Why is it so easy to become a PT, as opposed to say, a physio/physical therapist?

CM24

You can become the former in 4 weeks, the latter takes 3/4 years. How did this happen?

I was at the doctor the other day and he asked what my profession was. I told him ''I'm a personal trainer'' and he goes ''oh jaysus'' with a bit of a smirk on his face. In general, I find that a lot of people don't see it as a serious career.

I find that pretty frustrating. I've honestly spent thousands of hours over the last 8 or so years reading about fitness and nutrition and I'm still nowhere close to knowing everything. My main interest has always been in strength training and sports performance in my chosen sports (rugby, MMA). If I was to take up marathon running or some other sort of endurance sport I'd have to spend countless hours getting up to speed on that too.

What I'm trying to say is there's easily enough to learn as a PT to require a 3 year degree course. You could have individual modules dedicated to Olympic Lifting, Mobility/Flexibility, Myofasical Release, Hypertrophy, Fat Loss, Nutrition, Body Composition Testing, Crossfit, Sport-Specific, Massage...

I could go on forever.

If a degree course was the minimum requirement to become qualified people could hire trainers and be confident that they're in good hands. At the moment there's no definite way of distinguishing the good from the bad. At the place I got my cert, there were some very knowledgeable trainers and also some absolute jokers who barely passed the exams. Yet, we all came away with the exact same cert.

Sorry I'm quite clueless about this. But who actually decides which jobs require a college degree and which don't?

Nervous Wreck

CM24 wrote: »

If a degree course was the minimum requirement to become qualified people could hire trainers and be confident that they're in good hands. At the moment there's no definite way of distinguishing the good from the bad. At the place I got my cert, there were some very knowledgeable trainers and also some absolute jokers who barely passed the exams. Yet, we all came away with the exact same cert.

All this could be said of any degree course as well, in fairness...!

mufcboy1999

There's several 1 year or less courses like the ncef that qualifies you as a personal trainer a lot faster than the degree route, and with the same money and same career outcome. I dont understand people doing 3 years in college to work in a gym when its achievable in 1 year or less, I guess its just to have a degree for the sake of having one.

You'll never know all there is to know in the health and fitness industry, its too opinionated and I gaurntee you whatever you preach to a client somebody somewhere else is saying the exact opposite.

The amount of clueless PT's around in general with a piece of paper e.g degree and still haven't a notion is riducolous, but that can be said for a lot of things.

CM24

Nervous Wreck wrote: »

All this could be said of any degree course as well, in fairness...!

Not really. Third level Degrees are divided into levels 6,7 or 8. Then you can graduate with either a pass, a 2:2 or a 2:1. So whoever's hiring can clearly see who the cream of the crop is.

With PT certificates there is no grading system.

Mr_Muffin

Generally the amount of information required to achieve the average gym goers fitness goals is pretty low - building muscle, burning fat or just generally improving ones overall health and fitness do not require mountains of information thus anyone with a brain can get into it.

Darkest Horse

Mr_Muffin wrote: »

Generally the amount of information required to achieve the average gym goers fitness goals is pretty low - building muscle, burning fat or just generally improving ones overall health and fitness do not require mountains of information thus anyone with a brain can get into it.

I think that belittles the whole profession. However, I use the word profession loosely because the whole area lacks clarity and a defined governing body to whom all members are responsible- that is the real problem. S&C is going that way with the good work of the UKSCA but is still a bit of a "wild west" type of environment in Ireland. Personal training could go that way too but for now the best PTs are the best business men and women, not necessarily the best trainers, though many fall into both those categories.

thehamo

CM24 wrote: »

Not really. Third level Degrees are divided into levels 6,7 or 8. Then you can graduate with either a pass, a 2:2 or a 2:1. So whoever's hiring can clearly see who the cream of the crop is.

With PT certificates there is no grading system.

I think what you are alluding to is a strength and conditioning course more so than a personal trainer course. What is needed more so is regulation of the industry rather than a course that incorporates everything. Most S&C courses (such as the setanta degree) cover what you are talking about, however, I'd imagine most people who put that much effort into a course would have different aspirations as s&c coaches etc.

In terms of third level degrees for other areas such as physios etc, we all know there are some god awful physios out there and god awful physical therapists, chiros, osteos and so on so on. The degree course alone does not guarantee their ability to treat you. No one cares whether they got a 1:1 a 2:1 a 2:2 if they set up a practice on their own.

power pants

Nervous Wreck wrote: »

All this could be said of any degree course as well, in fairness...!

don't need degrees these days, we have the internet

pointless waste of time going to learn 4 years of **** when you can just google it

mufcboy1999

power pants wrote: »

don't need degrees these days, we have the internet

pointless waste of time going to learn 4 years of **** when you can just google it

Although I'm inclined to agree, unfortunately that piece of paper is what employers look for, hence me returning to college as a mature student this year.

The way this country is now, there's no real decent money to be earned without a degree for the vast majority of us. The building trade is all but gone, factory work with decent wages for unskilled workers are few and far between, and those that are lucky enough to have them are still on egg shells encase company's pull out and go elsewhere for cheaper labour.

I know of people in my area who've become crossfit qualfied trainers in a very short time space, I could be wrong but I think its something like a day course and you're qualified to coach it, crazy imo.

The fact is most people who fail at whatever they want to do in life career wise or havnt a clue what they want to do, turn to PT and the health and fitness industry in general as some sort of easy fallback option.

But you are right the internet is a massive tool, use it to you're advantage, but its not a degree and won't get you a job.

Darkest Horse

power pants wrote: »

don't need degrees these days, we have the internet

pointless waste of time going to learn 4 years of **** when you can just google it

Crikey, how does that benefit you in a job interview? A degree may be nothing more than a piece of paper but it is a legitimate benchmark that can be used to measure one person's merits against another's.

Hanley

I don't know if we've arrived at a conclusion yet, but here's my belief;

Personal trainers deal mostly with health populations, so you've less chance of acutely f**king someone up for life as a PT than you have as a physio/physical therapist.

power pants

In the past a degree meant something, nowadays it doesn't really mean anything.

Ive known some incredible thick people who have this magical piece of paper. to get a degree all you need is cash to buy it. Pay your fees each year on time to the university or college and the degree is yours.

99% of degrees are pointless anyway. yes, I really want to study American history as I know I will go for great jobs with that

Far better to get a trade at the age of 17 and be earning and living life to the full than some sleep obsessed booze soaked student

imo

seamus

The reason it's so easy to become a personal trainer is because it's not a protected title under law, so anyone is allowed to call themselves a personal trainer.

In exactly the same way that anyone is allowed to call themselves a nutritionist, but not a dietician.

There are proper degree courses which would make one amply qualified to be a personal trainer (e.g.), but unless a union of trainers were to come together to make "personal trainer" a protected term, anyone is entitled to call themselves a personal trainer, even if they're ten stone overweight and advocate the mars bar diet.

This is why it's not seen as a serious career, because anyone who likes a bit of exercise and fancies themselves as a bit of an expert is calling themselves a personal trainer.

If you're serious about it, look at setting up an association of PTs (if there isn't one already), who can then lobby the government to put legislation in place to regulate the industry and control who can call themselves PTs.
Sounds like pie-in-the-sky, but the Architects' association did exactly this as recently as 2007. Until then, anyone was entitled to call themselves an architect. Now they have to be registered with the association and prove they're qualified if they want to call themselves an Architect.

thehamo

Osteopaths did the same thing over in England. If you aren't registered or have completed a recognised course with the General Osteopathic Council, you can't call your self an Osteo. Even if you have a 4 year Bsc from another country.

power pants

seamus wrote: »

The reason it's so easy to become a personal trainer is because it's not a protected title under law, so anyone is allowed to call themselves a personal trainer.

In exactly the same way that anyone is allowed to call themselves a nutritionist, but not a dietician.

There are proper degree courses which would make one amply qualified to be a personal trainer (e.g.), but unless a union of trainers were to come together to make "personal trainer" a protected term, anyone is entitled to call themselves a personal trainer, even if they're ten stone overweight and advocate the mars bar diet.

This is why it's not seen as a serious career, because anyone who likes a bit of exercise and fancies themselves as a bit of an expert is calling themselves a personal trainer.

If you're serious about it, look at setting up an association of PTs (if there isn't one already), who can then lobby the government to put legislation in place to regulate the industry and control who can call themselves PTs.
Sounds like pie-in-the-sky, but the Architects' association did exactly this as recently as 2007. Until then, anyone was entitled to call themselves an architect. Now they have to be registered with the association and prove they're qualified if they want to call themselves an Architect.

Very good point.

tonto24

I dont mean to hijack your thread but I have been thinking of trying to get into sector of work. Im working in motor industry which is completely not for me! But at the same time is paying the bills at the moment. Iv looked at various courses but have no idea which are good, bad etc. I need to keep this job but am looking for evening course. Can anyone pm me please and recommend a course to me?

power pants

Raw did their classes at the weekend if that was suitable? Could be worth enquiring with them if you are relatively close by

tonto24

In Cork im afraid!

cc87

tonto24 wrote: »

In Cork im afraid!

This crowd do weekend courses in the Mardyke. AFAIK the best option in Cork at the moment
http://www.ntc.ie

Or else maybe a night course at CIT, Stiofain Naofa, College of Com or somewhere similar

Mellor

seamus wrote: »

Sounds like pie-in-the-sky, but the Architects' association did exactly this as recently as 2007. Until then, anyone was entitled to call themselves an architect. Now they have to be registered with the association and prove they're qualified if they want to call themselves an Architect.

Yes but before that it was still a 5 year honors degree course to become an architect. It was seen as quite a tough career path to go down. There were no 4 week architectural certs, no day courses, no online courses.
And if there were, no PI insurance companies would have accepted them without proper experience (and yes so e people without paper qualifications got away with insurance based on experience). Nobody scoffed at architects saying "well anyone can call themselves that".

But all if that is the case for PTs. Basically the two situations aren't in any way similar.
Not being a protected title isn't the reason it's easy to become a PT. There are plenty if job titles that aren't protected under law, in fact the vast majority aren't. But I wouldn't get away with calling myself a business analyst tomorrow, because the industry would accepted it.

That's the reason it's easy to become a PT. The industry accepts it. Insurance company's only look for a quick piece of paper, not your experience. Employers too, a piece of pair for their files, then after that you are essential your experience and knowledge (or lack of) is the clients issue.