South London-based Functional Intelligent Fitness Personal Health Clubs (FIT Clubs) has recently launched an education arm to teach trainers to assess and rehabilitate members biomechanically.

It has just achieved REPs NVQ Level 3 accreditation for its first course.

Conditioning of the Spine is the first of seven modular courses launched by FIT Education, which are also expected to be accredited by REPs in due course. The courses qualify instructors as functional biomechanists from levels 1 to 6.

Martin Haines, head biomechanist and rehabilitation consultant to FIT Clubs, explained why the courses have been developed. “Fitness trainers are excellent at teaching people how to perform exercises, but they are not well versed at who should be doing them and when.

“It is understood in the rehab world that body building/fitness exercises pollute rehabilitation. They are two completely different things, which is not widely understood in the fitness industry.

"We devised our education arm to teach instructors to be able to assess, train and rehabilitate as we do in our FIT Clubs," he said.

The courses are designed for fitness intsructors who want a greater understanding of exercise prescription in the gym.

The classes can be run in-house at health clubs throughout the country or specifically for individuals at £95 per day.