As a Personal Trainer why do you think being licensed in your state would benefit you?
Benefits:
-Add’s credibility
-Removes everyone who says there a personal trainer with no certification no qualifications form the industry.
-increase pay more.
-makes it so corporate gyms have to pay their trainers more.
– allows personal trainers to be more respected as field.
– educated clients who to hire.
– credibility
– organization
– limit the amount of mis information out there because people will know who to go to.
yes granted any idiot can pass a test and nothing is perfect.
License, certification, whatever, just some kind of organization where we are all brought up to a higher standard.
There are too many cert’s out there clients don’t know any better, most trainers don’t update their knowledge or certs.
Yes I agree it’s much easier to succeed when you don’t have to worry about the bulk of the trainers out there because most have no clue about business or training so it’s easy to land clients when you have a great deal of information. You look like a genius doing basic stuff most trainers don’t even cover.
Though I would like to see our profession bar raised. We need much higher standards.
I do not believe that licensing is the answer, and I have a different opinion on some of your stated points. If licenses were the answers to all problems, we would not have bad apples in any of the professions where licenses exist.
I do not believe that “any idiot can pass a test”; but maybe this is self-serving as I have passed several tests and really do not think of myself as an idiot.
Higher standards: they already exist. There are several certifications, notably ACSM but also others, that apply a very high standard, and some even require degrees.
I see nothing wrong with an entry level into the industry. That is how I started years ago. Whether you ultimately make it depends on your willingness to continue to learn and grow. All organizations require a re-certification, and thanks to this website here, a consumer can see the status of a trainer or instructor.