Sharpening appreciation of scope of practice limits in the Australian fitness industry

There is incontrovertible evidence that involvement in safe physical activities within a person’s zone of proximal development helps reduce the risk of disease and morbidity. However, as the Australian fitness industry grows and attracts new clientele, there is a risk that habitually sedentary people may injure themselves by participating in overly vigorous exercise. The competency of fitness professionals and the adequacy of their training to handle this growing clientele of potentially high risk individuals are important. Fitness professionals are perceived a source of knowledge by their clients and this places them in a position of responsibility and trust which they must be careful not to exceed by going beyond the scope of their training.