Passed! - first exam in nearly 40 years.

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andya700

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I started a course a couple of months ago, in order to retrain because the job situation had got pretty dire. It is a level 2 fitness instructor course, which will enable me to possibly progress to becoming a personal trainer in the future. I have always been interested in sport and the techinical side of it, such as training and nutrition, and this course is quite intense, packing in various modules in quite a short space of time.
Last Thursday I took my first exam - Anatomy and Physiology - something which I was quite nervous about, having not taken an exam for nearly forty years.
I received my results the other day, and I have passed with 92%, which has really made me a lot happier about life in general and has boosted my confidence.
I am by far the oldest person on the course, and may not be as fit as the younger folks, but this side of personal fitness is so important, and I sometimes think a lot of folks believe that being a gym instructor is all about lifting big weights and having a phsique like "Arnie", which couldn't be further from the truth.
I still have to complete all the course work, and there is a manual gym instruction assessment at the end of the course, so I still have my work cut out to pass.
 
Congratulations Andy. You have every right to feel happy.

Dave
 
Congrats!

I think you'll do great, we are becoming more and more aware about how important it is to stay fit later into life and I know people can get quite intimidated by the usual 'gym monkey' look so I would say you're ahead of the curve here :)
 
Congratulations - a great achievement ! You can feel proud of yourself - that has taken a good deal of work - particularly to get you back into the academic study routine
 
Well done Andy, and good luck for the rest of the course.
 
Nawty said:
Congrats!

I think you'll do great, we are becoming more and more aware about how important it is to stay fit later into life and I know people can get quite intimidated by the usual 'gym monkey' look so I would say you're ahead of the curve here :)
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I think that is one of the reasons why they accepted me on the course. In the initial assessment, I stated that I believed "more mature" people may find someone my age more approachable, and an employer would hopefully realise that I am going to take the job seriously.
In my local gym, I have noticed the instructors - by their absence, which is not a good thing. They are either missing, or spend their time chatting the girls up, which is exactly the opposite of what they should be doing.
 
andy700 said:
I think that is one of the reasons why they accepted me on the course. In the initial assessment, I stated that I believed "more mature" people may find someone my age more approachable, and an employer would hopefully realise that I am going to take the job seriously.
In my local gym, I have noticed the instructors - by their absence, which is not a good thing. They are either missing, or spend their time chatting the girls up, which is exactly the opposite of what they should be doing.
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Spotted this myself......Instructors at the gym I used to go too did just that, and selling steroids to the obvious customers....Sad fact is its been a job that was not taken too seriously by gyms or the members!

Going the other way now though with more mature (mental and physical) people going in to the profession as gyms have started to realize an exceptional instructor can be the reason people stay on track with a prescribed programme of fitness training. and ultimately see value in the membership fees! so keep paying and staying a member! Also a good angle for you to explore maybe..

Well done too!
 
LASTOLITE said:
Spotted this myself......Instructors at the gym I used to go too did just that, and selling steroids to the obvious customers....Sad fact is its been a job that was not taken too seriously by gyms or the members!

Going the other way now though with more mature (mental and physical) people going in to the profession as gyms have started to realize an exceptional instructor can be the reason people stay on track with a prescribed programme of fitness training. and ultimately see value in the membership fees! so keep paying and staying a member! Also a good angle for you to explore maybe..

Well done too!
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A very good point, and one which we have partially covered in the client care section. How to behave not just with clients but everyone you come into contact with - how to go the extra mile.
 
I did the same course some years back and funny enough their was a chap in his 50's doing it for exactly the same reason and out of everyone I know who's gone into the business one of the most successful is a pretty average looking guy, fit and healthy but certainly no arnie, seems to do so well from being such an approachable guy and the passion he has for his clients.
 
YaY!

This all sounds very strenuous though. Maybe you can have a rest now and a nice cup of tea? :D

Good luck with the new career! :D
 
Our son did a very similar course a few years back at Oxford Brookes. Thoroughly enjoyed it, and it's helped him go on with other sports related activities, but he couldn't find a paying job for love or money: everyone wanted demonstrable experience and no-one would make it possible to get any. I hope that plays out better for you.
 
A quick update.
We returned to college today, and it transpired that "ye olde booger" was top of the class - result!.
The others have been really good - they are a great crowd actually, some of the best people I have ever worked with.
On a slight "downer", there were leaflets from the local YMCA, saying that they could offer Level 3 (the next level up) Apprenticeships at their gyms, paying - wait for it -----

£99 per week !!!!!!!!!

What the hell is going on in this country, that is less than half the living wage, actually it is less than half the minimum wage.
How on earth can anyone live on £99 per week???????
 
andy700 said:
A quick update.
We returned to college today, and it transpired that "ye olde booger" was top of the class - result!.
The others have been really good - they are a great crowd actually, some of the best people I have ever worked with.
On a slight "downer", there were leaflets from the local YMCA, saying that they could offer Level 3 (the next level up) Apprenticeships at their gyms, paying - wait for it -----

£99 per week !!!!!!!!!

What the hell is going on in this country, that is less than half the living wage, actually it is less than half the minimum wage.
How on earth can anyone live on £99 per week???????
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Because apprenticeships are normally taken up by school leavers. A 16yr old will be living with mum and dad, £99 a week will be easy to live on.
 
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andy700 said:
A quick update.
We returned to college today, and it transpired that "ye olde booger" was top of the class - result!.
The others have been really good - they are a great crowd actually, some of the best people I have ever worked with.
On a slight "downer", there were leaflets from the local YMCA, saying that they could offer Level 3 (the next level up) Apprenticeships at their gyms, paying - wait for it -----

£99 per week !!!!!!!!!

What the hell is going on in this country, that is less than half the living wage, actually it is less than half the minimum wage.
How on earth can anyone live on £99 per week???????
Click to expand...

They offer it because they can - I guess that's how someone gets experience. :(
 
ancient_mariner said:
They offer it because they can - I guess that's how someone gets experience. :(
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A lot of people have to pay their own money to train for such courses. This is somewhere that will pay you to train. Also YMCA gyms are very cheap (or they were when I was at college) in terms of membership, in fact we used to use their squash courts for free, I'd imagine that other facilities would be similar.
 
I've studied on-and-off all my life, and I still get nervous before exams and get a huge buzz if/when I pass them.

I can't imagine how difficult and stressful it must have been for you after such a long time. Congratulations on passing, and you now know there's no reason why you shouldn't be able to pass the rest of the course!
 
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