Do you think Personal Trainers should have their own Hall of Fame?
Ted,
Although it sounds like a great idea it’s very hard to implement it for all the above reasons. With so many philosophies, training styles, certifications and so many other factors to include in this answer, I found this an impossible task. We are not talking about professional sports players/athletes where it’s easy to tell who is the best or who are the top players because of their achievements and statistics. In our industry there is nothing to set as a standard that will distinguish one trainer form the other and even more to tell who is a ‘Hall of fame” candidate and who is not. In your mind, who would you consider a trainer worth of Hall of Fame? How far would you go? The trend in our industry is changing so fast that by the time I finish this answer there will be many more new trends created out there that one day they will be the main event in a conference or a symposium.
Would you consider a trainer who instructs only bodybuilding to be the standard that everyone else would measure up to? Or someone who teaches CrossFit? Or kettlebells? Or tactical fitness? Or obstacle course training? All of these training philosophies are so different that it’s almost impossible to know which one to choose as the rule that all others will have to be judged by. Having people in your board picking one trainer from another as the best trainer out there is a good way to chose among candidates who are judged against other trainers from a similar background. The only way I can think of solving this problem, is if you are choosing those trainers who have the most impact in their field. I’m not referring to the celebrity trainers, because I don’t believe those trainers are any better than many others in our industry (they just happened to be in the right place at the right time).
This is a subject that requires a lot of thought and research if you are going to be fair to those whom you are nominating and choosing to be the winners. Can you provide us the process you have in place in order to choose the best trainers out there? What are the factors you are considering or go by when looking for the “Hall of Fame” trainers?
Again, this is only my opinion.
Best,
Harris