INTEC Personal Fitness and Nutrition Certificate

Course details

Invest in your good health.Turn an interest into an opportunity that could change your life! It is common knowledge that exercise and nutritious eating are vital for a true sense of well being. Once you've experienced the energy and excitement that comes from feeling fit and eating correctly, you'll know this is the right lifestyle for you. Whether you're already interested in fitness or want to get involved in it for the first time, you'll find INTEC's course stimulating and interesting. In no time you could be making informed choices about your own exercise and diet programme, choosing what's best for you, feeling fit and looking great! Your enthusiasm and vitality are sure to inspire your family and friends.

Entrance Requirement

Grade 10 (Std. 8) or equivalent, or relevant work experience.

Course Content

• Introduction to managing personal health: Learn the importance of being fit and feeling good, of taking charge of your own health and lifestyle, and of keeping up with trends in the health industry. Learn how to begin your own fitness programme and manage all aspects of your health.
• Muscles in motion: Learn the difference between the physiology and kinesiology of your muscles, as well as the effects of the muscular system on the cardio-pulmonary, cardio-respiratory and skeletal systems.
• Exercise and how it affects the body: Build on your knowledge of muscle movement and contractions, and discover how exercise affects your body. Also, master the important skill of adapting exercise programmes for those clients with special needs and health conditions.
• Injury prevention and first aid: You will learn how fitness leaders should assess injuries, apply first-aid techniques, and respond in emergency situations. You will learn how to build on your knowledge of muscles and how exercise affects the body. This will help you realise the importance of injury prevention.
• Nutrition and general good health: You will be introduced to the basic concepts of nutrition and well being. Then you will cover the nutrients necessary for good health, particularly vitamins and minerals.
• Sports nutrition: You will learn about nutrition concepts that are specific for the athlete and fitness professional, i.e. energy requirements, endurance and strength requirements, fluid needs, optimal fat intake, ergogenic aids, etc.
• Promoting lifestyle changes: Many people do not realise how stress affects good health, and ignore the need for identifying and recognising stress in their lives. Relaxation and stress management are techniques that need to be developed and maintained in order to be effective. You will discover the nature of stress and its effect on your health, and you will learn how to overcome common barriers.
• Stress management and reduction: You will learn how to apply stress-reducing techniques to stressful situations. This includes how to bring down your blood pressure, heart rate and breathing patterns back to a natural, balanced state of relaxation during stressful times. You will also discover several ways to cope with stress.
• Designing a conditioning/fitness programme: Develop a personalised conditioning programme incorporating all the knowledge that you have gained so far.
• Movement repertoire for a fitness class: Design a conditioning/fitness programme using the four basic elements - warm-up, aerobics, strength conditioning and cool down. Here you will cover how to supply exercises for a complete workout, enabling you to work through each of the four basic elements, using your new repertoire of movement for individual or group workout routines.
• Exercise testing and evaluation: Learn how to administer screening procedures, preliminary tests and assessments for new exercise conditions. This is an important unit if you wish to turn your skills into a business.
• Leadership skills for the fitness leader: Learn how to develop your leadership skills and how to successfully communicate, motivate and inspire people who look to you as the fitness leader. This is also an important unit if you wish to turn your skills into a business.
• Business skills for the fitness field: Here you will focus on setting business goals, developing a plan, budgeting and financing. You will also learn about different legal issues, as well as how to market your skills so that your business will be a success.