A friend in the industry...

I still receive emails.  I bet you know the kind.  Young people just getting started in fitness.  Some of them are newly certified folks that I helped train as trainers and aerobics instructors.  Others just find me on the ACSM website, and call or email looking for advice on how to get into the fitness industry.  I think it is much harder today than it was when I began, and yet we know so much more.

Fitness is highly competitive, and requires a lot of credentialing and we also need insurance when striking out on our own.  I began teaching in a local club almost twenty years ago. I was still working on my certification, but had taken many of the classes as a side interest during college, trying to keep my body going through injuries.  They hired me at a fair wage, and I began to teach a few times each week and spent many hours after teaching working with the fitness enthusiasts i the gym who would ask me many questions after classes.  I didn't always know the answers, but had the research for the possible answers, and we worked through finding the answer that worked for each person individually.

These days, there are numerous credentials, and folks don't always know which one applies to their case or the clientele they want to work with.  Some are a fly-by-night joke, about which both the trainers and the prospective client should be aware.  Others say a great deal about your ability to do your job with extensive written and practical exams.  Not that either prepares you completely for standing in front of your first class or client, trying to give them all they deserve.  That is all practice and hard work.  And humility, too, though that quality is a hard one for many to balance with confidence.

Yesterday I got one of those emails.  The kind that come with, "I got my degree, now how do I get to work in the field?" questions.  There is no one clear answer.  I was lucky to get to start where I did.  The industry is hard, and very competitive, and not everyone knows what they are looking for when they come to a fitness professional for help. Some of us are great at what we do, others still early in the practice pipeline.  If we want to keep our beloved fitness industry as good as it can be, it is our job to help the new trainers find their niche.  So bring on the questions.  I love when people want to do their job right!  I do think, though, that I will work on a series of what to look for in a trainer...