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An Undereducated and Unregulated Workforce
The major problem with the current fitness system is that
even though there are numerous college degrees relating to
fitness that can be obtained, the people that have these
degrees represent less than 5% of the entire fitness
workforce. So who is teaching the public about fitness? Lots
of undereducated people. The majority of these people are
unqualified personal trainers. The truth is that unlike in
the "Health" industry, there is absolutely
no governing body or organization in the
"Fitness" industry. It is essentially a
"free for all."
Anyone can and does call themselves a personal trainer.
What qualifications do they need to do so?
None. While different people or
institutions may have their own qualifications or standards,
there is no set guideline that everyone must adhere to. If
my 95-year-old grandmother wanted to, she could open a gym
tomorrow, call herself a personal trainer, and start
teaching her members that they have 3 shoulders, their
abdominals are located on their legs, and that everyone has
to do 1000 push-ups a day. It sounds ridiculous, but there
is absolutely no one that can prevent her from doing
this.
There are personal trainer certifications that can be
obtained, but of the dozens of certifying institutions, most
of them should be considered a joke. Just as anyone can call
themselves a personal trainer, as long as proper business
procedures are followed, any organization can become a
certifying institution. If my grandmother wanted to, she
could literally be certifying personal trainers. The term
"Certified Personal Trainer" sounds very
official. When most people hear the word "certified," they
immediately assume that there is some validity as to a
trainer's credentials, but you have to look at who is
certifying these people.
At present time there are only two major certifying
institutions that require a
Health Science degree before someone can
become certified. They are the
American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM)
and the
National Strength and Conditioning Association
(NSCA). Besides these two certifications (which I consider to be
the only true certifications), there are four other major
certifying institutions:
National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM),
International Sports Science Association (ISSA), American Council on Exercise (ACE), and
the
Aerobics and Fitness Association of America
(AFFA).
The problem becomes that until the public demands a higher
standard, there is no reason for the existing industry to
want to change. Let's say that you owned a fitness facility
and could pay a college student or housewife, that just
passed a weekend personal trainer certification, $20/hr. to
train people at your facility. Why would you then want to
employ someone with an exercise science degree, and have to
pay them $40/hr, when most people/customers do not know what
credentials to look for in a trainer anyway? This is how
gyms and health clubs increase their profit margin.
Unfortunately, most of the general public does not realize
the value of properly educated fitness professionals because
they are being fooled by a trainer's
"image." Most people assume that the
trainer that looks the best is going to know the most. They
are more likely to take advice about fitness from a
celebrity or someone that looks great, but has no real
fitness education, before they would take advice from
someone that may not look as good but does have a PhD in
Exercise Science.
The next problem, that is a direct result of all the
unqualified trainers out there, is what I call
"cheerleading." Since most trainers do not
possess the knowledge needed to properly educate their
clients, they try to push, motivate, and over train them
into results. These methods can be very dangerous and can
result in more harm than good. Motivation is important, but
it is only one of many components needed for a successful
fitness program. Is it worth paying a trainer $50-$150/hr.
to simply be motivating you? More importantly, is it worth
paying someone that amount of money when they have no more
formal education about fitness than you do?
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