Becoming a trainer

[newf]

Hey folks, i've been looking into some PT courses the last few months and wanted to start a thread on the subject.

I'm 28years old and i think i finally found what i would LOVE to do has a career path. Training!

Because of previous schooling, mostly to do with offshore vessels, i'm really not interested in pursuing any full-time schooling.

What do you think of ISSA? I'm thinking of doing there PT course. Would a gym look at that certificate favourably?

I would love to own my own gym sometime with that being said.

[Jean-Paul]

ISSA is actually a decent cert. I like them, NSCA, NASM. I'm NFPT, and I like it too, but keep in mind that the cert is just the beginning. As you have done in this forum, you have to continue to learn, and eventually who you're certified with will become irrelavent.

I can say that I don't recommend ACSM after attending the last two of their big summits. You being an oly lifter would clash with their philosophy, which seems heavily in favor of avoiding loaded lumbar exercises at all costs. I wonder how many clients of ACSM trainers end up with bad backs from being careful to never load the lumbar muscles.

When you get ready to sit down and talk about opening a gym, let me know. You could say I have a little experience in that area.

Congrats on figuring out what you want to do. It is pretty gratifying when you finally give in to your calling. Despite the challenges that face you, when you follow your bliss it truly is the path of least resistance. It has been a wonderful and rewarding career for me.

[Alcoholiday]

do you need any sort of college degree for the NSCA or anything like that? or is it just a buy the book, study, and take the test kinda thing?

[Keith S.]

Alcoholiday:

For the NSCA-CPT you don't need a college degree, but for the CSCS you do. You can find out more info at www.nsca-cc.org .

[umass]

What education/knowledge do you have so far? If you haven't taken anatomy and physiology I would either take it or buy a book on it. Also I wish that I had done more work in finding a good gym to allign myself with which helps in learning to build your clientel.
-Ned

[tasinquefield]

FYI, Eric has a good list of resources on his site if you are interested. He even gives the books in a list of progression to make it easier to understand and apply.

http://www.ericcressey.com/recommendedresources.html

[kuri]

Yay, I passed the CSCS exam!

Now I commence the neverending process of becoming a good trainer.

Perhaps for all us aspiring fitness pros might JP or others in a hiring position be kind enough to give some tips on what, aside from certs & experience, you look for in a trainer? What qualities would tip the odds in favor of one applicant if education were equal (aside from being Hartman-certified of course)?

[Lost Dog]

Originally Posted by kuri

Yay, I passed the CSCS exam!

Now I commence the neverending process of becoming a good trainer.

Perhaps for all us aspiring fitness pros might JP or others in a hiring position be kind enough to give some tips on what, aside from certs & experience, you look for in a trainer? What qualities would tip the odds in favor of one applicant if education were equal (aside from being Hartman-certified of course)?

Congratulations! I knew you'd do it.

[Lisa~]

Originally Posted by kuri

Yay, I passed the CSCS exam!

Now I commence the neverending process of becoming a good trainer.

Perhaps for all us aspiring fitness pros might JP or others in a hiring position be kind enough to give some tips on what, aside from certs & experience, you look for in a trainer? What qualities would tip the odds in favor of one applicant if education were equal (aside from being Hartman-certified of course)?

Congratulations!

Hartmas certified can't be beat, of course, but I think the most important quality is an ability to get along with people. Qualities like being able to communicate what you know, being a good listener, having empathy for the client's situation, and a willingness to work with what they're currently capable of (I mean emotionally as well as physically). A personal trainer is half phychologist, but our certifications do not cover very much of that aspect of our jobs!

[Matthew]

Congratulations Kuri, that's really great.

[Matthew]

Not many people here live in Canada, but I'm hoping someone can still tell me if these certifications are actually good for anything. This was taken from my college's website, from a description of the program I'm taking.

Nationally recognized certifications are conveniently built into the curriculum. Students will earn certification from the Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology as Certified Personal Trainers (CSEP- CPT). This certification consists of Module I The Canadian Physical Activity, Fitness & Lifestyle Approach Protocol (CPAFLA) and Module II Certified Personal Trainer (CPT). Additionally, students will earn certification from Can-Fit-Pro as Fitness Instructor Specialists (FIS) and Personal Trainer Specialists (PTS).

[kuri]

Thanks Roland, Lisa, and Matthew.

Great advice Lisa, I'll take that to heart.

[jdford]

Matthew, which college are you at? George Brown or Humber I assume?

Basically you have a few PT cert's in that list as well as the the FIS which will allow you to teach various group exercise classes. Then there is the CPAFLA which you will need if you want to administer the CPAFLA fitness testing protocols.

Really all you need is one PT cert. unless you plan to work at a location which you will need a CPAFLA but this is very rare. Or if you plan to teach any classes you might want to look into the FIS, I'm not even sure if that's a requirement.

If anything I would recommend getting the NSCA-CPT and then the CSCS if you end up going the university route and getting a degree.

Some people like to amass a ton of different certifications just because and so they can have a bunch of letters next to their name. It's getting wild with so many fitness professionals offering certifications these days, everyone is trying to cash in. The strength and conditioning coach at my university was at a CHEK seminar once I think it was, and he was helping show people an exercise that everyone was having trouble with. Somebody asked him;

"Are you a CHEK practitioner?"
"No, I'm a Lidstone practitioner."
"Who's that?"
"Me."

[Kevin Larrabee]

Nice Job Kuri!

[Jean-Paul]

Awesome Kuri! What did you do, take a couple of weeks to prepare? That's just insane! Congrats a million times over. You never cease to amaze me.

[kuri]

Coupla weeks? Uh... yeah... more like a few months of memorizing that damn book front to back and around again. It was a fun process though and now the real learning starts.

[Keith S.]

Congrats Kuri!

[dos]

Chris is DA MAN!

[kuri]

Cool, now I can put "Dos Certified" after my name

Beers at Ye Olde Kings Head anytime.