So I saw a video a few days ago that I shared to my Instagram stories where an individual was talking about the beef she had with the fact that anyone can basically call themselves a health coach no matter what their training is. This specific video was targeting a specific company but ultimately what it got me thinking about (again) was how high quality educated fitness professionals constantly get shafted. And more often than not those that you’re taking your advice from are uneducated individuals who found something that worked for them and decided that because of that they are now qualified to help others with their health and fitness journey.
As I was sitting and stewing on the thought I realized I harp on this all the time but I’ve never actually told you what to look for in a quality fitness professional…so today that’s what your getting!
First one out of the gate…did they pursue post secondary (college or university) education in the health and fitness field. If not I would immediately put your guard up. I don’t want to say that just because someone didn’t purse post secondary education that they are a bad trainer because that is not necessarily true. There are quality training courses available that don’t require you to tackle post-secondary education…but this is still one of the easiest things to look for right off the top. If they didn’t I would just encourage you to ask more questions! Here in Canada you can take a 2 year diploma at a college level in Fitness and Health Promotion which will not only teach you programming but it will give you anatomy, physiology, biomechanics and so much more. You can also take that a step further with a 4 year degree. My degree is in Human Kinetics but Kinesiology would be an equivalent. This 4 year University education gave me a more in depth knowledge of how the human body moves and works. I also followed this up with a graduate certificate in Exercise Science for Health and Performance. This certificate took my university education and taught me how to apply it in a fitness context with generally healthy populations but also with a variety of different special populations (basically in the fitness world anything that isn’t generally healthy is considered a special population). This gives me training to work with a large range of individuals of different abilities.
Second, what certification(s) do they hold? There are a million and one personal training certifications on the market right now…some are great…and some not so much. The gold fitness standard in Canada is CSEP (Canadian Society of Exercise Physiology) which offers a certified Personal Trainer credential and a Clinical Exercise Physiologist credential. To challenge the Personal Trainer credential you must have a 2 year diploma in the health and fitness industry and to challenge the Exercise Physiologist credential you must have a 4 year degree in the health and fitness industry. This is why CSEP can maintain such a high quality of members within their organization. ASCM and NSCA are also good ones especially when combined with a diploma or degree. Certifications like ACE, CanFitPro and others are okay certifications, but are best when combined with a diploma or degree. How do you know what certifications they hold? Ask!! A fitness professional with a high quality certification will typically bear their credentials proudly, but if you can’t find it ask the question. And depending on what their answer is you can press further about whether or not they’ve taken post-secondary education in the area as well.
Third, why are they teaching what they are teaching? Question them…why this rep range, why this exercise, why, why, why? An educated trainer will be able to tell you exactly why they have chosen a specific rep range, exercise or program template…if they can’t answer that question then proceed with an extreme amount of caution. The whole point of personal training is to individualize programs to meet a clients exact needs and goals, which means that everything in a training program should have a reason to be there and your trainer should know why. This can help to pull elite trainers out of the group who is just doing something “because it worked for them” or “because it worked for someone else”. Remember that your trainer or coach is supposed to be the expert, so asking questions is not a bad thing. I personally love to talk about that stuff so I love when clients ask why, even though most clients don’t actually want the sciency details!
Fourth, do they focus on more than just fitness? An educated health and fitness professional knows that there is more to health and fitness than just fitness. Yes it’s nutrition as well, but it’s even more than that! A quality coach is going to ask you how you are sleeping? How you’re taking care of your mental health and managing stress? Do you have social support while you work towards your goals? What does your lifestyle look like? And so on… All of these things can impact your health and fitness goals and a quality fitness professional will be able to help you find other areas of your life that may be hindering you if you’re not getting results. Unfortunately fitness isn’t only about fitness.
Fifth, are they preaching quick fixes? I have avoided up to this point telling you to run from any particular trainer, but one who is preaching quick fixes and supplements as the solution to all your problems…please run from this trainer. Educated trainers know that health and fitness is NOT a quick fix. This is easily the most frustrating thing for educated trainers. Health and fitness results that will stay with you for the rest of your life take time, consistency, and more time. Any trainer that tells you otherwise is not selling you a lifelong health transformation. Can you lose weight quickly, yes (although I would argue that option is almost never healthy) but the odds are that you will gain it back (and sometimes more). Long-term results take time to achieve…I know that’s not what you want to hear, but that is the cold hard fact . So if a trainer is telling you can lose 10 pounds in a month run, please just run, quick fixes won’t work long-term because they are never sustainable.
So the next time you talk to a health and fitness professional are you going to ask questions? Push in some of these areas? I would encourage you to do so. Quality fitness professionals are out there, and often they fall to the bottom of the pile. I believe this is because people generally want quick fixes and quality fitness professionals don’t preach quick fixes (because spoiler – as I’ve already eluded to – they don’t work). Ask about education, courses, and more from your trainers before you invest large amounts of money into them, because if you’re investing a lot of money then you deserve the best!
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