The fitness world is largely unregulated and often you find self-professed personal trainers, life coaches, and wellness coaches who have little to no formal training or education. The internet is inundated with the next guru, and the internet is full of the next "big thing". The next "big thing" or rather one that is gaining more attention is the emerging field of the wellness coach and/or life coaches. While these terms and fields are emerging and developing there are a few things to keep in mind. First, and most importantly keep in mind, it is not the term of wellness coach, but rather do they possess the skills to help you set, and meet your goals. So titles do not hold importance. Second, the field of wellness coaching is unlike a nutritionist. In most states it is illegal to use the name "nutritionist" unless you are licensed by the state. However, there are no such requirements when it comes to wellness coaching. Anyone can call themselves a wellness coach, and there are no requirements they have to adhere to. It is common for those who are part of the various MLM herbal supplement companies to call themselves a wellness coach. Some of these people may or may not have the skills in nutritional counseling, but they most likely do not have the skills to take a wholistic approach and knowledge in the emotional, physical, and environmental realms, nor the actual science, and scientific approach credible wellness coaches have. NEED HELP reaching your goals? GET YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED! Lastly, wellness coaching does have scientific backing. It is not therapy, and it does not claim to have the answers. What it does claim to be is non-judgemental, and insightful. It is through meaningful conversations and exercises that the coach becomes able to help the client clear the mental clutter that is not just blinding them to what they want to accomplish, but what is in their path, and what needs to happen in order to begin moving forward. In a Nutshell:
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Perhaps you are considering becoming a personal trainer, or maybe you are trying to understand what a personal trainer is and how they can help you. The phrase personal trainer can be used synonymous with fitness trainer. It is an individual who works with people in a one-on-one setting to achieve the client’s fitness goals. A personal trainer sometimes also holds and instructs a variety of fitness classes or do group trainings. However, it is important to remember that not all group instructors are personal trainers. Group instructors may be a personal trainer but they may just be an individual trained to instruct a particular class. A personal trainer should be certified. You may hear the phrase “Certified Personal Trainer”, “Certified Fitness Trainer”. These individuals have studied and passed a certification exam. It is important to be aware that not all states require personal trainers to be certified. For example Pennsylvania is one of those states that has no certification requirements. You may be asking yourself why is it important for a trainer to be certified? Here's the reason... It is nearly impossible that a trainer without a certification is insured, and in the event you get hurt (which with a non-certified trainer is more likely) you can only go after the trainer personally which will likely not result in enough money to pay your medical bills. Other reasons to work with a certified trainer is the sheer fact that you do not want to get hurt, and you want to feel confident they are designing the most effective and safe program based on your needs and abilities. There is more to training than just picking weights up and putting them down. CLICK HERE TO EXPLORE ONLINE FITNESS GUIDANCE Are all certifications equal? The simple answer is no. There are hundreds of different organizations that offer fitness/personal trainer certifications. However, there are roughly 75 or less that have credibility. So the question is how do you know if the trainer has a reputable certification? The answer is the that a certification should be recognized by a CREDIBLE organization such as the National Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCCA), the Distance Education Accrediting Commission (DEAC), the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA), by the International Health Raquet & Sportsclub Association (IHRSA), or the American Council on Education (ACE). The NCCA is an organization that sought accreditation through the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). ANSI is not affiliated with the government and are a private company. However, what they do is they take American products/services and set a standard, as to help industries or products to have some uniformity, which is of particular interest when coordinating U.S. standards with other international standards. These standards are so accepted throughout the industry that some universities award college credit for passing exams accredited by the NCCA. Some of the most prevalent NCCA accredited certifications are offered from the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA), American College of Exercise (ACE), and National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM). The other organizations that are used for credentialing fitness certifications are recognized by the US Department of Education. The International Sports and Sciences Association is one such organization that chose DEAC, and CHEA instead of the NCCA. The reasons for choosing one accrediting body or another is solely at the discretion of the fitness organization. However, both are accepted throughout the industry and all the organizations mentioned here are solid leaders in the industry, offering arguably the best certifications available. In a Nutshell:
There are many different terms, and catch phrases in the fitness industry designed to describe and sell various approaches and services. One of these terms is personal training. Personal training is not a protected term like the term dietitian (state laws dictate who can, and can not call themselves a dietitian). However, when someone is a certified personal trainer or a certified fitness trainer they are a certified professional that provide individualized fitness programs to individual clients. However, since there are no laws to dictate who can, and can not call themselves a personal trainer you may have signed up for "personal training" at a gym thinking you were in-fact getting personal training just to find yourself in a small or even large fitness class. Perhaps the gym you signed up had the sign that read "Free Personal Training", and you come to discover what they mean by personal training is having a faculty member walk you through each piece of equipment giving you some general recommendations to follow. While there can be some benefit to these approaches, they are NOT personal training, and it may not be personal or individualized enough. Additionally, not all trainers and approaches are created equal. You may have seen a trainer where he/she assessed your goals, and wrote a program specific to you, tweaking the program based on your feedback or perhaps the trainer (or training web site) just asked you a few questions and gave you a pre-made program based on general goals such as "weight loss", "muscle gain" etc. So clearly the term personal trainer or personal training may not accurately describe the service you're getting. So, if you're interested in a personal training service a few questions you may want to ask before you commit are:
A good trainer should take the following elements into consideration and understand how to work them into your routine/approach to truly individualize the most effective and workable program possible. These include: 1. Goals 2. Personal health and family health history 3. Assessment of any cumulative trauma, reoccurring inflammation, or past injuries 4. Assess reoccurring aches, and pains (this requires an understanding of the kinetic chain, postural deviations, and muscular imbalances) 5. Personal preferences 6. Schedule 7. Current fitness level, and past fitness levels (former athlete, former runner/exerciser/never exercised etc) 8. Other areas of health and their impact on your fitness 9. Current stage in the 5 stage of change ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTES: Cumulative Trauma Disorder (CTD)- Is sometimes referred to Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI), or Overuse Injury. Common among these injuries are tendinitis, carpel tunnel, and back injuries. You can think of cumulative trauma like the expression says “that was the straw that broke the camel’s back”. In that these injuries may be pinpointed to a single action i.e. person picking up a box, and back gives out. Interestingly that box may not be any heavier than the boxes the individual had continued to pick up, so what changed? In reality the injury had been slowing occurring with micro-traumas from the continued use or overuse of the back until one day the back could withstand no more, and failed. Signs such as lower back pain (LBP), may be present indicating trauma, and recognizing these signs may help the individual to 1. Change what they are doing in order to reduce the stress (i.e. change movements, use wraps, or back braces) and 2. Seek an exercise professional to safely strengthen the body, and even out muscular imbalances so the back can withstand the stress better (Sevier, Wilson, & Helfst, 1999) . Five Stage of Change- This is derived from the Transtheoretical Model for Behavior Change (established by Dr. James Prochaska). This behavior change model was established from much research. Such research shows that self-change is a staged process. At the beginning we are not even thinking about change (pre-contemplation stage), then one day we begin to think of change and its implications (contemplation stage of change), then we start coming up with ideas to create change, and preparing for it, even testing out ways to do it before we actually start (preparation stage of change), then we take action on the preparations we made (action stage of change), lastly as we continue to take action we may have set backs or ruts, and we struggle, but finally we firmly have the change accomplished (maintenance stage of change) (Moore & Moran, 2010). References: Moore, M., & Tschannen-Moran, B. (2010). Coaching: Psychology manual. Baltimore, MD: Wellcoaches. Sevier, T.L., Wilson, J.K., & Helfst, B. (1999). The industrial athlete?. IOS Press, 15, 203-207. |