YMCAfit Avis 

I was lead to believe that all the work would take place in the classroom environment and that I would not need to use a computer generated system.
I am an older student and hoped that it would be easy to gain my certificates in such a way only to find that the amount of unnecessary out of class room work was/is so extensive that I have not been able to complete it.

I believe that some of the modules are not even relevant and are actually none of YMCA's business, Business study etc.

I do not have the energy really to complain but I have definitely waisted a lot of my time and money. I expected far more communication and in talking to the other students in my group am not alone on finding this overly difficult and having to chase YMCA for any advise/help/support.

I TRULY BELIEVE THAT I WAS MISS SOLD.

While I appreciate there are a lot of negative reviews out there, fortunately for me I didn't experience the negativity outlined in those reviews.

My experience was largely positive. The trainers were enthusiastic, energetic and knowledgeable.
Dan, Trevor and James were fantastic. Different styles but all very effective. I liked that we weren't stuck in a class reading theory. It was very interactive and it kept me engaged.
Was the course perfectly organised? No, but everyone involved seemed to be sincerely trying their best and for me, that's more important. It was a little rough around the edges but I'm personally ok with that.
The wonderful Desrin was always available over message to answer every single one of my queries which she did superbly.
I can see myself returning here for future qualifications.

I would like to say that YMCA provided me the best studying experience possible. I am highly recommending studying there for anyone but especially for all the people wanting to become qualified in a fitness industry but are a bit afraid of the fact that English is not their first language. Yes..Anatomy can be hard and assignments are a lot of work but you will get an immense support from your assign teacher and when the practical is over you will get a massive support from a Student Support Team to help you understand and accomplish all the assignments.
Do not hesitate!
I learnt and lot and grow a lot.
And achieved a change in a career that I was dreaming of.
My advice when choosing your course do not go for only online option - half practical with a real teacher and other students and half online for all the theory is much better and give you better understanding and confidence in the future.
Long story short my special thank you to amazing and experienced teacher Annie, all Accessors checking my work and incredible kind lady that was explaining me all the online assignments and gave me lots of mental support to keep pushing from student support Clare.
Thank you very much!
If I would decide to do any other qualifications in the future I would definitely come back. Thank you. 🙏

I have recently have enrolled on a PT course with YMCAfit (27/08/2024).

On 23/08/2024 i recevied an email with a 10% discount on all courses (which had an 11 day expiry), which you just had to let your advisor know. i mentioned this to the advisor & they advised this discount off expired 22 days ago. so in the space of just over 72 hours, you had 11 days to claim(?) a 10% discount to being 22 days past it. which leaves a bit of a bitter/sour taste in the mouth figuratively speaking.

I think Roger is the best teacher I’ve ever had such an inspiring outlook on life and optimistic informative attitude. I also loved being taught padwork. Aptem was very challenging though the online aspect needs to be revised with a new system. It is outdated.

If the student services/admin/grading team were on point this could easily be a 5-star review. The training was brilliant, engaging and energetic. The tutors were helpful and knowledgeable. Roger in particular provided great learning sessions.

Once the face-to-face training was over and things moved on to the coursework and online workbooks, this is where the course started to take a nosedive for the worse. As a neurodivergent person (Documents were provided to student services on enrolment) I was not offered any support past the face-to-face sessions and extra time for exams. I was simply, left to get on with things in my own time with no accountability or check-ins.

For context, I paid for the course in March 2023 to start in June 2023. I took an extra day off work to finish a bunch of online workbooks over the Easter holiday 2024 to find that my online account had been deactivated. All my work was gone. I called in a panic to be told that my year had expired and that I would have to pay again. I explained that I didn't start my course until June so thought I had until June to finish. I even had a document that said my start date was June 10th. After much unnecessary stress and back and forth via email and telephone, My account was eventually reactivated and I was given a month's extension after the time I had put aside to do the work was wasted. I was told someone would be in touch to offer me some additional support. I never got the call, but I managed to complete all my online workbooks and submit both case studies by the 19th and 21st of May. I waited for my grade but had no update on my online account so called after three weeks on the 10th June to know if I'd passed as I was worried that after the 10th of July, my course would expire if I had to resubmit for any referrals. They had my grades for both pieces of coursework and sent them to me after the phone call. I was upset to find out that one had been marked a week after my submission with a referral and recommended resubmission date which gave me two weeks to complete. That resubmission day was for the day after I had called to ask if my grades were available. So they had sat on my grade for two weeks. Again frustrated, I called in a panic to say I had to work and couldn't possibly hand in the resubmission tomorrow. They said not to worry and to do it when I could. I resubmitted the piece that weekend, which was the 16th of June. I called after two weeks on the 1st of July to see if my grade was ready and was asked to wait another two weeks. I called again on the 15th of July and was asked to call again at the end of the week. So I called again on the 19th of July and they said they would call me on Monday. They didn't, so I gave them an extra day and called again on Tuesday the 23rd of July and was told they would escalate it. I called again on the 30th of July and they said they would escalate it again. I called again just now the 2nd of August, and have been told that they will request someone else to mark it as both escalations have not been actioned. How much longer do I need to wait, please? I'm bored of chasing now so have resorted to writing this lengthy complaint in the vain hope that it might provoke some faster action!

I don't enjoy complaining but the communication toward the end has been unacceptable. The lack of consideration and support after disclosing from the beginning that I am neurodivergent has been almost non-existent past the exam provisions. To add insult to injury your promotions team seem to be really on point calling and emailing regularly to offer deals for more courses. If all the services were as good as your promo and in-person training, I might actually be tempted.

ETM-
I did the online course.
The information and the course structure was very useful and I feel very confident to run my own session. Hannah our tutor was very useful and gave clear information and feedback throughout the course.
However I definitely would not do it again online. And there also isn’t many course in person up north where I am located. So I probably will not complete any more qualification’s through YMCA. Aptem was very difficult to use, very complicated, uploading videos took hours and a lot of storage on my phone. There’s a LOT of homework which I was not made aware off. So having a full time job working 9-8:30 most days, would not work well with this course.
Other than that. It was brilliant and I am really looking forwards to hopefully teaching my own lessons.

The Tutor was great and very knowledgeable. There was LOADS to learn and the pace was quick, so could be tricky to fit in around work and kids etc but I got there in the end and now feel much more confident about planning and teaching ETM classes.

I completed the course with 24 days of face-to-face tuition at the Central YMCA Club in London. This is an excellent and challenging course, comprising pre-work, the on-site learning, practicals and assessments, homework, and then two follow-up case studies. Our tutor was excellent. There's a great range of facilities at this venue. Behind the scenes Student Support help answer any questions to keep your learning plan on track. Highly recommended training provider, course and qualifications! Thanks YMCAfit.

The subject was the teach of Core Stability sessions. The instructor ran a very well structured one day course. His enthusiasm was infectious and his knowledge and experience considerable - it showed. I felt well prepared to plan and deliver Core Stability training sessions. Many practical ideas were provided to develop Classes with several different emphasis to keep participants always engaged.

The negative was the course administration which YMCAfit seem to have outsourced to an organisation called Aptem. Frankly a nightmare to deal with from registration (they did not send me the correct pass to get into the venue for the course, if I were not known to the venue I would have been denied access) to delivery of course completion certificate which I had to demand at least three times.

I’m a candidate on a new course structure based on an on-line and face to face set up. At first I thought I’d signed up for the wrong course as it starts fast and continues at an high intensity. I’m getting to grips with that now but have the advantage of not being at work. I think I would struggle trying to keep up and work. The trainers are really good, helpful and certainly know all about being a PT. I would say the course structure and content could be improved. Lack of synergy between the Teams and Suada modules, names not matching and difficult to navigate and decide on what content goes with what in some instances. I think the course creators need to go through the stages as a first timer and they will then be able to see the gaps. Face to face time was great, would have liked a little more of this.

I am part of a new (developmental) blended personal trainer diploma course. Having done a face to face Ymca PT course over 20 years ago, I can say that the course covers way more material and appears to have been tuned to creating a more holistic trainer. I'm nearly halfway and it has been tough to meet the deadlines causing me to rush and make stupid mistakes.
However, the tutors are excellent and make themselves available to support. I really enjoyed the face to face gym instructor days and look forward to the PT days too. YMCA central gym is a great venue. Timing is tight, but it suited my availability and timescales perfectly and I'm looking forwards to setting up as a freelance trainer in the Autumn.

Bad experience overall like other bad reviews. Also worst thing is both me and my exam partner got failed because the examiner is very unprofessional and not look at us the whole time while we have been guaranteed by instructors throughout the course that we keep doing what we do, we will pass the exams. which all other members of our class did pass but not us both just because we had a different instructor and she was acting very unprofessional(no eye contact/ look away the whole time) and not pay attention to what we have to say etc. That gave me a trauma and never step back to finish my course. I still remember the exact date (21st Jan 2020) which i can't show here. Recently, i finish my personal training course with a different course provider which is much better support throughout and examiner even try their best to calm your nerves.

Customer service was very convincing! It took me over 1 year to save for a £250 deposit. They have taken my money very fast, made many promises and have let me down on every single front other than the initial call backs for interest. Promised me 2 months of access before course starts in May 2024 and nothing. Other than a Relax page on their main page for course access. Even messaged the tutor who replied and said within 1 day it will can be resolved after my response and we'll the date is much further now and still nothin. Customer service although am number 1 most times times, everytime I get we are to busy and put the phone down. Am done. I want my money back and nothin from this pointless company. Don't do it. Terrible.

I completed a Personal Trainer course recently in London and the tutors - Hannah, Roger, Trevor (and others who assessed me) were all brilliant. All had great teaching styles and a real depth of expertise and I learnt a great deal in a very supportive environment. Thank you

After signing up for this yoga course I have been told over the phone by the Enrolment Team that I would have access to the online materials right after and that I could have requested the manual over the phone if I wanted to with Student Support.
Looks like the manuals have been discontinued for a year and to be honest I would have much rather been told that by the Enrolment Team before paying for this course.
As part of the practical assessment, we were required to produce a 60-hour reflective journal that reflects our development through the learning programme.
We were also required to write 3 session plans for a mixed ability class of approximately 1 hour. These are for a week 1 class a week 5 class and a week 10 class.
We also had to plan a 10-week progressive plan which we were being verbally assessed on.
We were also required to complete 4 ‘Philosophy and Fundamentals of Yoga’ worksheets of a maximum of 12000 words each.
And yet, all this with no support.
The student support team should be available from 9 to 5pm from Monday to Friday but they are not, I have tried to call them for weeks to no avail, the only team you can ever get in touch is the Enrolment Team and they present everything so nicely but once you paid for any course you're left on your own.
In regards to the worksheets above, the information given in class is completely different that the information we receive over the phone with Student Support (when once in a blue moon you managed to talk to someone) which makes you amend the paperwork over and over again as you are not given the same suggestions on how to do it each time.
I won't even mention how complex this paperworks are but to amend them seven times as I have done it over the course of two months for asking different people in Student Support for advice.
The day of the practical exam comes and we were required to bring two participants with us to take part in the practical session otherwise we were going to be referred.
The odd thing is that we had to participate to the class of a student from last year that we didn't even know and who didn't even bother to bring participants because why would he and he was allowed to do the assessment in the first place while we all lived in fear like in the communist era that we were going to be dismissed if we were not bringing participants.
No one asked us if we wanted to participate.
I managed to pass the practical assessment and the Week 10 session planning and was referred to on the week 1 and 5 as the images didn't match the teaching points.
I submitted the two paperwords the day after along with the yoga journal and oddly I have been called to pay for re-submitting them when our tutor mentioned repeatedly in the class that we could submit this documents at any point and that they didn't have to be completed on a certain date and that it was enough to show we have made a start on them on the assessment day.
Also, I have been charged for ''re-submitting'' the yoga journal when it has only been submitted once.
Took them two months to review this and yesterday, on the 12th March I received a message on Aptem from a person who presumably reviewed the session planning to say that I have been referred mainly because the names of the Asanas were incorrect apart from other comments I didn't even understand because they are not clear.
The names for Asanas were meant to be the same ones we had in our manual, a manual where the author had dyslexia and we were supposed to trust this person...
Basically, the same names of the same asanas that have been reviewed by my tutor on the 8th January and agreed they were all fine.
I have lived for two months under the impression that I only had to change the images when someone else woke up saying that in fact all paperwork is incorrect and it has to be amended....... just laughable.
They have managed to convert a dream I had into a complete nightmare and you had no right to do so!
The amount of stress they have put me through over this six months is indescribable and there was no need for it.
Avoid them!

I am writing to complain about YMCA Fit/YMCA Training's abysmal management of and conduct around the November/December 2023 Online Level 2 Exercise To Music course.

Firstly I must say that our two online trainers for this course were brilliant, they were knowledgeable and engaging instructors who did very well delivering an exercise course in the challenging online environment.

However they were very much the only positive experience that I have had with YMCA Fit/YMCA Training, any dealings with your administrative or support staff have been, at best, inconsistent, and at worse either ignored or, perversely, invasive pressure sales tactics.

My issues are as follow; as a learner with Combined ADHD (statement and diagnosis was sent to YMCA Fit and uploaded to APTEM 25/10/23) I requested the additional support that I'm entitled to under the Equality Act of 2010. There was no attempt by YMCA to engage with this until after the course had started. This meant I had to conduct all the pre-course learning with only the digital learning materials, something I really struggle to do, rather than the paper copies of the books, as later promised in the additional learning needs document. Regarding the paper copies of the books, they were promised in the additional needs document on the 16th of November 2023, they were again promised, in an email, on the 28th of November 2023. This would have allowed me to conduct at least some of the course with usable reference material. Yet, as of the 14th of March 2024, I am yet to receive any books, or any update on their arrival from the Student Support Team!

With the lack of suitable learning materials in mind, and no date for their arrival scheduled, I elected to take the theory exam on the 14th of November 2023. I was agreed that this would be a a trial exam, given that I'd not been able to engage with the material, and that any resit required, would be provided, free of charge.

Unfortunately I only achieved 56%. To receive notification of these results I had to send a chasing email on the 16th of January 2024 and did not receive the confirmation email until 12th of February 2024! I fail to comprehend why a globally established fitness training provider is taking 8 weeks to turn round electronically hosted exam results!

Since my exam results have been released no one from the Student Support Team has been in contact to discuss how to move forward and recover from this. This has meant that I have been unable to engage with writing and delivering the practical assessment because my ADHD won't let me work on that until the exam has been passed.

Having been in regular contact with the other students on my course it would appear that my experiences are, unfortunately, very much the norm rather than the exception, with emails being unanswered, phone calls being promised and not returned, tutors being unavailable via email or Aptem. Not one single person on our course has had a positive experience with YMCA Fit or YMCA Training.

This has all been made worse by the fact that once I had made initial contact with your sales team in the spring of 2023 I received a near constant stream of emails and phone calls pestering me to sign up for the course, this happened again when I made the mistake of inquiring about expanding my training to include Indoor Cycling!

I have been left with zero confidence in the YMCA as a training provider and I no longer believe that you are competent and able to provide me with the qualifications that I have paid for you to deliver. You are selling your global reputation cheaply and dragging yourself through the mud as a consequence.

The behaviors detailed above hold you in breach of, not only, my Additional Learning Needs document, that was generated on the 16th of November 2023, and your very own Student Engagement and Progression Agreement, as supplied, by you, in our pre-course material.

Like so many others, I had a dreadful experience with YMCAFit. I’ve worked in education for over 15 years and studied with at least 5 organisations and never had such a bad experience. Everything about the course was bad. I won’t list everything that happened but it’s very much like the other reviewers. What’s frustrating is that YMCA reply to the negative reviews gaslighting them! They don’t sort things out and there is no where to turn.
Very much recommend doing your research there are lots of bad organisations out there and some that offer training which isn’t accredited. Make sure you find a properly accredited course. Having now done several CPD courses, I know there are good supportive places you can study with.

Avoid this course.

It is not as advertised and you can get much better training with correct information and proper support from other organisations. -FOR LESS MONEY!
Ofstead is doing an inspection- I recommend waiting to bookt this course until the report comes out and you can see the issues that will be highlighted.

My list of problems is vast but starts with the most awful student support and a legacy of referrals which cost a fortune.