Whether you’re working in the fitness industry already or want to get into it, you may have heard of exercise referral. Put simply, it is the use of physical activity to improve someone’s health, wellbeing and overall quality of life.

But what exactly is the exercise referral process? We’ll take you through a step-by-step guide to the 6 stages of an exercise referral scheme, as well as who it is aimed at and more.

This article will cover:

• What Is Exercise Referral?
• What Is The Exercise Referral Process: The 6 Stages
• The Exercise Referral Process: Who Is It For?
• How To Become An Exercise Referral Specialist
• FAQs

Exercise referral is one of the most rewarding fitness jobs out there, so why not become an exercise referral specialist yourself? After completing your Level 2 Gym Instructing qualification, you can progress onto our Level 3 Exercise Referral Course and begin an exciting career.

Alternatively, you can browse our full range of courses by downloading our free course prospectus here.

What Is Exercise Referral?

Before we describe the exercise referral process, let’s first clarify what exactly we mean by exercise referral.

Exercise referral, also known as GP exercise referral, is the process of a medical or health professional referring a patient to a fitness programme. The overall aim of the exercise referral process is to improve a patient’s health through exercise, and to encourage them to lead a more active lifestyle in the future.

A patient will generally be enrolled on an exercise referral scheme if they have a health condition which could be improved by physical activity. Common health conditions which are often prescribed exercise referral are asthma, arthritis, high blood pressure and diabetes.

It is important to note that exercise referral is more than just advising a patient to exercise more! Each exercise referral programme is designed by a fitness specialist and is specific to each patient’s individual needs.

GP exercise referral can also be used for patients with mental health conditions too, such as anxiety and depression.

Exercise referral specialists will therefore work with a range of clients with different health conditions, meaning that they have to tailor each programme to every patients’ specific needs. They will also work with a range of health professionals, from NHS staff to private healthcare professionals and medical practitioners.

To be an exercise referral specialist, you will need to have completed a Level 3 Exercise Referral qualification. Here at OriGym, we offer this course online, so you can start your dream career from the comfort of your own home.

Given the specialist knowledge involved in the GP exercise referral process, you should make sure that your course provider is accredited by CIMSPA to guarantee that you are educated to the highest standard. All of our courses are CIMSPA and REPs accredited, which is what makes OriGym the leading fitness course provider in the UK.

If this sounds like the job for you, check out our step-by-step guide to how to become an exercise referral specialist and start your dream career today.

What Is The Exercise Referral Process: The 6 Stages

Now that you have a general idea of what an exercise referral scheme is, you may now be wondering, what is the exercise referral process and what exactly does it entail?

We’ll describe the exercise referral process, taking you through each of the 6 stages involved, from the initial referral to the final assessment, so that you have a complete understanding of how it all works!

#1- Patient is referred to an exercise referral specialist

The first stage of the exercise referral process is an obvious one- the patient is referred to an exercise referral specialist.

This happens when a GP or other medical professional deems that a patient’s health conditions would benefit or be improved by a structured fitness program. It can either be funded by the NHS, or can have a small cost if done through a private healthcare provider.

As we have mentioned, this is more than simply advising them to ‘do more exercise’. It can be seen as a prescription; just like a doctor would prescribe medicine to a patient, the prescription here is exercise!

It should also be noted that patients will not be enrolled in an exercise referral scheme if they are sedentary or inactive, but otherwise healthy. Someone is only eligible for the scheme if they are sedentary but have a health condition which puts them at risk. We will discuss the types of people exercise referral can treat later in this article.

Enrolling a patient in an exercise referral scheme may either be their only treatment, or it could be alongside a series of other treatments such as medication, therapy and physiotherapy.

#2- Initial health assessment

Once a client has been assigned an exercise referral specialist, they will meet and the specialist will carry out an initial health assessment with their new client.

The aim here is similar to when a personal trainer carries out a postural assessment with a new client; it is to gain as much information as possible about the client so that they can create a program that is tailored to their specific needs.

Although the GP or health professional will have passed on any medical notes and information about the patient, this is a good chance for the specialist to meet their client on a personal basis and build up a relationship with them.

During this assessment, the specialist will determine the client’s current activity levels. For example, whether they already do any physical activity, and whether their job is sedentary (e.g. in an office), or if they are in a more active profession.

This is also one of the most important stages of the GP exercise referral process as it is when the specialist will learn more about the client’s health condition and the reasons that they have been referred.

They may ask the client questions such as how their condition affects their daily life, and establish any physical or mental limitations that they should consider when designing the program. For example, if someone has a heart condition, high intensity aerobic exercise may not be suitable.

#3- Exercise referral specialist creates the program

After the initial assessment, the fitness specialist will then go away and plan the exercise referral process and design a fitness program for their client.

This involves establishing things such as a weekly schedule for the client, where they will train and how often.

Just like a personal trainer would, the exercise referral specialist will also establish an overall aim or goal for the program. They will often use the SMART fitness goal criteria to make sure that the goal is Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time-Bound.

They will then present this program to the patient in another appointment, in which they will take them through the program and explain how to use any equipment involved.

This is arguably the most important stage of the exercise referral process, as the program has to be carefully designed in order to consider the patient’s specific health conditions- arguably more so than a personal training program does. That’s why OriGym’s exercise referral course equips every student with all the knowledge, skills and expertise you’ll need to plan a successful exercise referral program with confidence.

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Enjoying this article so far? Here’s 3 more that we think you’ll enjoy:

• How To Become An Exercise Referral Specialist
• Exercise Referral Specialist Salary
• How to Become a Group Fitness Instructor

#4- The exercise referral scheme begins

When asking the question, ‘what is the exercise referral process?’, this is perhaps the stage that most people will think of!

A typical exercise referral program is 8-12 weeks long, and can be either home or gym-based, depending on the client’s accessibility and location.

Monitoring the patient’s progress is an important part of this stage of the GP exercise referral process, as it is a chance to see if the program is effective and they are keeping up with it. If not, the specialist will make any changes and adapt the program accordingly, always with the patient’s safety in mind.

An exercise referral session is much the same as a personal training session. They are anywhere between 30-90 minutes long, and involve a trainer supervising and guiding the client through a series of exercises.

The exercises involved in these sessions will be designed specially with the client’s health condition in mind. This means that certain exercises may be ‘out of bounds’, or traditional exercises may have to be modified to accommodate their needs.

#6- End of the program

When describing the exercise referral program, you may not think the end of the program is an important stage to mention. However, the follow-up of any exercise program is arguably just as important as the program itself!

At the end of the exercise referral scheme, the exercise referral specialist and the client will meet for a final assessment. During this appointment, it will be decided whether the patient has made adequate progress, or if they need to carry on and extend the program.

Referring back to the initial assessment, they will be able to see if the patient has made progress in the areas that they were aiming to work on.

The way that progress is measured will depend on the nature of the patient’s health condition. For example, if a patient needed to lose a stone, this can be easily measured by weighing them before and after the program.

However, if a patient was referred to a specialist for mental health reasons, their progress can be harder to measure. In this case, they may then be referred back to a medical professional who will assess if the program has improved their condition.

Even if they have completed the exercise referral scheme successfully, they will still be given advice and guidance on how to carry on exercising and maintain the progress they have made!

For example, they may give them some tips on how to maintain weight loss, or some schemes may even offer incentives such as a gym membership discount to encourage patients to keep up with exercise.

The Exercise Referral Process: Who Is It For?

So, now that we’ve answered ‘what is the exercise referral process?’, let’s take a more detailed look into who exactly an exercise referral scheme is for.

An exercise referral scheme is typically aimed at people who have health conditions that puts them at risk, and that could be alleviated or improved from doing more physical activity.

However, due to the nature of their condition, they may find it difficult to exercise safely or in the correct way. This is why an exercise referral specialist needs to carefully design a program that takes these factors into consideration.

As such, exercise referral clients are typically not fitness professionals. However, they may well be ex-professionals, or people who have been unable to do sport because of their health condition and are using the scheme as a means of recovery.

Exercise referral clients have typically been referred to a specialist by their GP- either through the NHS or privately. This can therefore mean that exercise referral clients are less motivated than personal training clients, as they have been prescribed the sessions for health reasons, rather than seeking them out themselves voluntarily.

That said, someone can also refer themselves to a private exercise referral scheme, if they feel that they want to be more active but don’t know what to do.

However, an exercise referral scheme is primarily for helping clients with specific health issues, and they will still need to be referred by a health professional. If someone is simply looking to improve their fitness levels on a casual basis, this is more likely the role of a personal trainer, not an exercise referral specialist!

How To Become An Exercise Referral Specialist

If helping people improve their health, wellbeing and general quality of life through exercise sounds appealing, then a career in GP exercise referral could be for you!

The first step to becoming an exercise referral specialist is to take a Level 2 Gym Instructing Course. You’ll cover topics such as human anatomy, physiology and nutrition, which will stand you in good stead for a career in exercise referral.

Once you have this baseline qualification, you can then go on to take a Level 3 Exercise Referral Course. If you take your course with OriGym, you can guarantee that you’ll qualify with a strong foundation of knowledge of the exercise referral process and the skills to succeed.

During the course, you’ll learn all about the UK healthcare system and become familiar with the most common health conditions that you will encounter during the GP exercise referral process. You’ll also get practical experience in creating and delivering tailored exercise programs for a range of clients.

Plus, since all of OriGym’s fitness courses are accredited by CIMSPA, you can be sure that you are receiving the highest quality of teaching in the industry!

Once you have qualified as an exercise referral specialist, a world of opportunities will open up to you in the NHS, private healthcare, fitness clubs and more.

Check out our article on how to become an exercise referral specialist for a more detailed step-by-step guide on how to start this lucrative career.

FAQs

Is the exercise referral process effective?

After answering the question ‘what is the exercise referral process?’, you may now be wondering whether they are really effective. The short answer is that yes, they are!

There has been much research into the effectiveness of exercise referral schemes. For example, this study by the National Institute For Health Research found that people on exercise referral schemes were 12% more likely to achieve 90-150 minutes of exercise a week, compared to those who were not on the scheme.

The research also found that people on the scheme did more exercise per week than those who were simply advised to exercise. This indicates that the scheme is indeed effective in encouraging patients to do more exercise as a means of improving their health!

This success of exercise referral schemes is only growing even further, making it one of the best careers to get into right now!

What is the difference between the exercise referral process and personal training?

As we have discussed in this article, there are some similarities between the exercise referral process and personal training.

Personal trainers and exercise referral specialists do indeed share similar responsibilities, such as creating a training program, working with clients, motivating them and monitoring their progress.

Because of the similarities between the two roles, many people progress from personal training to exercise referral. Exercise referral is therefore a great option if you are a PT looking for the next step in your career!

However, the exercise referral process involves a more specialist knowledge of certain health conditions in order to work with these kinds of clients. As such, another difference between the personal training and exercise referral is that exercise referral clients generally have more specific needs to consider when designing a fitness program.

Before You Go!

So, if you were wondering, ‘what is the exercise referral process?’, we hope that you now know what each stage of the scheme entails!

If you’re now feeling inspired to become an exercise referral specialist yourself, taking your Level 2 Gym Instructing Qualification will equip you with all the knowledge and skills you need for a career in exercise referral.

If you already have this baseline qualification, take your Level 3 Exercise Referral course with OriGym today and become a specialist in just 8 weeks!

You can also download our free course prospectus here to browse the full range of courses we offer.

References

Campbell F, Holmes M, Everson-Hock E, et al. A systematic review and economic evaluation of exercise referral schemes in primary care: a short report. Health Technol Assess. 2015;19(60):1-110.

Looking at an exercise referral coordinator job description is a great way to get to know what employers are looking for. This can include the day-to-day tasks of a coordinator, as well as the skills and qualifications they require to perform their role.

OriGym is here to help by offering an in-depth look at exercise referral job descriptions, as well as how to set yourself up for success within the industry.

Contents:

• What is an Exercise Referral Coordinator?
• Roles and Responsibilities of an Exercise Referral Coordinator
• Freelance vs Contracted Exercise Referral Coordinator
• What is The Expected Salary of an Exercise Referral Coordinator?
• Skills Required To Become an Exercise Referral Coordinator
• Who Will You Treat as an Exercise Referral Coordinator?
• What Qualifications Are Needed to Become an Exercise Referral Coordinator?
• Specialist Qualifications That Will Benefit You In An Exercise Coordinator’s Job Role  
• FAQ

Do you have a passion for helping others, and want to put this to good use? If so, check out OriGym’s Exercise Referral course, where you’ll learn from industry-leading professionals in order to develop the vital skills required to excel in this job role. 

You can also download our FREE course prospectus which provides information relating to all of our courses, so you can find the best pathway for you and your career.  

What is an Exercise Referral Coordinator?

An exercise referral, otherwise known as a GP referral, is the process of a medical or health professional referring a patient to a fitness program.

An exercise referral coordinator is the individual who constructs this program, and coaches the client through it. It will be specifically designed in order to treat the patient’s existing condition or injury.

Check out our full guide on the exercise referral process here if you’re not already familiar with how this works, as it provides a full breakdown of each stage! 

Learning how to construct a program around a client’s individual needs is one of the key modules we teach in our Level 3 Exercise Referral qualification. If you’d like to learn more about this, we strongly encourage you to make an enquiry so that our team of career advisors can help you determine whether this qualification is best for you. 

Roles and Responsibilities of an Exercise Referral Coordinator

Let’s take a closer look at the day-to-day responsibilities you can expect to be given when working in this role.

Note that this is a general breakdown of an exercise referral job description, and differing employers and organisations may require you to take on more or fewer responsibilities.

#1 – Working Alongside Medical Professionals 

Medical/health care professionals are the coordinator’s partners in this working environment, and this relationship begins with the hiring process. 

When working in this specific profession the medical workers will typically be the employers who write the exercise referral coordinator job descriptions, whilst the coordinator will act as an employee of sorts. 

In this job role, one of the key responsibilities will be to maintain a good working relationship with these health care professionals. This is a vital necessity, as you will be spending a considerably large amount of time with them.

But how will this working relationship operate? Typically, the medical professional will refer a patient to an exercise referral coordinator with a detailed analysis of the patient’s medical issue. 

From this point, the coordinator will design a workout routine that would benefit or cure the patient’s condition.

#2 – Developing a Beneficial Workout Routine 

When working as a referral specialist you will spend a large portion of your time coming up with the best possible physical treatment for your clients. This is why exercise referral coordinator job descriptions will place a great deal of importance on this responsibility.

Typically, the program you design will last for 8-12 weeks, but this can vary from patient to patient as some may require significantly more treatment than others. 

But how do you ensure that you’re designing an effective program?

There are several important steps that you must take before designing these routines, which are as follows: 

• Personally assess a client’s health and fitness in order to gain a better understanding of their condition. This will allow you to determine any potential risks that could occur during the training program. 
• Likewise, if you’re unfamiliar with a patient’s condition then you must do your own research prior to the initial meeting. 
• Identify an appropriate end goal for the client, here you should also determine whether they are suited for long, medium or short-term treatment. 
• Carry out regular check-up assessments in order to monitor how much progress the client has made. 

OriGym’s Level 3 Exercise Referral course will provide you with all the necessary skills needed to create these workout routines. Without this correct education, you will not know how to tailor a workout to meet a client’s condition. 

Within this particular job role, you absolutely must be receptive to a client’s feedback and thoughts regarding their workout routine. If they feel as if something is not working in their favour or even worsening their condition then you must be able to take this on board, in order to tailor a new program around their needs. 

You will also be required to physically guide clients through each workout in the session. Keep this in mind when creating the routine, as you’ll need to assign something you can personally demonstrate too.

#3 – Motivating Your Clients 

Typically, exercise referral job descriptions will ignore this point in favour of placing a greater sense of importance on the previous two responsibilities. However, in a similar fashion to personal trainers, referral coaches must motivate their clients to meet their goals.

As a referral specialist, you will also be tasked with motivating your clients to continue this routine following the conclusion of your sessions. This is a vital necessity, as the continuation will ensure that the patient’s condition does not deteriorate or relapse. 

Many referral coaches will also work as personal trainers following the completion of courses such as our Level 3 PT qualification. However, motivating personal trainer clients is often significantly easier than those who have been referred to you by a healthcare professional. 

This is typically because PT clients are exercise enthusiasts who have sought you out of their own accord, compared to referral patients who are essentially being told to work with you. 

Additionally, referral clients have very little say in their goals, they are simply there in order to improve or cure their condition. Whereas PT clients are more likely to be motivated to meet goals they have personally selected, such as losing weight or gaining muscle mass. 

Referral clients may genuinely struggle with motivation due to their condition. These training sessions may be painful or uncomfortable for them to attend, so be sure to make these individuals feel as comfortable as possible in order to get the best results.

#4  – Staying Up To Date 

This is another responsibility that often goes unmentioned in exercise referral coordinator job descriptions, however, staying up to date with medical and fitness advancements is a necessity for all aspiring specialists.

Ensuring that you have a good working relationship with the medical professionals will come in handy for this responsibility, as you can turn to them for help answering any questions relating to medical conditions or terminology.

This is a simple responsibility, however, it requires a great deal of effort on your behalf. In order to succeed in this role, you will need to have the dedicated passion to engage with multiple medical topics, all for the sake of your patients. 

These are the primary roles and responsibilities you can expect to perform when working as an exercise referral coordinator. That being said, different employers may prioritise one responsibility over the other and may ask you to perform additional tasks too. 

Freelance vs Contracted Exercise Referral Coordinator

Whilst dissecting the topic of exercise referral coordinator job descriptions we felt it important to highlight the differences between freelance and contracted referral coordinators. 

Typically, both of these roles ask coordinators to perform the same responsibilities, so they don’t differ majorly in execution.

Freelance Coordinators 

Freelance exercise referral coordinating is a somewhat difficult industry to break into, as GPs and medical professionals will often contact coordinators who work for the same company or those who have close standing industry connections. 

However, this does not mean that it’s impossible to act in this role.

Freelance coordinators will have to establish their own industry connections,  this won’t come easily and may require previously working as a contracted referral coordinator or in other job roles such as personal trainers or massage therapist. 

Once you have gained some experience and connections under your belt you can then work as a freelancer, with either GP services or other health and fitness facilities. 

The biggest difference between this role and that of a contracted one is the hours worked. As a freelancer you will be in charge of your own working hours, adapting the rate to your preference and availability.

This in turn will have a knock-on effect on your overall earning potential, as working more than 40 hours a week will allow you to earn more money than most contracted coordinators. 

However, keep in mind that this role lacks financial assurance and may result in less money earned if you lack clients. 

Freelancers will still have to perform all the same roles as contracted employees such as designing workouts, staying up to date etc. Working in this role does not negate any of the information relating to exercise referral coordinators’ job descriptions that we have given in the section above.

Contracted Coordinators 

In terms of offering exercise referral coordinator job descriptions, we can provide a more detailed look at roles that are contracted, as they are clearly laid out on employment sites.

These job descriptions will clearly lay out your responsibilities in great detail, whilst also shedding light on what type of patients you’ll work with. 

Take this Indeed advertisement as seen above from Leigh, which clearly highlights the responsibilities of a Health & Exercise assistant working with the Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust.

Contracted exercise referral job descriptions will seek to provide you with as much detail as possible, regarding factors such as the number of hours you will be working every week. 

When looking at contracted exercise referral coordinator job descriptions you will also be clearly shown your rate of pay. This will be a fixed contract guaranteeing that you will earn a set amount of money from working with the company.

When applying for any contracted position, we advise that you look for roles that provide a detailed exercise referral job description. Do not go into a contract blind, as this could lead to an imbalance of power with your employer and responsibilities that you are not qualified to execute.

What is The Expected Salary of an Exercise Referral Coordinator?

Now that we have covered an exercise referral coordinator job description in great detail we can now turn our attention to the expected salary of a referral coordinator. 

For some the rate of pay will be the most important factor of any exercise referral job description, but how much can you expect to earn? Well, that isn’t an easy question to answer, as there are many external factors which can influence your rate of pay. 

Freelancers 

As a freelancer, you are in charge of your own rate of pay, so it is somewhat difficult for us to offer a concise estimate of what you can expect to earn in this role. 

We strongly advise all newcomers to not overcharge when starting off their careers. Higher rates of pay are reserved for the coordinators who have years worth of experience either within this job role or in the wider fitness industry. 

Instead, we encourage you to get into contact with other freelancers and do your own market research, in order to determine an appropriate entry-level rate of pay. 

Contracted

Thanks to existing exercise referral coordinator job descriptions online it’s easier to estimate contracted salaries. When using job hunting sites the rate of pay should be clearly laid out for prospective employees to learn. 

Take a look at this Glassdoor advertisement for an exercise referral coordinator role within the NHS.

Here the exercise referral coordinator job description clearly lays out the expected rate of pay for a successful applicant.

Glassdoor also reports that the average rate of pay for a highly experienced exercise referral coordinator to be somewhere between £26-27K a year. But for more information on this topic, head over to OriGym’s article on exercise referral specialist salary. 

Skills Required To Become an Exercise Referral Coordinator 

Exercise referral coordinator job descriptions will typically list key skills that an ideal candidate should have. This section is specifically dedicated to analysing what type of person employers are likely to prioritise during their hiring process.

#1 –  Strong Communication Skills 

When looking through exercise referral coordinator job descriptions you’ll notice an importance being placed on employers looking for effective communicators. 

When working in this particular job role you will need to be clear and concise with the way you interact with the patients. Many of the individuals who are referred to you will have no prior background in fitness, thus, they may require you to explain exercises in great detail. 

You will need to provide a detailed explanation breaking down every stage of your proposed plan to the patient. This will require you to provide clarity on your choices and why they will benefit a client’s overall health. 

However, communication is so much more than talking it also involves listening to clients too. In order to be effective in this area, you must be willing to hear any concerns a patient may have, before presenting them a potential solution to their issues. 

#2 – Teaching Ability 

This is another example of a skill that is stressed throughout exercise referral coordinator job descriptions, without a strong ability to teach, applying for the job is basically pointless as you simply won’t be suitable for the position. 

The vast majority of your clients in this job role will have no previous experience in fitness, it will therefore befall on you to teach them the basics. This will involve using physical demonstrations along with verbal queues of encouragement. 

However, the teaching does not stop once your client has left the class, as the way in which you motivate said clients will also reflect your personal teaching style.

As an exercise referral coordinator, your primary aim should be to ensure your clients remain motivated following the end of their classes. This will promote a positive change in their lives, allowing them to treat their conditions following the end of their tailored program.

If you’re looking to develop your own teaching skills then our Level 2 Fitness Instructor qualification is a great place to start. Here you will learn vital skills that you can take with you into every sector of the fitness industry.

#3 –  Willingness to Adapt 

This is a skill that you will typically see mentioned in relation to every role within the fitness industry, but how does it specifically apply to an exercise referral job description? 

Typically, these job descriptions will stress that they are looking for someone who can think on their feet and adapt to any circumstance they may find themselves in.

Clients’ injuries may aggravate between sessions, or they may show significant signs of improvement. In both instances, an immediate change needs to be made in regards to their tailored routine. 

Alternatively, as an exercise referral coordinator, you may make miscalculations when preparing this tailored workout plan. As a result, your design may not work for the client in the way in which it was intended to.

In this instance, you need to quickly correct this mistake and ensure that your client is put back on the path of recovery. 

#4 – Patience 

When researching exercise referral job descriptions you will also see the word ‘patience’ frequently used. 

This usually refers to the client’s lack of general experience within the field of fitness and exercise. You will need to be patient during the process of patients learning basic exercises, along with their tailored program. 

These types of clients may lack motivation and as such you will need to have the patience to persevere with them. 

Giving up on these types of clients is simply not an option, as they depend on these referrals for their own personal health.

#5 – Positive Outlook

Exercise referral job descriptions will always mention something relating to positive mindsets. Employers want to make sure they’re receiving candidates who are outgoing and friendly, someone who can be more than a personal trainer to their potential clients.

Said individuals may be intimidated by their upcoming sessions and training program, they will therefore require all the positivity that they can get.

Your clients will feed off positive energy and in turn, feel more optimistic about the workout ahead.

In short, we can boil this essential skill down to having a passion for fitness and helping others. If both of these aspects interest you then you will radiate positivity in your work, inspiring all of your clients in the process. 

#6 – Creativity 

Designing tailored workout routines for countless individuals is no easy task, and in order to do so, you’re going to need to sharpen your creative skills. 

A creative mindset will help to engage the patient with their treatment as the workouts will be both fun and engaging, instead of repetitive and boring.

It will also break up the monotonous routines of a coordinator’s day-to-day work, and also help you stand out to employers, who will view you as a unique hiring prospect for your out-of-the-box thinking.

These are just a few examples of skills that will help you to flourish within an exercise referral job. Note, many of these skills are somewhat universal and transferable to the majority of roles within the fitness sector. 

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If you’re enjoying this article on Exercise Referral Coordinator Job Descriptions, we think you may also enjoy these other OriGym articles:

• How to Become an Exercise Referral Specialist 
• How to Become a Group Fitness Instructor
• What Is The Exercise Referral Process?

Who Will You Treat as an Exercise Referral Coordinator?

When looking at various exercise referral coach job descriptions you may notice that the potential client pool differentiates depending on who you work for. 

If you work for a medical organisation such as the NHS then you will be faced with a variety of patients, with a multitude of health issues. However, if you work for a private health care professional then you may have to specialise in treating clients with specific conditions.

But what conditions can you expect to encounter when working as an exercise referral coach? 

Typically, the conditions you will be helping to treat will be:

• Asthma 
• Obesity 
• High Blood Pressure 
• High Cholesterol 
• Type 1 Diabetes 
• Type 2 Diabetes
• Lower Back Problems 
• Arthritis 
• Osteoporosis 

Certain exercise referral coordinators’ job descriptions will stress that your role will also require you to work with those who are suffering from mental health issues too. 

This will usually refer to individuals with depression and anxiety, however, it does not limit potential patients to these conditions.  

Overall, we can say as an exercise referral coordinator you really have to be prepared to work with any type of client. This is why it’s so important to advance your knowledge of various conditions with the help of our Level 3 Exercise Referral Course. 

What Qualifications Are Needed to Become an Exercise Referral Coordinator?

As we have stated many times throughout this article, in order to become a qualified exercise referral coordinator you need to achieve your Level 3 OriGym certification in Exercise Referral. However, before you can gain this qualification you will need to enroll in a Level 2 Fitness Instructor course.

What is a Level 2 Fitness Instructor Course?

OriGym’s fitness and instructor course is available to any applicant above the age of 16, the best thing, you don’t even need previous qualifications to enroll. Think of this course as the first stepping stone on the path towards a career in fitness, as most of our courses require you to hold this.

Upon the completion of this specific course, you will have all the tools required to kick start your career in the rapidly evolving industry. Graduating isn’t even a time-consuming process as you can complete the course in as little as 2 weeks.

If you’re still unsure about whether this course is right for you, then it may interest you to know that you can study in a manner that is best suited to your schedule. 

You can either enroll in full-time practical enrollment, entirely online, or split part-time with 50/50 learning.

This certification is designed to teach you how to confidently work in a gym environment, it also includes a module that is designated to the design of workout routines for potential clients. 

Therefore, it’s of vital importance to achieving this qualification before enrolling in any further OriGym course. Once this is achieved, you can then progress onto our exercise referral coordinator course. 

What is a Level 3 Exercise Referral Course?

This CIMSPA accredited course is based entirely online with only one practical assessment. 

Our Exercise Referral course is specifically designed to provide you with more information relating to health and fitness, whilst further developing the skills acquired in your previous qualification. 

Specifically, this Level 3 course will focus on developing students’ knowledge of long-term illnesses. Specifically, you will learn how to help patients recover and cope with chronic health issues in order to improve the well-being of their life. 

But what will you be learning in this particular course? This specific certification will be split into 4 modules and can be completed over the course of 8 weeks.

In order to discover whether this course is right for you we will break down each module here:

#1 – Professional Practice for Exercise Referral Instructors 

Think of this as the cornerstone of everything you need to know regarding exercise referral jobs. Here you will learn about the varying roles and responsibilities from our team of industry professionals. 

Remember, everyone is different and therefore there can be no one method of treatment, instead, with this module you will learn to tailor a session to meet a client’s specific needs. 

This module will also provide you with information regarding the UK healthcare system, the proper process for GP referrals, and how to monitor and measure risks that could potentially aggravate a client’s condition. 

#2 – Understanding Medical Conditions for Exercise Referrals 

If you’re intent on working in an exercise referral job role then you must develop a basic understanding of medical conditions. 

The knowledge acquired within this module will help make the referral process as smooth for clients as possible.

This course, in particular, will help to improve your understanding of a variety of conditions including:

• Hypertension
• Asthma
• Obesity 
• Diabetes
• Chronic Obesity Pulmonary
• Osteoarthritis 
• Osteoporosis
• Depression
• General Anxiety Disorder

Having a basic understanding of these conditions will greatly benefit your overall performance in this job role. However, as an aspiring exercise referral coordinator, you should be constantly looking for ways to improve by building upon this knowledge in your own time.

#3 – Planning Exercise Referral program

Here you will learn how to tailor workout plans to meet your client’s conditions, learning what routines will benefit their long-term health.

Additionally, this module will also hone your ability to offer support, guidance, and motivation to clients who may be struggling to adapt to their new routine. This will be achieved by focusing on safeguarding, promoting long-term behavioural changes, and setting SMART goals. 

#4 – Instructing Exercise with GP Referred Patients

This module is all about research and using pre-existing material to develop your understanding of the exercise referral job role. 

You will review various case studies, assignments, and examples of past referrals for GPs and other health services, in order to learn about the beneficial properties of setting your client’s physical, nutritional and personal goals.

Assessments 

If you’re interested in pursuing this online course further you may be questioning how you will be assessed. 

Our assessment process for the Level 3 Exercise Referral course is rather straightforward as you will need to complete:

• Multiple choice open book online exam on anatomy and physiology – 90% pass mark required
• Multiple choice open book online paper on the application of nutrition – 90% pass mark required
• Practical assessment on delivering a program for a patient of exercise referral

The practical assessment will be the only time where you will be required to attend a session in person. The other classes and assessments will be accessible to you via our state of the art e-learning platform, which is packed with useful resources such as:

• E-Books
• Online Lectures 
• Quizzes
• Videos
• Exercise Library 
• And 7 Day week support from our team of dedicated tutors 

However, please be aware that the vast majority of the theoretical assessments to appear on this course also appear on our Level 3 Personal Trainer certification too. If you have already obtained this qualification then you will be exempt from the theoretical tests

Specialist Qualifications That Will Benefit You In An Exercise Coordinator’s Job Role  

If you’re applying for exercise referral jobs then obtaining a specialist qualification will help you to stand out among other candidates, and will greatly increase your earning potential in the process. 

Additionally, these certifications will also provide you with a highly adaptable skill set that will greatly benefit the patients who are referred to your service. 

But what niche qualifications should you consider enrolling on?

#1 – Level 3 Sports Massage Therapy 

This OriGym course will teach you to treat and prevent injuries from occurring through the practice of sports massage. 

This skill will help you in an exercise referral job role as it provides training in rehabilitation and support for patients with physical and psychological conditions.

This particular course is studied through blended learning and will help to further develop your understanding of human anatomy and physiology, such as the theoretical knowledge surrounding soft tissue injuries. 

You will attend practical group workshops where you will learn the physical aspects of massages.

Pairing your tailored workout plans with sports massage therapy will be highly beneficial to the patients referred to you, and by offering this practice you are likely to attract even more clients.

#2 – Level 4 Diabetes and Weight Control

If patients who have type 1 or type 2 diabetes are referred to your practice then holding this particular certification is guaranteed to benefit the service they receive. 

Here you will learn about the condition itself in greater detail, providing you with the necessary information required to plan exercise programs around the patient’s requirements.

This OriGym course places a great sense of importance on understanding a patient’s behaviour, in order to create a long-term treatment plan. We strive to provide you with the skills required to motivate your patients, to the extent where they will continue to practice their tailored program following the end of their referral.  

If you’re interested in working with a specific group of patients then we strongly recommend applying for our Level 4 diabetes and weight control course. 

#3 – Level 4 Lower Back Pain Management 

Back pain can be incredibly debilitating for many people, most of which seek out medical attention as a form of treatment. 

Pairing this course with your exercise referral coordinator qualification will allow you to work with specific individuals to create a workout plan which will benefit their current condition.

This particular course contains modules on how to develop and deliver workout plans specifically designed for those who suffer from lower back pain. 

This will directly benefit your job role as an exercise referral coordinator, as it will continue to build upon your pre-existing knowledge regarding the treatment of different injuries and conditions.

When looking at exercise referral job descriptions you will notice that many will ask for experts in common injuries, with lower back pain being a primary example that is often given. 

Instead of having a general understanding of how this condition operates, do yourself a favour and enroll on our course in order to stand out as an expert when applying for these job roles. 

#4 – Level 4 Advanced Sports Nutrition 

Developed by OirGym’s in-house nutrition experts, this course will be incredibly beneficial to anyone who is looking to apply for an exercise referral job. This course will help you to develop a better understanding of the relationship between food and exercise. 

Once this knowledge has been acquired you will be able to recommend a proposed diet plan to your patients, which they can pair with their tailored exercise regime. This is arguably the most beneficial qualification to pair with your exercise referral certificate, as it holds the potential to benefit a patient’s health and fitness. 

FAQ

Can I Be An Exercise Referral Coordinator Online? 

Many of our readers will undoubtedly be familiar with online personal training, in which clients will virtually attend classes. This same approach to teaching can also be applied to exercise referrals too, and it is closely tied to the work of freelancers.

If you’re choosing to follow this career path you will be working in the same manner as you would be in person. However, the routines will often be simplified in order for clients to perform without your assistance.

Said routines will be highly detailed and delivered to clients through virtual meetings, which should take place as regularly as they would for in-person clients. 

Clients who are referred to online classes won’t suffer from serious conditions that will greatly affect their ability to work out alone. 

Who Is The Average Referral Patient?

The short answer is that there isn’t a set type of patient that will be referred to your practice. Within this article, we have discussed at length that part of an exercise referral job description is a willingness to adapt to every client, and that is because no two clients will be the same.

Clients will have a variety of conditions and illnesses, all of which you must do proper research and assessments into in order to generate a tailored workout plan that will be of benefit to their health.

You could have two patients with identical conditions but different fitness levels. This will result in a similar training style but different approaches to the quantity and rate at which they’ll exercise for, e.g. one patient may be tasked with running for longer periods than the other.

Before You Go!

We hope our article has provided you with a better understanding of exercise referral coordinator job descriptions, and that your transition into the industry will feel that bit smoother. 

Remember: the skills and responsibilities mentioned in this article may vary from job to job. When applying for a vacancy, you should always do your own research in order to assess whether the role is right for you.

Before you go, remember to submit an enquiry for OriGym’s Exercise Referral course today if you’re interested in pursuing this career path. 

You can also download our FREE comprehensive prospectus, which provides information relating to this and all other OriGym courses, so you’re sure to find the right course for you.

If you’re looking to change careers, you’ll want to know what is in store financially, which is why we have created this guide to the exercise referral specialist salary. 

In this article, we will cover:

• What Is An Exercise Referral Specialist?
• Who Hires An Exercise Referral Specialist?
• Exercise Referral Specialist Salary: Explained
• How To Maximise Your Salary as an Exercise Referral Specialist
• Valuing Your Service: How Much Should You Charge?
• Contracted Vs Freelance

If you are wondering how to become an exercise referral specialist, you can get started in the best way with our Level 3 Diploma in Exercise Referral. 

What Is An Exercise Referral Specialist?

An exercise referral specialist is somebody who is qualified to create tailored fitness programmes for people that suffer with a chronic physical condition or illness. This could mean that a patient has one or various conditions that could be improved with physical activity.  

A referral specialist is trained to deal with patients dealing with a range of illnesses and conditions, and they typically acquire clients through referrals from NHS professionals, GPs, or private doctors and medical practitioners.

Some of the medical complications that are typically associated with hiring an exercise referral specialist include:

• Asthma and COPD
• Multiple sclerosis
• Hypertension
• Osteoporosis
• Obesity
• Parkinson’s disease
• Non-specific lower back pain
• Arthritis
• Hypercholesterolemia (high cholesterol)
• Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes

This list is not limited to these issues specifically, indeed there can be many more conditions. Essentially, patients can be referred to an exercise specialist for any condition or illness that negatively affects their health and wellbeing. 

That said, the conditions listed above or those that we see most often being treated with the help of an exercise referral specialist.

Who Hires An Exercise Referral Specialist?

If you’re wondering ‘how much does an exercise specialist make?’, you should know that this is dependent on who you wish to be hired by, and whether you’re self-employed or on a salary.

Many fitness professionals enjoy the freedom of self employment that comes with working in the industry, but for some the thought of being out there on your own can be intimidating. If you’re in any way worried about how the career path you choose will affect your income, we’re here to tell you that this really isn’t a concern, regardless of the route you take.

Working in the fitness industry takes dedication, but it is equally one of the most rewarding careers, particularly in the case of being an exercise referral specialist. The thing that makes exercise referral courses so attractive is the fact that landing a salaried role is certainly a possibility.

Arguably, you may have a better chance of getting a salaried position as a referral specialist than you would as a personal trainer, as there are plenty of job advertisements for a contracted referral specialist. This makes this area of the industry a lot more appealing as it allows for peace of mind in the sense that you know how much and when you will get paid. 

Though many enjoy the flexibility of working as a freelancer, having a salary is something that many people, such as those with families and a house or mortgage to pay for, do look for. This includes those who may be used to the lifestyle and routine of a 9-5 role. Possible places of work that offer salaried exercise referral roles could include:

• Leisure centres
• NHS GPs
• Private GPs
• Medical professionals

As opposed to the contract job providers listed above, there are partnership organisations that can help to bridge the gap between yourself and your clients if you do prefer the idea of working as a freelancer. This helps to network you as an exercise professional, gain more dominance in the industry with your area, and ultimately get more clients referred your way. 

To show you the kind of company that offers this service, Everyone Active allows clients to get in touch with you so long as you are partnered with this company. So for instance, you could start as a self employed personal trainer at one of their centres then after taking the exercise referral course, you could have more clients and thus a higher salary with the help of referrals from GPs and health professionals.

Exercise Referral Specialist Salary: Explained

How much money does an exercise specialist make per year, per hour or per day? All of this is about to be explained! Below, we have shared some examples of exercise referral roles advertised online so that you can get an idea of what to expect salary-wise based on your skill set, qualifications and experience.

Beginning with a role in Bath, below is an advert for an exercise referral instructor role with a clear salary range:

This job description clearly states that the position offers a potential salary of between £22,101 and £23,153. This salary is based on a 30 hour week and entails all of the responsibilities of an exercise referral instructor. Whilst the job description does not specify that you need relevant work experience, it does clearly state that you do need specific qualifications for this role.

In order to meet the qualification requirements for this role, you would first and foremost need to complete a level 2 gym instructing course, before going on to acquire a level 3 exercise referral qualification. 

While it is only necessary to complete a level 2 in fitness or gym instructing course to become an exercise referral specialist, a level 3 certificate in personal training is certainly desirable as some job roles, the above included, do specify a level 3 qualification as a requirement rather than a preference.

Though the advert above does say it requires a level 3 fitness instructor qualification, do note that a level 3 qualification in personal training and fitness instructing are typically used interchangeably in the industry. 

The best approach to tackle this would be to complete a diploma in fitness instructing and personal training. This way, you can complete both a level 2 and 3 combined in a much more succinct approach.

With both of these qualifications under your belt, you will be eligible to apply for an exercise referral role, such as the one included above. Once you start searching for jobs in exercise referral, you’ll see that there are opportunities of varying requirements in terms of qualifications, experience, and your own personal commitment to the role.

For example, there are actually a couple of part-time positions advertised. These are a great option if you want to ease yourself into the role without quitting your current job, or if you want to work as an exercise referral specialist alongside being a part-time personal trainer. 

One job post on Indeed in particular is hiring for part-time work on an hourly basis, advertising between 0 and 10 hours per week. This would be a great opportunity for those who are qualified in exercise referral and currently working as a personal trainer, fitness instructor, or in any other profession for that matter.

This job pays an hourly wage of £15.64 – £32.50 an hour, which is way over the minimum wage across the UK. Even though the hours are part-time, this would still be a great income on top of any other freelance commitments, or the perfect way to get your foot in the door as an exercise referral specialist! If you ask us, over £15 an hour isn’t a bad starting salary!

In some roles, employers will pay you your exercise referral salary through a set daily rate. Daily rates are something that typically come with career progression, for example in tutoring or teaching roles. Check out this advertisement for an exercise referral tutor and assessor to get an idea of the various opportunities that an exercise referral course can offer. 

Do note that an exercise referral course does not limit you to one-2-one clientele, you can carry this qualification over to teaching and assessing jobs with the help of a fitness teaching and assessing course.

This particular job role has a salary of £165-£185 daily. This is a very high income and though the working hours aren’t specified, it is clear that this is a role that can pay well for the hard work done leading up to this point. 

This is just one of the ways that you can open doors to other opportunities and increase your exercise referral specialist salary by gaining further qualifications and acquiring more experience in the field. Keep reading to find out more about the ways in which you can gain more income as an exercise referral specialist!

– – – –

If you are interested in getting started in this area of the fitness industry, read our articles below:

• How to Become an Exercise Referral Specialist
• How to Become a Group Fitness Instructor
• Exercise Referral Coordinator Job Description

How To Maximise Your Salary as an Exercise Referral Specialist

Maximising your salary is of course everyone’s goal no matter what area of work you are in. Fortunately, climbing up the career ladder in the fitness sector may be easier than you think!

In this industry, there are plenty of further qualifications and specialised courses available, and the more that you have under your belt, the better!

If you have the basics covered, this being level 2 fitness instructing and level 3 personal training, you have all the necessary prerequisites to get onto an advanced course and expand your knowledge to the likes of nutrition or other specialist areas such as weight management and diabetes control.

Gaining further qualifications and obtaining more knowledge means that you are more likely to attract clients, but it also allows you to present yourself as a much better candidate in the eyes of employers. Becoming an expert through further study, and as a result making yourself more of a valuable asset to a company, is one of the best ways to increase your salary as an exercise referral specialist.

Find Your Niche

Though you can have many different areas of expertise, you can choose to focus on one area as a speciality; the way to do this is by opting for one or more specialist courses. For example, a candidate may head into a job role as a qualified exercise referral specialist with a fitness instructing level 2 certification, though this is sufficient, you may look more attractive on paper with courses such as:

• Level 3 sports massage therapy
• Level 4 lower back pain management
• Level 4 diabetes control and weight management
• Myofascial release therapy 

There are plenty of other courses, however these ones specifically align with the problems that clients who require an exercise referral specialist, may struggle with. Lower back pain management, for example, can be useful for those struggling with arthritis, as it is in this course that you can get more knowledge on how to deal with clients in pain. 

The likes of diabetes control and weight management is especially useful for any clients dealing with obesity. These kinds of qualifications are valuable not only to employers, but for you to feel more confident in your role in dealing with vulnerable clients.

Becoming A Nutritionist 

Not only are these specialist areas useful, but you can also get qualified in becoming a nutritionist, which is particularly beneficial for any referred patients that are dealing with weight management or type 2 diabetes. 

With a level 4 course in advanced sports nutrition, you will have the knowledge and expertise to provide educational nutritional guidance. Ultimately, by having more information about how food can interact with the body, you will feel more confident with how specific food impacts the conditions that you could come across with a GP referral patient. 

Taking your Services Online

Another way to maximise your exercise referral specialist salary is to offer online coaching, this can come from any angle of your expertise whether it be nutrition or personal training. Online coaching is becoming increasingly popular in the industry and this doesn’t just consist of workout videos.

You can be an online nutrition coach, or an online personal trainer and these are both great ways to maximise your salary during your spare time. In particular, if you are a freelance exercise referral specialist you can be extremely flexible in your time management. 

You have the ability to choose what days you work and to come to agreement with clients on what time and day suits them best. This kind of planning and consistency opens avenues for your spare time as you can then focus on other revenue streams in whatever time you have available throughout the week. 

For example, if you have exercise referral clients throughout 3 days of your week, you could focus the rest of the week on online coaching sessions. This way, you have time to have a break to avoid burnout, and two methods of making money in the fitness sector. You may find that once patients no longer need your service, they become interested in staying in touch and active by becoming an online coaching client. 

This would be a perfect opportunity for them as you know who they are and their previous issues to coach them in the right way.

Valuing Your Service: How Much Should You Charge?

One of the problems that many freelance fitness professionals come across is pricing their service correctly. Of course, as a freelancer, how much you charge your clients will directly determine your income.

If you are just starting out, it’s a good idea to scope out the professionals in your area, particularly the successful ones, and see what they are charging per hour. This can give you a better understanding of the base rate in your area and what clients are willing to pay.

In the UK, different cities have a varied income and the cost of living is higher in the likes of London compared to Leeds, for example. Therefore, the cost of your service should reflect this, the standard charge in the smaller cities sits around a range from £15-£30 per hour. As you can see in this job advert below, this particular role as an exercise referral instructor pays £15.64-£32.50.

This is a common price to charge among many exercise referral professionals, and it is roughly around the same amount as a personal trainer salary would be in a similar location with the same amount of expertise. Of course, if you have more experience and can justify a higher charge, you should certainly do so. 

Knowledge is power in the fitness industry, especially with the role of an exercise referral instructor. This role requires a lot of responsibility so increasing your rate more than the average personal trainer would certainly be justified.

In a nutshell, it is best to start low and work your way up. Similar to that of regular personal training, exercise referral training requires practice to perfect. Not only this, but to work with vulnerable people it is vital to have a compassionate personality and a lot of patience, so make sure you obtain these traits before starting in this role. 

Contracted Vs Freelance

There are benefits of both contract and freelance work as an exercise referral instructor, but first to understand what each consists of, we have laid out the details of a contracted exercise referral specialist. You can see an example of a contracted job below:

This advertisement offers a maximum of £23,153 a year. This equates to around £16 an hour for the 30 hours that are contracted. As we previously discussed, the standard freelance charge is similar to approximately £15-£30 per hour. So, to understand what this could mean for you as a hired exercise specialist, below we have gone into a little more detail.

Guaranteed salary

The pros of a career as a contracted exercise referral specialist is the salary is guaranteed. You can do a set amount of hours per week, know when your next pay cheque is coming in and ultimately feel more secure in a job role. 

The salary in the example of a contracted role is still a great income considering the National Minimum Wage is £9.50 as of 2023. This role is offering just under double of this which is an amazing opportunity that an exercise referral course could bring.

It is a great opportunity to get a job as an exercise specialist with a company that assigns you clients, it does a lot of the hard work for you and ultimately puts your work on a plate! It makes it easy for you to get started straight away and learn from peers who may also work in the gym. 

However, though a contracted salary in this role is extremely comfortable and a great opportunity for security, it is arguably limiting your ability to make more money. A freelance profession can help you get qualified in more areas as you can plan your own time on your terms. So what are the benefits of a freelance exercise referral specialist salary? 

Freelance Income

This way, you’re able to offer a range of services such as personal training sessions or even sports massage sessions for various kinds of clients. There is also the possibility of making even more money with a freelance career as it doesn’t put a cap on how many hours you can do or how much you can earn. 

This is one of the beauties about working as a freelance exercise specialist, you can raise your prices based on your level of expertise and even have the spare time to take more courses and further your education. This kind of freedom opens many doors to new career paths and is even a great way to make different connections in the industry, particularly in your area. 

Overall, there are pros and cons to either approach to working as an exercise referral specialist, however you should consider the limitations you could face or the security of your income. It is difficult to assign a particular kind of person to a freelance or contract position, it is completely subjective to your lifestyle and what works best for you.

We would recommend weighing up the pros and cons and which would impact your life more in order to make a decision. 

Before You Go!

By now, you will have hopefully decided whether the rewarding career path of an exercise referral specialist is for you. Becoming a part of the fitness industry is rewarding in itself, but helping those where it can really make a difference in their lives is even better.

If you think you’ve got what it takes to dive into this career, take our Level 3 in Exercise Referral for the best start. Alternatively, you can browse through our extensive course prospectus here!

If you want to know how to become an exercise referral specialist, our step by step guide will give you all the essential information so you can get started on this exciting career!

In this article we’ll cover:

• Step 1: Secure the Right Qualifications to Become an Exercise Referral Specialist
• Step 2: How to Become an Exercise Referral Specialist with the Right Insurance
• Step 3: Choose the Best Way of Working Once You’ve Become an Exercise Referral Specialist
• Step 4: How to Beocme a GP Referral Personal Trainer
• Step 5: Marketing Yourself as an Exercise Referral Specialist

We’ll cover the qualifications you’ll need in more detail in step 1, but you can get started by checking out our Level 3 Diploma in Exercise Referral. Find out more about all the courses we offer by downloading our course prospectus for free!

 

Step 1: Secure the Right Qualifications to Become an Exercise Referral Specialist

The first thing you’ll need to do if you want to know how to become an exercise referral specialist is to source and complete the right qualifications.

In order to complete a specific exercise referral course you’ll first need to gain a Level 2 Fitness Instructor qualification. 

This will provide you with the basic principles of exercise and fitness in order to probably support sessions with exercise referral clients and is a pre-requisite for the referral specific course.

This will involve processes such as warm-ups and cool downs and balancing bodyweight exercises with cardiovascular workouts for different results.  

A course like ours will provide the perfect scaffolding for a level 3 to build on so you can structure and pace exercise with clients in a way that sees the maximum benefit and improves your success rate! 

The most important qualification you’ll need is a Level 3 Exercise Referral. Without at least this qualification you’ll be severely limited in the positions you can apply for as most won’t consider applicants without it.  

This will provide you with the foundational skills and knowledge to use exercise in tandem with other medical care for rehabilitation and support of recovery.  

You’ll gain in-depth knowledge of the different and most common medical conditions you’re most likely to encounter when you become an exercise referral specialist including, but not limited to: 

• COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease)
• Asthma
• Osteoporosis
• Arthritis
• Depression
• GAD (Generalised Anxiety Disorder)

You’ll also learn all of the practical skills needed to work with other medical professionals to help clients with the symptoms and management of these conditions, illnesses, or injuries.

Specifically, you’ll learn how to plan and deliver plans and exercise referral programmes unique to a client’s needs and the advice from their GP and other healthcare professionals. 

You’ll review a range of case studies and examples of successful exercise referral programmes used with clients so that you can set achievable and realistic goals related to clients’ physical and emotional wellbeing. 

From there you can become a personal trainer to further develop your career and inform how you work one-on-one with clients, designing exercise programmes. 

We’ll go into more detail about this course and career in ‘Section 4: How to Become a GP Referral Personal Trainer’ but you’ll need to complete a Level 3 Personal Trainer course to advance your fitness career in this way. 

If you want to know how to become an exercise referral specialist and make as much money as possible by helping a wider range of clients, this is a great way to improve your track record achieving a variety of health and fitness goals. 

Step 2: How to Become an Exercise Referral Specialist with the Right Insurance

The next step for becoming an exercise referral specialist is getting the right insurance so that you’re protected from any legal claims made against you.

Usually you won’t necessarily need to source your own insurance as, depending on where you work, you’ll be covered by the policy of the facility. Especially if you work for the NHS or other medical environments.

As you can see from the NHS exercise referral scheme below, all qualified members of staff are covered by a policy specifically for the exercise referral programme:

This is why it’s worth checking, especially when you’re starting out, as you’ll likely only need your own policy if you’ve established your own business. 

If you’re self employed though, or you start your own business, you will need to source your own insurance.  

In that case there’s two main kinds of insurance you’ll need to ensure you can practise legally and safely which are both available from main providers such as Insure 4 Sport. We’ll run through each of these now! 

Public Liability Insurance

This is one of the main kinds of insurance you’ll need if you want to know how to become an exercise referral specialist protected from claims of injury or damage to equipment.

This is designed to protect you from having to pay any compensation or legal fees should a claim be made against you when people are injured during a session.

This covers the majority of injuries whilst under your supervision wherever it is that you’re performing your sessions. 

This means you’ll also be covered by this style of policy when your client is using equipment if they injure themselves or damage the equipment by doing so. 

This is important because it will protect you from having to fork out huge amounts of money should somebody decide you’re liable for their injury.

This is why it’s a vital legal requirement for any fitness professional, wherever they’re working, to be covered by the right public liability policy. 

Professional Indemnity Insurance 

 

This one is slightly different but just as important if you want to become an exercise referral specialist. Professional indemnity insurance protects you if anybody claims they’ve suffered illness or injury as a result of your advice. 

This is especially important because part of your role will be to provide clients with exercises they can do at home and things they can do independently, and between sessions, to support their recovery and condition.

This also covers you should somebody make a claim against you if they don’t achieve their goals in the way they expected. This policy covers you for claims of inadequate advice as well as any that leads to illness or injury.

Step 3: Choose the Best Place to Work Once You’ve Become an Exercise Referral Specialist

 

As we mentioned, once you’ve got the right qualifications, your insurance and your next steps will depend on where and how you want to work.

There’s a few different options with the exercise referral specialist salary varying depending on setting as well as just experience! 

Essentially you can either work within the NHS or work for a private charity or organisation that has a contract with the NHS or private medical practices. 

From there you can work for the private sector if you want to secure more lucrative positions and develop your career with specialisms. 

We’ll run through these main options now for becoming an exercise referral specialist so you can choose the best way for you!

How to Become an Exercise Referral Specialist in a Sports or Leisure Centre

The first option for you is to work in a leisure centre or sports centre where a range of clients are provided for you through GP referral. 

These positions will technically be within the public sector because you’ll be working in facilities that will have contracts with the NHS. 

This essentially means anywhere that is partially or entirely funded by the government through public money. 

You will be expected to work one-to-one like in most other roles but you will often also be teaching fitness classes with groups that share similar needs. 

Though these often tend to be entry level positions they’re a great place to start if you want to know how to become an exercise referral specialist because these roles are incredibly varied.

You’ll teach a variety of different classes, working in a wide range of ways to help a broad spectrum of people and conditions.

Not only can you work with different people but you can potentially work at different centres as some of these positions are part time:

As you can see, despite being a part time role the hourly wage is high and so you could easily build up a comfortable salary working across several positions. 

There’s plenty of full time salaried positions though, like this one below:

As you can see, this is a great place to start as you’ll have a decent starting salary whilst gaining valuable industry experience and putting your skills from your level 3 to use!

You Can Work Within the NHS When You Become an Exercise Referral Specialist

Once you’ve gained some experience working at one of the aforementioned venues, or across several, you can choose to specialise within the NHS itself.

These roles tend to be in explicitly medical environments, whether that’s treatment centres or in-patient sites in a more clinical environment. 

Much of the role is similar, working with individuals to develop exercise and rehabilitation programmes, but usually related to one particular condition. 

The benefit of positions within a particular department of the NHS is you’ll get specified experience and be able to specialise in one particular area. 

For example, if you’ve been working at a sports or leisure centre and found that working with those with mental health issues is the most fulfilling, you can specialise in this within the NHS.

As you can see below, these positions will often have a slightly higher salary too because they’re specialised:

As we mentioned earlier, these positions will tend to ask you to have some experience within the field to be eligible:

 

This is why if you want to know how to become an exercise referral specialist and progress your career this can be a great option.

Now we’ll look at how you can advance your career when you become an exercise referral specialist to earn more money and develop new skills!

– – – – 

If this is something you’re interested in, check out some of our other articles on training people with certain conditions:

• Exercise Referral Specialist Salary
• What Is The Exercise Referral Process?
• Exercise Referral Coordinator Job Description

Step 4: How to Become a GP Referral Personal Trainer 

Once you’ve gained experience working with a variety of different clients with different conditions, you can specialise further to boost your income.

If you want to know how to become an exercise referral specialist, earning as much money as possible, the best way to do that is to combine it with personal training.

Some of the highest paid positions are with private clinics or organisations. You’ll do similar work in positions like these working with individuals to support a particular condition or rehabilitation. 

However, there’s also a chance to work with people who just want to improve their overall fitness and wellbeing and have personal goals they want to work on.

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This is why you can massively increase your income when you become a personal trainer as well as an exercise referral specialist. 

You can fulfil both of these roles and still work with a focus on exercise as support for health and wellbeing, whether that be a particular condition or just in a holistic capacity. 

For example, this position with Longevity Health and Fitness is very similar to the positions we’ve mentioned above:

 

As you can see, you can often work in a variety of locations depending on the client’s needs which makes this a really flexible position.  

Compared to the part time position we showed earlier too, this has a far higher rate because of the additional qualifications required to fulfil the role. 

To be eligible for positions such as these you’ll need to complete a Level 3 Personal Training qualification. 

As you can see you’d be able to fulfil all sides of the role we’ve already mentioned, but also work one-to-one with people who are just keen to improve their health and fitness:

Another reason you should become a PT alongside exercise referral is that you can have as many independent clients as you like alongside any salaried work, meaning you’ll have potentially uncapped earnings!

You could also supplement any of the other part time positions with your own personal training clients and still work in a way that supports certain injuries or long term health conditions.  

In the above position with Longevity where you’ll earn at least £40 per hour, you’d only have to work 20 hours per week to have a salary of £42,400!

That’s why you can massively boost your earnings if you learn how to become a GP referral personal trainer! 

From there you can specialise with further level 4 personal trainer courses that focus on particular conditions.

For example, you could focus on client’s with spinal issues with a level 4 lower back pain course. 

Step 5: Marketing Yourself as an Exercise Referral Specialist

Depending on where you choose to work, you may have to devise your own marketing strategies to promote your services.

This is especially important if you want to know how to become an exercise referral specialist alongside personal training because you’ll have to use marketing to gain more of your own clients.

As you can see from this position below, even in some of the positions for leisure centres and sports centres you may be expected to perform promotional activities for the programme:

There’s several different things you can make sure are part of your marketing method so that you reach as many people as possible to promote your services including: 

• Organic social media content
• Social media ads
• Google ads

We’ll cover each of these briefly now so you’ll know how to become an exercise referral specialist with solid marketing strategies.

Becoming an Exercise Referral Specialist with the Best Organic Social Media Content

Producing the best organic content can be one of the most powerful marketing strategies for fitness professionals.

Organic content simply means content created for free, rather than paid or sponsored content, featured on a page’s feed or stories.

This is the content you’ll use to build and reinforce a brand identity as well as an opportunity to engage with your audience.

One of the reasons this is one of the best ways to get clients is because of the huge amount of traffic to social media.

Where you focus your efforts will depend on who your target demographic is but just as an example of the amount of people you can reach, Instagram alone has 500 million active users every day! 

This gives you an idea of how many people you can reach with your content and why it’s important to focus on social media in your marketing campaigns.

Isle Health is a great example of this kind of content telling people about the services they offer:

 

All of the key information about the service is there as well as a call to action (CTA). This is something that encourages your audience to take a particular desired action such as clicking through to a site or booking a session.

Here, Isle Fitness have encouraged people to ‘visit our website to book your free consultation’ and included a link below to make it easier for people to sign up!

Using Social Media Ads as an Exercise Referral Specialist

Once you’ve got a solid audience using your experimentation with organic content you’ll have your ideal target audience and know how to cater to them more specifically. 

This is why as well as organic organic content you can also use paid advertisements on social media as part of your marketing strategy.  

The benefit of this kind of content is that once you know more about your ideal customer you can better direct towards them using the features of paid advertisements. 

For example, on the meta business platform, for Facebook and Instagram, you can control who your ads reach based on their: 

• Age
• Gender
• Location

You can control the metrics of each meaning that you can reach exactly your target audience in a more specific way and be better guaranteed to generate leads and get more clients!

You can do Instagram and Facebook ads on the Meta platform, controlling similar features, they’ll just look slightly different.

Much like some of the organic content there should be a clear call to action with consistent branding and, where appropriate, the copy should persuade people to take the action. 

Here’s an example of our own Instagram ads that appear on reels, stories, and on people’s feeds:

 

There’s a clear call to action as well as our recognisable branding. 

Facebook ads will look slightly different but should still contain a call to action as well as convincing copy, like this one from NL Active below:

How to Use Google Ads When You Become an Exercise Referral Specialist

Google ads are advertisements, or paid results, on the Google search results page. You design them based on search terms you want to target in order to be found by your ideal client.

Depending on how well you design them they will show up at the top of the search results page and be the most likely results to be clicked on.

Similar to social media ads, the benefit of using advertisements on Google is the sheer volume of people that turn to the platform to find what they’re looking for. 

There’s more than 8.5 billion Google searches per day with only 0.63% of people going past the first page of results, so this gives you an idea of how important it is to rank highly on the first page!

So, if you want to know how to become an exercise referral specialist and come up with successful marketing strategies, Google ads are vital to people finding your business or the business you work for.

You choose the keyword, or search term, that you want to target with your ad. You can research what the most popular search terms are for your target demographic using software such as Semrush and Ahrefs. 

You can also use Google Ads’ built in keyword planner to have a look at keyword ideas and how much it would cost you to target relevant ones. 

The ads look like normal entries except there’ll be a small bit of text saying “sponsored”. Here’s an example of what one will look like:

There currently isn’t a paid ad in the top results for phrases related to exercise referral schemes, programmes, or finding a specialist. 

This means that the top results of the Google results page are all sites who’ve paid a lot to invest in the search engine optimisation of their website:

This is a huge gap in the market in terms of marketing strategies. If you want to know how to become an exercise referral specialist and capitalise on this gap you can design ads around these keywords. 

Because there isn’t currently any competition for those particular keywords for ads, they wouldn’t cost much to target yourself.

You can see the projections for some of the top options using keyword planner:

Looking at the variety of options, the amount of monthly searches, and the low cost of each, this is a huge opportunity to become an exercise referral specialist with the top results for some of these search terms!

Before You Go!

We hope that you’ve found our step by step guide helpful and you feel like you know exactly how to become an exercise referral specialist and excel in your career!

Don’t forget to get the ball rolling with our Level 3 Exercise Referral course to learn all of the essential skills needed to get started. Alternatively, download our course prospectus for free for more information on all of the courses we offer.