About becoming a personal trainer

Wow nice one dude, I can't imagine what it'd feel to save someone's life.

I didn't save his life, the paramedics did. He was clinically dead when I gave him to them.

I just improved his chances. Saying I saved his life is like saying you cooked the dinner when you just cut up a few vegies for the chef. You helped, but the other person did the real work.

I'm happy to say I was part of it.

But if you didnt call anyone?...if you didn't care?...I dont think he would be still alive.

And breaking ribs is common.

lazy said:

And breaking ribs is common.

Click to expand...

yeah my sisters a paramedic and she reckons they bust ribs all the time.

Josh_GTiR said:

I also recall (maybe this is only in Queensland) that by doing a First Aid course and how ever long it is valid for that you are covered by some type of insurance if you do any damage to the person. As already said, most times if you need to do CPR they are already in big trouble anyway.

Click to expand...

when i did my first aid course i asked about being liable for any damage done , got told that there is a good samiritan law that protects you which also covers restrauants giving away food at the end of the night

Kyle without you his chances of dying would have been pretty damn high. You didn't do everything to actually save him, but you did the most critical part. You did SOMETHING! That is often the most crucial part.

Josh_GTiR said:

Kyle without you his chances of dying would have been pretty damn high. You didn't do everything to actually save him, but you did the most critical part. You did SOMETHING! That is often the most crucial part.

Click to expand...

very true Josh.

Kyle Aaron said:

I just improved his chances. Saying I saved his life is like saying you cooked the dinner when you just cut up a few vegies for the chef. You helped, but the other person did the real work.

Click to expand...

Thats crap, I cut vegies all the time, therefore I cook. As if cutting vegies is not real work

I'll give you an analogy closer to home, Markos:

They did the 160kg bench press, I just gave them a lift-off from the rack

Thats all I do now, and I tell everyone I train lol

Excellent newsletter by Markos this week, all about motivation and goals. Very relevant to becoming a PT or any kind of trainer, because you will see many people with vague goals ("I want to tone up"), or specific goals with an expiry date ("I want to be slim for my wedding"), rather than ongoing goals of health and so on.

I think a lot of people burn out in the industry, quitting it officially by finding a new job, or unofficially by just sitting in their office at the gym, at least in part because so many clients lack specific and ongoing goals, so many clients come and go. That's discouraging, to say the least.

Brilliant newsletter this week.

I agree champ, my wife dieted hard before our wedding and looked amazing. She hasnt cared really since and has well... grown.

Ongoing goals are important but I think you need milestone acheivements to keep you motivated. I set 3 month, 6 month and 12 month goals reevaluating when I get there.

We have now begun first aid, only two weeks late for me!

Students have enjoyed sharing stories of unpleasant injuries and relatives dropping dead. There's an entire book of questions for us to fill out from St John's, I think first aid will be the most thoroughly and deeply learned part of the course for some students. The howls of indignation that they have to actually do some work at last are pretty funny.

Other classes continue. Today we learned about "special needs" clients, eg someone lost their leg, is diabetic, has heart disease or whatever.

"We know this guy," said Biceps Boy, "who had some problems with his legs and guts, and they took arteries from his legs and put them in his guts, and everything seemed fine, then one day he was sitting on the toilet and his stomach just exploded."
"Like in Alien?" Wolverine asked.
"Naw... he had stiches, they burst because of some swelling or something... I dunno. What could that be?" Biceps Boy asked the teacher.
"I don't know. I know there is a condition women can get where they go to bed normal, and wake up with a big bloated stomach."
"You mean pregnancy?" said Noodles.


Later we were talking about obese clients - not merely obese, but morbidly obese, 200% or more of their ideal bodyweight. "Some," said the teacher, "might be too large to use the machines."
"So should we send them away?" asked the "Breed" girl.
"No, why?"
"Well if they can't use the equipment -"
"Just because they can't use the machines doesn't mean they can't do anything. They can walk, use medicine balls, use their bodyweight, and -"
"What a waste of money."
"What?"
"They pay to use the equipment, and they can't."
"A gym is not just the equipment. It's also the instructors and other clients, who can give instruction and encouragement."
"Naw if they're really fat we should just send them away."


Today Russian Boxer and Noodles asked me for the contact details for RMIT, to do Cert IV there. I wrote an email recommending them to him and saying they might be in touch, he received it well.

After months of idleness, the assignments are coming thick and fast, especially some we'd previously been told we didn't have to do. Noodles called it "mental interval training."

lol at the conversations - I feel sorry for the teachers sometimes.

It just shows that you can't blame the number of useless PT's entirely on the courses - it's more to do with the people that take them.

To be fair, I would be extremely surprised if the ones saying the stupid stuff go on to do Cert IV (which is what you need to be a PT), and even if they do, it seems unlikely they'll get employed.

I'd be surprised if more than 4 of the 28 classmates I began with those months ago actually go on to be working in the industry, and who knows if they'll last more than a year or two. Anyone who's been a regular at a gym for more than a year will have seen lots come and go.

Again, it's not different from other professions. You might get 250 people in first year law at (say) Melbourne University. You do not get 250 practising barristers and solicitors several years later.

Yesterday we did our CPR test, and finished our lengthy assignments for it. I'm more confident than I was two weeks ago, so if anyone needs to fall over in front of me now, that's okay.

We got back the assessment for one of the practical tests. Most of us were rated "average" in almost everything. About half the areas were "above average" for me, such as squarely face the client, open body posure, leans forward slightly, verbal communication must be relevant, eye contact should be maintained, pronounces words clearly and precisely, slow speed of speaking, pitch normal and positive, varied tone, simple language - avoid technical jargon.

The only comment was "don't elaborate too much on simple points." This is certainly a flaw I have (see this entire thread), however I would note that my "client" asked a zillion questions and didn't accept a single thing I said. Maybe I should have just said, "drop and give me twenty, and shut the fck up."

Communication is certainly the most important part of being a trainer. I don't think there's any One True Perfect Style, though, whatever the book says. Different trainer communication styles will work or not work for different clients.

A rare piece of feedback from the teachers, good to have. Important for me to think about.


Today was the last day of classes at Holmesglen TAFE for Certificate III Fitness (gym instructor).

I slept in, woke early enough to get there if I rushed, but thought, "screw it, it's the last day and everyone will just mess around anyway." And so the months of hard work ends with a fizzle.

Not quite finished with them - I still have to do my practical placement at a gym, most have taken their quota for the year or refuse to take any students, so it's been hard. After the placement, a report to write. I'll get a "statement of attainment" for the "modules" (subjects) covered, but won't get the certificate until all modules are completed; the placement is one module. But I think I should manage it sometime in December or January anyway.

Unfortunately, the training experiences I have had can't be credited, any more than the CPR I did on Sushi Man could be credited

On Thursday I'll head into the city to sort out my payments to RMIT, and Noodles is supposed to come along to discuss signing up, and another student (not Soviet Boxer) to definitely sign up - he says. So I may have one or two people following me there, will be nice to have some familiar faces.

I guess I should do some post summarising the whole course. All I can think of at the moment is some bullet points, though.

• in education, you can have good, fast or cheap - you'll never get all three, and are lucky if you can get two.
• TAFE is cheap.
• Most people doing Cert III Fitness, or any course, have at best a casual interest in the subject; they're just there for something to do. This will affect how the course is run.
• but it also means you'll get to meet the sort of people you would never meet normally
• education is like most gyms - you get out of it what you put into it, so two people could go to there, one get lots and the other one get nothing
• a lot of what you learn is just formalised common sense (eg communication)
• school is only the beginning of your education
• the more I learn about this, the more I want to know, and the more I want to do the job well

Um... I think that's it.

Next step... Cert IV!

Congrats Kyle! Keep up the good work, once you are qualified, I will come get a PT session with you at your gym!

PS - This Noodles character you speak of? I used to know someone by that name who was from the area! This was years ago though, can you find out if he used to skateboard?

Morgan said:

Congrats Kyle! Keep up the good work, once you are qualified, I will come get a PT session with you at your gym!

Click to expand...

You can have one right now

Morgan said:

PS - This Noodles character you speak of? I used to know someone by that name who was from the area! This was years ago though, can you find out if he used to skateboard?

Click to expand...

No, this was a nickname he acquired during this course only. He said, "I want to hear no more of "Noodles" if I go to RMIT." I told him he was stuck with it

nice work, ive enjoyed reading this thread. looking forward to part 2 "Kyle does RMIT"

Hi Kyle, would a gym instructor be a more stable job compared to a PT?