As a Personal Trainer - Associating with Professionals

Do people doubt Doctors? Lawyers? Dentists? Engineers?

In general, they don't.

That is because most of these professionals have a strong governing body that guarantees the quality of the training of these guys. They are highly paid and rightfully so! They have high standards expected of them and by and large, they deliver consistent results.

But the fitness industry (perhaps even more so in Singapore than in the western countries) is very un-regulated.

Becoming a "personal trainer" in Singapore is almost absurdly easy. The Basic exercise course is extremely easy to pass. After that you have the "qualifications" to work in any gym.

A medical doctor takes 6-10 years of intense study to be work with a patient's body, but a personal trainer only needs 3 days and is also expected to perform preventive medical care (which is what good health is isn't it...) on a client.

Yup it doesn't make much sense.

But I'm not the whining sort. I want to be part of the solution not part of the problem. I do not believe that there is a certification at the moment that fully covers all you will need to know to become a personal trainer.

To be technically excellent a personal trainer will need to have good understanding of:

• Biomechanics (how the body moves in space)
• Kinesiology (how the joints move etc)
• Nutrition
• Endocionology (hormonal system)
• Manual Therapy (massage, rehab, trigger point work etc)
• Injury Prevention
• Performance Enhancement

And I'll probably think of more if I really sat down to do it. The body is such an awesome piece of creation that we will probably never get to the end of it.

Oh yeah, don't forget that it's not just good enough to know. A personal trainer must distill out the important points and teach/coach them to a client.

I believe all this is too much to teach in any reasonable amount of time. It needs to be learnt over years of consistent study and practice. This cannot be driven by any certification. It has to come from an intrinsic sense of excellence. Being the very best that you can be.

I know I'm not perfect but I do want to make the best use of whatever God given ability I have. If that means spending several hundred bucks a month on books, dvds, seminars etc. So be it.

"Who we are is God's gift to us, who we become is our gift to God" so we might as well be the best we can be!

Maybe one day personal training will be a professional qualification. That will be a happy day for the fitness industry.