The profession of personal trainer (personal trainer), fitness coach, sports coach is not currently recognized in Belgium . This means that anyone can call themselves a “sports coach” without having an adequate diploma.T
hus, in Belgium, there is currently no legal obligation to have a diploma or a qualifying certificate to exercise the profession of personal trainer, fitness coach or sports coach .
However, in 2015, the government of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation had begun to work on the development of a “Fitness” decree aimed in particular at regulating access to the profession , but this decree never saw the light of day .
Personal trainer, sports coach: advantages of training
Even if legally no training is required to exercise the profession of sports coach, in practice, it is better to be trained . Indeed, practicing sports with a poorly trained or untrained teacher can present certain risks.
In addition, training as a sports coach has many advantages :
- Training enriches skills and provides a solid basic structure , which helps to approach the profession of sports coach more calmly and helps to avoid making basic mistakes .
- A higher level of knowledge builds confidence and encourages further training in the field.
- The more a sports coach is trained, the more expert he becomes and the more he takes pleasure in exercising his profession .
- A high level of competence in the sports coach considerably facilitates customer loyalty and word of mouth.
Fitness training and personal training
In the Wallonia-Brussels Federation, different types of training allow you to become a sports coach. Some of them are officially recognized and others are organized privately.
This bachelor’s degree allows you to exercise the profession of sports coach as a freelancer or employee in various sectors of activity: fitness center, gym, holiday club, hotel complex, company, organization working in the field of sport, public institution working with the elderly or with a disability.
List of universities that offer the bachelor’s degree in sports coaching
UCL personal training course
Those who have a CESS can also do higher education in physical education, motor sciences or physiotherapy and then follow the personal training course at UCL (university certificate).
If you do not have a CESS, the UCL personal training course (university certificate) is only accessible if you have followed a series of other courses beforehand.
Here are the different steps to follow to have access to UCL personal training when you do not have the CESS:
1. Pass the general ADEPS courses at level I ( Initiator sports instructor) and level II (Educator sports instructor)
2. Successful completion of the ADEPS training gives access to the 1st UCL “pre-training” in personal training > anatomy and physiology of exercise “
3. which will be followed by a 2nd “pre-training” of UCL in personal training .
4. which will finally give access to the 3rd and last training in personal training of UCL
Work-study training at EFP (Brussels) and IFAPME (Wallonia)
The Brussels EFP organizes work-study training to become a fitness instructor, more information HERE .
The IFAPME also organizes training as a fitness instructor, more information HERE . This training takes place on Saturdays.
