Learning to train others

[Andrew Long]

Hej everyone,

I am wondering if anyone here could give me some good information as to what to study so that I can train other people. How do I get I to this sort of thing or where do I start?. I am living In Australia and I a very interested in gaining the knowledge to be able to help others become stronger and fitter. I've just started looking into these personal trainer certificates but I'm not convinced this is he way to do it. Is is the right way to go and if not then where should I start?

Thanks for any replies guys

Cheers

[FREDERIC DUPONT]

I think you are at the right place ausswe, it looks like BtGB is moving in the direction of training trainers.

[Rachid Tahri]

Some hands-on experience (training) with the material itself will also help a lot!

[Andrew Long]

I'm talking about training people in general not necessarily get slough if there is certification to be able to teach btgb to others then I'd definitely be keen on that

[Chris Aldersley]

For the short term, you could do a Cert 3/4 in fitness

 

Ideally, you want to study something like Exercise Science.

 

This thread probably answers a lot of your questions https://www.gymnasticbodies.com/forum/topic/12090-what-to-study-at-university/

[Craig Mallett]

Ausswe,

 

I got my cert 3/4 from www.ptacademy.com.au.  The most useful thing it will give you is the ability to register with Fitness Australia and get super cheap insurance.  The downside to this is that you are forced to get continuing education credits to stay registered/insured.  Of course, by learning, they really mean "doing crappy weekend courses run by people who have paid us lots of money to have their courses recognized".  Fitness Australia have refused to recognize any international workshops or seminars, and as such they consider me as having done 0 educational courses, despite me having sought out the best in the world and done 8 courses over the past year (3 courses is usually enough to get sufficient education credits).

 

It is *not* a legal requirement to have a cert 3 or 4 to be a personal trainer or fitness instructor, however you will find that it's difficult to get a job at a gym or wherever without one.  It might be best to just do the cheapest one, put up with the boring outdated exercise science that they teach you, and get it over and done with just to get the piece of paper.

 

Keep in mind, if you're just interested in running les mills type "bodypump"/whatever classes, and flogging clients on a treadmill and pin loaded machines, then you can make quite a bit of money, as this is what the whole industry is geared towards.  You can basically run your business like a used car salesman, trick people into working out with you, or give them exactly what they want even if it's not good for them, and make bank.  Get your cert 3/4 and you'll be set.  

 

If you're like me, and you're interested in educating people in quality movement, health and fitness, be prepared to have a lot of people turn away from what you're doing, and many many years of an uphill struggle. Telling people that they need a few years to undo their bad habits doesnt go over so well when you've got a PT next door promising wash board abs in 5 weeks.

 

The good news is that there are more and more people appearing on my side of the fence.  "alternative" fitness methods, such as gymnastic bodies, monkey gym/stretch therapy, convict conditioning, movnat, ido portal, etc etc are becoming more and more popular, and I think we'll see a huge shift in pop culture attitudes towards fitness in the next 10 years.  In the meantime, its going to be a lot of hard work.

[Craig Mallett]

Also to directly answer your question: The best way you're going to get the knowledge to do things is by doing it yourself. 8 week crash courses will teach you sweet f/a about proper fitness.

I would suggest the following:

- Go to a classical dance class (like ballet). Learn how they warm up, exercises they use for strength, flexibility, jumping, landing, etc. These guys have been building awesome, graceful, fit human beings for hundreds of years. They are very good at it.

- Go to a gymnastics class. Learn how they warm up, exercises they use for strength, flexibility, jumping, landing, etc. These guys have also been doing this for a very long time.

- Go to a modern wushu class. Learn how they warm up, exercises they use for strength, flexibility, jumping, landing, etc.

- Go to a circus class. There is a theme appearing here

- Bboys, trickers, parkour, movnat, yoga, pliates. Some classes will be crap, some will be eye opening. If the class is bad, consider that the teacher is bad; most of these things taught traditionally with structure are extremely awesome.

- Spend a lot of time on forums. Many names start to appear over and over again, for a reason. They are good at what they do. Coach Sommer, Scott Sonnen, Erwan Le Corre, Kit Laughlin, Charles Poliquin, Pavel Tsatsouline etc etc. These guys have also been doing their thing for a very long time. Attend every international seminar you can afford, and make your credit card sad attending the ones you can't afford.

- Read a lot of books. Anatomy, neuroscience, nutrition...it can all be easily learned without a university degree for a very small price.

- PRACTICE EVERY DAY - be good at what you teach. No-one wants to learn a handstand from someone who can't do a handstand, just like no-one wants to learn health and fitness from someone with neither.

- Start teaching as soon as possible. Do free classes for your friends or whatever, the experience is invaluble!

Hope this helps

[Andrew Long]

Awesome post thank you. Well this has been a bit of an eye opener especially after reading the link you posted art. Well I guess I'll start with the cert 3/4 in pt and attending some classes and seminars. I'd love to go to a GB seminar or to one of kit laughlins classes but first I need some money! These things are dam expensive but worth it no doubt. I'm currently studying economics and as interesting as that is I'm finding myself pulled more towards health and fitness so I may need to rethink what my next courses will be at Uni.

Thanks again for the responses guys really helped. I guess I'll go sign up for the cert 3/4 at Australian fitness academy or ptacademy while I switch to some exercises science courses. Looking forward to getting strong enough and knowledgable enough to teach gst methods as well later on.