Do you think Personal Trainers should have their own Hall of Fame?

I would echo what Harris said. The fitness community is a broad one. And the days when personal trainers cared ONLY about strength and muscle mass are gone. Health and wellness, go hand in hand with physical culture. I am aligned with the mind body world, but consider the fitness community mine as well. IDEA feels like a home because it welcomes all who work to serve the cause of increasing health and fitness of the greater community.

I had a look at your site. What I noticed is that your experts are fairly weighted toward body building and the martial arts. These two things are well represented within the personal training, and fitness coaching, and fitness professional communities. But part of the strength of an organization like IDEA is its inclusiveness. Those of us with different backgrounds learn from and support each other.

The exact words IDEA uses to describe what they look for in their personal trainer of the year:

“The IDEA Personal Trainer Award recognizes an individual IDEA member who is a certified personal trainer spending at least 15 hours per week actually training clients one-on-one and has demonstrated exceptional leadership, business management, motivational and instructional skills, and who has inspired his or her clients to greater personal growth and a higher level of fitness.”

I think that last sentence is really important. The leader is not the one with the most press, or the most awards, or the most money, but the one serving the needs of the clients.

In a way the question is moot for me. I work in a very small and quiet way, and am happy to do that, grateful to be allowed to help whomever I can. But I honor those who are able to do more, and love that IDEA gives them the spotlight.

If your award is about how much the person has done to serve those who need it that is great. If the award is for those who manage to get famous or rich it would not matter to me. If the award recognizes that the bodies being trained are as important as the one doing the training, rather than buying into the cult of personality than I would be for it.

Baseline, Harris is right: you need to be very transparent about the metrics of the choice of recipients, and you need to find a way to take into account the varieties of training.