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Getting cert 3 and 4 - Tafe or Private

Spartigus

New member
Hey everyone!!

I introduced myself in the into thread, but I have a question that I think a lot of people here can help me with!!

I want to get my cert 3 and 4 in fitness, I want to become a personal trainer, and eventually focus on strength and conditioning. Now I know you can do the cert 3 and 4 at Tafe, but you can do it very quickly in a private place (I am looking at FIA). So I was wondering what peoples thoughts were on tafe or a private place.

I have been training for around 5 years, with some success (addition of around 15kg of lean muscle), and I think my form is good (I am a big fan of Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe), so my squats are deep, and powercleans and explosive.


Thanks!!
Marco
 
If your looking at doing strength and conditioning as a career down the track then I would suggest looking into sports science at uni...99% you will need this to get anywhere with in the strength and conditioning field within aus....considering there is only around 100 professional jobs its a pretty competitive career to be in so the more you have the more likely you will maybe get a job.

If your looking at becoming a pt and not sure what you want to do down the track then I would suggest doing your cert 3/4 through a private place and get it out of the way...you dont really learn anything.,..just for the bits of paper.

If your considering going to tafe to get your cert 3/4 - which will prob take 2 yrs I would suggest add acouple more years to that and do sports science if you really want to do strength and conditioning as a job in the future.
 
Agree re: piece of paper

You'll learn more in a week on the job than the duration if your certificate. Just get it over and done with
 
If your looking at doing strength and conditioning as a career down the track then I would suggest looking into sports science at uni...99% you will need this to get anywhere with in the strength and conditioning field within aus....considering there is only around 100 professional jobs its a pretty competitive career to be in so the more you have the more likely you will maybe get a job.

If your looking at becoming a pt and not sure what you want to do down the track then I would suggest doing your cert 3/4 through a private place and get it out of the way...you dont really learn anything.,..just for the bits of paper.

If your considering going to tafe to get your cert 3/4 - which will prob take 2 yrs I would suggest add acouple more years to that and do sports science if you really want to do strength and conditioning as a job in the future.

Thanks for the quick reply! I still dont know 100% which direction in personal training I will go. I think I need to get started, then as I progress in the field I will be able to make a better decision on it.

One of the reasons Im taking a break from uni, and doing personal training when I still have about 3 years left in my engineering degree. Is basically to know if engineering is something I really want to do, which i dont know if it is. I have a great passion for anything fitness, hence my choice. The sports science degrees are also 3 years as far as I know. So I figure after this year, I can decide where I want to go, weather I spend 3 years doing my engineering degree or go to sports science.

I can still do personal training while I study next year, which I think is a lot better than working in a video store or something like that (which I'm currently doing).

I think it might be best then to go private and get it done fast so i can start working?
 
Sounds good mate!

I would say work in the industry for a yr or so then work out if its something you really want to do as a career ..then look into sports science...cert 3/4 will cost you some money but should only take 6-10 weeks full time where as a degree can take 3-5 years to do lol - so if your not sure 6-10 weeks is alot better! lol

Or even look into sports management thats what I will be getting into in the next few yrs hopefully - working with sports teams/athletes but on the business side of things more-so than the training.

So many diff choices! have a good think and then get it going!
 
Sounds good mate!

I would say work in the industry for a yr or so then work out if its something you really want to do as a career ..then look into sports science...cert 3/4 will cost you some money but should only take 6-10 weeks full time where as a degree can take 3-5 years to do lol - so if your not sure 6-10 weeks is alot better! lol

Or even look into sports management thats what I will be getting into in the next few yrs hopefully - working with sports teams/athletes but on the business side of things more-so than the training.

So many diff choices! have a good think and then get it going!

Thanks!!! I get what your saying!! I really appreciate your input mate!
 
Hey sorry not to answer your question but i use muscle and strength forum aswell ;)
 
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Do a private one, get it over and done with. Just don't go to AIF. Schooling is only the beginning of your education, but at least try to have a good beginning.
 
Do a private one, get it over and done with. Just don't go to AIF. Schooling is only the beginning of your education, but at least try to have a good beginning.

Thanks mate!! Im also about half way through reading through your log thing about your journey through it (Im from M&B). I think ill go with FIA, I looked at AIF and they looked too gimmicky lol. What do you think of FIA?
 
I have heard good things about FIA - but saying that they are all pretty much the same besides price.
 
I hope you have more knowledge than your letting on...

Going to a private college just to get it out of the way so you can start working - makes you sound like another germ PT. You have peoples health in your hands as a trainer, so make sure you actually know your stuff first.
 
I hope you have more knowledge than your letting on...

Going to a private college just to get it out of the way so you can start working - makes you sound like another germ PT. You have peoples health in your hands as a trainer, so make sure you actually know your stuff first.

The reason we have so many shit pt's is because places dont teach you what you need to know and its so easy to get your certs....its really upto the person to do their own study to become a good personal trainer...

And why would you go to tafe for 2 years unless you were 100% on doing this as a fulltime career for years to come...you might aswell go and do sports sci or some other degree.

The fitness industry has fucked its self in the ass its not really the ppl wanting to become pt's that is the problem.
 
tat, private or TAFE, the knowledge given is the same. The total hours in class are the same, too. The difference is that with TAFE the hours are spread out across months, so from one class to the next you have some time to digest the information a bit. That helps but if you're a hard studier it's not a great difference.

In all schools the information given is really not enough to make you a competent trainer. That's why I always say, "school is only the beginning of your education." I graduated in February, I still set aside one hour a day five days a week for study, going over the anatomy and exercise physiology again, researching different training techniques, and so on.

And before my course I had some experience in working out - not much, but more than most of my classmates - and of course had trained people in the military, not as a PTI, but still it was coaching.

If all you know is Cert III/IV you will be a very very ordinary trainer. Most of them don't get employed, or are "employed" paying rent at FF or Genesis, paying even when they've no clients. Most don't last.

I mean, in the end it's not a university degree sort of job. It's a trade. Like all trades, you have to learn most of it on the job. And you learn by just getting in there and getting your hands on bodies (so to speak), and, well... fucking up. You give someone the wrong exercise or load on too much or too little weight, and realise "whoops", then you learn something. So long as nobody's injured and the client comes back next time, no harm done :D
 
I hope you have more knowledge than your letting on...

Going to a private college just to get it out of the way so you can start working - makes you sound like another germ PT. You have peoples health in your hands as a trainer, so make sure you actually know your stuff first.

Oh no thats the last the thing I want to be! I would say I have a fairly good knowledge on lifting, I read everything I can find on it, I have various books I read on training, I try out all the stuff I have learned on myself. I have been lifting and learning consistently for the past 5 years.

I only just found AusBB, had no idea a forum like this existed. I though have spent the last 3 or 4 years on Muscle and Strength forum, thats where I picked up a lot of stuff.
 
Hey i am 16 and I am doing cert 3 Fitness (Tafe) at the moment Its okay but its gonna take ages and its quite boring :( , Hoping to become a personal Trainer.
And yeah i would suggest get it over and done with quickly, You don't learn much in the course anyway. Better off being at the workplace and learning their!
 
my friend got his cert 3 in 3 months whilst still in grade 10, and he certaintly doesnt seem like he knows anything about fitness.
forgot to mention, he is probably close to 20% bf and doesnt even lift regularly anymore. He also thinks that he used to be 95+kg of solid muscle and hardly any bodyfat at around 180cm age 15, yet claims he lost about 20kg of muscle and added 5-10kg of fat in 6 months. So obviously his cert 3 hasnt taught him anything
 
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Thanks for the quick reply! I still dont know 100% which direction in personal training I will go. I think I need to get started, then as I progress in the field I will be able to make a better decision on it.

One of the reasons Im taking a break from uni, and doing personal training when I still have about 3 years left in my engineering degree. Is basically to know if engineering is something I really want to do, which i dont know if it is. I have a great passion for anything fitness, hence my choice. The sports science degrees are also 3 years as far as I know. So I figure after this year, I can decide where I want to go, weather I spend 3 years doing my engineering degree or go to sports science.

I can still do personal training while I study next year, which I think is a lot better than working in a video store or something like that (which I'm currently doing).

I think it might be best then to go private and get it done fast so i can start working?

which engineering ?
can't do biomed or biomechanics ?

Do your pt quickly then go back to finishing your eng degree while working as a pt. Do a biomed or sports science type honours or capstone project - best of both worlds.

Could do a project on 3d tracking(bio kinematics) of olympic lifting or power lifting or crossfit or your favourite sport
using sensors or suits like this (more than a few uni's have sets)
Xsens : 3D Motion Tracking - Xsens
Xsens MVN BIOMECH : Ambulatory 3D Human Kinematic and Gait Analysis - Xsens

Find a way of combining what you want to do with your degree, so its something you really want to do and are motivated.
 
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