6 top tips and tools to take you from certification to actually working in the group exercise industry

I still remember the feeling. Certificate in hand, genuinely buzzing, but also no clue of how to actually start getting work. All the gear, no idea. 

Nobody tells you that the qualification is the easy bit. The hard bit is turning “I’m now qualified to teach” into “I have classes on my timetable and people are actually turning up to them.” That gap between certified and working is where most new instructors either find their feet or quietly give up. So, this one’s for anyone standing in that gap right now. 

Here’s what actually moves the needle, in roughly the order I’d tackle it if I was starting my career again.

1. Get insured and get your paperwork boring-level sorted 

Not exciting, I know. But this is the thing that stops a venue saying no before they’ve even met you. Public liability insurance, your certification uploaded somewhere retrievable, a DBS check if you’re working with under-18s or vulnerable groups. Sort it once, properly, and you stop having to think about it every time an opportunity comes up. 

Tools that help: EMD UK membership itself covers a lot of this – insurance, a searchable qualification record, CPD tracking all in one place. If you haven’t linked your certification to your EMD UK profile yet, that’s step one. 

2. Get in front of real people, not just job boards 

Almost nobody gets their first regular class from a cold application. They get it because someone saw them teach, or someone vouched for them. Two ways to manufacture that: 

• Shadow and assist: Message instructors whose classes you admire and ask to shadow a session or help set up. Most people say yes as we all remember being new. 

• Go and be a student: Attend classes taught by instructors that you’re inspired by, at studios that genuinely resonate with you. You’ll learn more from being on the mat or the bike watching someone great teach than from almost anything else and you start building relationships with the people and venues you actually want to work with, before you’ve asked them for anything. 

• Cover shifts: This is genuinely the fastest way in. Covering someone else’s class means a venue sees you teach, live, with zero commitment on their part. Think of cover as a job interview. Do that a few times well and you’re the first name they think of when a permanent slot opens up. Introduce yourself at your first class like you have been on stage for 10 years! Confidence is king even if you are nervous as hell inside! 

Tools that help: Facebook groups for local instructors, your EMD UK regional network, and cover marketplaces or apps that leisure venues use to fill last-minute gaps (Cover Ninja is one, but honestly there are a few and the point is to get on as many of these radars as you can). Ask your tutor or course provider which ones venues near you actually use.

3. Build a body of work before anyone’s paying you for it 

Venues and members want to see you teach before they commit. Film yourself. Run a free taster session for friends, family, your building’s WhatsApp group or anyone who is keen. Awkward at first, genuinely useful within a month. 

Tools that help: Your phone camera is enough. Instagram or TikTok if you want it public; a private folder if you don’t. Either way, you want three or four short clips you’re not embarrassed by, ready to send when someone asks “have you got anything I can see?” 

4. Keep learning! CPD isn’t a box to tick, it’s how you get better opportunities 

The instructors who get asked to cover the trickier classes, or step into a specialism, are usually the ones who kept adding to their toolkit after certification rather than stopping. 

Tools that help: EMD UK’s CPD library, low-cost specialist add-on courses (chair-based, aqua, older adult populations are work areas that are often short of instructors, which works in your favour), and simply asking venue managers what they’re struggling to staff. That’s a direct line to your next qualification. 

5. Treat yourself like a small business, because you are one 

Even if you’re PAYE somewhere eventually, most instructors start self-employed, juggling multiple venues. That means invoicing, mileage, a simple record of who you’re teaching where and when. 

Tools that help: A basic spreadsheet is genuinely fine to start. Apps like QuickBooks or FreeAgent once you’ve got a few regular bookings. And a shared calendar you actually check -sounds obvious, but double-booking yourself in month two is a classic, and venues remember it. 

6. Ask for feedback, and actually use it 

The instructors who improve fastest are the ones who ask a venue manager or a regular participant “what would make this better?” and then go and do that. It costs nothing and it’s the single best way to turn one cover shift into a standing invitation. 

Keep it simple – participants don’t know every move and you don’t have to show them it in your first session! Keep plans simple and steady. Your music, voice and energy (i.e. the show you put on) will deliver even the basic exercises incredibly! 

None of this is complicated. It’s mostly about being visible, being reliable, and saying yes to the unglamorous shifts early on, because that’s where the relationships get built. The instructors we see thriving a year in aren’t necessarily the most qualified – they’re the ones who made themselves easy to find and easy to trust. 

If you’ve just graduated: welcome. The sector genuinely needs you. Go get your first cover shift.