Personal trainers certification

[emn1964]

Well that's how Goodrum got his.

hahahaha...and you see how well it's worked for him.

[medz zeppelin]

i get my best lifts listening to Motorhead

[KillerMonk]

Completely not true. That thinking paves the way for the know nothing,  maybe in shape maybe out of shape trainers that infest most corporate big box gyms. It never hurts to look strong and healthy of course, but it's what you know that keeps clients as well as generates refferals.

True but the big corparate gym i used to work out in had trainers in great shape in demand from clients, but there were a few gurus who were once in shape doing nicely.

[CQ]

I'm not American, but I 'import' trainers for my gym here. ISSA, AFAA, ISMA etc - I cannot even get them a work permit on. It's considered very inadequate. ACSM is considered far superior, at least here.

[Ricky]

I have a BS degree in Exercise Physiology and I'm also an NSPA-CPT and CCS Instructor. I teach the NSPA course down here in Miami at Miami-Dade College. The course runs for 6 weeks and the NSPA certification is a great one. I have others, including NSCA-CSCS, NFPT-CPT, and NSPA-CCS, but I think for a first time certification the NSPA-CPT is a very good one to get. IDEA ranked the NSPA certificate among the "TOP 10" certification bodies in the USA.

If you live in the Miami area and want to register for the course, you may do so here:

http://www.mdc.edu/ce/north/?app=10&newwin=Y

On the left hand side of the screen, scroll over "Professional Workforce" then, "Certification Programs" then, "Personal Trainer"

Ricky

[Brutal_1]

I have a BS degree in Exercise Physiology and I'm also an NSPA-CPT and CCS Instructor. I teach the NSPA course down here in Miami at Miami-Dade College. The course runs for 6 weeks and the NSPA certification is a great one. I have others, including NSCA-CSCS, NFPT-CPT, and NSPA-CCS, but I think for a first time certification the NSPA-CPT is a very good one to get. IDEA ranked the NSPA certificate among the "TOP 10" certification bodies in the USA.

If you live in the Miami area and want to register for the course, you may do so here:

http://www.mdc.edu/ce/north/?app=10&newwin=Y

On the left hand side of the screen, scroll over "Professional Workforce" then, "Certification Programs" then, "Personal Trainer"

Ricky

Is this the personal training cert that allows personal trainers to write prescriptions?

[jaejonna]

personal trainers are just gym teachers who dont want to wake up early for school....

[flagadajones]

personal trainers are just gym teachers who dont want to wake up early for school....

for once you said something that makes sense.

personal trainers often live off someone else (ie: wife's real job) .

[chainsaw]

Where is Charles Glass Certified?
I don't think he even bothered.

[Big_Tymer]

I have an ACE certification, and I thought the test was a complete joke.

Questions like:

'What is a concentric action?'
'What is a lacto-ovo vegetarian?'
'You see someone bench pressing in the gym and they are bouncing the bar off their chest, what do you do?
'One of your female clients mentions to you that she thinks another personal trainer at the club is good looking and is interested in dating him, what do you do?'

Knowing what a lacto-ovo vegetarian or concentric actions are has nothing at all to do w/ personal training.  And the other questions for their ethics part that are opinionated and have no right or wrong answer but are scored quantitatively sure are ethical 

The test was designed basically so that someone 5 foot tall and 400lbs who has never set foot inside a gym could study a bunch of terms and pass the test and be a CPT, despite not having a clue what a military press is, or what happens when you move your hands close together when doing a flat bench press.

[michael arvilla]

why do you want to get certified? if you want to work as a trainer you have to be a salesman first and foremost. otherwise, a doctorate in physiology and kenseiology from Harvard won't do shit for you.  Ask Joe/Coach about the importance of sales and marketing in a pt business.

BINGO!

[michael arvilla]

personal trainers often live off someone else (ie: wife's real job) .

This unfortunately is also quite true!

[wes]

As far as personal trainers go today,they may be certified but very few are qualified!

[Big_Tymer]

Completely not true. That thinking paves the way for the know nothing,  maybe in shape maybe out of shape trainers that infest most corporate big box gyms. It never hurts to look strong and healthy of course, but it's what you know that keeps clients as well as generates refferals.

disagree.  if you are a business man, you should wear a suit and look accordingly.  If you are a personal trainer, you should look like you have spent a good amount of time in the gym working out yourself.

[emn1964]

disagree.  if you are a business man, you should wear a suit and look accordingly.  If you are a personal trainer, you should look like you have spent a good amount of time in the gym working out yourself.

well, you don't have to look like a competitor.  I hire pts all the time.  My biggest producer is a 48 year old woman in decent shape, but nothing to write home about.  But this woman has the ability to develop a rapport with someone within 2 minutes of talking to her.  she just know how to connect with people.

[Knowledge]

I agree with the above, and in many cases, but not all that many folks would prefer to vent and treat their training sessions as some sort of therapy session as opposed to seeing actual results.

[Karl Kox]

how much money are we talking about guys

[The Coach]

for once you said something that makes sense.

personal trainers often live off someone else (ie: wife's real job) .

Is that a fact?? I support my family, wife works with me (mostly accounting stuff). My son goes to private school, we have a home 30 yards from the beach and one in Palm Springs, we have nice cars, money in the bank and a reletively stress free life. Define a REAL job for me will ya!

[CQ]

Is that a fact?? I support my family, wife works with me (mostly accounting stuff). My son goes to private school, we have a home 30 yards from the beach and one in Palm Springs, we have nice cars, money in the bank and a reletively stress free life. Define a REAL job for me will ya!

I rarely even try to bother trying to say this anymore Joe, but once more I go lol..

I started as trainer, eventually bought both my house and gym off that money - and did it single so there was no 'spouse' to live off.

If you are some half ass rep counter with 'regular people' as clients, well then you make cheesy money. If you build up to getting the upper echelon of clients, who will pay obscene sums of money, you can make a very good living. Not referring to the local pimply face 22 year trainer at the YMCA, but those that moved up the ladder, which granted are a tiny %.

[flagadajones]

hey coach and moose, how many times did you train someone who ended looking better than you from your teaching?

[peroni]

disagree.  if you are a business man, you should wear a suit and look accordingly.  If you are a personal trainer, you should look like you have spent a good amount of time in the gym working out yourself.

 I agree with that. I'm saying that being in shape doesn't mean that you know what you're doing. The 2 don't equate. I think you should be in shape personally and I wouldn't hire a fat or scrawny trainer for my gym. You want a knowledgeable trainer who practices what they preach

[The Coach]

hey coach and moose, how many times did you train someone who ended looking better than you from your teaching?

How many of Charles Glass' clients look better than him from his training?

BTW, that was a REALLY dumb question. But if you must know, I look better and can keep up with alot of my younger athletes.

[emn1964]

hey coach and moose, how many times did you train someone who ended looking better than you from your teaching?

again, you have no idea what you are talking about.  although i don't train people anymore, very few of my clients even wanted to look like me.  not everyone has the same goals, ever think about that einstein?  take for example the 50 year old golfer that wanted to put yards on his drive, or the 30 year old new mom that wanted someone to motivate her to lose the baby fat or the 45 year old diabetic woman that wanted to get reduce her dependency on meds.  sure i have trained a handful of competitive bb'ers, but very few.  so stick to what you know--playing video games on your computer and shut the fuck up.

[The Coach]

again, you have no idea what you are talking about.  although i don't train people anymore, very few of my clients even wanted to look like me.  not everyone has the same goals, ever think about that einstein?  take for example the 50 year old golfer that wanted to put yards on his drive, or the 30 year old new mom that wanted someone to motivate her to lose the baby fat or the 45 year old diabetic woman that wanted to get reduce her dependency on meds.  sure i have trained a handful of competitive bb'ers, but very few.  so stick to what you know--playing video games on your computer and shut the fuck up.

Good post.

[Fourslot40]

A majority of the clients are normal people just looking for someone to keep them company during their workout and push them to continue to get to the gym.  Alot of people feel they need that push so they hire someone.  It makes them feel better about what they are doing.  In the end, that's what really makes training what it's all about.  Feeling good about oneself and improving health and confidence. 

I agree that MANY of the personal trainers are not very good.  I shake my head at what I see sometimes and I even get agitiated because I feel that clients are getting cheated or not what they should for their money.  I could go on and on about that, but I won't.