About becoming a personal trainer

Kyle Aaron said:

While we don't have regulation worth speaking of, we do have registration, and the industry bodies make some effort to keep some standards - and some workplaces require industry body membership

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Yes, there is little control over the mechanisms to gain and maintain registration. CEC points are fairly simplistic to come by, or manipulate.

Kyle Aaron said:

In the end it's like any other industry - the truly hopeless people are unlikely to get employment, and if they get it won't keep it.

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I wish I could agree with you there. Some PTs are dreadful. Though, they truly believe in what they're doing, and believe their knowledge is gospel; thus continue to "live the dream" of being a Personal Trainer. Most of the time PT's are in it for the self-image, moreover the actual process of their position; which is unfortunate and misguided.

Some PT's are in it solely for the opportunity to make massive amounts of money on the back of other peoples insecurities; and the epidemic we're facing with obesity and chronic illnesses. Even though PTs are only qualified to handle low-risk clients; I can assure you many take in clients who medically should be in a more structured environment.

Nicolas said:

Yes, there is little control over the mechanisms to gain and maintain registration. CEC points are fairly simplistic to come by, or manipulate.

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This seems to be true, yes. But it is at least a beginning.

I wish I could agree with you there. Some PTs are dreadful. Though, they truly believe in what they're doing, and believe their knowledge is gospel; thus continue to "live the dream" of being a Personal Trainer.

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Perhaps my perspective will change with wider experience. So far what I've seen is that the really bad PTs only have influence over the dumb young blokes, whose bodies are resilient and can take some bad training.

Even though PTs are only qualified to handle low-risk clients; I can assure you many take in clients who medically should be in a more structured environment.

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I believe you. Just today I was having a conversation with a student PT. He had a friend who had several conditions any one of which would make me ask him for something written from his doctor. "But he told me his doctor said -"
"Yeah, get it in writing, mate."
This is the same fellow student who told me he had no medical issues, and then told me he had asthma... after I'd put him through Tabata. Sigh.

Now, this guy will learn. Many choose to ignore that lesson. And it's not just PTs who'll ignore medical issues, coaches do it, too.

Yet relatively few people get seriously injured or drop dead. Humans are very resilient, luckily. Not saying that makes it alright, just saying... it's lucky.

Ironically, I stumbled across this article:-

Beware your personal strainer | The Daily Telegraph

Too true. But to be fair, while a bad PT or coach can contribute to client injuries, a client who remains sedentary faces greater health risks.
I think Kruger doesn't realise that a PT isn't supposed to understand medical problems. If you have any, the PT refers you to a doctor/phyisio, who then writes down their recommendations, any mandatory or prohibited exercises, and so on. And the PT works together with the medical professional through the course of the client's training (if any, since their condition may prohibit it), following their advice.

Yes, many PTs and coaches don't do that, saying things like, "physios are idiots," or "the client will be alright, I know exactly what I'm doing." And yes, this means the industry needs some regulation.

My fellow students have been uninterested in extra training or revision during the break. In one case it's because he's already been promised a job, so why push himself? But with the others, well... as I said earlier, most people who do these courses won't go on to careers in the fitness industry. And that's not a bad thing, they get a little education then wander off and don't bother anyone

Here is a nice movie about a couple of PTs at a conference.

Bloody hilarious vid. Did you make it??

No mate I have been punched in the head too many times in my life to do anything that creative.

Plus, I wouldn't have dissed vegetarians

Broscience piece #3,123: "Lunges aren't a muscle-building exercise, they're more of a shaping exercise."

Response: Muscles cannot be shaped. They grow or they shrink, and the fat on them gets less or more.

Where do people get this stuff from, seriously.

"Okay, so as the last part of the assessment, I'll summarise: you're a healthy young woman who'd like to lose fat and gain muscle, have not much gym experience but used to do netball, and have a postural issue with excessive lordosis. Sound right?"
"Yep."
"One last question then: have you had someone train you before?"
"Yes, I have had a PT at CorporateChainGym."
"And how did you find the experience?"
"I wasn't happy. This was the workout he gave me."
"Hmmm, two-way split routine, two different workouts for each of the two splits, and eight exercises per workout. 32 exercises in all."
"Yes."
"That seems rather a lot for a beginner. Did he show you how to do all these exercises?"
"Yes but I don't remember too well."
"I see he has put in that you should do a certain percentage of your one-rep max for each exercise. What is your 1RM for leg press, Smith machine squat, preacher curl, and tricep pushdown?"
"Um, I dunno. I just chose a weight where I could only just do the reps in the range he gave me."
"Smart woman, well done. Hmmm, a 1 rep maximum for hanging leg raises and decline situps?"
"What?"
"Never mind. Tell me, was he aware of your postural issues?"
"No, why?"
"Well, you have a larger than usual lordosis - your lower back curves forward a bit more than usual. This causes you to tilt your hips forward a bit and helps turn your toes in."
"Yeah I got called "pidgey" in school, for pigeon-toed."
"I'm sorry to hear that. Anyway, excessive lordosis comes from your lower back and front hip muscles - hip flexors - being short and tight, and your bum and abs being long and weak. Hanging leg raises and decline situps will strengthen your hip flexors, Smith machine squats will strength your quads. So basically it's completely the opposite of what will help your posture."
"So it's a sht routine?"
"Well, I saw you a month ago, and it seems to have effected positive change. But anything will help a beginner, because it's more than you did before. I would just suggest that it is perhaps not ideal for your particular posture issues, background and goals."
"So it's sht?"
"Yes. But how did your sessions with him go?"
"He just took me through one of those workouts."
"Correcting posture and so on as you lifted?"
"No."
"Encouraging you to lift more?"
"No."
"Did he write down your lifts?"
"No."
"So what did he do?"
"Not much. He doesn't seem very interested."
"And how much did you pay?"
"$300 for 10 half-hour sessions."

And today was the last day.

I have some paperwork to do before I get my certificate (thankyou Holmesglen for the pointless bureaucracy), but it's all done, I passed without trouble.

Just yesterday Holmesglen rang up me, Craig and Noodles to ask if we would like to go there to do Cert IV this year. "Ah, we're almost finished it at RMIT..." we said. And today we saw Soviet Boxer, he's signed up for RMIT's part-time course. "This ballistic!" He thanked me for recommending him to the place, he reckons it's the best around. I agree.

In all at RMIT we had 7 quizzes with 20 multiple choice questions. Those we got wrong, the instructors made up a "validation test" with those questions on it, so we had another go. I had 4, so it didn't take long. I was sure I'd made more mistakes than that, but I didn't argue.

The PT Clinic was the practical setting for all our theory. Though I have done forces training, that was quite different, so the clinic was very useful, lots of little tips in helping people with their form and so on. The feedback was productive.

3 people failed of the 14 in the class. These are the exact 3 who I thought should fail. They had poor attendance and punctuality, and/or tended to zone out in class, never studied, and the little theory they could remember, they couldn't connect to practice. Of course it's TAFE, so they haven't been told "you failed," but rather, "you need to do this extra work within 6 months satisfactorily in order to pass."

During the month break - for the second two weeks when the gym had reopened - I went into the city every weekday to train, and made an open offer to anyone who wanted to train with me, and revise material afterwards. I specifically invited 2 of the 3 who I thought might fail. 1 came once and we quickly realised he knew almost nothing, the other didn't come at all. Being idle does not help you pass courses...

The feedback I got from the PT Clinic was that my technique was good, communication/rapport with clients good, just a little verbose (which will surprise no-one). I don't see that as a bad thing, people are interested in their own bodies, they don't want to know all the latin names for everything, but they want to know that if they push themselves they'll improve, to get big you have to eat big, and that sort of thing. Or many do anyway, those who don't, I quickly shut up and leave them alone.

So I think that's a question of trainer style.

One of the PT Clinic clients liked what he experienced, he felt stronger, more energetic and motivated. "Where to from here?" he asked at the end of the session. He wants to keep training with me, and will pay to do so. After he told me that I wasn't as interested in the feedback from the instructors

As with the forces guys, seeing an ordinary person improve in strength, fitness and confidence is very fulfilling. I believe I have chosen the right career change for me.

One of the teachers bid me goodbye with, "And I look forward to reading more entertaining emails about your experiences as a trainer."

So, now I am qualified to inflict suffering on people for money. This is perhaps the end of the beginning. I have a lot to learn, and look forward to the years ahead.

nice one...keep posting the more 'interesting' garbage that people come out with though, i often have a laugh at some of that stuff.

congrats on your journey kyle. I am about to start a PT course in 3 weeks time... its 10 weeks of experience and then the rest can be done via correspondance. my girlfriend is a PT so i feel confident i will learn enough throughout the 10 week course. i semi train a couple of people at my gym now, even if its only for supportive advice with no fees, i still enjoy trying to help people. its a long and interesting journey to learn as much as possible. best of luck in the near future mate

so you got cert 3 and 4?

any idea of what kind of gym you want to work at?

Yes, I now have Certificates III and IV in fitness, plus Level 2 First Aid. Or I will have them when the paperwork is done in a couple of weeks.

I am most interested in a community or university gym. I think someone competing to be a bodybuilder, become an elite footballer or netballer, or improve their deadlift from 180 to 200kg is very admirable, but I'm not interested in working with them on a regular basis. In any case I wouldn't consider myself qualified to do much for them, I'd refer them to someone experienced with that.

Probably it will surprise no-one here, I'm most interested in complete beginners. If you puff and sweat walking up a couple of flights of stairs, if your attempts to do a bodyweight squat look like a drunken salsa, if you can barely touch your knees let alone your toes, I want to work with you.

I'd like to work with complete beginners and take them through to benchmarks like running 5km in half an hour, benching their bodyweight for reps, deadlifting 1.75 times their bodyweight, doing 6 wide-grip dead-hang chins, that sort of thing.

After that they can either just maintain it, or move on to specialise for some sport. The specialisers will move on to another trainer or coach, the maintainers won't need anyone, or only a tune-up every month or two.

Of course this may change as time goes on, I may meet coaches or do courses that lead me other ways. But this is what I reckon today anyway

I want to give them the knowledge to train on their own. I was talking to a woman the other day who has had a PT for the better part of a year, and she still didn't know how she could get bigger - she's quite lean and is into boxing, needs to bulk up. None of my clients should need to come onto forums to ask questions. None should have to see me regularly for years and years.

I think a community or uni gym will work best for all this.

any stories?
things you like/dislike about your new job?

At the moment, I am just training a few people privately. I can't take on too much because I've my honeymoon coming up in late March. This goes for a month, when we come back I can start looking for a job in a gym.

Clients confidentiality will limit what I can pass on in stories. There's no expectation of privacy in a school, there is if someone hires a PT. I can just make general observations.

One person said, "I'm glad we did that session last night, because it has made me realise that most of the stuff I normally do at the gym isn't helping me achieve anything, especially since I'm now sure I'm not doing most of them correctly."

What happened there was simply that I was trying to teach correct movement, proper squats and so on. Often in commercial gyms they don't do that, there's the quick programme showthrough and that's that - only enough detail to stop you hurting yourself at the time, not enough detail to make the exercise effective.

I've checked around and this is never an actual policy of the gym, how well you're shown things just depends on whether the instructor actually knows how to do the exercise, and the old Care Factor.

When the person does the movement correctly, it'll be a lot harder than it was before. Maybe they'll have to drop the weight they were using. A well-done 60kg squat can work the muscles harder than a sloppy 100kg squat. But people need strong egos for this.

It's a difficult thing, because you have to show the person the correct movement, but people react differently to it. Some will say, "wow, that's much more effective, now I can do it properly and get great results," but some will say, "wow, I have been wasting my time... I give up." Obviously I don't want people to give up, so I just step in being encouraging and saying, "the past is past, now you know you can work hard and smart and get the results you want."

Doesn't always work, though. I think I need a degree in sports psychology or something

I very much enjoy the process of teaching the correct movement, and helping people know what's happening in their bodies - when they're interested, which most are. I enjoy seeing them get stronger, fitter, more confident.

Hey mate - this may have already been covered.

But what is your goal in regards to being a PT - are you looking at doing this for your full-time job for the next X number of yrs? - or is it a side project?

I am always interested to see what other PT's think about there future within the industry seeing as though its a fairly unstable industry.

Cheers mate!

Yep, it's been covered before. Didn't you want to read the other 396 posts to find out?!

I'm looking at it as a full-time job. Lifelong? Well, I seem to change careers every 8-10 years, so ask me again in a decade

Every industry in Australia is unstable, unless it involves digging stuff up and selling it overseas. You just have to make the best of it, try to be good at your job.

Hey,

Who are you insured with? Do you have to register with one of the fitness organisations (Kinect etc) then get insurance, or how does it work exactly? Did you need to register after your cert iii or only after your cert iv?


Thanks.

Fitness Australia allows you to register as a gym instructor (Cert III) or a PT (Cert IV). Once registered, you can get cheap insurance through them.

Kinect is the Victorian version, FA is the national one. No difference in price or coverage, so I feel the national one is better.