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Group exercise instructors are fitness professionals who teach, lead and motivate groups of individuals through intentionally designed, pre-choreographed exercise classes.
practitioner
Core Group Exercise Instructor
The role
Group exercise instructors are fitness professionals who teach, lead and motivate groups of individuals through intentionally designed, pre-choreographed exercise classes. They provide instruction across many different class types and equipment sets, from aerobics and step to group exercise. They design and select their own music, class programme and choreography.
Classes are delivered across six different categories:
What it takes
The following common or transferable skills are most frequently asked for by employers in Group exercise instructor job adverts across the UK:
| Skills and behaviours | % prevalence in job ads |
|---|---|
| Communication | 37% |
| Enthusiasm | 26% |
| Teaching | 19% |
| Customer service | 19% |
| Operations | 17% |
| Energetic | 15% |
| Coaching | 15% |
| Rapport building | 15% |
| Motivational skills | 11% |
| Strong work ethic | 10% |
To find out more about the minimum knowledge, skills and behaviours an individual must understand and demonstrate to become a Group exercise instructor, you can visit our professional standards library.
Getting in
There are several ways you can become qualified as a group exercise instructor. Look at the options below to explore what option works best for you.
The starting point for becoming a core group exercise instructor is typically to complete a Level 2 qualification such as a Level 2 Certificate in Group Training.
Once you have a Level 2 qualification (this includes a Level 2 Gym Instructor qualification), you can then complete a continued professional development (CPD) course in a specific group exercise discipline such as:
You can browse all of our endorsed core group exercise instructor qualifications and CPD delivered by our Training Provider Partners in our Endorsed Training Directory.
Some colleges and universities have embedded core group exercise instructor qualifications into their learning programmes. You can browse our CIMSPA Endorsed Training Directory to check for colleges and universities that are recognised by CIMSPA for providing quality training to students. Here, you can also check what courses our endorsed colleges and universities offer as well as course entry requirements, a summary of course content/material and more information on how to apply.
The Leisure Team Member apprenticeship offers options to become qualified as a gym instructor, swimming teacher, pool lifeguard and first aider. With a Level 2 Certificate in Fitness or Gym Instruction, you will then be able to complete specialised group exercise courses.
You can find out more about completing a Leisure Team Member apprenticeship via The Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE) website
Training
Typical earnings
Not currently available
Demand
Not currently available
Typical working patterns
Not currently available
As well as exploring new career pathways, as a core group exercise instructor, you can also choose to progress your career by completing further training or continued professional development (CPD) in your role. This training can be added to enable core group exercise instructors to show their expertise in additional populations, in different environments and with technical specialisms.
Examples of specialisms that may be added are:
The content of the job posts displayed on the CIMSPA jobs board are pulled in through feeds from websites which are not under the control of CIMSPA.
CIMSPA will not be liable for any false, inaccurate, inappropriate or incomplete information presented on the jobs board.