i already and Licensed massage therapist. can someone point in the right direction for personal training?
Hi Jeff,
this will be a promising career for you. As personal trainers, we need to be ‘hands off’ but your training as a massage therapist will make you a great commodity.
You will need to get a personal training certification. Which one you choose is ultimately a matter of personal preference. I recommend to look for one that is NCCA accredited. If you pick NASM, ACE or ACSM, you cannot go wrong.
I have a personal preference for NASM. They have plenty of specialty certifications which are all based on a training system called OPT and thus form a coherent whole.
I wish you good luck.
Karin Singleton
www.meltnc.com
I also went the massage therapy route when I was a coach years ago. I found that it was really hard on my wrists that were already a bit tweeked from years of athletics. But I really find the study of massage to be useful as a coach and personal trainer. I gives me the ability to send my clients to a massage therapist for specific targeted massage. You will be able to provide both, if you are properly educated to do so.
As stated above, any NCCA accredited personal training certification will get you rolling. What I recommend is about what you should do after passing your cert exam. Learn about everything that interests you. Learn about things that your clients need to help them. Learn, learn, and learn some more. As a personal trainer or any type of fitness professional you should consider your education to be the most important thing about what you do. We are in some of the most exciting times for the fitness industry. Research is constantly updating information and techniques for training. A lot of fitness pros go with what is popular. This may be financially beneficial, but it can lead to poor outcomes for the clients. If you go with something trendy, I hope you exam the movements and potential risks closely. A lot of people have been seriously hurt doing extreme fitness because they weren’t ready for the motion, the weight, or a number of other things that should have been worked on first.
So learn how to get a person fit and healthy then learn how to progress them if that is what they want to do. Good Luck!
You already have some great answers from Karin and Martin. All I can add is to find the right type of clients you would like to work with. Being a Personal Trainer is not enough to have certifications and college degrees under your name, but knowing the type of population/clients you want to work with will give you better chances in succeeding in this field. Good luck to you.