James Holt
Lead tutor, Personal Training Practitioner
12 years in practice
- CIMSPA PT practitioner member
- Level 3 Personal Training
James has coached personal-training clients for twelve years in commercial gyms and in private practice. He teaches the Guild's personal-training programme because lifestyle diplomas still skip practical assessment. He marks recorded coaching of real lifts and programme design that can fail. He will not claim CIMSPA endorsement the Guild does not hold, and he will tell gym employers when they should ask for a CIMSPA-endorsed Level 3 instead.
What does James Holt teach at The Study Guild?
James leads Personal Training Practitioner. He teaches live, reviews recorded coaching of movement, and marks a twelve-week programme that would survive a scope review. The certificate states that it is not CIMSPA-endorsed and not an Ofqual-regulated Level 3. Gyms that name those checks should buy those products, not ours.
What is James Holt's training background?
James holds a Level 3 personal-training qualification and CIMSPA practitioner membership, with twelve years on gym floors. He joined the Guild to mark practice, not to approximate an occupational standard from a PDF. His membership is personal. It is not endorsement of this programme, and he will say that until it sticks.
Will James Holt's programme give you CIMSPA professional status?
No. CIMSPA professional status is built around evidencing that body's occupational standard, often via endorsed qualifications. The Guild is not a CIMSPA-endorsed education partner. If your first employer will check that status, start from CIMSPA's own lists. Observed coaching here is still a better buy than an unwatched lifestyle diploma.
Programmes Holt teaches

Personal Training Practitioner
Live assessed coaching of movement for apparently healthy adults, without printing CIMSPA endorsement or an Ofqual Level 3 the Guild does not award.
Not for: Anyone whose first employer named CIMSPA-endorsed or Ofqual-regulated Level 3 training
- Live hours
- 24h live
- Duration and weekly load
- 12 weeks · ~6h/week
- Cohort size
- max 16
£449or from £74.83/mo, interest-free