End of the Stupid Personal Trainer by Rick Kaselj

This is a post from a fellow fitness pro/friend that I just had to share.  Rick is amazing and an expert in the area of exercise rehab.  For more info. on Rick, his thoughts, and his products, go to his website at:
http://exercisesforinjuries.com/

Here ya go....from Rick's Blog,

These prediction things are fun but I do believe that this is where things are going.


I had a friend comment on my Facebook wall earlier this week that talked about the stupid trainer plus I remember 3 blog posts in 2010 where bloggers talked about the stupid personal trainer.

In 2011, we will see the further end of the stupid trainer.

I am not sure what it is in health and fitness, but personal trainers being treated as the bottom of the barrel or the weakest link in the system seems to be common place.

Knowledge is on the Rise

I have been teaching fitness education courses since 1999.

Way back in the day, I would see many personal trainers with just their certification.

Yes, those online or two day certifications.

Now it is becoming more and more of a rarity.

More people have advanced university education, like a Kinesiology, Human Kinetics or Physical Education degree are entering into personal training.

This is a good thing overall but a degree is not everything, it is a nice start.

A Degree Does Not Mean You Are a Smart Personal Trainer

I remember training a new personal trainer and asked where his biceps was and he pointed to his quadriceps.

Yes, the trainer had a degree.

Just like with every profession, you get the full spectrum of people.

Some people lead the profession, some follow the profession, some are lost in the profession and some should go into management.

I think a degree gives you a very solid foundation to build on your personal training career but what is more important is constantly learning, improving your skills and gathering experience. This can be done with or without a degree. Some of the personal trainers, I look up to in my area, do not have a degree. They have a passion to specialize in an area and have learned everything they can in this area.

We All Were Stupid

I have not forgotten the first client I trained, I new nothing.

Yes, I may have had my degree in Kinesiology.

Yes, I may have had my personal training certification.

I fumbled through the first session. I did everything as per what I remembered from the book but the book does not always translate into the real world.

What I lacked was personal skills, experience and confidence.

This came with training more people, reflecting, learning and constantly improving.

Today, this is still the case with everything I do.

This will be the process that new personal trainers will need to follow.

The book learning is the start. Training clients is where you get your personal skills, experience and confidence.

When you reflect back on training your clients you will see where you will need more understanding. Then you can seek out the knowledge you need to better understand and help that type of client.

If All You Know is Stupid Trainers, This Will Lead To Your Failure

I know one of the apprehensions of surgeons, doctors, Chiropractors and physical therapists to refer to personal trainers is because they don’t know any good ones.

If this is the case, you need to try harder to find good ones.

You have to search out good trainers because you are letting your clients down.

If the client has gotten a diagnosis from the doctor, it has been confirmed by the specialist, then the physical therapist begins the exercise rehabilitation process and then the client is sent to the gym on their own?

Then the care of the client has failed and the client will never fully recover from their injury fully.
I know it sounds harsh but it is the truth.

If the weakest link in your clients recovery is the link between your client to a personal trainer, then fix the link.
Doing so will lead to happier clients and clients with better results.

Rick Kaselj, MS
http://exercisesforinjuries.com/