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This week saw the launch of Solent PT, an initiative designed to enhance the real-world learning and employability potential of Solent’s personal training students.

15th November 2016
Sport and fitness

This week saw the launch of Solent PT, an initiative designed to enhance the real-world learning and employability potential of Solent’s personal training students; as well as improve the health, wellbeing and fitness levels of Solent staff.

Over 100 members of staff responded to calls for volunteers for free personal training, all delivered by undergraduate students studying on the BSc Fitness and Personal Training or BA Fitness Management and Personal Training courses. To date, 83 staff have been allocated a trainer.

Students work with their clients in state-of-the-art teaching gyms.

Recent reports by fitness industry employers have highlighted the lack of real world experience as one of the main deficiencies in fitness qualifications and, as a result, in the staff they recruit. The Solent PT initiative provides students the opportunity to work with an unknown client, carry out an initial consultation to ascertain their goals, check for medical conditions, design and then deliver a 20-week programme in the University’s state of the art teaching gym.

This initiative forms part of the Solent Health offering, the University’s in-house health promotion service which has won the coveted ukactive Flame Award for Workplace Wellbeing for the last three years.

Solent Health work to improve the fitness of everyone here at Solent.

Martin Skivington, Head of Health and Exercise Science, created the concept:

"The Solent PT initiative provides invaluable real-world experience for our students in a supervised and familiar setting, pushing them out of their comfort zone to not only aid their learning, but also improve the fitness levels of the staff who work here.

"It forces the students to act in a professional and responsible manner, and at the same time improves both their real-world experience and their employability potential."