In the first part of our learner spotlight series, Callum Foster shared the personal experiences that inspired him to pursue a career in health and fitness. But passion alone isn’t enough to build expertise. To make a lasting impact, he knew he needed the right knowledge, skills and support.

As he looked to take the next step in his career, Callum sought specialist training that would challenge him, broaden his understanding and help him work confidently with a wider range of individuals. What he found was a learning experience that deepened his expertise, reshaped his thinking and gave him the confidence to put that knowledge into practice with the people who needed it most.

In this second instalment, Callum reflects on his learner journey, the challenges and milestones along the way, and why the support he received made such a lasting impression on his career development.

In this article, you’ll learn:

• What made HFE different from previous learning experiences
• How specialist education developed Callum’s coaching
• The impact that confidence has had on the people he supports
• Why he continues to recommend HFE to other fitness professionals

Finding a Different Kind of Learning Experience

Finding HFE felt like a turning point not just professionally but personally. I had been through training before and I knew what it felt like when a course treated you as a number to be processed rather than a person to be developed.

The difference with HFE was immediate and it came down to something I now talk about constantly in my own coaching: the difference between equality and equity. Equality means giving everyone the same thing. Equity means giving each person what they actually need to thrive.

HFE operated on equity. The support wasn’t uniform and standardised across every learner; it was responsive, personal and shaped around where you were and where you were trying to get to. You were given the space and encouragement to develop your own approach, to find your own voice within the subject and to build something that genuinely felt like yours. That kind of learning environment is rarer than it should be and I felt the difference immediately.

I remember thinking at the time that this was how my grandad had always made people feel. Supported in a way that was specific to them. That parallel wasn’t lost on me and it only deepened my commitment to the work.

Learning Beyond the Qualification

The material itself was specific in ways that mattered enormously. Working with someone who has cerebral palsy is not the same as working with someone who has Down syndrome, which is entirely different again from working with someone on the autistic spectrum, and HFE understood those distinctions in real depth.

The content engaged with nuance rather than glossing over it. Questions received thoughtful, considered answers. The learning felt like a genuine exchange between people rather than a transaction between a provider and a student.

For the first time in my professional education I felt like someone was genuinely invested in how I came out the other side, and that made me want to give everything back to the course in return.

The support HFE gave me throughout the course was unlike anything I had experienced in my education up to that point. It wasn’t just about answering questions, it was about making you feel capable of finding your own answers.

Every interaction felt considered, every piece of feedback felt personal and every challenge felt like it was designed to push you forward rather than catch you out. There was a warmth to it that I wasn’t expecting and, honestly, that warmth changed the way I approached the material entirely.

What struck me most was how interactive it all was. This wasn’t a case of reading through content in isolation and hoping for the best. It was genuinely engaging, built around real scenarios, real conditions and real people. The kind of education that makes you think differently about your practice rather than simply adding information on top of what you already knew.

I found myself excited about learning in a way I hadn’t been for a long time, because the content felt directly relevant to the work I wanted to do and the people I wanted to serve.

Why Specialist Education Matters

Research suggests many fitness professionals want to support disabled clients but don’t feel adequately prepared.

• 86% of fitness employees believe current training doesn’t equip gym professionals to work confidently with disabled people.
• 61% of UK fitness professionals are unsure what proportion of their own customer base has a disability.

Source: Raising the Bar Report (Health Europa).

Growing in Confidence as a Coach

The confidence that came from that experience was significant. Not an arrogant confidence, but a grounded one. The kind that comes from genuinely knowing your material and understanding why it matters.

When I walked into sessions after qualifying with HFE I felt prepared in a way that went beyond technique. I understood the people in front of me more deeply, I understood how to communicate with them more effectively and I understood how to adapt not just the exercise but my entire approach depending on who I was working with that day.

That depth of understanding changed everything about how I showed up as a coach and it still does to this day.

The People Who Changed Everything

The impact of this work is not something I measure in numbers or recognition. It lives in the moments that nobody outside of that session will ever fully understand.

Hamish, who has cerebral palsy, couldn’t stand when I first met him, and I watched him stand at his sister’s graduation.

Henry was told by others that he lacked the motivation to walk; he now uses sticks with me in the room, quiet, head down, doing the work, and every single session is absolutely inspiring to be part of.

Melissa, who is blind, came to me having spent years afraid of what her own body was capable of and she is now competing in athletics and sailing.

Ryan, who has autism and struggles with the noise and sensory demands of a gym environment, trains with me through earphones on a phone call so we can communicate clearly without the overwhelm of background sound.

Every single one of these people found a way. They just needed someone to believe that they would.

None of these are fitness stories in the way the industry typically presents them. They are life stories and I get to play a small part in each of them.

No external recognition has ever come close to matching what those moments feel like, and I have been fortunate enough to receive BBC coverage, a Premier League Community Captain award and a nomination for the Active Suffolk award, all of which I am proud of. Watching Hamish stand at that graduation though, that is the one I will still be thinking about when I am old.

Passing It On

People have reached out to tell me they enrolled on HFE’s inclusive fitness courses directly because of content they saw on my page, personal trainers who realised there was an entire population of people they didn’t yet have the knowledge or confidence to serve properly.

When a platform begins to influence how other coaches develop and what they choose to specialise in, the responsibility attached to that is significant and I don’t take it lightly.

My audience trusts me because I have never given them a reason not to. I don’t promote things I don’t believe in, I don’t overstate what I know and I don’t pretend to have it all figured out.

What I do is show up honestly, share the work as it actually is and let that speak for itself. That trust has been built gradually and carefully and it means more to me than any metric ever could.

Explore the full series:

1. Why Callum Foster Decided to Pursue a Career in Health and Fitness
2. How Specialist Training Helped Callum Build an Inclusive Coaching Career
3. Building One of the UK’s Leading Inclusive Fitness Platforms

Learn how specialist education can help you coach with confidence.

Author

Beth Riley

Writer and Content Creator

Beth is a content creator specialising in health, wellness and education. With an MA in Graphic Design, she brings together strategy, design thinking and storytelling to create engaging content that informs, inspires and connects with audiences.