Evenings at the YMCA make up some of my best memories whilst training. At the end of every day, we were all given ridiculous amounts of homework and revision. After having dinner, showering and washing our uniforms we would all make our way down to the dining hall with our paperwork and pencil cases to start studying.

Types of homework

Paperwork
The work was mostly a lot of reading and then filling out questionnaires which would be marked the following day. Sometimes we would have to write speeches which brings me on to:

Public speaking
Another part of the studying was practising giving seminars, so we would all get in groups of 5 and we would take in turns to give a seminar and all give each other constructive criticism. My feedback was mostly that the information was good but I needed to be more confident. Confidence in public speaking was a problem for most people, but I knew that would come with practice. 

Consultation
We would pair off and practice going through a Consultation, as you would with a client before carrying out the treatment. The reason this was so important was to ensure that they didn’t have any contra-indications and because most of the selling was done at the beginning of the treatment.

Who to study with?

Everyone had their studying cliques, who were normal people in the same class as you.
In my little study group, I was one of two people from England. The others were from China, Japan, Serbia, Italy and Romania so English was their second language. I can’t even imagine having to absorb that much information in a different language.

Studying tips

Revision cards
Recording myself using a phone and listening to it back.

Things you will need

Pen
Ruler
Highlighter
Google translate

Whilst it was hard work doing 4 hours of studying every night, it was fuelled with laughter and excitement of constantly meeting new people from all over the world.