You can now trust your fitness coach to deliver expected fitness results, and stand ready to perform CPR on you if you ever require one during an emergency. That’s thanks to a new registry for exercise professionals introduced this month.
It is called the National Registry of Exercise Professionals, or NREP, and was introduced by the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth (MCCY) during the 2023 Committee of Supply debates in March 2023.
Why Is There A Need To Create This Registry?
The registry is part of a long-term strategy to professionalise and build capabilities in the fitness industry. With the NREP, there will be clear safety standards and capability requirements which will in turn raise the standards of the fitness industry.
All exercise professionals are “strongly encouraged” to register under the NREP.
Exercise professionals include personal trainers, fitness coaches, spin instructors, yoga and pilates instructors, aerobics instructors, sports performance coaches, as well as fitness and wellness specialists.
What Can Fitness Professionals Get From Registering?
Individuals will be certified as fitness professionals and given free membership with the National Instructors and Coaches Association (NICA) in their first year.
NICA members enjoy benefits such as mediation support for workplace disputes, grants to defray essential course fees and training support. There are also networking opportunities and resources.
Though the NREP, fitness professionals can also get jobs from government agencies that hire a sizeable number of these people (SportSg, People’s Association, Health Promotion Board, Ministry of Home Affairs). From April 2024, government agencies can only hire registered exercise professionals registered under NREP.
For the public, they can access the NREP when planning to engage exercise professionals and make informed decisions about their trainers.
How To Attain NREP?
Fitness professionals will need to first have certifications in Standard First Aid with AED and CPR, code of ethics, and one in the relevant fitness or exercise they are the expert in before they can be given full NREP membership.
You will be given a provisional NREP membership if you do not possess the Standard First Aid with AED and CPR certification. But you will have to register yourself for the Standard First Aid course (subsidised rates via the NICA membership) before you can get the full NREP membership.
For those who are considering working for government agencies, a Safe Sport Certification is also required.
In the later stages of NREP’s development, there are plans to develop an accreditation framework.
How To Register For NREP
The NREP is hosted in Sport Singapore’s SportSync system. These are the required steps to register:
- ActiveSG account creation
- SportSync account access and profile updates
- NREP registration and application confirmation
- Upgrade from provisional to full NREP membership
The mandatory documents you are required to have before registering are:
Fitness/Exercise certificate(s)
• Permitted file types: JPG, JPEG, PNG, DOC, DOCX and GIF
• Permissible file size: Between 10kb and 10,000kb
Photo upload
- Sharp and clear, taken within the last three months
- Taken full face with you looking directly at the camera and against a white background
- Full colour 512 x 400 pixels or passport sized
- Permitted file types: JPG, JPEG and PNG with at least 300dpi resolution
- Permitted file size: Between 10kb and 10,000kb
The registration process will take about 15 minutes. Do note that the system has a timeout duration of 20 minutes if left inactive and you will lose partially submitted data if you leave the system inactive.
How Do I Know If I Am Considered A Fitness Professional?
There are seven categories that an exercise professional can register themselves in NREP. An exercise professional with relevant certifications in the different categories can register for multiple categories.
The seven categories are:
- Aqua Fitness
- Dance
- HIIT, Bootcamp, Circuit
- Martial Arts & Combat
- Mind & Body
- Personal Trainer (Strength & Conditioning)
- Static Cycling
If you click here to look at the extensive list of registration categories, you can find dedicated exercise class types and what category it falls under.
Here’s a short list of the class types and category:
| Class Name/Type | NREP Categories |
| Examples of various class/activity names/types that make up the NREP Categories. | These are the categories that Exercise Professionals can choose in SportSync when registering for the NREP. |
| Aqua Aerobics | Aqua Fitness |
| Ballet | Dance |
| Bollywood Fitness | Dance |
| Kpop | Dance |
| Zumba | Dance |
| Cardio | HIIT, Bootcamp, Circuit |
| Crossfit | HIIT, Bootcamp, Circuit |
| Cardio Kickboxing | Martial Arts & Combat |
| Any martial arts inspired fitness and exercise workout | Martial Arts & Combat |
| Hatha Basic | Mind & Body |
| Pilates | Mind & Body |
| Personal Training | Personal Trainer (Strength & Conditioning) |
| Indoor Cycling | Static Cycling |
Are You Ready To Take The Next Step In Your Professional Fitness Career?
Applicants will be notified of the results of application via email. Do note that due to a high volume of applications as the programme is freshly launched, it may take up to three to four weeks for your application to be processed.
Click here to apply for an NREP membership online through Sport Singapore’s SportSync system.
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