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Sources of practice knowledge among Australian fitness trainers

  • Original Research
  • Published:
Translational Behavioral Medicine

Abstract

Few studies have examined the sources of practice knowledge fitness trainers use to inform their training methods and update knowledge. This study aims to describe sources of practice knowledge among Australian fitness trainers. In July 2014, 9100 Australian fitness trainers were invited to complete an online survey. Respondents reported the frequency of use of eight sources of practice knowledge (e.g. fitness magazines, academic texts). In a separate survey, exercise science experts (n = 27) ranked each source as either (1) ‘high-quality’ or (2) ‘low-quality’. Proportions of users of ‘high-quality’ sources were calculated across demographic (age, sex) and fitness industry-related characteristics (qualification, setting, role). A multivariate logistic regression analysis assessed the odds of being classified as a user of high-quality sources, adjusting for demographic and fitness industry-related factors. Out of 1185 fitness trainers (response rate = 13.0%), aged 17–72 years, 47.6% (95% CI, 44.7–50.4%) were classified as frequent users of high-quality sources of practice knowledge. In the adjusted analysis, compared to trainers aged 17–26 years, those aged ≥61 years (OR, 2.15; 95% CI, 1.05–4.38) and 40–50 years (OR, 1.54; 95% CI, 1.02–2.31) were more likely to be classified as a user of high-quality sources. When compared to trainers working in large centres, those working in outdoor settings (OR, 1.81; 95% CI, 1.23–2.65) and medium centres (OR, 1.59; 95% CI, 1.12–2.29) were more likely to be classified as users of high-quality sources. Our findings suggest that efforts should be made to improve the quality of knowledge acquisition among Australian fitness trainers.

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Acknowledgements

Thanks to all study participants for their contribution to this paper and staff at Fitness Australia for the invaluable support with recruiting fitness professionals. We also thank Dr. Zeljko Pedisic for his initial statistical advice on this paper. J.A.B. wishes to thank Fitness Australia for part funding his research fellowship.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Active Living and Public Health Program, Institute of Sport, Exercise and Active Living (ISEAL), Victoria University, PO Box 14428, Melbourne, VIC, 8001, Australia

    Jason A. Bennie PhD, Glen H. Wiesner PhD, Jannique G. Z. van Uffelen PhD, Jack T. Harvey PhD & Stuart J. H. Biddle PhD

  2. Department of Kinesiology, Physical Activity, Sports and Health Research Group, KU Leuven—University of Leuven, B-3000, Leuven, Belgium

    Jannique G. Z. van Uffelen PhD

  3. Faculty of Health, Federation University Australia, Ballarat, VIC, Australia

    Jack T. Harvey PhD

Authors
  1. Jason A. Bennie PhD
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  2. Glen H. Wiesner PhD
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  3. Jannique G. Z. van Uffelen PhD
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  4. Jack T. Harvey PhD
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  5. Stuart J. H. Biddle PhD
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jason A. Bennie PhD.

Ethics declarations

Statements

The authors declare that the findings reported in this paper have not been previously published and that the manuscript is not being simultaneously submitted elsewhere.

The authors confirm that they have full control of all primary data and that they agree to allow the journal to review their data if requested.

Study funding sources

J.A.B. declares he has a research fellowship part-funded by Fitness Australia. S.J.H.B. declares that he received funding from Fitness First, Nuffield Health and Unilever. None currently active. Funding received in 2016 for work for Halpern Ltd. Provision of a sit-to-stand desk from Ergotron, 2012–2014. J.A.B. and S.J.H.B. confirm that these funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish or preparation of the manuscript.

Any actual or potential conflicts of interest

J.A.B. declares he has a research fellowship part-funded by Fitness Australia. S.J.H.B. received funding since 2012 for consultancy work from Fitness First, Nuffield Health, Unilever and Weight Watchers, and for travel from The Coca Cola Foundation. None of these are currently active. Funding was received in 2016 for consultancy work for Halpern Limited. In-kind support through the provision of a sit-to-stand desk was provided by Ergotron from 2012 to 2014. Advice has been requested by and offered to Active Working, Get Britain Standing and Bluearth, none with funding. All other authors declare no actual or potential conflicts of interest.

Ethical disclosures regarding treatment of human and animal experimental subjects and informed consent.

The study protocol was approved by the Victoria University Ethics Committee (reference—HRE 14-070), and informed consent was obtained from each participant.

Additional information

Implications: ‘Sources of practice knowledge among Australian fitness trainers’

Practice: When acquiring new knowledge about their industry, fitness trainers (e.g. personal trainers, group/gym instructors) should ensure that sources align with proven principles of exercise science and exercise prescription.

Policy: To allow for standardization and quality control systems for exercise science, knowledge translation for fitness trainers should be centrally developed by the governing bodies of the fitness industry (such as Exercise & Sports Science Australia and the American College of Sports Medicine).

Research: Researchers should investigate the facilitators and barriers that fitness industry-related governing bodies encounter in developing knowledge translation systems, as well as the types of information fitness trainers perceive both interpretable and appropriate for implementation in their training practices.

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Bennie, J.A., Wiesner, G.H., van Uffelen, J.G.Z. et al. Sources of practice knowledge among Australian fitness trainers. Behav. Med. Pract. Policy Res. 7, 741–750 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13142-017-0482-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13142-017-0482-4

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