Nutrition: why Sage’s Diploma of Fitness Coaching leads the way

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23Oct

2016-10-23T21:45

Today, thousands of Australians seek out the services of a personal trainer because they want to get fit, lose weight, get nutritional and dietary advice, and improve their overall well-being. There’s just one problem – the average PT isn’t qualified to provide all of this.

That’s right, a PT is qualified to prescribe exercises only, and that’s why the demand for qualified fitness coaches is greater than ever before. See The Sage Diploma of Fitness Coaching: satisfying the demands of today’s fitness clients to find out more about the diploma and why you need more than just a Cert IV to meet the needs of the modern fitness industry.

At Sage, we introduced an invaluable nutritional component to our unique Diploma of Fitness Coaching (10067NAT) in direct response to industry demand. It gives our students a greater understanding of the nutritional requirements to assist with a client’s health and fitness and sets them apart from other graduates with a lesser PT qualification. It’s a big advantage at interview time.

Exercise and nutrition – you just can’t have one without the other

The combined benefits of exercise and nutrition are widely documented and have repeatedly proven to help with superior levels of fitness and weight loss programs. Adequate nutrition is universally accepted as a part of leading a healthy lifestyle. Combined with physical activity, the correct nutritional plan can help individuals reach and maintain a healthy weight, reduce the risk of chronic diseases (like heart disease and cancer), and promote overall health and well being. It’s also the secret to every athlete’s success in achieving the performance they desire on game day. Is it any wonder that leaders in the fitness profession are demanding better qualified graduates who understand more about nutrition and its vital importance in any client’s fitness program?

Nutritional education

Fitness coaches learn how to screen their clients, assess their needs and body composition, and develop the skills to consolidate this information into tailored nutritional plans. Once the plan is underway, the fitness coach can monitor their client and provide valuable support and motivation for them to reach their health goals through a combination of healthy eating and exercise.

Learning about nutrition at Sage is invaluable for fitness professionals to meet the requirements of their clients in the modern fitness setting. However, it’s important to remember that nutritional coaching does not take the place of a qualified dietician. For example, fitness coaches would need to refer clients with conditions such as food allergies, cancers, diabetes and gastrointestinal diseases to an accredited, practising dietician.

The Diploma of Fitness Coaching does, however, enable our graduates to give excellent nutritional advice for those wanting to lose weight, shape up and improve their lifestyle, and to support those undertaking specialised training such as bodybuilders and athletes.

Here’s an example of the type of nutrition planning and advice you can give on graduation:

Weight increase or loss plan
Suggested meal plans
Recovery nutrition
Recommendations on supplements
Bodybuilding plan
Increased training nutrition plan
Nutrition required for specific sporting activities

Creating a nutrition plan – what’s involved?

So, now you know what advice you can give as a qualified fitness coach, let’s have a look at the main steps in the nutrition planning process:

STEP 1: Determine the client’s needs
The fitness coach undertakes preliminary health and body composition screens and speaks to the client about their fitness goals in order to determine the most suitable type of nutrition plan. Is the primary goal to lose weight and shape-up? Or is the person looking to build muscle, or train for a specific athletic event? The goals will help determine the type of plan that is developed, as will other factors such as body composition, current health status and exercise levels.

STEP 2: Develop and communicate the nutritional plan
Once the client’s needs are established an individually tailored nutrition plan can be put together. This will typically involve determining the recommended daily calorific intake in accordance with Australian dietary guidelines and designing the individual’s meal plans, including balance of food groups and recommended portions for each sitting. The plan is discussed with the client to ensure that any preferences and issues are addressed.

STEP 3: Support and monitor the client to achieve their nutritional plan goals
The fitness coach plays a vital role in keeping their client on track with the nutrition plan by keeping the client motivated while promoting healthy physical and mental behaviours. The fitness coach monitors their client’s progress with regular meetings, responding to concerns and questions and adjusting the plan as required.

With this level of nutritional knowledge and skill behind them, the fitness coach can enable the client to connect the dots together between their present state to where they want to be with their fitness, health and well-being. The fitness coach is there with the client every step of the way to help them succeed in their fitness goals.

Find out more about the exciting Sage Diploma of Fitness Coaching here, or contact one of our Careers Advisors on 1300 664 664.

Sage Institute of Fitness – it’s more than a job, it’s a rewarding career.

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Vicki Richardson

Vicki Richardson is both the Director of Human Resources and the Director of Advertising and Marketing at Sage. She oversees and directs a large team of employees, plans and devises all advertising and marketing campaigns, manages brand ambassadors, and develops and manages B2B relationships with industry partners. Vicki lists helping Sage Institute become the number one educator in the fitness, massage, child-care and aged-care fields as her biggest achievement. She is passionate about work-life balance and is thrilled to see Sage graduates go on to be successful in their chosen careers.