background

timlord

Folks, do yourself a favor. Before looking into any program, or taking any advice from people on fitness forums, see if they are qualified to give advice. If I want to get fitness help for my 74 year old mother, I am not going to listen to a body builder, a PX90 fanatic, and she sure as heck cannot do Crossfit. Ask your self this question: when someone puts the tag "expert" by their name, what qualifies this? Because they work out? A "certificate" saying expert (which any of us can buy online)? Again, if you drive a nice car, are you going to take your Vette to the guy on the corner because he "works on cars?" And when it breaks down, and it will (been there), who is to blame. ASK anyone throwing advice out how they know. Ask about their education, and experience. Don't short yourself: seek out a real pro in any field to get professional results. This is common sense. And, yes, I do believe the best fitness educators are those with a master degree of education or more, hence the word MASTER.

timlord

ps EVEN BOB AND JILLIAN....

myukniewicz

fantastic advice tim
thank you for posting this, i think it really needed to be said.

★Melissa

Hernandezedw

I know someone with a masters degree. Doesn't do his job very well. Seems to me it doesn't mean much.

Harkins86

Definately. I think the same for nutritional advice. There are too many people on here encouraging others to dangerously low amounts. They might have good intentions, but they often make it worse by giving ignorant opinions not based in facts! Get advice from people that know what they are talking about and only take the support from those that don't

Harkins86

I know someone with a masters degree. Doesn't do his job very well. Seems to me it doesn't mean much.

Out of interest a masters in what? I have a masters in Chemistry and I am very good at it

Hernandezedw

Another thing I want to mention. I've noticed people come here for info when it can be researched. I've got a feeling the people looking for advice on here, don't really care to look into someone's background to verify their qualifications. Everyone wants a quick fix. At least I haven't seen too many questions an amateur can't answer. But your advice is well needed for those asking questions about medical conditions.

Kelly_Wilson1990

Just because you have Master's degree does not make you an expert. My dad does not have any degrees but has years of experience as a heavy duty equipment mechanic. Companies fight to have him work for them because his is so good at what he does. Sometimes experience can be a better than any degree. Personally, I think you need a combination of both.

Hernandezedw

I know someone with a masters degree. Doesn't do his job very well. Seems to me it doesn't mean much.

Out of interest a masters in what? I have a masters in Chemistry and I am very good at it

IT field.

Hernandezedw

Just because you have Master's degree does not make you an expert. My dad does not have any degrees but has years of experience as a heavy duty equipment mechanic. Companies fight to have him work for them because his is so good at what he does. Sometimes experience can be a better than any degree. Personally, I think you need a combination of both.

Unfortunately you can't count on experience either. I find the best person to go to is someone that actually loves the topic you are questioning. They are the ones actually doing research and keeping up with new information.

timlord

thanks...

timlord

I believe master degree, 34 y exp, and a doc candidate in fitness puts someone right up there
but experience is good too
you need to know human anatomy physiology, biomechanics and be educated in training from age 10 to 90

timlord

BS in fitness health MA in fitness and biomechanics, doctoral candidate in sports performance psychology
and a master degree should be in a FITNESS RELATED FIELD

timlord

cool on the bench, but also try the NFL combine standard: how many times can you bench 225 pounds? that is a greater indicator of pure strength good luck!

timlord

BS MA doc of Psyd SPP
fitness anatomy and health
taught public schools for 20 years in my subject area
and , sorry, people here should search for top notch advice

Fochizzy

You also have to be careful though, sometimes people with Personal Training knowledge decide to try to talk to you about your diet. I have a lot of truly bizarre dietary concerns and when I tried to tell my Trainer she was not qualified to adjust my diet since she has no offical nutrition training and I have a complex unusual set of problems, she got really annoyed. To be fair try to explain that I cannot eat read meat for allergy reasons, and that I inefficently digest Carbohydrates so I earnest need more than other people sometimes just comes off as, I wanna eat bread.

Hernandezedw

@timlord - I don't doubt your qualifications. I doubt most people's. Someone with that many degrees and experience can probably be trusted. But seeing as you've taught in public schools, you probably know you can't trust everyone with a degree. Kind of like the pot head I used to play poker with at the bar. She is a teacher. I'm just glad I don't have kids in her class.

Hernandezedw

You also have to be careful though, sometimes people with Personal Training knowledge decide to try to talk to you about your diet. I have a lot of truly bizarre dietary concerns and when I tried to tell my Trainer she was not qualified to adjust my diet since she has no offical nutrition training and I have a complex unusual set of problems, she got really annoyed. To be fair try to explain that I cannot eat read meat for allergy reasons, and that I inefficently digest Carbohydrates so I earnest need more than other people sometimes just comes off as, I wanna eat bread.

Bread is good with butter. So delicious. Though I think it may just be the butter.

jabbogurl

No offense, that's great that you have that kind of background :flowerforyou: , but I don't really see the purpose of posting just to say that. This is a community where people are sharing their experiences. I rarely see anyone give advice on something that should be only asked to a professional. Or, when they do ask those questions, people are very quick to point them in the right direction, stating, ask your doctor, nutritionist...etc. As another poster said, for the most part, the questions are fairly general and I think the people are looking for others who had a similar experience. For example, the most I see is questions on running, preparing for you first 5K, to eat or not to eat back exercise calories and the importance of stretching.

kklindsey

I think if you have a real medical issue you should go to an expert. I also think there are way too many personal trainers out there that really don' t know what they are doing. I have tons of people ask me how to lose weight since I lost so much and have kept it off. I never tell people what they should do, I tell them what has worked for me and that they need to find what works for them. If anyone on here asks someone else what to do and follows it to a tee without doing their own research or ever questioning that would be silly. And I am not saying you don't have the qualifications you say you do but c'mon, this is the internet. I can tell you I am 5'11" weigfh 135, live in Hollywood and used to date the Brad Pitt, how do you know if I am lying or not?

natskedat

I think a mix of experience and formal education is important when dispensing advice. Tim is more qualified than me, but I am still qualified. If I am not qualified to answer a question, I do not answer it. If someone asks me a question specifically, and I am not qualified to answer it, I defer the question to someone who is.

In short, my years of exeperience in sports and fitness qualify me to answer many questions in the fitness and nutrition field. My formal education has taught me how much I still have to learn. In the times where I am faced with how much I don't know, I find trusted sources in the fitness and nutrition fields for clarification.

And I really don't believe a master's degree is the MOST important qualification. I'd consult a parent with a similar experience in child rearing before I'd consult a non-parent who has a master's in Early Child Development. In many cases, experience trumps book knowledge.

Great post! Thanks Tim!

natskedat

I think if you have a real medical issue you should go to an expert. I also think there are way too many personal trainers out there that really don' t know what they are doing. I have tons of people ask me how to lose weight since I lost so much and have kept it off. I never tell people what they should do, I tell them what has worked for me and that they need to find what works for them. If anyone on here asks someone else what to do and follows it to a tee without doing their own research or ever questioning that would be silly. And I am not saying you don't have the qualifications you say you do but c'mon, this is the internet. I can tell you I am 5'11" weigfh 135, live in Hollywood and used to date the Brad Pitt, how do you know if I am lying or not?

Funny!

stefraab

this is why when I give "advice" i always make sure to put: I AM NOT AN EXPERT OF ANY KIND in there somewhere :-) lol

timlord

lol

End6ame

I don’t think degrees, certifications or titles are relevant. I work with a lot of people with advanced degrees and certifications that know very little about their field and this is something that happens across industries and specializations. Certifications can essentially be purchased and many people get degrees from “degree mill” universities. In both cases there can be very little actual knowledge transfer. In the case of internet forums, even if a person claims to have credentials, how do you know for sure? In many cases there are very few ways to verify them.

My advice is to do your own research based upon your goals, always double or triple check anything anyone tells you with credible sources and experiment for yourself. If you are serious about fitness there are a number of great and credible books out there that you can purchase and teach yourself everything that you need to know. That is what I have done.