A Guide to Personal Trainer Qualifications

A Guide to Personal Trainer Qualifications What Certificates Qualifications Do I Need to be a Personal Trainer? ChaptersPersonal Trainer Certification UKFirst Aid CertificationPerformance Enhancement for Professional AthletesFitness and Nutrition QualificationsFitness Certification and Wellness Certification ProgramsSpecializationMarketing and Business QualificationsLike many other professions, that of a personal trainer is tainted with many prejudices that it is up to us to deconstruct.Sometimes, the image of a home fitness professional in the collective unconscious is that of a bodybuilder living only through and for sports, a hulking mass of muscles.It’s easy to imagine the ripped male training lonely rich women in the better parts of town.To stereotype even further, imagine the man with everything in his muscles and nothing in his head - a case of resource management, perhaps.Obviously, this is a reduced vision of the personal training business, because of course being in excellent physical condition is not enough to become a personal trainer. Nor would a brainless fitness instructor adv ance far.This profession is regulated in the UK, so if you want clients you need qualifications. These are available from a number of private personal training schools or other fitness organisations.Find out more in this beginner's guide to becoming a personal trainer...First Aid CertificationEspecially if you decide to specialise in, say, senior fitness, you might want to get a CPR certification or take a course in emergency first aid. Even if you don’t specifically get AED certification (or how to work an automated external defibrillator), you should know what to do if your students injure themselves.Though clients are less likely to become injured while doing aerobics than working with a kettlebell, they can still strain muscles or, if they are elderly or otherwise at risk, even go into cardiac arrest. Even if you are careful in ascertaining their state of health before they start their fitness sessions, there can be a pre-existing condition even your client didn’t know about .Wouldn’t you feel better if you were prepared and knew how to deal with sprains and injuries and practise CPR while waiting for the ambulance?Learn how to use your first aid kit and get a CPR qualification in case of client injury (kiwi not included).On that note, don’t forget to get personal trainer insurance in case something happens.Performance Enhancement for Professional AthletesGiving Pilates courses to City executives is not the same as preparing a professional athlete for their next competition. The program design will include not only physical exercises in their chosen sport but additional exercises to improve their flexibility, endurance, speed, strength and confidence to maximize their training sessions and keep them in peak physical condition without risk of injury.A performance enhancement coach is not there to teach them tactics (for group sports) or put together a sequence (for artistic sports such as dressage, gymnastics or ice skating), rather their job is asse ssing the physical part of their performance and finding ways of improving it.The British Association of Sports and Exercise Medicine have a series of courses designed for those training athletes, from basic anatomy to exercise science.You can attend a lecture on Physical Activity in Adolescence to know how far you can push an aspiring swimmer or brush up on fitness nutrition to get a bodybuilder up to weight.Other UK trainer certification schools such as Premier Global also offer classes in continuing education that will teach you exercise programs for various types of athletes, such as the best workouts for biathlon hopefuls, or sports conditioning for sprinters.starting to get fit will often be stiff and insecure. You can help with that by earning a secondary training certificate.Learn sports massage techniques to help others relax and to help with the prevention of muscle soreness.Add yoga poses to your fitness plan to centre your clients at the beginning and relax them at the e nd of a personal training program.Take a personal training course in stretching, an intensive new type of program that really elongates and relaxes your tired muscles.Consider passing a certification in aromatherapy to learn how to use odours to enhance the training experience.Get certified in various stress therapies and stress management courses.Health and fitness: beyond keeping your weight downGetting fit is not always a question of losing weight. It can mean getting your body back into shape after a long illness or trying to manage chronic pain or bone or muscle disorders through exercise. It can mean a lot to people in those situations to find a personal trainer who can adapt to their needs.To this end, you might consider choosing, in addition to your personal training certification, continuing education courses for a degree in exercise physiology or kinesiology, or other certifications in biomechanics. The better you know the human body, the better you can attune your coachin g to your clients to help them set up an exercise program that will help them compensate for their bodies’ defects.To that effect, you might consider a personal trainer course focusing on corrective exercise. By becoming a corrective exercise specialist, you can help people supplement their physiotherapy at home and improve their health.Doctor and personal trainer: both heroes helping a body recover. Consider a corrective exercise qualification or study kinesiology. Photo credit: FredericRivollier on Visualhunt.comA sports medicine degree might be another idea for learning about corrective sports and how to make sure your client consultation is truly adapted to their physiology.Learn what other essential qualities a personal trainer must embody...SpecializationTo make it in the fitness industry, specialising in a certain sport can help you narrow down your target audience and provide fitness programs certain to appeal to someone.So when you are studying for your personal fitness c ertification, consider what sports would appeal to the demographic in your hometown. Or, if you want to offer personal training online, what sports are trending but not yet offered by many trainers nationally.Specialise by demographicDifferent age groups or special populations will need different training techniques. You can take a personal trainer course specialising in:Youth fitnessSenior fitnessExercise and fitness for the mentally handicappedExercise programs for patients suffering from dementiaExercise classes for veteransThe right sports for your clienteleWhile the image of a certified personal trainer is sometimes that of a home Pilates instructor or someone giving instruction in nothing but weight training, you can become a personal fitness instructor for anything but a team sport. Consider becoming a personal fitness trainer qualified for:Cardio workoutsStretchingAquatic sportsResistance trainingCircuit trainingRemember, this isn't a boot camp. A personal trainer is there t o motivate his or her clients in their chosen sport. Photo credit: 143d Sustainment Command (Expeditionary) on Visualhunt.comMarketing and Business QualificationsAnd finally, you might want to gain some expertise in marketing. Enrol in marketing education courses and learn the principle guidelines of how to sell yourself. To find work after your fitness trainer certification, you will need clients. Simply being passionate about what you do is not enough.To successfully run a personal trainer business, you will need to learn marketing strategies to gain new clients. And once you have them, it’s important to know where you should be registering your new business, how much of your salary will go to taxes and how to file your returns and what type of insurance you will need.Find out all about marketing your personal training skills in this complete guide...