Fitness and Health Promotion Programs in Canada

Staying fit is the latest mantra. There has been a revival of interest in physical fitness and exercise in last few years. Although the lifestyle of a majority of people is still sedentary but an appropriate approach to fitness and health promotion by industry professionals can encourage them to make dedicated efforts to stay fit and healthy.

Career Prospects for Health and Fitness Professionals

As the fitness industry is experiencing a boom, there is an increased scope for health and fitness professionals as far as their careers are concerned. They can build careers in the areas of fitness counselling and training, injury management, wellness program development and implementation, fitness marketing, fitness products marketing, and health and fitness consultancy.

The professionals can find employment in various industry sectors, including community, corporate fitness, municipal recreation, retail fitness and hospitals as fitness instructors, personal trainers, fitness consultants, wellness program developers, health and fitness counsellors, fitness product marketers or fitness assessors. Not only this, they can start their own business in fitness and health promotion industry.

Prerequisites for Building a Career

However, to build a rewarding career, they need to have undergone a formal education and training in this field. With this, they are also expected to have a relevant hands-on experience in counselling people, promoting fitness or developing wellness programs. A course in health and fitness promotion can help interested individuals in obtaining knowledge and skills necessary to build a career in this filed.

About Health and Fitness Training Programs in Canada

The two-year post-secondary health and fitness training programs in Canada are designed to meet the ever growing public demand for health and wellness counselling. The students are prepared for fulfilling careers assisting individuals and groups to reach their highest potential for overall well-being. They are exposed to the latest functional-fitness training principles.

The program is dedicated to help students build a strong foundation in health and wellness concepts, human physiology and biomechanics. They learn to assess fitness levels of individuals and develop fitness programs tailored to their individual needs.

In addition to this, the fitness programs offer them several hands-on learning opportunities at well constructed athletic and wellness centres located at the college campus and through industry partnerships that provide supervised field placements in the fitness industry.

Admission Requirements

In order to apply for a health and fitness promotion program, students will need to submit secondary school diploma certificate or equivalent and scores of English Grade 12 C or University or equivalent and one Science Grade 11 or 12 C or University or equivalent (physics, chemistry, biology or exercise science). After admission and before completion of the program, they are required to submit annual clear police check with vulnerable sector screening and complete a recognized course in CPR and in Standard First Aid.

Choosing the Right College

Although a number of colleges in Canada offer post-secondary health and fitness courses but not all provide real-world work experience to students, which is an essential condition to seek employment. Centennial College's fitness and health promotion program is one of the most prestigious programs in the country. It offers students hands-on experience through on-campus field placement and industry field placement. In addition, students of this program also have the opportunity to become certified personal trainers according to the CSEP-CPT requirements and learn course material related to the canfitpro Personal Training Specialists certification.