Australian Institute of Fitness and Fitness Lifestyle Group Announce New Partnership
Parent company of brands including Fitness First and Goodlife Health Clubs joins forces with Australia’s leading provider of qualified fitness professionals to enhance career opportunities for new graduates.
Australia’s largest and longest-standing fitness training organisation, the Australian Institute of Fitness (AIF) and leading health and wellness company Fitness & Lifestyle Group (FLG) have announced a new partnership designed to provide newly qualified personal trainers and group fitness instructors with greater career options.
Established in 1979, AIF has trained over 60,000 students to become personal trainers and fitness instructors. In this time, it has cemented its position as Australia’s leading provider of fitness industry training and qualifications and is known throughout the sector for its highly regarded flagship Master Trainer Program™ (which incorporates Certificate III and IV in Fitness).
Headquartered in Australia, FLG is Asia Pacific’s leading health and wellness group, with a portfolio of globally recognised brands including Fitness First Australia and Goodlife Health Clubs Australia. With 146locations serving hundreds of thousands of members across 5 states, these two industry-leading club chains offer significant career opportunities in the areas of personal training, group fitness, boutique programs, massage and more.
AIF has long emphasised its dual focus on both qualifications and careers, with a program and team dedicated to connecting graduates with reputable industry employers. This has resulted in its status as the fitness RTO with the highest number of employed graduates in the industry. As a large-scale fitness operator, meanwhile, FLG is continually seeking high quality new fitness professionals to join its hundreds of teams across the region. As the biggest names in their respective fields, both businesses are well positioned to assist each other in achieving their objectives.
Announcing the partnership, Steve Pettit, AIF’s CEO, said “AIF and FLG brands have a long-established working relationship, from which both parties have greatly benefited. In announcing this new partnership, we are acknowledging the successes achieved over a number of years while paving the way for even greater ones in the future. As Australia’s leading provider of qualified fitness professionals to the industry, it makes perfect sense to align ourselves with the leading source of career opportunities for these professionals, and in so doing prioritising the prospects
of our graduates. We are excited about the many possibilities afforded by this partnership and view it as a huge win-win for the industry.”
Daniel Waide, General Manager of Fitness and Innovation at Fitness & Lifestyle Group stated that “We have partnered with AIF across our various brands since its inception. As an operator of large chains we need to make sure we are attracting the best people, regardless of which stage of their career they are currently in. This means engaging with the best RTO’s and Fitness educators in the country. By formalising a partnership, we can ensure that Trainers are coming out of courses as ready as possible to run their own business in one of our facilities, we can also better support through the education process to make sure students are clear on their options at the conclusion of their course.”
In addition to the career opportunities it facilitates, the partnership also has the potential to provide AIF with a pool of individuals interested in gaining fitness qualifications.
FLG’s clubs represent a prime source of potential new fitness professionals, populated as they are with members that both value and actively invest in healthy lifestyles. As such, AIF will be implementing a number of strategies to assist FLG communities and staff looking to gain or upgrade their fitness professional qualifications and skills. Commenting on this aspect of the agreement, Kim Horner, AIF’s Head of Operations, said “We know that those with the longest and most successful careers in our industry have invariably started out as fitness enthusiasts. By harnessing this energy we can train and graduate a new wave of fitness professionals with not only a raw passion for fitness, but the skills and know-how to also instil it in others.”
For more information about Australian Institute of Fitness (AIF) go to fitness.edu.au and Fitness & Lifestyle Group (FLG) go to fitlg.com.
Justin is the Managing Director of Active Management, which he began January 2004. He offers coaching to businesses worldwide in everything from start up and design to marketing and sales systems. Justin also facilitates four Australian and New Zealand ‘fitness industry roundtables’ events, which allows him to see a huge cross section of business models.