Final semester fitness and health promotion students have to complete an assignment that requires them to personally train clients.
Faculty and staff are encouraged to sign up for this program that would put them alongside students who are yet to be certified, but have a broad sense of knowledge in health and fitness programs.
“This assignment gives extra hands on training for the students,“ said Gordon Wilcox, fitness and health promotion program coordinator. “It gives them knowledge that can only be learned through doing.”
In this assignment students take everything they’ve learned in the three previous semesters of the program and apply them to their client. The students work with their client and build a program around their goals.
The clients are to participate in a minimum six-week training program with their student personal trainer. Tracking progress is an important aspect of fitness and health.
Much like a real life personal trainer, they work with their client and create a suitable program unique to them. Taking steps towards a healthy and happy lifestyle is the ultimate goal when it comes to the trainer/client relationship.
Not only does the newly-shaped semester prepare students for the real world, it also makes getting their certificate in personal training and/or group fitness much easier for them. Acquiring all necessary certifications while completing the course makes for a smoother transition into the real world.
Wilcox has plenty of experience in this field and he believes that the personal training assignment has shown success since being implemented in 2015.
“This is an example of how the college is trying to add real world living skills into every program,” said Wilcox.
Wilcox has been a part of the Algonquin faculty since joining the recreation and leisure program part time in 1992. He became a full time member of that program in 1999 and a few years later, 2005, he joined his current program, fitness and health promotion.