My mentors in the fitness industry are all Physical Therapist? What is wrong with this picture? Why not Fitness leaders?
There is nothing wrong with the picture. It seems to me that those are the people you have chosen as mentors because they are experts in a field that you were looking for mentoring. All of them are sharing part of their PT knowledge to help us becoming better personal trainers. Their area of expertise is the human body and the way it functions, and PT training is an excellent base for that.
There are others who are PhDs in exercise science who have greatly influenced me, and the first person to come to mind is Len Kravitz. I will never forget the first session I attended with him when he, in his very special way, described the metabolic pathways. I had stitches laughing and never forgot it.
At the last IDEA World Fitness Convention, I had the privilege to listen to the surgeon general Dr. Regina Benjamin who was very inspiring to me with her personal story and her vision for the future.
And I certainly agree with Joanne in singling out Kathie and Peter Davis as fitness industry leaders.
I believe there are many more, and we just pick and choose those that are the closest to our own wants and needs.
Peter and Kathie Davis. No offense intended to you, however, the fact that we have the opportunity to market and express our love and dedication to the industry on the IDEA Fitness Connect site, as a consequence of their hard work, shows me personally that they are leaders.
I personally don’t think anything is “wrong” with whom you admire and chose to learn from as far as your professional development is concerned. From my perspective what is important is that you are growing and continually putting yourself in a position to provide safe and effective fitness/exercise programming to the public.
Peter and Kathie Davis, like the individuals you mentioned who are your mentors, recognized a need that needed to be filled and created this platform as well as certification courses that we can avail ourselves to if we choose to. We all benefit from their far-sightedness.
