Clinical affiliations for personal trainers

[bipennate]

http://fit-pro.com/ME2/dirmod.asp?si...F11200FDA5742F

An interesting article calling for the need for clinical affils for personal trainers...interestingly, although I don't personally feel that the certification itself is up to the level of the more "prestigous" certs, the W.I.T.S. program currently requires that all cpt "candidates" fulfill an affiliation with a certified trainer before they complete their certification process...I actually have a "student" right now.

What do you all think? How would the process be done? Should "instructors" be somehow "registered" as clinical supervisors (such as my clinical instructors in PT school)? What should the requirements be for the instructor and for the student? How long should they be involved in a "clinical?" What settings should they take place in: gyms, private studios, athletic training departments, even physical therapy offices (as an aide)?

Discuss

[umass]

I completely agree that some sort of hands on apprenticeship would benefit CPT candidates. I personally interned for a semester before taking the NSCA-CPT exam and the hands on experience not only made the exam easier, but it gave me alot of confidence once I was training on my own. I think that the best system would be one that required a certain number of hours in different setting. That said, I don't really see such a system being feasable unless a licensure system comes around and we've all ready discussed the chances of that happening any time soon.
-Ned