Lifestyle Personal Training (LSF-PT) is bidding to bridge the gap between the fitness and medical industries by insisting that its team of over 400 PTs are all trained to a minimum of Level 4 REPS by January 2015.

The announcement comes amid a period of intense discussion around ways the physical activity industry can become a credible public health delivery partner and help tackle the nation’s inactivity crisis through GP-prescribed exercise referrals.

By attaining a Level 4 REPs qualification, PTs gain ‘specialist’ status, pushing them towards a level of credibility necessary to be at the forefront of public sector initiatives to deal with growing health epidemics. It also enables the PT to engage with the GP community regarding ‘exercise referrals’ and a more specialised service within the wider health community.

“We want our PTs to be operating at the highest industry standard available,” said LSF-PT director Andy McGlynn. “Many of the trainers who operate in LSF-PT go on to study very niche and specialist areas in order to continue to improve their product offering to their clients.”

He added that further training could serve to boost PT retention rates by providing more structured career pathways, an issue that was previously identified during a panel discussion at SIBEC 2014.