Would you use a 'unfit' looking personal trainer?

gddrdld

What about a NEW personal trainer, who has only been working out for 18 months?

Then they haven't become an expert in 18 months, so they aren't qualified to teach.

Do you want a school teacher that just decided she wanted to teach last year, and took a weekend certification? (thank god education doesn't work quite the same way the fitness industry does0

actually the course I am doing is a YEAR LONG course how does that mean i'm not qualified?
it's on campus, we have classes from 9am-4.30pm 4 days a week, (included in the cert 3 is how to do practically every lift known to man kind) there is also a student run Gym there which we get to run classes and train clients in for super cheap.

A Bachelors or better yet a Masters degree from an accredited university in Nutrition and/or Kinesiology makes you qualified as a fitness and nutrition expert. Not a year long "course" in some privately owned "fitness and nutrition studio" business. Check yourself a little bit.

ilovedeadlifts

A Bachelors or better yet a Masters degree from an accredited university in Nutrition and/or Kinesiology makes you qualified as a fitness and nutrition expert. Not a year long "course" in some privately owned "fitness and nutrition studio" business. Check yourself a little bit.

That depends on the course of study and where you took the course.
A 2 year degree from a college doesn't really make someone an expert on training athletes or nutrition.
But I can agree that some of the certifications are far to easy to get.

ilovedeadlifts

I have seen your theme through out this topic. I was one of those guys who just read and learned and did nothing. I was up to 400lbs, knew my stuff but didn't do anything. When I put theory in to practice, it was not what i expected. It's very different. Talk is cheap, until you actually do it, then you really can't say anything about it.

As I said before, some of the fittest people on MFP ask me for advice. Yet I look "average" now. Yes I am getting results, but not fully there yet. I have worked with guys who are down to 4% bodyfat, I have worked with fitness models. It doesn't mean I don't know what the hell I am doing. A good example of where the rubber meets the road. Is low carb, i done low carb for a year. I told you there is no advantage to fat loss. You say it works, I guess it's one of those things you have to learn from experience.

Yep. And I'm not saying that I wouldn't neccessarily train with someone who looked unfit, if I knew they actually had the experience.
Mine was moreso a combination of knowing they weren't fit, and just got a certification.

I value experience over theory any day....and not everything works quite as well for everyone but overall something that works, works.

dad106

And how do you know they aren't in the middle of a weight loss journey themselves?

Because most people don't walk up to their PT's and go OMG why are you so fat?

Plus talking about weight loss is not something a lot of people do unless they are specifically asked... and how rude would it be of a potential client to ask if they plan on losing weight just so they look like a sterotypical PT?

So what that you can lift/run and are super fit.. unless you look like it, not a lot of people are going to trust you.

Which is why my course does not finish for another 3 months and by then I shall look the part...

So you think.. You may not.

You can't snap your fingers and say in 3 months, I'll look like XYZ... I really wish our bodies worked like that, but alas they don't.

DivaMoe40

Nope. I mean, you don't have to be perfect and/or ripped, but if you don't have any muscles I don't think I would listen to what you say about developing muscles no matter how much you know "in theory" about it.

Agreed

swolegirlcb

No. I wouldn't.

BeautyFromPain

What about a NEW personal trainer, who has only been working out for 18 months?

Then they haven't become an expert in 18 months, so they aren't qualified to teach.

Do you want a school teacher that just decided she wanted to teach last year, and took a weekend certification? (thank god education doesn't work quite the same way the fitness industry does0

actually the course I am doing is a YEAR LONG course how does that mean i'm not qualified?
it's on campus, we have classes from 9am-4.30pm 4 days a week, (included in the cert 3 is how to do practically every lift known to man kind) there is also a student run Gym there which we get to run classes and train clients in for super cheap.

A Bachelors or better yet a Masters degree from an accredited university in Nutrition and/or Kinesiology makes you qualified as a fitness and nutrition expert. Not a year long "course" in some privately owned "fitness and nutrition studio" business. Check yourself a little bit.

I am planning to do a Nutrition Degree, followed by a Dietitics course once I finish my Diploma in Fitness actually. Don't judge what you don't know.
Where did you get the idea that it is in a privately owned business? TAFE/CIT is on campus based learning with qualified teachers. You can learn a lot of different skills there, it is a lot more leniant than Uni but it is no way privately owned. http://cit.edu.au/

hesn92

if I liked them and they were a good fit for me and didn't have me doing a bunch of nonsense that I didn't want to be doing lol. I wouldn't use a personal trainer, anyway... I'd rather just do what I want to do at the gym instead of have someone tell me what to do.

lyndall5311

What about someone who has just started working as a CPT?

I have actually just swapped trainers to a trainer who has just completed his CPT. My old trainer was getting very complacent and would keep going on about how he was the best and I would never leave him.

My new trainer is a black belt in tae kwon do in his 30's, so knows what he wants to do for a career, eager and pushes me alot further than my old trainer.

By the way, he isnt ripped or muscly, but is really really fit.

anemoneprose

A PT should model health, energy and fitness. I wouldn't require one I paid to be ripped, but I'd question one who couldn't practice self-care (but sets expectations for me), or who didn't seem to have a genuine passion for activity.

Knowledge, a good *experiential* knowledge of biomechanics & *skill in communicating these* are hugely important. + solid awareness of injury/rehab issues, and, knowing what to do with older people, women, etc.

Also important - common sense & awareness of a range of approaches. (Not everyone can or should do HIIT, just because it's 'the best cardio for fat loss'.)

Videos are only so useful - it might look like you're doing a movement correctly from afar, but there are more informative, subtler signs up close, and real-time correction helps.

Lastly, programming. Frig, man. It's taken a lot of time to learn the little I know from reading, & a lot of effort to cut through the swath of bull on the web.

My bad-but-fit-looking-PT anecdote, from years ago: he insisted I NEVER walk faster than 2 mph for ten mins on the treadmill, or lift more then 10 lbs, ever. I'd run 20 mins to get to the gym, and carried 25 lbs of groceries on the way home on public transit :noway:

knittingwitch

No way. How could I trust someone telling me I can do this and just push through it when it doesn't look like they could do it them self's. One time I went to a step class and the teacher wasn't in good shape, she had muscle tone but looked like she didn't take care of her self out side of class. Needles to say I didn't get that great of a workout good thing the class was free.