Train to be a Trainer
How to become a personal trainer in the UK: every step, every price
From the FASTER syllabus: this article is taught in full in the Certified PT Bundle is Level 2, Level 3 and Movement Trainer together for £1,500 →
The short answer
To work as a personal trainer in the UK you need two qualifications. A Level 2 Gym Instructor certificate gets you onto a gym floor. A Level 3 Personal Trainer certificate lets you train clients for a living. With FASTER, Level 2 is £600 and Level 3 is £900. Bought together with the Movement Trainer course, the Certified PT Bundle is £1,500, or £200 deposit and 16 monthly payments of £94, plan total £1,704. Bought apart those three come to £1,875. There is no entry qualification and no waiting for a course date. When you certify, the PT Manager software and your listing on the register are included, and you keep the course content for life.
Key Takeaways
- Two qualifications, Level 2 then Level 3. That is the legal route, and it has not changed.
- The certificate is not the hard part. Passing it without support is.
- Buying a bag of courses on day one is the most expensive mistake in this industry, and it is sold as a bargain.
What you actually need
Two things. Level 2, then Level 3. Both delivered through FOCUS Awards, both recognised by CIMSPA.
That is it. Everything else you will be offered on day one is somebody guessing what you will need before you have met a single client.
What each part costs
| What | Price | Payment plan |
|---|---|---|
| Level 2 Gym Instructor | £600 | £100 deposit + 7 × £86, plan total £702 |
| Level 3 Personal Trainer | £900 | £150 deposit + 10 × £90, plan total £1,050 |
| Movement Trainer | £375 | Pay in full, or three payments with Klarna |
| All three together | £1,500 | £200 deposit + 16 × £94, plan total £1,704 |
Bought apart: £1,875. Together: £1,500.
That is not a discount and there is no RRP crossed out next to it. Those are the live prices on this site today, and they will be the same next Thursday.
The bit nobody warns you about
Most people picture it like this. You buy some courses, you come out an expert, you get stuck in.
So they buy the bag. Ten courses, twelve courses, a Level 4 they will not touch for three years. They step onto the conveyor belt and find out how long they can hang on.
Here is what actually happens. The certificate is tougher to pass than the advert suggested. There is no support, because support costs the seller money. And the learning environment was built for the company selling it, not for you.
We know, because ours used to be one of those. We were paying £6,000 a year for a platform that was fine for the people who sold it and awkward for the people learning on it. So we binned it and built our own, for our students only.
If typing is the thing standing between you and a qualification, that is a daft reason to fail. Speak it instead.
Does the awarding body matter?
Yes, but less than the adverts imply. You want an Ofqual-regulated qualification, and you want CIMSPA recognition. FOCUS Awards gives you both.
What differs between providers is not the certificate. It is whether a human reads your work.
Ours are marked by a real person. Somebody who wants you to pass, and who writes back something you can use. Not a screen that tells you 6 out of 10 and leaves you to guess which four.
How long does it take?
Most people take a few months around a job. You can go faster. You can go slower and nobody will chase you, because there is no deadline to miss and no cohort to fall behind.
Buy today, start today. There is no sales call, because there are no salespeople.
The good bit
Here is what the conveyor belt never mentions. Qualifying is the beginning of something you get to shape.
If you are not carrying a bag of courses you never opened, you can let your clients find you. You will discover what you actually enjoy, which is almost never what you assumed.
You might come in certain you want to train athletes. You train a few. You work out it is not for you. Then you find the same skills applied to 50-plus executives are far more fun.
Gold medals, blurgh. Beating Steve from Accounts at squash, now that is worth the training.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a Level 2 before a Level 3?
Yes. Level 3 assumes you already hold Level 2, so you cannot start there. With FASTER, Level 2 is £600 and Level 3 is £900, or £1,500 for both plus Movement Trainer.
How much does it cost to become a personal trainer in the UK?
The two qualifications you need cost £1,500 together with FASTER, or £600 and £900 bought separately. Payment plans are available, with the deposit and the plan total both stated before you buy.
Do I need a qualification to start the course?
No. There is no entry requirement for Level 2, no entry test, and no waiting for a course date. You buy it and you start it.
What happens after I qualify?
Your PT Manager software unlocks, your listing on the FASTER register goes live and stays free, and you keep return access to the course content for life, including every update.
Start here
The Certified PT Bundle is Level 2, Level 3 and Movement Trainer together. £1,500 paid in full, or £200 deposit and 16 monthly payments of £94, plan total £1,704.
Not sure it is right for you? Ask. John will tell you straight whether this fits or whether something else suits you better, including telling you not to buy yet. The founder answers the WhatsApp.
You just read one answer. The course is all of them.
the Certified PT Bundle is Level 2, Level 3 and Movement Trainer together for £1,500: every answer marked by a real tutor, with free return access for life. The price is on the page, payment plans at checkout, no sales calls.
What every FASTER student gets
Built around you, not around the course
- A real person marks every answerEvery answer is read and marked by a tutor, with written feedback.
- Marked as you goEach teaching point is marked as you answer it, not at the end of the module.
- Dictate instead of typeA microphone on every written answer: say your answer and it types it for you (Chrome, Edge and Safari).
- Listen to the lessonsVoice-overs on the lessons, and the audio to download.
- Built for the way your brain worksShort lessons, one point at a time, marked as you go, with the choice to listen, read, print or speak your answers.
- Streaks that never punish youYou set how many days a week you want to study. Miss a day and your streak pauses; it is never lost.
- Accessible to WCAG AA, with an AAA optionEvery page measured against the WCAG accessibility standard: no faults at level A or AA, with a skip link, screen-reader labels and pages that hold together zoomed to 400%. A high-contrast option takes it to AAA.
- Keep it plainOne switch turns off the extras, the streaks, the badges, the celebrations and the movement, so the site stays plain and calm. Switch them back on whenever you like.
- Bigger text and wider spacingTwo steps of bigger text, and more room between lines, words and letters, on every page.
- Calmer motionOne switch stops animations and videos that play on their own. It is on already if your phone or computer asks for reduced motion.
- A personal video lessonWhen an answer needs real explaining, your marker records a video that lands in your course.
- A note before you sendBefore you send, the page tells you if your answer copies the lesson word for word, so you can put it in your own words.
- The skeleton and muscle labsTap any bone on the skeleton, and see the muscles light up on the model.
- Print the notesPrint the lessons and go old school.
- Case studies on your phoneBuilt into the site, saved as you go, there on your laptop when you sit down.
- Pin it to your home screenNo App Store and no Google Play. It is just there.
- No resit feesWork sent back is a chance to add more, with no resit fee.
- Return access for lifeQualify once and come back to the content whenever you need it.
- PT Manager from day onePT Manager is yours to learn on from the day you sign up. Using it with real clients comes once you hold your Level 3 and are listed on the FASTER Trainer Register.
- The FASTER Trainer RegisterA free listing on the Register once you qualify.
- Your certificates in one placeEvery course and its certificate on one page.
- Ask JohnThe Ask John button on every page, and his WhatsApp.
And PT Manager, free
51 tools to run your business, with no monthly fee and no cut of your money
PT Manager is yours to learn on from the day you sign up. Using it with real clients comes once you hold your Level 3 and are listed on the FASTER Trainer Register.
See all 51 tools
Set-up
- Import clients Bring a whole client list across in one go.
- My quotes Daily lines your clients see — yours, not stock.
- Programme templates The programme shapes you reuse — a session or twelve weeks. Pick one for a client, get your own copy.
- Exercise library Every exercise with FASTER coaching detail.
- Money Products, payments and who owes what.
- Send from your own email Connect your own email service so invites arrive from you, on your domain.
- My brand & client view What your clients see when they walk in — views, header, accent, logo.
- Your enrolment pack What every new client gets the moment you enrol them — your forms, ours, or a mix.
- Products and services What you sell — blocks, packages, memberships and one-offs, with their prices.
- Insurance Your policy on record — provider and expiry. Client features unlock while it is valid.
- My menu Switch any tool on or off — for your menu, your home and your whole account.
- Your website A free website on your own web address, filled from PT Manager. Or just the client sign-in door on your domain.
- Your public page Your verified Trainer Register listing, linking out to your own site and socials.
Business day to day
- Clients Your client list — invite, open a client, manage their space.
- Clubs Group your clients — a board they share, a programme or a monthly price if you want one.
- Challenges A dated push everyone logs against — for everyone you train, or for one club.
- Calendar Sessions, classes, capacity and bookings.
- Reminders The dates your business can't let lapse — insurance and first aid, nagged ahead of time.
- Nudges Who needs a nudge today — opportunities, one tap each.
- Who needs chasing Every conversation about money, in the order to work through them.
- What needs doing Your own list, in your own words — the jobs you keep meaning to get to.
- Till Sell at the desk — cash, card or on their phone — and download the sales sheet.
- What you are making What is coming in every month, what was paid in the last 30 days, and what sells.
Templates and systems
- Forms & interviews PAR-Q, consent, consultations and your own forms.
- Coaching room The coaching tools shelf — wheels, journeys and resources in one place.
- Radar wheels Build a life or performance wheel a client fills in — see change over time.
- Nutrition by FASTER Nutrition sheets and habits without meal-plan pretence.
- Pathways Automated coaching journeys you assign to clients.
- Programmes Start a programme — a session, a month, 12 weeks or a season — and find the ones you have built.
- Games & drills planner Build game-based sessions and drills.
- Sport screens Pick a sport — the shots to film, the analyser, and a ready-made radar of the qualities that matter.
- Movement screen → radar Read joint angles off the analyser — they auto-score and fill a radar wheel.
- Assessment builder Build and run client assessments and re-tests.
- Tag analytics Every tag across your clips, grouped and exportable.
Client
- AI prompts Your reusable prompt library for coaching copy.
- Before & after Side-by-side progress comparisons.
Trainer tools
- Exercise generator Fresh exercise ideas from constraints you set.
- FASTER dice & wheel Spin-and-roll session variety for groups and games.
- Movement demonstrator A 3D model of the FASTER movement patterns — body or skeleton view, prime movers lit up, live joint angles.
- Client video analysis Your media library — client folders and your own. Pick a clip to analyse.
- Movement by FASTER (HMAC) Human movement analysis charts — see how a client moves.
- Live analysis Mount your phone and coach live — skeleton, reps, angles and depth in real time.
- Tell a group One thing, to the right people — and you see exactly who it reaches first.
Media centre
- Video builder Reels, stories and client report videos, in your own branding.
- Image builder Branded posts and cards for your socials, at the right size.
- Shot list builder Every shot with its size, angle, lens, location, people, kit and sound; sorted into shooting order, ticked off on the day, printed or sent as a sheet.
- Storyboard builder Plan a video shot by shot: what the camera sees, what is said, the move and the cut.
- Script writer Write what you will say, with the word count and how long it takes to say.
- Teleprompter Read your script off the screen at your speed, and film yourself behind it.
- Video and image organiser Everything you have made and every source you can pull from.
- Ad builder Make your own ads, coached as you go, in your branding. As many as you like, no fee, no cap.
Reading this for your own training? Every trainer on the FASTER register has been assessed by us — search by town or speciality, free.
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