5 ways to advance your career in Group Exercise

Many instructors become instructors because of their love of keeping active, working with people and seeing great results. As instructors we are always looking for ways to share the value we bring to our participants and communities.

As the National Governing Body for Group Exercise, EMD UK is constantly working to shine a light on your value – it’s why we created the Social Value report, which quantifies the deep social impact of Group Exercise in monetary terms – over £5.3 billion of value to the economy. It’s also why we’re working to improve the pay conditions for our community of members (we’ll be releasing the results of our pay survey soon, to receive updates, sign up for a free membership to EMD UK here).

This blog aims to support you with tangible actions you can take to build on your own career, ensure you’re at the top of your game and demonstrate your worth to your clients and your employers. Consider which of the following might help you to enhance your career, and share with your friends and colleagues to help them to do the same.

1. Deepening expertise to widen your scope of practice

One of the most fulfilling and valuable ways to enhance your career is to deepen your expertise by expanding your knowledge in a number of ways, whether to become a true ‘expert’ in a field, or to diversify your knowledge base. This will widen your scope of practice and create more opportunites to increase your class numbers or increase the number of classes you can teach. For example, you may want to consider taking courses that focus on:

• Specialist populations – Training to work with older adults, pre/postnatal participants, people with long-term conditions, or rehab clients. This opens up specialist classes and higher-value work. (Take a look at our three courses in Pro membership for Osteoporosis, back pain and long-term conditions)
• Other formats of genre of class – Becoming a teacher in yoga, Pilates, HIIT, dance fitness, indoor cycling, aqua, or other popular styles
• Therapeutic focus – Progressing into areas like movement for mental health, cancer rehab, or GP referral schemes.
• Tutor Trainer – Sharing your knowledge with new teachers opening opportunities for you to become a trainer of trainers by taking your Assessors Award and your Education and Training Award.

EMD UK members gain access to hundreds of learning resources including CPD-accredited training across a range of areas. (Find out more here) and you can gain access to funded CPD across other platforms too.

2. Industry influence

As with all industries, visibility is an essential component to success. Industry influence isn’t just about being active on social media (though this is an important ‘hygiene’ factor – (read here for more on this), it’s about building genuine credibility within your peer group. You can do this in a number of ways, including:  

• Provide CPD-recognised training – Showcase and become recognised for your deep knowledge by achieving CPD recognition for your training courses. EMD UK can guide you in creating a CPD certified course, assessing and accrediting your course when you’re ready. Find out more here.
• Master trainer/brand ambassador – Representing a fitness programme nationally or internationally puts you in the spotlight and builds your credibility by association.

• Conference speaker/writer – Sharing expertise at events, in publications, or online allows you to influence the sector as a whole, and present yourself and your expertise to a wider audience.

• Partnerships – Gaining influence over new audiences through affiliations and partnerships such as becoming a Delivery Partner with EMD UK. 

3. Expanding delivery methods

While gyms and studios will always provide a valuable mainstream location for delivering classes, you don’t have to be restricted to them when there are other avenues that could expand your availability and reach. Here are a few thoughts on alternatives:

• Hybrid/online teaching – Perhaps the most obvious addition to your delivery portfolio is taking your classes online. There are many platforms that allow you to run livestream and on-demand sessions to widen your reach beyond the local area.

• Retreats and events – Hosting fitness weekends, workshops, or themed events such as hen parties, particularly with partners who are specialised in hospitality, can provide welcome income especially during expected ‘downtime’, often allowing you to charge premium prices for the experience.

• Corporate wellbeing – Delivering classes and wellness programmes for workplaces introduces you to a market with dedicated resources to support employee wellbeing, becoming established in this area can quickly expand your offering and exposure.

4. Leadership and mentoring

We all love leading classes, but the business side of group exercise needs leaders too, and entering a leadership role can be just as rewarding, as well as more lucrative. You can expand into leadership by:

• Becoming a group ex coordinator – Within this role overseeing timetables, mentoring other instructors, and liaising with venues.
• Tutor/assessor roles – Training the next generation of instructors by working with awarding bodies allows you to share your experience and safeguard the passing of knowledge from one expert to the next.
• Mentorship – Supporting newer instructors with class planning, confidence, and career development positions you as a go-to support and elevates your standing in the community.
  

5. Business ownership

Running and growing a business can feel like a monumental task. There are always going to be challenges along the way, but business ownership is a foundation from which you can significantly advance your influence and your income. All businesses start somewhere, so take it in smaller steps with an overall goal. You could begin and progress as you gain confidence, think about:

• Running your own community programme – Hire halls, set pricing, build your own brand and learn from your experiences before bringing in more instructors to expand.
• Studio or franchise owner – Open a boutique studio or buy into a fitness franchise that can support you as you set up.
• Partnerships with leisure centres – Negotiate to run programmes under your own business umbrella rather than as a casual worker.

Career progression in group ex isn’t a one-size-fits-all and it isn’t something that will happen immediately. To build a career takes time, but if you’re motivated and prepared to do the heavy lifting, your career can be what you make it.

EMD UK is here to support you every step of the way. As your National Governing Body we are your advocates to challenge inequality and to help you rise with hundreds of resources, CPD-accredited education, opportunities for greater exposure and dedicated support for your group exercise journey.