CPD Courses for Personal Trainers

The health and fitness industry is always evolving, placing greater emphasis on the need for qualified, skilled and competent trainers. Personal trainers have to create and lead individual and group exercises that are tailor-made for the needs of their clients, conduct client assessments, help establish healthy nutritional behaviours and motivate their clients to succeed. This article will provide a brief overview of CPD for personal trainers, the REP’s and CIMPSA requirements, as well outline what is needed for membership renewal.

CPD in the Personal Training and Fitness Industry

In order to be successful in such a changing industry, personal trainers need to possess a correct blend of education, experience and personal qualities to help clients achieve their health and fitness goals. They need to have specific knowledge about everything from the physiology; structures, and functions of the skeletal system, to nutrition and the effects of exercise.

Personal trainers have many roles and are responsible for maintaining the scope of practice for their profession and within the confines of their certification. These advances happen all the time, and only a trainer who furthers their knowledge and education regularly can keep up with them all - so proper training is crucial. 

Continuing Professional Development (or CPD) is a way for professional trainers to demonstrate that they continue to learn and develop throughout their careers, and are able to work safely, legally and effectively within their industry.

Undertaking CPD courses, events or workshops gives clients’ confidence that you are professional and take ongoing learning seriously as a personal trainer or fitness professional, and builds on the fundamentals of a personal trainer’s existing qualifications.

Register of Exercise Professionals (REP’s)

The Register of Exercise Professionals (REP's) is the governing body for personal trainers and fitness professionals in the UK. Founded in 2002, the REPs register lists more than 20,000 people and includes instructors, trainers and sports coaches and provides quality assurance and confidence to the public and to organisations that professionals on the REPs register are:

• Appropriately qualified
• Have the required knowledge, competence and skills to perform the role effectively 

The Chartered Institute for the Management of Sport and Physical Activity (CIMSPA)

In February 2021, it was announced that CIMSPA (The Chartered Institute for the Management of Sport and Physical Activity) and UK Coaching had reached an agreement to combine the Register of Exercise Professionals (REPs) with the CIMSPA Exercise and Fitness Directory. REPs are no longer accepting new memberships or renewing old members, instead you are directed to CIMSPA.

Please note that Personal trainers do not need CIMSPA membership to work in the fitness sector, however, by becoming a member, a personal trainer can be entered onto the register and achieve a higher professional status with potential future employers. CIMSPA is primarily responsible for setting industry training and qualification standards. It determines what personal trainers need to do to achieve chartered status. Professionals only listed on the REPs Register have the backing of an official agency, but they cannot achieve chartered status.

CIMSPA CPD requirements

To become a CIMSPA member as a personal trainer you will need to hold a recognised trainer qualification. You must also prove that you have engaged in Continuing Professional Development (CPD) if you gained your qualification more than five years ago.

CIMSPA members are required to complete CPD each membership year to maintain their status within their profession. Members must complete 10 points of CPD per membership subscription year, the CPD should be at a level and in topics relevant to their membership category. A minimum of 5 points must be CIMSPA endorsed CPD. The remaining 5 points can be either endorsed CPD or non-endorsed CPD.

Endorsed CPD means that training has been quality assured by CIMSPA and is delivered by a CIMSPA education partner. Examples of endorsed CPD are: technical qualifications, degrees, workshops and eLearning, an apprenticeship or short courses. Non-endorsed means it is not delivered by a CIMSPA education partner. Examples of non-endorsed CPD are: employer-led staff training, training or qualifications offered by education providers that are not in partnership with CIMSPA.

Recording CPD hours and points

A frequent question about Continuing Professional Development is how CPD is recorded, and in particular is “What are CPD points, units or credits?” With an increasing number of professional bodies in the UK a natural split in common language terms and expression has arisen. Different professional bodies sometimes use the terms CPD points, units, credits and CPD hours differently depending on their preference when initially implementing a CPD policy.

If you are looking for somewhere to log and record your CPD training activities in one simple place, please go to the myCPD Portal page. The free CPD record tool can help manage, track and store your Continuing Professional Development, manage any ongoing CPD requirements effectively, set annual CPD targets, store CPD certificates of attendance, and track learning progress throughout the year.

How do CPD points relate to CPD Hours?

It is considered the majority of professional bodies use CPD Hours as their Continuing Professional Development measure and that where the terms CPD points, units or credits are used, these are in a typical 1:1 ratio with CPD Hours. By this, it is meant that typically 1 CPD point is equal to 1 CPD Hour.

Find Personal Training CPD Courses

Established in 1996, The CPD Certification Service has over 27 years’ experience providing CPD accreditation. With members in over 100 countries, our CPD providers benefit from the ability to promote themselves as part of an international community where quality is both recognised and assured. Within the Sports CPD Industry Hub, there are a whole range of relevant personal trainer & fitness training activities, from workshops & seminars, conferences and events, courses as well as online modules and eLearning. 

Accredited CPD courses for Personal Trainers

Having personal training courses CPD accredited helps to support the professional development requirements of those working in the training and fitness industry. CPD accredited training courses helps to provide peace of mind for learners that the training has been independently checked to ensure it is suitable for ongoing Continuing Professional Development.

We hope this article was helpful. If you provide personal training courses and events that may be suitable for CPD, please visit our become a CPD provider page or contact our team to discuss in more detail. Alternatively, if you are looking for a free online CPD record tool to help manage, track and log your ongoing learning, as well as store your professional training records and attendance certificates in one simple place, go to the myCPD Portal page.