Attention 30 day shredders and others too. AFAA cert

interesting! I just started level 2 of the shred...i know nothing about AFAA lol but interesting none the less

I too am AFAA Group certified. I am also an AFPA CPT and Nutritionist.

The thing you have to understand is that AFAA errs on the side of caution, a lot of caution. There are a lot of things they "frown" upon that I find are ACCEPTABLE for the majority of people. Things like the Superman are unacceptable to AFAA though I belive that a healthy adult can do them just fine.

AFAA is not the end all and be all of exercise advice. So dont base ALL your knowledge on them.

Jillian Micheals is an excellent trainer (though I have lost some respect for her since she started peddling her pills) and I find nothing wrong with her dvd's or methods. They work for a specific demographic and what matters is that people get up and are moving.

As far as needing a trainer, most people who start on the videos will need to take it a step further at some point and that is where trainers come in. I would be very happy to have a client who followed her dvd and then came to me for more work. For me it means that the client is committed and willing to do the work it takes to change their body as opposed to someone who comes to me, never having worked out or even heard of the importance of nutrition, and expects me to work miracles in a one hour session all the while they are eating horribly and blaming me for them not losing weight,

Like I said, she markets to a very specific category, I market to a bit different demographic. I really do like her and her methods, and as far as AFAA is c oncerned, they are just really cautious. They assume that every individual has every common issue (back knee, neck ect) but not EVERYONE does. So these exercises are not "dangerous" for everyone.
I would not advise a person who had specific problems to do some of the specific exercises, but for most people they should be fine. And if an individual has a lot of issues, they should work with professional who can talior a program to them rather than follow a "generic" dvd program (again where a PT would be a good fit).

When teaching group classes, its best to pick exercises that have variations (and just about all do). This way you can show the basic movement, then instruct your clients to alter the movement to them, either by making it easier or more advanced, depending on the individuals level and abilities.

For example: Pushup- can be made easy by hands and knees on ground, moderate with toes on ground or more advanced by doing hinge or tricep or one hand puships.


When doing one on one, its a little easier because you are only dealing with one person's limitations and choosing exercises to accomodate them is pretty easy. (at least to me)

Dont worry, we all start somewhere, I am really lucky that I have found not only a great mentor, but I have fallen into some great learning oppertunities.
It will come to you!