EuropeActive's Essentials for Fitness Instructors

About EuropeActive

The European Register of Exercise Professionals (EREPS) uses the EuropeActive standards to ensure that exercise professionals are qualified to offer safe and effective fitness programmes to their clients all across Europe. EREPS provides consumers, employers and partners in medical professions with confidence so that registered trainers are competent and work to support its Code of Ethical Practice, which defines the rights and principles of exercise professionals. Referencing the EuropeActive standards to each trainer and being registered mean that they have met the minimum standards of good practice and that they are committed to raising the standards of their skills and professional status through a process of lifelong learning.

EREPS is regulated by the EuropeActive Standards Council using the official European Qualifications Framework, which describes the knowledge, skills and competencies exercise professionals need to achieve for registration.

About the Editors

Rita Santos-Rocha, PhD is an associate professor at the Sport Sciences School of Rio Maior (ESDRM) Polytechnic Institute of Santarem, Portugal. Since 1998, she has been teaching courses in physical activity and public health, exercise testing and prescription and exercise biomechanics. Dr. Santos-Rocha is also a researcher at CIPER (Neuromechanics of Human Movement Group) of the Faculty of Human Kinetics, University of Lisbon. Her research projects are funded by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology and the European Union National Strategic Reference Framework in the fields of active pregnancy, active school, active ageing and biomechanics. She is a member of the scientific committee of the Gymnastics Federation of Portugal and vice chair of the standards council of EuropeActive. Dr. Santos-Rocha has a BSc in sport sciences, MSc in exercise and health and PhD in human movement and health and fitness. In the past, she was a fitness instructor, group gymnastics coach, and physical education teacher.

Thomas Rieger is the chairman of the standards council of EuropeActive. He holds a doctoral degree in social sciences with a specialization in sport science (German PhD equivalent) from the University of Tubingen and a master’s degree in public health. In 2007, he was appointed as a professor of sport management at the Business and Information Technology School (BiTS) in Iserlohn, Germany. At BiTS, he is the vice dean of the bachelor’s programme of sport and event management and the MSc programme of international sport and event management. Previously, Dr. Rieger served as the visiting professor at the Real Madrid Graduate School and the European University Cyprus in Nicosia. Before entering academia in 2006, he gained more than six years of experience in the fitness industry, especially in the fields of fitness marketing and quality management.

Alfonso Jimenez is a professor of exercise and health and the faculty dean of the health, exercise and sport sciences department at European University of Madrid (Spain) and a member of the scientific advisory board of UKActive Research Institute. Dr. Jimenez holds a visiting professorial appointment at Victoria University in Melbourne, Australia, as the international research associate. He is the chair of the Fitness Australia/ISEAL research programme and scienntific advisory committee at the University of Greenwich in London. During the time that he was head of school and deputy dean at Victoria University, Dr. Jimenez served as a professor and head of the Centre for Sports Sciences and Human Performance at the University of Greenwich. From 2009 to 2012, Professor Jimenez was the chairman of the standards council of EuropeActive, which at the time was called the?European Health & Fitness Association. He was awarded?honorary membership in recognition of his outstanding service. Dr. Jimenez’s background before entering academia centred on the fitness industry in management, research and sales.