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Education/training

Colleges offer plenty of choices for programs in fitness and health promotion

Turn fitness into a career

Cheryl Higgs wants anyone considering the new Fitness and Health Promotion program at Durham College to realize it's not all aerobics and pumping iron.

DAVID CHILTON

[ 2007-05-23 ]

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On the contrary, says Higgs, co-ordinator of the two-year program: "It's a lot of theory. I can't overemphasize how important the anatomy and physiology (classes) are."

Core courses in the program include anatomy, nutrition, the prevention and treatment of injuries, marketing and motivation, and leadership.

Thirty two of Higgs's 42 students are female, and most came straight from high school, she says, and needed an upper level biology and math. Biology needs no explanation, but the math's importance becomes especially obvious in the second year of the program. That's when students start learning fitness testing, measuring body fat and so on. "You have to be able to figure out these things on paper," Higgs says.

The inaugural class for Fitness and Health Promotion was last September; the program came about after a member of the community in Oshawa, the college's hometown, suggested it. The new program seemed like a good fit, Higgs says, and it has taken some of the pressure off the college's popular Sports Management program. However, Fitness and Health Promotion itself may soon be under the application gun: in September Durham will boost the number of students admitted into the program to 82.

Most of the fitness and health promotion programs in the GTA differ a bit -- and anyone interested in a specific college should check what those differences are -- but Humber and George Brown both offer two-year full-time programs.

Like Durham, Humber calls its course Fitness and Health Promotion (Durham's program is modelled on Humber's), although unlike Durham it offers classes that begin in September and again in January. George Brown's program is called Fitness and Lifestyle Management.

COLLEGE OPTIONS

Two other colleges in the GTA also offer fitness and health-related programs, although they aren't nearly the same in length or course requirements as those of Durham, Humber and George Brown.

Centennial offers a one-year post graduate certificate in Workplace Wellness and Health Promotion, and Seneca has a Fitness Leadership program that it offers through its Continuing Education division.

The Durham program was developed in co-operation with the Ontario Fitness Council that's based in Thornhill. Higgs says during their studies her students have to work towards their OFC certification, which requires passing theoretical and practical exams, and which figures prominently in improved employment prospects.

MANDATORY CERTIFICATION

More and more, says Gilda Ciavarella, managing director of the OFC, fitness centres and other places of employment are demanding certification, and some make such OFC certification mandatory.

Once they graduate Durham's students -- and many others -- will have to keep up their OFC certification if they want to remain in the fitness industry. Ciavarella says fitness pros have to prove themselves every two years. They need to show that they've attained 16 Continuing Education credits from a recognized school's workshops, seminars and so on, or they can choose to have a practical assessment from a OFC instructor that costs $90. They also need current CPR and first aid certificates and proof of at least 20 teaching hours a year.

Once they've graduated Durham's -- and the other schools' -- students can look forward to employment prospects that are pretty good. Typical employers are commercial gyms, municipal recreation programs, physiotherapists' and chiropractors' offices, and similar places, although starting pay is a paltry $25,000 and $30,000 a year, And bear in mind, Higgs says, not everyone will be working 40 hours a week.

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