The UGLY TRUTH behind personal training!
- Category: Journal
- Date: 12.12.09
It’s about time somebody wrote this… People must know the truth!
Walk into any Globo-Gym (Goodlife, 24 Hr Fitness, Premier, Bally’s, etc) and you will NOT find personal trainers.
You will find a group of people, very happy and willing to take your money in exchange for fitness magazine workouts ($7.95 an issue), and working hard at ensuring you make only minor progress, enticing you to buy more sessions.
I know this, because I have been there. I was never able to rip people off like other trainers. I trained how I wanted to be trained. I treated each client as a friend. My goal was NOT to have the same client stick with me fore 10 years. My goal was to get them to their health and fitness goals in the fastest way possible, and in the process, teach them the proper know-how so that they may go out on their own and continue to make great success.
The main problem with most trainers is simple… They just don’t care. I’ve seen people buy 144 sessions a year, and look EXACTLY the same for the past 5 years!
Would you keep going to the same restaurant every week if every single time you ate there you experienced explosive diarrhea? I doubt it!
But wait, there’s more problems with these idiots! The next massive blunder is that there is NO form of regulation on personal training. There are no certifications required, or even the slightest bit of formal education. All that is needed is basic CPR and First Aid, something that even a receptionist at the gym requires…
I have worked at a gym that out of 13 trainers, 7 were certified through Canada’s most basic, useless training institution around, AND 4 had no certification whatsoever. You should see these certification programs anyway, I learnt absolutely NOTHING when I did mine, and this was way back before I even knew much about fitness!
PLEASE GOD, ASK FOR CREDENTIALS! ASK FOR EXPERIENCE! DEMAND A FREE SESSION! MEET YOUR “TRAINER”!
Would you let some random guy on the street stick his finger up your ass because he told you he’s an amazing proctologist? FUCK NO!
DO NOT SPEND A DIME WITHOUT FIRST LEARNING A TRAINERS FULL EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND AND EXPERIENCE!
There is WAY more to fitness than bodybuilding. For $70 a pop, you deserve more than the latest muscle magazine workout of the month.
Thank you,
Simon Marini
Diploma in Fitness and Nutrition
Crossfit Level One Instructor
Crossssfit Gymnastics Instructor
Crossfit Business – Biz Network
Movement Training Specialist
Core Conditioning Specialist
Functional Training Specialist
Professional MMA Fighter
Comments: 3
i don’t even have a sarcastic comment for you Marini as your current rant is the absolute truth!
Great post Simon. I agree with the majority of your comments. There is no regulation on the Fitness industry when it comes to personal training. Most certs. should be considered a learners permit. An intro… Most good trainers learn way more after their first cert. I believe when you first started you had very little qualifications and have evolved into a well rounded trainer. As most dedicated trainers do.
I do agree that training as business conflicts with most trainers ideas of what training “should be” It took a long time for me to understand why not everybody wanted to hammer it and work hard and great crazy results. It isn’t about that for the vast majority of people. Or that gigantic women’s chain would not be thriving.
So, as far as looking the same after 5 years, for some it is not about vast physical changes… it’s about doing something and without their trainer they may not be doing anything.
I love your honest and direct approach to things
Well put good sir. And When I first started, I was only mildly better than useless hahaha.
I totally agree with you though that some people just need the trainer, otherwise they’d do nothing. You’re a wise old man Murray