FAQs
Frequently Ask Questions
Fit Your Ability is the disability fitness division of Fitness Enhancement Personal Training. We were founded in 1999 by our current CEO and founder when he was 19 years old on the Gold Coast. From day one we’ve been about helping people who want to achieve their fitness goals but can’t or won’t go to a gym. NDIS registration in 2019 was a natural progression, just as the name Fit Your Ability represents us as a company today. Over the years our award-winning company has grown from just Scott to Personal Trainers and Disability Support Workers now servicing over 4000 suburbs across 10 cities in most Australian states. We franchised in 2013 so your Personal Trainer or Support Worker will most likely be from a small local family-owned business or one of their staff that are all supported by our larger family-owned business.
All of our Personal Trainers have a minimum of a Cert III and IV in fitness which is the industry standard for Personal Trainers in Australia. Most have sports coaching, disability support, or other related skill sets such as childcare qualifications and/or experience. They all have a disability workers screening card. They have all gone through our rigorous induction and education start-up process and continue to be healed to our high standards. Our standards, qualities, and staff happiness saw us awarded the fitness industry’s “employer of choice” in 2022. Our local franchisees all go through the same process and more, and in addition to this as a local family own business is invested in the success of each participant.
We believe that exercise is for everyone, so no matter what the ability we’re here to help. We’ve worked with pretty much every physical or intellectual disability there is from autism to vision impaired and every goal from increasing confidence and independence through exercising to learning a new sport or running a fun run. Our diverse range of Personal Trainers that all specialise in disability fitness means we’re bound to have the right person for you. We’re a regular Personal Training company too under our main brand name Fitness Enhancement, so if you’re a worker or family member, yes, we cater to you!
Yes, you can! We are NDIS registered for STATE 7. This means an NDIS participant can typically pay for our services through core supports if they don’t have funding for Personal Training. As a specialist disability fitness company we deal with the minefield of the NDIS daily, we’re here to work with you, your plan manager, and your support coordinator to ensure you can use your NDIS fund for training.
Yes, we bridge the gap between them and typically become a key part of a participant achieving their goals. For allied health, we are here to help implement programs in a convenient, fun, and cost-effective manner as Personal Trainers are a fraction of the cost of allied health. And for support workers, we’re here to help your participant achieve their fitness goals that are out of your scope and personal interests. Support workers and family members are also welcome to join in the session for free to set a good example to support the participant.
We’re all about making fitness accessible, so we’re here to train you wherever suits you. The bulk of our sessions is in an NDIS participant’s family home or SILS accommodation. Sessions are also often in local parks and public gyms and, in some cities, we have our own 100% private Personal Training studios. Some of our sessions also resemble support work and are out and about in the community, a sporting field or bush walk so we can find a fun way to incorporate fitness into everyday life.
The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) supports people with disabilities to help build skills and capability so they can participate in the community and employment.
Moreover, funding is offered to participants based on their disability and their goals. The NDIS will only fund supports that are considered “reasonable and necessary,” so it’s important to spend some time setting your goals ahead of your NDIS Plan meeting to ensure you qualify for the supports you need.
As a registered NDIS provider, Fit Your Ability can provide Capacity Building supports like tailored ‘Personal Training’ and ‘Innovative Community Participation’ services to eligible NDIS participants with approved funding under the ‘Improved Health & Wellbeing’ and ‘Increase Community Participation’ support categories.
Moreover, we are delighted to say we are also registered to seven-line items of the ‘Core supports’ of NDIS. This means apart from fitness through personal training, we can also help you or your loved ones in more areas of life. See the complete list of our services here.
If you are a Plan or Self-Managed Participant, we may be able to use a variety of other line items to help you with your health and wellness goals; just let us know what you need, and we’ll let you know how we can help.
You’re most likely to need Personal Training services as part of your NDIS Plan if:
- Your goals relate to moving more independently, building strength, participating in community sports or improving fitness.
- You are at risk of developing or have an existing condition that impairs physical movement.
- Your disability makes it hard to maintain good health or a healthy weight.
- You need assistance and support to improve balance and muscle strength for functional movement.
Our Personal Trainers have their Certificate 3 and 4 in Fitness which allows them to design, provide and supervise exercise programs for clients in good health. On the other hand, high-risk clients can work under the guidance of allied health professionals such as an Exercise Physiologist, Physiotherapist, or General Practitioner.
Our Personal Trainers can support you with:
- Goal-focused one-on-one fitness sessions.
- General fitness and strength training in a small group setting
- Participating in other sport, recreation and leisure activities.
Our Personal Trainers can help you develop health, wellness, and fitness through various methods towards a variety of different goals you might have. These can include:
- Manage body weight/ Lose weight
- Increase muscle tone/ strength
- Increase self-esteem and self-confidence
- Improve balance and coordination
- Increase cardiovascular capacity and stamina
- Improve sleeping patterns
- Improve sports performance
- Get involved in community
- Increase capacity to live independently
- Improve mobility/ flexibility
- Improve skills for sports and recreational activities
All our trainers are fully qualified and insured and have completed their NDIS training. Whilst our Trainers are not disability specialists, they are all knowledgeable and experienced with a wide variety of special needs. We work closely with you to complete detailed pre-exercise screening and goal-setting paperwork to help us understand exactly what best suits your needs.
Based on this information, we tailor our sessions to suit your exact goals and specifications. Every exercise can be progressed or regressed in a variety of ways. The environment where you train is modified to suit your needs. If you prefer indoors, outdoors, low light, quiet music, just ask, and we can make it happen. Our Trainers are experts at getting creative with exercises, equipment, and space to provide the variety to keep you engaged and the right variation to suit every ability.
Unfortunately, the NDIS won’t usually pay for Gym memberships, but Personal Training is covered for eligible participants. Our Personal Trainers work closely with the NDIA, and we understand that physical activity is important for everyone regardless of their limitations.
We offer “recreation,” which can encompass a wide variety of fun and active hobbies or activities depending on your ability and goals. Some of the things our Trainers can do include take you for a hike, a bike ride, shoot basketball hoops, kick around a soccer ball, play tennis, go bowling, and more.
In addition, all our staff are ready to help you in whatever other ways you need with our disability support workers who are passionate about health and wellness.
Whether you need someone to help you go for a walk, swim, get to the shops, make your meals, tidying up around the house, or just have a cuppa and chat, Fit Your Ability can help you.