Personal Fitness Professional - October 2009 - (Page 25) e World of Fitness Is Changing… Again Today, we are entering a new world in many ways. Besides economic challenges threatening to exterminate the middle class and epidemic obesity impacting one billion people worldwide, we as fitness professionals have to prepare for the job market of 2009 and beyond. Legislation is being presented to various state governments that would require personal fitness trainers (and, in some states, group exercise instructors) to be regulated by either the Board of Physical erapy or a governorappointed board, or one national overseeing body. e requirements would include many classroom hours, personal training supervision and the passing of an exam. ose exempt from the requirement would be those with a college degree in the field at the associate’s level or higher. is question then comes up: Is earning a college degree in the field of exercise, nutrition or health/sports psychology worth it? e answer is: maybe. Let’s look at some of the important points you’ll want to consider. e first is, can you get a job as a personal trainer without a college degree in the field? e answer is that, in most cases, you can. While more and more studios and health clubs seek those with a degree in the field, many fitness trainers do not have a degree. However, the best clients and the better clubs and studios seek fitness professionals with college diplomas in the field. If your aim is a management position or teaching other professionals, then having a degree in exercise science, nutrition or a sports-related area is typically a prerequisite. ere are several levels of degrees that fitness professionals can look into, provided they are qualified. College degree levels include: associate’s, bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate. Most fitness professionals that have a degree have either a bachelor’s or a master’s degree, but the associate’s degree is becoming more popular in fitness. e bachelor’s degree is often requested for those seeking to enter management positions or teach other professionals. e master’s degree is a graduate degree that only about six percent of the population attains, but it helps those individuals land positions in top health clubs, colleges or corporate fitness facilities. e doctoral degree is rare (one to two percent of the population) and is typically found by those in universities or in private educational organizations. So is it worth it to earn your college degree? ose with a degree have more career opportunities. Even if you leave the field you earned your degree in, employers often want to hire a person with any college degree. It demonstrates both the ability to learn and the ability to preserve and tough it out because earning a college degree is not easy. e first thing to ask yourself when thinking about earning a college degree is, “What’s my learning style?” If you really need to have others around you, listen to a lecture and have the structure of a class to go to several days per week, then consider a brick-and-mortar college or a highly structured online environment. If, however, you can be self-motivated and learn better reading and reviewing materials on your own — as you may have done with a certification program — then distance learning would be a very convenient option for you. Many people want to know if they can learn as effectively through a distance learning program versus an onsite course. Again, it really depends on the student and the teacher. While there is an advantage to having the interaction of a group or an instructor to speak to directly, for many students, this only slows them down and distracts them. If you are passionate about your subject and enjoy learning about it, you may do better simply by interacting with an instructor by Internet or ® [THE B A L A N C I N G BY KELLI CALABRESE ACT] IT’S A GOOD TIME TO GET YOUR LIFE TOGETHER ave you ever noticed that where you spend a majority of your time in thought is where you are the most invested in your actions? For example, if you are heavily focused on growing your personal training business, you are less likely to get involved with an MLM, pick up a new hobby or spend hours hanging out with friends, playing video games. On the other hand, if you spend most of your thought in worry about how you will pay bills, get new clients and make the necessary repairs to your home and car, you can imagine the actions that follow the outcome of those thoughts. But how is it that some trainers can’t hold on to a positive thought for more than 35 seconds, and others are as focused as a laser beam on growing multiple streams of income? ere are three barriers I have found that separate those who can get their lives and businesses together and those who continue to be troubled and fall short. e first is the environment you are in. Realize that you will earn within 10% of the income of the 10 people whom you spend the most time with. ink about your closest friends and how together and balanced their lives are. You may not realize how much of an influence your environment has on you until you leave it. How is your environment causing you to think and act? Do you love your workspace? What can you do to make things more enjoyable in your environment? e second barrier to getting your life together is our culture. Culture is different from environment in that our generation shapes our behaviors and beliefs. In today’s culture, people expect to have quick rewards with little effort. ere is a feeling of entitlement that is detrimental to achievement. Hard work ethics have been replaced with copying and pasting, looking for shortcuts, working the system and doing the minimum to get by. I can tell you that little replaces hard work. ird is the volume we allow into our lives. We simply have too much stuff in our closets, brains, inbox, on top of our desks and coming at us from the TV, Internet, satellite radio, billboards, print, people and more. What if you changed your environment, went against culture and reduced the stuff in your life so that you could focus not on the trouble in your life, not on the crisis, but on the possibilities, on the victories which you are about to achieve through over serving your clients? My good friend Phil Kaplan has used the term “busy and broke” to describe the average personal trainer. ey are too busy to learn, change and grow, but they are busy with things that are ordinary and counter-productive. If trainers learned from their mistakes, we’d have a training community filled with success stories. Be peculiar, be different, be focused, be disciplined, and grow in your successes! H Kelli Calabrese MS, CSCS (kelli@kellicalabrese.com) is the Master Coach for Phil Kaplan’s Be Better Projects and the International Master Coach for Adventure Boot Camp. For more information, visit www.kellicalabrese.com SEPTEMBER2009 WWW.FIT PRO.COM JUNE JULY2009 WWW.FIT PRO.COM or call Kelli at 817.490.1296. http://www.kellicalabrese.com Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Personal Fitness Professional - October 2009 Personal Fitness Professional - October 2009 Contents Letter from the Editor, Writers Suspension Training The Mood-Food Connection Product Profiles Datebook Pilates for Small Footprints The Spirit of Yoga Be Better Product Profiles Degrees of Success The Balancing Act Treadmill Talk Nutrition Solutions Journey to Success - Ben Greenfield New on the Market Personal Fitness Professional - October 2009 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/rbpublishing/pfp_2018fall http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/rbpublishing/pfp_2018summer http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/rbpublishing/pfp_2018spring http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/rbpublishing/pfp_2018winter http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/rbpublishing/pfp_2017summer http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/rbpublishing/pfp_2017spring http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/rbpublishing/pfp_20170102 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/rbpublishing/pfp_20161112 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/rbpublishing/pfp_20160910 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/rbpublishing/pfp_201606 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/rbpublishing/pfp_20160304 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/rbpublishing/pfp_20160102 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/rbpublishing/pfp_20151112 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/rbpublishing/pfp_20150910 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/rbpublishing/pfp_201506 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/rbpublishing/pfp_20150304 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/rbpublishing/pfp_20150102 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/rbpublishing/pfp_20140910 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/rbpublishing/pfp_20140708 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/rbpublishing/pfp_201406 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/rbpublishing/pfp_20140304 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/rbpublishing/pfp_20140102 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/rbpublishing/pfp_20131112 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/rbpublishing/pfp_20130506 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/rbpublishing/pfp_20130304 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/rbpublishing/pfp_20130102 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/rbpublishing/pfp_20121112 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/rbpublishing/pfp_20120910 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/rbpublishing/pfp_201206 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/rbpublishing/pfp_20120102 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/rbpublishing/pfp_20110910 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/rbpublishing/pfp_20110708 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/rbpublishing/pfp_201106 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/rbpublishing/pfp_2011spring http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/rbpublishing/pfp_20110304 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/rbpublishing/pfp_20110102 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/rbpublishing/pfp_20101112 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/rbpublishing/pfp_201010 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/rbpublishing/pfp_20100809 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/rbpublishing/pfp_20100607 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/rbpublishing/pfp_201005 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/rbpublishing/pfp_2010spring http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/rbpublishing/pfp_201003 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/rbpublishing/pfp_20100102 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/rbpublishing/pfp_20091112 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/rbpublishing/pfp_200910 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/rbpublishing/pfp_200909 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/rbpublishing/pfp_200908 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/rbpublishing/pfp_20090607 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/rbpublishing/pfp_200905 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/rbpublishing/pfp_200904 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/rbpublishing/pfp_200903 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/rbpublishing/pfp_20090102 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/rbpublishing/pfp_20081112 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/rbpublishing/pfp_200810 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/rbpublishing/pfp_200809 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/rbpublishing/pfp_200808 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/rbpublishing/pfp_200806 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/rbpublishing/pfp_200805 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/rbpublishing/pfp_200804 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/rbpublishing/pfp_200802 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/rbpublishing/pfp_200801 http://www.nxtbookMEDIA.com
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.