Honestly the fitness field has become an utter joke.
Many fitness corporations are hiring individuals with only a high school degree and are predicating their entire search criteria on sales experience and communication skills. Individuals who accrue a single personal training certification are calling themselves fitness professionals which is mind boggling to say the least. I also find that many managers have an overtly biased outlook on personal training certifications and place an emphasis on hiring individuals who are certified with the same organization.
Urban,
The fitness industry is growing at such a fast pace and there is more demand for it than there are for people with adequate qualifications. Yes, there are many gyms out there who require the bare minimum to be a trainer such as an online certification course; however, when you open up your eyes and dive deeper into the professional world, you will begin to see that it is no joke. Professionals are professionals for a reason–they went to school, attended a college or university to gain a bachelors in kinesiology, moved on to grad school, gained a masters and some even moved on to acquire a PHD. You are only saying it is a joke because of the lack of statistics that you are gaining from your subjective experience and quite possibly the articles you read that lack sufficient data and research, and probably are written by people who only write about their own experiences without sufficient testing by a researcher.
There are PLENTY of true professionals out there who have worked hard at universities to follow a specific curriculum to gain the knowledge and credit that they need in order to become professional. Obviously, people can develop a modest level of competency in almost any profession without mastering the total body of knowledge and these people can muddle on through but of course, it comes with many consequences. There’s a saying that goes, “He who chooses to represent himself in court has a fool for a client”.
But like I said before, there are a ton of true professionals in the industry, especially in the area of kinesiology, with such a vast variety of disciplines and at such a high rate of growth. You are only looking at a small amount of data, which are the managers who are hiring trainers with only a certification under their belt–the reason being because the industry is growing at too fast of a rate than the people who are trying to go to college to become these professionals with adequate knowledge. It will only be a matter of years before the opposite is true since the industry is so young and so new. Have faith. The fitness industry will soon be filled with highly trained professionals–they’re just in college right now studying their butts off! 🙂
Urban Meyer- your profile also lacks credentials, a degree, background, experience or anything else related to getting professionally recognized in the fitness industry.
When it comes down to it, many of the big box gyms do emphasize selling products to clients. That is where the profit margins lie. As in any field, there are good and bad professionals.
I may have only a BS and CPT certification, but I’d pit my strength training, athletic, bodybuilding, powerlifting and strongman lifting experience against any PHD/ Masters degree level Therapist or Doctor.
They can know how to best rehabilitate a muscle with a basic exercise, but I’ll be able to show a person with that healthy muscle how to lift it stronger, faster, and in a myriad of different ways.
There are too many factors to take into account when evaluating the performance of a personal trainer or fitness professional.
Urban,
It is the choice of the fitness professional to earn one certification or several. Number of certifications is not an indication of professionalism.
I’d like to use Peter and Kathie Davis as examples. Would you really describe the portal on which you respond and post questions to be a “utter joke.”
I am curious to know what are your intentions on this portal. Is it to edify the industry or tear it down?
I’d like to take this opportunity to encourage you to seek to find ways to refine areas in our industry that you deem need refinement and use your knowledge and expertise to effect such change. TEAM!!!
TOGETHER EVERYBODY ACHIEVES MORE.
Best to you.
