The new vice president and general manager of Premier Global NASM talks about skills gaps and his ambitions for the brand in the UK and beyond

How is tech affecting learning?
Digital learning technology isn’t new; but its effectiveness continues to improve as technology advances. The huge advantage it offers is accessibility; it eliminates barriers for students who want to enter the industry, but can’t access a venue to study at times that suit them.

Utilising an online platform also creates a more flexible learning experience; students can decide to accelerate or slow learning, based on how they’re progressing.

Every student has unique learning needs, with some thriving on the live aspect of learning. We cater for this with weekly, live webinars delivered by our world-class tutor team, to create a learning experience that simulates the classroom environment.

Employers say they must provide extra training to ensure fitness staff are work-ready. How is Premier Global NASM addressing this?
Training providers need to work with employers to ensure all fitness professionals have the skills to support their business objectives. We’re engaging with employers to understand where they see training gaps and we're also sharing ideas to enable the industry to find solutions.
We can draw on our experiences in the US where we’re implementing programmes that address this problem. We’re currently exploring how we can introduce these to UK employers, tailoring them to the market.

We’re also addressing the issue through our education curriculum with NASM’s proprietary Optimum Performance Training™ (OPT™) model.

This model is unique to Premier Global NASM and is integrated into our new Diploma in Personal Training for Optimum Performance.

The OPT™ model helps new fitness professionals take the guesswork out of programme design, through a systematic training process that allows them to personalise and deliver safe, effective and consistent programming to clients.

The activity sector is aligning itself with the health sector. How are you helping the workforce deliver this agenda?
We have experience in bridging the knowledge and credibility gap between professions through quality training and education. Our advanced specialisations in human movement science, such as NASM’s Corrective Exercise Specialist course and NASM’s Performance Enhancement Specialist course, are used by professionals in a variety of sectors, including health.

These specialisations allow for the application of key human movement principles that best meet each need and situation, whether they’re being utilised by a personal trainer, sports performance coach or a physiotherapist.

We’ll continue to work with ukactive and CIMSPA to support the development of a credible CPD model that supports career progression and career pathways.

Continuing education is vital to building knowledge among fitness professionals, improving service, protecting consumers and delivering public health outcomes. All of this combined will elevate the sector’s credibility and create opportunities to align with the health sector.

What are your ambitions?
We intend to deliver a world class digital learning experience with high achievement rates and strong training outcomes that can support increased opportunity and credibility for our graduates.

We want to act as a primary advocate and positive voice for fitness professionals, opening as many doors as possible for them, from initial employment to ongoing career development.

We’ll expand our reach into other sectors, including elite sports. In the US, we’ve trained professionals across the NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL, and we’d like to bring our experience and knowledge in injury prevention and sports performance training to professional football and other sports in the UK.

We’ve already signed a well-known Premier League team, news of which we’ll share soon, so this work is beginning.

Lastly, we intend to be an industry advocate and work with key associations such as ukactive and CIMSPA to progress the sector, while delivering the most qualified graduates who'll inspire the masses to improve their health through physical activity.