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Dave Lee, Amac’s Education and Training Director, has seen the fitness industry change significantly since Amac was founded in 2000. The following video shows him explaining some fundamental changes that have occurred and how this has impacted fitness course provision.
Although Amac have always offered Gym Instructor and Personal Trainer qualifications they were quite different to the ones offered today. “Amac have been offering professional fitness qualifications for over a decade” says Dave “Our course provision has had to evolve to continually meet the changing needs of the fitness industry.”
As part of L3 Certificate in Personal Training there was a unit titled Training in Different Environments. “I used to warn students they needed to be quite thick-skinned to do the TIDE qualification” Dave laughs. “Part of the training was fast-paced walking which looked hilarious at the best of times. On top of this, all the students had to follow me around in public spaces with purple or pink resistance bands around their necks… you can only imagine the ridicule we endured! I remember one day a car pulled up close by and threw a drink all over us, can you believe it? It was very funny though, we had a great time”.
Amac also had involvement in youth and community-based projects and ran NVQ’s in Activity Leadership and qualifications for Sports Leaders.
Another popular course Amac used to run was Children’s Fitness Instructing. Unsurprisingly, this included lots of games and students took great pleasure regressing back to their childhood. “Students didn’t always expect an element of this course to be role play, though. Acting out tantrums, swearing and even pretending to have a crush on the Trainee Instructor! Everyone loved being the naughty child,” says Dave “but I’m not so sure everyone loved having such a realistic teaching experience”.
Dave’s favourite courses continue to be Amac’s PROfusion Range. “I specialised in sports conditioning and I am an avid martial artist, what could be better than being accredited to run courses which incorporate unconventional training methods that I have spent my whole life doing? Ropes, sandbags, combat training… there is never a need for exercise to be boring!”
Technological advancements have also had a significant impact on Amac’s course provision. When Amac launched Learnstream in 2011 they were one of the first fitness training providers to offer an online learning option. “I sometimes feel like I’m talking about a century ago rather than a decade ago” says Dave, “students don’t have to waste time travelling to venues and sitting in classrooms all the time anymore. I hope they appreciate how convenient Kris’ webinars are. Learning opportunities are so much more varied now, teaching styles are definitely more interactive and engaging”.