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Old 11-13-2007, 07:41 AM
mvp mvp is offline
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Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: West Virginia
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Hi

"Personal Trainer" is quite a loose job title and essentially means nothing until there's evidence of good solid knowledge slapped on the table.

You can go freelance or you can be under the wing of a large commerical gym. If you choose to work within a commercial gym, you can have all the knowledge in the world but it won't make any difference. The information you pass onto the client will be dictated by your boss.

The end result is not passing on information which is best for the client, but rather best for the gym. Gym employees are told to encourage clients to use equipment; to make them think that the equipment within the gym is critical to their success.

There's a huge difference between a freelance personal trainer and one who is employed by a commerical gym....

One preaches cold hard principles through strict education and hands on experience whilst the other merely a salesman promoting the use of machines... Their pay is reflective of this.

Now, having said this, those who take the freelance route to become remotely successful need to do a hell of a lot of learning covering many areas of physiology. It's you and your knowledge only. There's no crutch to hold you up and no second man to blame. You need to understand the function of the human body, how to prevent and deal with imbalances / posture correction and / or injury, articulation of limbs / joints to name a few.... It's not just a case of throwing a routine at some young person who "wants to get big".

I think generally people need to take pride in what they do, doing things properly. The "proper way" however will differ according to opinion...

If you know better but you feel obliged to teach otherwise (in the case of employment by a commerical gym) you'll have less job satisfaction.

You can become certified through ACE.
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