Feedback from CPTs and S&C Coaches

Feedback from CPTs and S&C Coaches who are experienced in the fitness industry. I personally have been working a corporate job for several years (think office space). Recently, I suffered an internal ailment that had me out of commission for 2 months. If anyone has any idea how fucking miserable it is to be in constant pain not being able to do the things you enjoy then maybe you will grasp the level of frustration I was dealing with.

I’m finally getting better (i.e., going to gym, work, eating normal meals). However, I came to the realization that I hate what I do for a living and after getting very sick I felt it was necessary to do things in life I enjoy. So cut to the chase, one of those things would be related to fitness/nutrition.

I’m looking for suggestions on Personal Training certifications. I’m not sure if I want to work in a gym, for myself or open my own gym down the road. I just know this is the direction I need to head in my life. I have been working out for several years and consider myself fairly knowledgeable. I have researched several CPT’s (i.e., acsm, nasm, issa, crossfit, ifa, ace) and the feedback from friends has been helpful but a lot of the guys I have trained with also lack respect for a number of the trainers in the industry. I guess I could say the same when it comes to most commercial gyms. Any feedback, opinions, knowledge is appreciated. Tanks!

ego free.

RD

I was a “PT” at a commercial gym in Toronto. I worked for almost a year and was never actually fully certified (that should tell you how fucking easy it is to be a “PT”). Long story short I ended up quitting because I didn’t like what was going on. ANYBODY can become a PT. That means people think they are buying personal training, when really they just signed into a 1 year contract for over 10 G’s to be “trained” by someone as clueless as them.

My cert program was such a joke, not only were the “students” clueless but the teacher was a complete fool. I could literally go on for hours about the fitness industry so I am just going to say I ventured that way and found that it wasn’t for me. Whenever I hear about someone who has a trainer or see someone being trained I just shake my head.

IMO the people who like that field are salesmen (because in the end all that matters is the sale) and VERY VERY passionate people who really want to help others. Also people who can be teachers, because to be a good teacher you need to be able to repeat the same shit daily over n over n over n over, like teaching a person to squat, multiple times, everyday.

You also need to actually want to listen to people and want to hear about their daily lives sort of like a therapist. I’ve had clients cry infront of me and take their anger and frustrations out on me, nothing personal, it just comes with the job. Again, I could go on forever… I’ve thought about it and done it so I know what its like to want to get into training, it’s kind of like having a crush on someone. You create an image in your head of how its gonna be but it never turns out to be anywhere close to what you initially imagined. All in all in PT the negatives outweighed the positives for me and it got old quick.

Sorry for wall of text I am too tired to care :smiley:

The chain gym “trainer” has a well deserved bad rep from my observations. I really don’t want to work in a place like that let alone go to one. I’m not a salesman or a cold caller and I get what youâ??re sayin. I’d like to have my own gym eventually. Somewhere like minded people can train. But you need to start somewhere so I do believe credentials and getting some exp is probably needed to move forward in doing so.

[quote]RedemptionDenied wrote:
The chain gym “trainer” has a well deserved bad rep from my observations. I really don’t want to work in a place like that let alone go to one. I’m not a salesman or a cold caller and I get what youâ??re sayin. I’d like to have my own gym eventually. Somewhere like minded people can train. But you need to start somewhere so I do believe credentials and getting some exp is probably needed to move forward in doing so. [/quote]

This is what I am dreading, but also somewhat excited. Once I graduate this fall I’m going to try and get a job a one of the local gyms around my way, because I need the experience training people, so far all I’ve done is train friends and family which you know can be very different from training with a complete stranger. Someone you have no familiarity with, you just can’t tell them do this because you KNOW I know this works, you have to sort of convince them and get them to trust you! Oh well, I guess it’s a necessary evil, in a sense.