For the last 3 months, I have been studying to become an ETM instructor (this means I can teach fitness classes in the gyms and self-employed.) This weekend just passed, I took my exams and my practical, and found out that I PASSED! So I'm super over the moon. I wanted to do a review on my experience with the course and with HFE for anyone else considering to do it.
So first things first, how much? The course was £517 (I saved 5% for paying in full up front) which is the cheapest on the market. It was a part-time course and a mixture of home learning and 2 attendance weekends (1 a learning, 1 assessments.) The day after I booked, I was called by one of the tutor supports (Janine, who was lovely) and she went through the course structure and everything in full. Janine was available to contact pretty much 24/7 via phone or email and I could contact her as often or as little as I needed or wanted too!
HFE provided me with my manuals within a couple of days of booking on to the course, along with a plan of what topics I should be covering over which weeks, to help me plan my learning in sufficient time. I had an L2 Anatomy and Physiology manual and a Principles to Exercise and fitness manual.
AT HOME LEARNING
They recommended 1hr study a day over 6-8 weeks period. I booked the course 8 weeks before the first attendance weekend, so essentially I had 12 weeks (4 weeks between first attendance weekend and assessments) to do this course and this was comfortable for me. I did approximately 2 hours of study a day for the 8 weeks leading up to my first attendance weekend, and I had completed all my learning topics so that I only had to review and keep it fresh in my head for the remaining 4 weeks until exams. This way I could focus mostly on practicing for the practical. I'm super glad I did it this way, as boy did you really need to get the practical cemented in your head. I would have found doing practical and trying to nail the theory at the same time would've been too intense personally (at least whilst still trying to semi retain a normal life routine). I'm a quick learner and I do well with learning and exams, however, if you don't so much, I would definitely recommend giving yourself a little extra time. I definitely felt the pressure with even the way I chose to pace my learning, (finish work, make dinner and then trying to get 2 hours of learning in, next thing its bedtime! Not including nights when I'd see my boyfriend and get NOTHING DONE, bye social life. But I did mainly have my weekends free!) was a lot. So just to give you an idea! It basically depends on your schedules and preferences, if you'd rather cram it in, in a shorter space of time, you can probably do it quicker than me, if you hate pressure and want to be able to do this alongside keeping some normalcy, my approach or a little longer is more for you.
STUDY WEEKEND
The study weekend was brilliant, it was solely practical focused, and thank god because really you have no idea how it works until this point (even if you think you do, you probably don't). It's not simply, here's a routine. They teach you how the routines are structured, and how they should progress so you can get your classes heart rate elevating and progressing smoothly, and effectively. The weekends are intense, as in there is a lot to cover in the short two days time that we have. They are two full days and you will be knackered/maybe a little sore afterward. You do choreograph up to 95% of your routine on this weekend, with the instructors, and they also show you how to create your plan (which you have to submit as part of the course towards passing). You also then practice what you've made up, and teach it to others in the class. The instructors will give you 'assessments' this weekend, (on the warm-up, Build up and MSE) so that you can go home and take the feedback with you, and work on it ready for the actual assessment. I found this incredibly helpful (albeit a little nerve-racking, seeing as we'd literally only made it up and learned it that day). In retrospective, it's actually such a small amount to plan and learn, now it would take me a fraction of the time, and I wouldn't be nervous (and I only passed last weekend) so progression does come really quickly with this, so long as you practice it daily!.
The practical is only 45 minutes long, and it flies by! (in fact, it can be even shorter - as little as 35 minutes if you do it well, as they ask you to move on to next section once you've ticked all their boxes) and you are literally given every single thing you need in order to pass it, including how to introduce and conclude your class. I found after just 1 week of doing my class daily to family members/friends (usually just 1/2 people at a time) I was already getting pretty seamless at it. So it's not scary, and it's definitely not difficult, just needs the practice to get into the swing of it.
There are 2 exams, 40 multiple question exams, and you have the hour to complete them. I went through a paper in maximum 20 minutes - so you have plenty of time to go over answers again, or even twice over! If you do the revision, these won't be a problem for you at all! (multiple choice exams are the best, the answer is always in front of you, so even if you forget a little, seeing it usually triggers the memory)
I found the instructors on the course absolutely wonderful, and they were great at their jobs! I left the weekend feeling well equipped for my exams, the rest was up to me. Anything I may have forgotten to ask I went to tutor support for, including any questions I had when trying to complete my worksheets, and I passed everything, first time, with flying colors I might add.
NOTE: the accreditation was with YMCA FIT (the price on their website is around £800, that's £300 MORE than HFE, for the same qualification!) mental.
OVERALL
So to conclude, not only is HFE a fantastic provider, they are also competitively priced! I feel totally ready to go straight into teaching which is how every course should leave you. Confident to go out into the real world as soon as you're finished!
Its a 10/10 for me!
THANK YOU HFE
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