The Unsupervised Industry - by Johnny Nguyen 

You can learn a lot about various things on Internet forums. And it seems there are forums dedicated to all topics from earth to heaven – marine life to astronomy. Just use your imagination (in fact, even forums on imagination exist, which discuss anything from creative projects to fairies). The value of these forums is in their members, not only because they often include experts but also because they are full of real-world people who have varying levels of experience in their perspective areas of passion.

Unfortunately, most forums are open to anyone who is willing to register, often for free, to become a forum member. And many of these contributing members remain anonymous, mostly to preserve a sense of security when posting publicly what they feel might be taken as useless banter, derogatory remarks, emotive argument, or flat-out misinformation -- and often it is. As a result it's best to hide one's true identity because internet “flaming” can be quite embarrassing.

You’ve been told: Don’t believe everything you read. It’s especially true on internet forums. But if you read critically through the numerous threads and posts on any forum, you may find some truly useful information on a topic you seek to know more about.

As a trainer, I spend some time on a few fitness forums, subscribed to by both lay and professional members, mostly to learn about new trends, controversial subjects, and what people are generally discussing. You’d be amazed at the huge discrepancy in quality between forums. And within each forum you’ll find varying degrees of knowledge. After a while, you’ll know the forums to revisit and which to avoid.

It is through these forums that you’ll see the problem with the Professional Fitness Training industry: It has no regulation. As such, people of all background can become personal trainers through any of the hundreds of certification courses.

Joe Schmo, who is recovering from a divorce, might decide that he needs a career change, spend his last pennies on a weekend course, and become a certified personal trainer. Or Sally, who is young and has no talent other than taking coffee orders at the local café shop, might decide to try personal training for extra income while putting herself through college. She can take a certification course for $99, paid on-line. Unfortunately, most paying-clients don’t know the difference between various certifications, much less the weight they carry. Qualification, therefore, is judged solely on interactions with their trainers, and often their looks. Bodybuilder Bob, for example, might appear to be a highly qualified personal trainer only because of his bulging biceps, mountainous traps and the awkward gait. (Just because someone is good at something, people immediately assume that this person is the qualified teacher. It is an illogical assumption that many of us make.)

Many of these certifying agencies follow their own protocols, because they can. No regulation means ultimate freedom to create any business agenda and then choose any means to meet it. The commercial interest carried by many of these certifying agencies often exceeds and sadly buries their program quality. So the result often is students who pass certification courses with a knowledge base that is no better than that obtained from a five-dollar magazine bought from a convenient store. In addition to my degree in Sports Medicine, I’ve taken a few different fitness certification courses in the past, so I know some of what is available to Joe Schmo, Sally and Bodybuilder Bob. They ain’t impressive.

Not all certification agencies produce mediocre fitness trainers, however. There are a few good ones. But to the average client, the certification titles at the end of the trainers’ names are all the same. And there are a lot of them. That is the problem. We now have a huge fitness industry full of “professional” trainers, and it resembles a grab bag full of coins of the same size but all with vastly different values.

Nowhere is this more apparent than on various fitness training forums, where the contributions can vary from information that is evidence-based and research-backed to advices about the use of voodoo magic tricks on a stability ball. I’m almost embarrassed while reading some of the postings, but I’m also damn proud of the group of trainers I get to work with. No trainer at FIT believes in implementing exercises simply because they’re trendy, and no one here believes in voodoo magic exercises.

Generally, it is not so much the certifying agencies that determine what kind of trainers are produced. Their certifications simply open doors to jobs. It is mostly the trainers themselves that determine what kind of trainers they will become. I have seen personal trainers who have exercise science degrees but make better competitive eaters and closet sloth than they do trainers, and I have met other trainers who have no formal education or certification but make the best trainers that money can buy. Like in almost any professional field, it is the real-world experience and the education that continue long after formal schooling that build the professional.

For the record, it is in my opinion and observation that a formal education makes it easier for a trainer to become skillful at his or her craft; theoretical concepts are readily understood, and abstract thinking can be transformed to practical application. These are the basis for the magical connection between teacher and student. But, this skill is certainly not exclusive to those with degrees in the sciences, but is attainable by any trainer with an open-mind for all methods, a desire to learn continuously, and the intrinsic motivation to become masterful with the teaching.

In reading through forums, good or bad, I find a little bit of comfort in knowing that all the members may eventually become better trainers, simply because they are participating on fitness forums… that is, if they don’t become competitive eaters or sloth, and if they continue their real-world experience and education outside of the virtuality of Internet forums.