretty cool.

Just finding out we had passes our level 3 practical exams with the group - the best feeling! 

The exams
Apart from the exams at the end of each online learning section, there are a few other exams along the way that we had to sit in person. The first lot were for our level 2 gym instructor exams. These involved:
1. An anatomy and physiology MCQ (multiple choice question) paper
2. Writing a programme for a client
3. Coaching a client through several exercises as requested by the examiner

I was super happy to get great feedback and results from my examiner about my level 2 exams, which motivated me to crack on with the level 3 studying! Level 3 exams were comprised of the same structure as above, but at a more advanced level. The MCQ also covered a much broader range of topics as we were tested on everything we had learned throughout the whole course.

Helping each other through the last stages of the exam..!
What will I do with my qualifications?
I was pretty confident with what I was doing in the gym but this course has given me a much deeper level of understanding of the 'why' behind what I do. I understand the training systems so much more and the ideology of training antagonistic (opposite) muscle groups together instead of just picking random exercises.

I have something very exciting planned for January 2019, which involves one of my favourite training methods - pilates! It will involve both group and one-on-one training with myself in some absolutely incredible facilities, which are still under construction. So keep an eye on my Instagram @jesssriv as I'll keep this updated with the progress of any personal training or classes that I teach.

Jess x




Share:

No comments

Post a Comment

Blog Design Created by pipdig