Fitness Industry Education (FIE) offers a range of online Personal Training and Group Exercise To Music courses which will provide you with the qualifications you need to commence your career in the fitness industry. The interactive e-learning format, delivered over the Internet, allows you to study for your new career, in your own time, at your own place, wherever you may be.

Becoming an aerobics instructor is not a simple process. To begin with, you should to be familiar with aerobics classes, which can be difficult enough. This is just a start, as aerobics instructors obviously need to know more than their students.

As the teacher, you have to instruct the students how to move. Here are a few issues to consider:

• Timing - Instructors have to be able to do one thing while saying the next. Instructors often count down, but they never get to 'one', because when they get that far, it's time to announce the next move. This ability can only be learned with practice. As a beginning instructor, you will inevitably make mistakes. However, aerobics students are usually a forgiving lot.
• Complexity - There's a fine line here. If a pattern is too complex, the students can have trouble learning it, and give up. If it's too simple, the students can get bored, and give up - assess your class and choose wisely.

Aerobics teachers need to know enough about the human body to exercise the parts in need of exercise, and avoid breaking the parts that don't. This means a knowledge of:

• Musculature - Instructors are expected to be able to name the different muscle groups, and to know exercises to strengthen each one.
• Other body parts - In particular, instructors are expected to know the difference between bones, ligaments, tendons, and how long each typically takes to heal.

The YMCA started certifying swimming instructors in the 1930s, and offers aerobics certification in several nations today.

Still, most certifying organizations operate primarily in the United States. Two certifying organizations prevail among American fitness professionals:

• The American Fitness and Athletic Association (AFAA).
• The American Council of Exercise (ACE).

Of these two, ACE has the more stringent requirements, expecting their members to have college-level training in biophysics. AFAA's training is less demanding, and consequently more subscribed. Most American instructors get certified through AFAA.