More than "just a personal trainer"

This is part one of a four-part series I am going to cover in the next few weeks talking about what a personal training professional is today and what we need to become in the next decade or less to help not just the profession and the industry itself rise to new heights but to also anchor the US and the planet from ever-expanding statistics of lifestyle caused diseases. Cutting right through the B.S. and getting to the nitty-gritty!

In this first segment lets take stock of where personal training is right now from a 50,000' view:

With the personal training industry in the USA now at over 300,000 part-time or full-time professionals its clear that demand for qualified, credentialed fitness experts is strong and growing. In fact, growth is predicted to be 10% through 2026 (BLS, Jan 30, 2018). Personal trainers who identify with this title as their primary professional title/income means who hold degrees is a statistic I was not able to find. What I did find was current numbers of certified personal trainers from the industry’s largest and most recognizable certification organizations for 2016-2017 reporting years in the USA.

·        ACE- 57,000*

·        NSCA- 12,000* (1000’s more who hold the CSCS mark also personal train part or full time)

·        NASM – 80,000* (AFAA certified members included. Global count)

·        ACSM- 16,000*

*obtained via personal correspondence from each respective organization

This does not count in those fitness professionals such as group exercise instructors, yoga instructors, health coaches or sports performance coaches. Some personal trainers may perform these additional roles as well but the numbers referenced above are for those who hold at least one of the credentials listed from the issuing agency as a CPT (certified personal trainer).

There are many certification options available to those public members who look to pursue a career in fitness as a CPT. These vary in examination rigor, pre-requisites needed, and depth of study needed to pass as well as the pass-fail cut off thresholds. The five above entities have all been vetted for further standardization and accreditation from both CREP and NCCA. All fitness professionals seeking CPT certification should do the same. A thorough review article that talks about the state of personal trainer certification, licensure, qualifications and accreditations can be found here on the IDEA Fit website.

As a CPT myself who spent four years personal training to put myself through college, and gain crucial experience and enhance my professional skill sets, I take the CPT profession very seriously yet to this day. In fact, my first 14 months out of graduate school was in a full-time role running my own small business LLC training the general public and athletes from my local community and high school and the residence of the local golf course I had worked on over the summers. Having had these helpful experiences, I kept a hand in the field from 2010 to 2012 teaching two semesters of the ACE personal trainer exam preparation course while working at Mizzou in the recreation department. And just this past April 4th I was notified by the NSCA that I reached my 15 year certified professional member status. I'll ask...where does time go?

I still keep an ear and eye out to have a pulse on the field, the industry and the people in it as it continues to grow, mature, expand and gain more credibility and trust from the public. Research, consumer trends, leading authorities, conferences, webinars, special interest groups etc…all channels I use regularly to keep abreast to what moves, what misses and what matters most in the fitness professionals sphere.

Organizations like those listed above among others as well as key pioneers in the modern day fitness profession as practitioners, researchers, leaders, entrepreneurs, veterans etc.… all play key roles in the origination of ideas and movements, trends, ideologies and norms within the field. If you're new to the field of personal training or looking for positive mentors to look to for then look at a few of these names to start. Brad Schoenfeld, Brett Contreras, Craig Ballantyne, Nick Tumminello, Mark Nutting, Robert Linkul, Alwyn Cosgrove, Todd Durkin, and Jonathan Goodman to name just a few of the biggest and most influential names in personal training today. Resources put out by both these individuals as well organizations like those listed above as well as AFAA, ASF, IHRSA, IDEA, and Club Industry are also entities that have allowed this field to flourish faster and wider than ever before both domestically and globally.

What I want to accomplish with this article series is very simple:

I want personal trainers at every level to understand, respect and appreciate the true magnitude and power of their messages to their clients. I say this because right now in today’s world of confusion surrounding health and fitness, food and nutrition, exercise and training…..the voices of the personal trainer are and will continue to become ever more sought and requested. How well we respond will dictate the trust, confidence, loyalty and respect our field and our profession has today, tomorrow and years down the road. What we say in responses to our clients questions be it face to face, in print, in webinars, on stage, in media interviews, on news channels etc…is heard and consumed, talked about, discussed and internalized by masses of people. Our messages impact thoughts, perspectives, and attitudes. Such attitude shifts can change behaviors and when behavior is changed so are actions. What people fear, desire, avoid, prefer, like, do or do not do, is heavily influenced by the directives and messages they get from their personal trainer.

When such attitude-behavior-action change is seen at mass scale, we have either a fleeting fad that can be here and gone or it can become a trend and trends can either remain as is or even break off into “camps” or “schools of thought” often isolating themselves off into tribes from how others view, ascribe or perceive a topic about health and fitness, food and nutrition, exercise and training. This tribal mentality or “camp” development more so now with diets, and training systems has bothered me more than in the past as it seems that it's even pulled in many otherwise really good personal trainers and fitness professionals I work with or work around. When sound scientific judgement and directive is clouded by belief and groupthink, the integrity of the professional, the field and the industry begins to be jeopardized and this is not something our field can stand to absorb as our reputation although improving is still delicate and respect/trust can be shattered quickly when opposing messages and argument transposes a healthy debate. Healthy debate is fine and encouraged among professionals as in any applied science field but when name calling, berating, "us v.s. them, you're wrong, I am right" style of arguments ensue among professionals, we confuse and distort our messages to our public members who need us more now than ever. Chris Anderson, curator of TED says it very well in this excerpt:

In certain circumstances, this process (public speaking) can be terribly abused. A crowd can be whipped up. Hatred inflamed. False views of the world can be propagated as real. But in history this has always happened when, at least to some degree, listeners are shut off from the rest of the world. The appeal that is being made by the speaker is not universal, it is tribal. It is us versus them. And crucial facts are hidden from the listeners. But when we’re more closely connected – when people have full visibility of the world and each other – something different starts to happen. Then, the speakers who will have the most influence will be those who succeed in tapping into those values and dreams that are most widely shared. They will be those who use arguments based on facts that many people – not just a few – can see to be true. (TED Talks, 2016, pg. 249-250)

We, as educated, trained, credentialed personal trainers wield a powerful two-edged sword of expertise/authority that can defend against dogma, myth, fear, confusion and pure bull-crap. At the same time, swung the wrong way at the wrong targets for the wrong reasons, it can cut into the exact opposite outcome we seek to help the most, our clients and the public to reach their health/fitness/wellness goals.

We are not in the business of pushing beliefs or opinions. We study, research, apply and learn the sciences of biomechanics, anatomy, psychology, motor learning, bioenergetics, adaptation, exercise technique, periodization, metabolism, etc….and because of that we are an applied sciences practitioner! We take scientific concepts and principles and apply them to the best of our knowledge, experiences and expertise to each client’s unique needs. We do not and cannot simply toss out advice, directions, strategies or tactics based on hope, belief, opinion, tradition or wishful thinking. When a person’s health and wellness is at stake, nothing less than evidence-based practices and recommendations should be given. I leave you with Dan Garner of Precision Nutrition who writes a magnificent article on how belief alone has no place in nutritional sciences. Next week I bring you part II, stay tuned!