There are three main routes towards relevant further training in the UK. One relates to the fitness industry, another to organised walking in the outdoors, and the third to athletics coaching.

FITNESS
There is a series of qualifications intended for people who want to be instructors working mainly (but not exclusively) in gyms. They are National Vocational Qualifications (NVQs) or similar. NVQ2 is called Fitness Instructor. NVQ3 is called Personal Trainer.

You can do these courses through commercial providers. Among the main ones are YMCAfit (www.ymcafit.org.uk) and Premier Training International (www.premierglobal.co.uk).

Courses run by commercial providers can be very good, but they are not cheap. A full time Fitness Instructor course with Premier will cost about ₤1,000 and will last about 3 weeks. A full time Personal Trainer course will cost about ₤2,000 and will last about 5 weeks.

Much cheaper alternatives are offered by Further Education (FE) colleges. Usually run on a part-time basis over an entire academic year, FE courses will cost about ₤250 for Level 2 and ₤400 for Level 3.

For an example of a Level 2 course (offered by our local college) go to www.eastberks.ac.uk/courses and then search on part time courses.

WALKING
There are leader qualifications in health-related walking and in country walking.

The Walking for Health Initiative (WHI) is a joint venture by Natural England and the British Heart Foundation. It aims to encourage more people to do regular short walks in their local areas. For more details, go to www.whi.org.uk.
The Initiative depends on volunteer walk leaders, and it offers a one-day course for prospective leaders. Usually the course is free of charge.

The Walking Group Leader award (WGL) is an entry-level qualification for people wanting to lead country walks. It is intended for leaders of groups taking day-walks (in summer conditions) in non-mountainous terrain. It is recognised by the Duke of Edinburgh's Award, the Scout and Guide Associations and other similar organisations. The WGL is accredited by the United Kingdom Mountain Training Board (MLTUK), an organisation that also offers mountain leadership qualifications in, respectively, summer and winter conditions. For more details of these courses go to www.mltuk.org/docs/training.

ATHLETICS
The third approach is through athletics coaching, which is mainly organised by UK Athletics.

To see the general structure of coaching and coach education, go to www.ukathletics.net/coaches/coach-education. You will see that there are four levels of qualification: Assistant Coach, Coach, Advanced Coach and Master Coach. At all levels, the organisers say:
"UK Athletics' courses aim to ensure that coaches develop good knowledge across the 5 key areas: Technical and Tactical; Strength and Conditioning; Psycho-Behavioural; Movement Skills; and Lifestyle and Support, and the skills to apply that knowledge to the maximum benefit of athletes."

It is of interest that UK Athletics has also introduced a course in Fitness in Running and Walking, which is for "people who are involved in leading groups of people in endurance type activities, running, walking etc." The cost of the course is ₤60. For details, go to www.ukathletics.net/coaches/coach- education/fitness-in-running-and-walking.


If the uncertainty mentioned at the start of this posting does encourage NW instructors to broaden their own training, then it will have been a good thing. At present the education of NW instructors is very heavily biased towards learning how to teach basic techniques. Very little attention is paid to working with clients once they have learned those basic techniques. Some of the courses just reviewed could help the instructor develop ongoing programmes of Nordic Walking that focussed on health and fitness improvements, not just on technical instruction.

A similar case could be made for broadening the skills base of rollerski instructors. But that's for another day.

Have a good Christmas!