Frequently Asking Questions

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General
Are the two day courses being held in the same weekend?

The course dates have been segregated approx. 1-month apart to allow a sufficient amount of time for self-study. Every course requires a minimum amount of self-study hours so as to complete the required curriculum.

Why is the examination process required?

Examination Definition

When an individual passes an examination following a course provided by an approved provider – they can demonstrate their knowledge of the subject matter contained within the course material of that qualification.

What is the process of obtaining a Qualification?

Obtaining a Qualification refers to passing an examination or assessment, especially one conferring status as a recognised practitioner of a profession or activity.

What is the minimum age required to participate in a ProFi course?

The student must be 16 years of age by the time the course starts. For example, if you are just about to be 16, you can register as long as your birthday falls one day before the start date of the course.

For participants between 16 and 18 years of age, the parents have to send us a letter of approval and sign a disclaimer. The documents have to be received by us with 7 days before the course starts. In the absence of these documents, the applicant won't be able to participate. The documents will not be needed if the applicant's birthday falls one day before the course starts.

How long before ProFi sends over the Diplomas?

Please allow between 2 and 4 weeks for us to register, print and dispatch your Diploma.

What is my REPs registration number?

Please register your REPs qualification with your territorial accreditation body. For the Republic of Ireland, please contact REPs Ireland. The list of worldwide REPs accreditation bodies please visit iCREPs.

Do I need to pay for the Examination separately?

The costs of Examinations are included in the price of the course. You will need to pay only for Repeats if that's the case.

What types of learning materials will I receive?

Every student receives printed manuals or learning logs or both. All our materials are printed in colour and contain images. We only provide digital learning materials in exceptional cases.

Do I need to purchase any books from ProFi Fitness School?

The cost of printed learning Materials is included in the price of the course. However, if you lose your materials, you will need to pay for replacements.

Can I just do a Basic Gym Instructor or Personal Trainer Qualification?

If working as a Gym Instructor is what you're after, just walking the gym floor is no longer enough for employers. Pick up any class schedule from a club and it will quickly become apparent that to be employable, you need to be certified to teach a good few of the advertised classes. As for a Personal Trainer, "basic" is simply redundant in this day and age.

Our courses have been designed to meet the current demands of the fitness industry.

Are your qualifications recognised in the industry?

Yes. Our graduates have no trouble finding jobs. As a school we are also constantly in contact with various gyms/leisure centres and inform our students about job opportunities on our facebook page.

Are your qualifications internationally recognised?

Yes. The certificates for our core education courses: PFS Gym Instructor®, PFS Exercise to Music® and PFS Personal Trainer® are accredited by REPS Ireland and aligned to European Qualification Framework. REPS Ireland is a part of an ICREPS organisation that connects exercise professional registers in UK, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, United Arab Emirates, USA.

The certificates for our short continuing education courses have CPD points assigned to them, and as such, you can also register them on REPs website.

If you travel to work in another country you can apply to register in REPs organisation of that country by enquiring to REPs Ireland on reps@ilam.ie. They will guide you through a transfer to another country register.

What is REPs?

REPs - Register of Exercise Professionals, is an organisation that gathers all exercise professionals in one register for employers to be able to verify your qualification. REPs verifies the quality of training delivered by different training providers and states if they adhere to EHFA (European Health and Fitness Association) standards. It also verifies qualifications of exercise professionals, if they did not complete a REPs accredited course.

The facts that our school teaches courses that are REPs accredited means that as a training provider, Profi Fitness School adheres to European standards for those courses.

What is CPD?

CPD stands for Continuing Professional Development. It refers to the process of tracking and documenting the skills, knowledge and experience that you gain both formally and informally as you work, beyond any initial training. It's a record of what you experience, learn and then apply. The term is generally used to mean a physical folder or portfolio documenting your development as a professional. Some organisations use it to mean a training or development plan, which I would argue is not strictly accurate. This article is about CPD as a process of recording and reflecting on learning and development.

Continuing professional development (CPD) is the means by which people maintain their knowledge and skills related to their professional lives.

CPD is continued professional development. It means that you will need to continue with some line of studying to meet the guidelines outlined by a certain body. I.e. For us as physios we need to do a certain amount of hours a year of formal and informal training in order to rejoin our society.

Do I need any experience as a fitness instructor?

To do our CPD courses and Professional Courses you need to have a Basic qualifications or Anatomy Level 2.

What can I do if I decide this course isn't right for me?

You can switch to another course if you give us notice by email at list 7 days before the start of the course you are enrolled on. You will then be transferred your chosen course.

How much of the course is practical and how much is theory?

Most courses involve up to 80% of practice. This means that you will need to exercise and practice teaching or creating training programmes. Practical exams are included in all our courses (for one day courses it is a mini exam).

The only course that is largely theoretical in proportion is PFS Personal Trainer & Nutrition Advisor. It involves a significant amount of Nutrition hours (64 hours), Anatomy and Physiology Level 3, Business Management - all these are theoretical classes. Most of the practical component of training clients is explained in its predecessor - PFS Gym Instructor®.

Will I struggle if English is not my first language?

All our courses are taught in English. You need good knowledge of the English language on a communicative basis, and you need to be able to understand written and spoken English.

How can I reserve a place on a course?

When you find a course you are interested in, click on the course name on the bottom of the website or in sections: Fitness Certification, CPD and Professional Fitness Certification. These sections include courses that correspond to beginner, intermediate and advanced stage of your fitness instructor career. You can also find links to course descriptions in the Prices section. Once you click on the link with your chosen course name, you will have a Booking section on the left hand side. All start dates of the chosen course are shown there. You just "click to register" and a registration form will appear.

You can pay for the course right after registration (by PayPal, Visa, Mastercard) or you can choose to pay later. You should receive a short “Thank you for your application” email upon successful registration.

Do I pay for the courses in full when I book?

You can pay for the course within 5 working days. After that period of time, if payment was not received by PFS, your name is removed from the course list, and if you would like to do it and pay later, you will need to register once again.

Upfront payment is the only option for short courses. Longer courses (Fitness Certifications and Professional Fitness Certifications) have an installment payment option, which increases your course price by €100. For these longer courses a deposit of €500 is required within 5 working days.