I'm a newbie and would love some advice...
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30th Mar '06, 4:55pm
Hi all. I am from Massachusetts. I work for a club as a fitness trainer and I am studying to take the NASM certification. NASM is National Academy of Sports Medicine. This is a well known certification and very tough (at least for me) to retain all info. Working hard, though. I work for a club that has a mind/body yoga and fitness room for women and across the street is the rest of the club for all. I work on both sides and find that I am becoming more and more confused with what type of client I really want to work toward helping. I am slightly interested in working with young female athletes. I feel like I could not only motivate them but give them some extra confidence. I would have liked that when I was younger. Then I work with older women who have had hip replacements, knee replacements, high blood pressure, and on and on and on. Do most of you concentrate on one type of population? Does anyone have an advice on any of this. I would sure love to hear it.
Thank you :D
I'm a newbie and would love some advice...
1st Apr '06, 9:59am
Hi fittrainer,
I am a trainer based in london, I have been doing PT (personal training not physical therapy) for around 5 years now. I have also had various stages of confusion as I attended different courses and gained insights into different areas. I generally find that when I get tempted to specify my qualifictaions I try and imagine myself ten years down the line and see if working with the kind of people the qualification leads me to is where I want to be.
For example would you be happier dealing with healthy active younger athletes who you can push and have a free reign to invent/adpat varying training styles? Or would you prefer working with injuries where training is highly specific? Remember there is rehabilitation and prehabilitation for you to choose from!
Obviously there are structures you will follow with both types of client/patients but try and think which pace and style you prefer.
One final thought - why do you have to pick between them? sounds like you are doing ok training both so far? I say keep training both, but advance your qualifications in the style you prefer.
Keep smiling
Dan
Hi hows things?
7th May '06, 3:58am
Hi, Chris from Bathurst Australia here, I am also a personal trainer and have been in the business for 5 years too. I agree with Dan, if you're not 100% sure then just have fun with a range of clients and keep a diary of your experience with each type of client and how you felt about training them, how effective you were, your rapport with them and so on. This is a way that you can continually reflect on what you are doing and it gives more perspective on which niche you are suited to. Personally I like to challenge myself by helping really overweight/obese clients or super unmotivated people and seeing the reward of helping them once I have gotten them to break through and begin to love being fit and healthy. One experience that pushed me toward this was a client who hated even walking 2 blocks and within 2 months I had to remind her not to over do it, now she is closer to being an athlete than a depressed, self loathing mess. I sometimes even do pro bono work for these people because it is so rewarding on other levels.
My conclusion is, have fun with it and something or a string of things will come along to push you towards a passion in a particulay area and you will be drawn in the direction you want rather than forcing things to go in an uncertain direction. Follow your heart not your head, the best decisions come from emotion rather than logic, just trust yourself.
Cheers, Chris.