Am I to old to teach exercise?
I am 47 years young and just now getting into exercising I have my zumba certification, and studying for the NCCPT Group Exercise certification. I am a little afraid of taking the test thinking I may not pass however I study and read on a daily basis. It is a struggle because I am also working on my Master in education. Another instructor suggested I wait til I graduate then study my group exercise certification. I find myself paying for all type of exercise courses, I have taken the lifttime academy course, some AFAA courses and now the nccpt. Does it seem as if I am all over the place, i feel that if i take these courses it will help me with the test. I just started at 47 years old and I am wonders if i should proceed, I teach praise dance and desire to learm more about corrective exercise, I have also taught a few zumba classes. I have my own studio to teach zumba but have not did it because I want a certification bad. Any suggestion please advise?
On age:I do not think that anyone is too old to teach exercise! As long as you have clients that are willing to listen to you and respect you then there is usually a mutual understanding that they are coming to you for something that they could not otherwise do on their own. I have trained under someone who was 58 years old and it was never an issue with him or his clients.
Training in general:Depending on your perspective as long as you look the part and practice what you preach then people will follow your advice. The biggest thing probably is to get results and experience. If you are teaching and you do not have social proof or some clients that are getting results then all of the marketing in the world cannot make up for an unsuccessful program.
Certifications: Try not to get caught up in all of the certifications, having a lot of them is not the point. The reason you obtain a cert should be to increase your knowledge in that area if it is something you see yourself liking or needing for your business. You should definitely get a credible cert to start like ACE or NASM but after that adding certifications is not nearly as important as obtaining the knowledge