What a personal trainer needs to know about first aid

Personal/Fitness Training Blog

Popular first aid related questions among personal trainers are:

  • Do I need to be qualified in first aid?
  • Can I work in the fitness industry without a first aid qualification?

Because there’s some confusion over the answers to these questions, we’ve created a guide to first aid for personal trainers.

Although a qualification in first aid isn’t usually a requirement for landing a job in a gym or sports facility, being qualified in first aid will significantly improve your prospects of getting a job.

Gyms and sports clubs are required to have at least one professional, who is qualified in first aid, on site at all times. This means that if you’ve applied for a job and can include a first aid qualification on your CV, you have an automatic advantage over other personal trainers without this qualification. As all personal trainers have a duty of care to their clients, holding a first aid qualification shows that you’re serious about ensuring their well-being.

For the benefit of your clients

Personal training  clients are continuously being showered with stresses that challenge their minds as well as their bodies. Some of these include the following:

  • Physical Stress such as poor posture, muscles which are not balanced, tightness, weakness as well as daily movements which are not natural and restricted.
  • Nutritional Stress from sources such as caffeine, alcohol, drugs, sugar highs, not drinking enough water, cholesterol build-up.
  • Emotional Stress from family, work, relationships and/or friends.
  • Hormonal Stress from issues such as fluctuating hormones and blood sugar levels as well as fat storage.

These stresses build up in the client’s body. One-by-one they become less tolerant to new stressors (like exercise). These negative stressors are all known to cause Coronary Heart Disease, heart attacks and/or strokes.

Whether you’re at the gym that you work from, at home or are out, you may be the only person available to stand up and perform first aid during a crisis. This act will probably save someone’s life. Here are some astounding statistics that were released by the American Heart Association as well as the National Safety Council.

  • ​ Approximately 383 000 sudden cardiac arrests occur every year. Eighty-eight percent of cardiac arrests occur at home.
  • Many victims of these arrests appear healthy with no known heart disease or other risk factors.
  • Effective CPR provided by a bystander, directly after sudden cardiac arrest, can double or even triple a cardiac arrest victim’s chance of surviving. However, only 32% of victims of cardiac arrest are lucky enough to get CPR from a bystander.
  • ​25% of all visit to casualty can be avoided with basic first aid and CPR certification.

Trifocus Fitness Academy- first aid

Here are the basic steps that every personal trainer needs to know about CPR.

  1. First, open a person’s airway. This is so that you can check if they are in fact breathing. Do not start CPR if the person is breathing normally.
  2. If they aren’t breathing normally, ensure that the patient is lying on his back on a solid surface. Kneel beside him. Place the heel of your hand in the centre of his chest.
  3. Keep your arms straight and cover your first-hand with the heel of your other hand. Interlace the fingers of both hands. Keep your fingers in a raised position so they do not touch the victim’s chest or rib cage.
  4. Lean forward. Make sure that your shoulders are directly over the patient’s chest. Press down on his chest. Release the pressure but don’t release your hands. Let his chest bounce back up.
  5. Perform 30 compressions at a frequency of 100 compressions per minute.
  6. Move over to the victim’s head. Tilt his head and lift his chin so that you reopen his airway. Let the mouth fall slightly open.
  7. Pinch his nostrils closed with the hand that was on his forehead. Support the victim’s chin with your other hand. Inhale and put your mouth over the patient’s mouth. Blow until you can see his chest come up.
  8. Remove your mouth and look at his chest. Watch to see if his chest falls.

Contact Trifocus Fitness Academy 

Want to learn more about personal training? Visit Trifocus Fitness Academy’s website to learn about this and our other online fitness courses.

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