There is a method to find a fitness trainer who will work well with your planned goals. Find out their educational background. The International Health, Raquet and Sports Club Association (IHRSA) recommends accreditation through an independent agency for all schools and programs that graduate personal fitness trainers.

Ask for references from your fitness trainer and check them out. If the previous customers were happy you are more likely to have found a fitness trainer who can help you achieve your goals.

And don t rule out the personality factor. If you don t get along with the trainer or don t feel comfortable then you will have more trouble staying focused and motivated to achieve your goals. Trust your instincts. You don t want your time with the fitness trainer to be stressful for you.

Fitness trainers should also receive continuing education throughout the year.

When fitness trainers start with a new client they do a physical assessment that determines the clients current level of fitness, their knowledge of the area they want to be trained as well as their current diet. From this assessment they develop a program that is specific to the client and the changes the client is willing to make.

Personal fitness trainers will

Physical fitness is important to your health, feeling of well-being and your energy level. Using a well-trained personal fitness trainer will increase your success rate and improve your level of conditioning beyond what even you thought you could achieve.

Vanessa Youngstrom, a nurse practitioner, enjoys writing and informing on health, wellness and fitness. You will find more of her articles to help you live a longer and healthier life at http://www.YourHealthHere.com

In my opinion, there is a huge shortage of good trainers in the workforce.

Now it’s relatively easy to become a certified personal trainer. Simply look up one of the popular certifications (ACE, NSCA-CPT, or whatever certification the gym you want to work at requires), get their study materials, and then pass their test. Then you certified and can be a trainer. That’s it. (So it’s easy to see why there are so many bad trainers out there. Remember that the more

However, to become a good trainer, you will need to learn much, much more and invest far more time and education than you need to just get a quick certification.

You will need to start by mastering the basics such as anatomy, physiology, biomechanics, and an introduction to sports medicine.

For without this foundation, it is easy for a trainer to fall for the latest gimmicks and fads. If you don’t know how the central nervous system controls the muscles, then standing on a wobbling board while doing biceps curls with a rubber band while reciting your ABC’s backwards might seem like a good idea. But if you have a strong

Fortunately, you can learn as much studying on your own as you could by being enrolled in a University Kinesiology program.

The plus side of going to University is that you will get a recognized degree and it also happens that a University or College degree (any subject however) is a pre-requisite for possibly the most recognized certification, that of the Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS).

However, the obvious downsides of University are the required investments in time and money. You must study on the University schedule and the fees are substantial.

One additional downside to a University education is the heavy emphasis

While some coaches regard the formal education process as un-necessary, and feel that all the requisite knowledge can be gained on their own and in the trenches, I am a strong supporter of a formal education - provided the quality of education is high. Perhaps these coaches attended less than stellar Kinesiology programs (which I know do exist).

However, the education that I attained from McMaster University is without a doubt the reason for the quality of my programs and the level of

Supertraining - by Mel Siff

and

The Science and Practice of Strength Training - Dr. Vladimir Zatsiorsky

Either way, as Michael Masterson of EarlytoRise says, expect to spend 1000 hours of study to become competent (as he suggests is the case with any discipline). Of course, having a good mentor can significantly decrease the amount of time you will need to study (perhaps by 50%).

So those are a couple of roads on how you become a competent personal trainer. But they

And I haven’t even touched on the business side of things…

Craig Ballantyne is a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist and writes for Men’s Health, Men’s Fitness, Maximum Fitness, Muscle and Fitness Hers, and Oxygen magazines. His trademarked Turbulence Training fat loss workouts have been featured multiple times in Men s Fitness and Maximum Fitness magazines and all over the Internet, and have helped thousands of men and women around the world lose fat, gain muscle, and get lean in less than 45 minutes three times per week. For more information on the Turbulence Training workouts

Currently there are currently only seven organizations in the exercise industry that meet the stringent requirements of the National Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCCA). The American

A certification from one of the above organizations means the Personal Trainer has met a strict and thorough process to become a Certified Personal Trainer. They have an understanding of anatomy and physiology, which exercises work various muscle groups, a basic understanding of designing an exercise program for a variety of clients with differing physical abilities, and the knowledge to implement those programs. Importantly, the organizations also

The continuing education requirement for Personal Trainer certification is vital because exercise science is a dynamic discipline. Ongoing research studies by non-biased entities, such as universities and hospitals, provide constant information updates on our understanding of how exercise affects the human body. This promotes more effective program design and more efficient results for the client. In other words, by staying informed about updates in exercise science your Personal Trainer

There are too many Certified Personal Trainer programs to list that do not meet the standards of the National Commission for Certifying Agencies. The reasons they don t meet the standards are also too numerous to list but let me give you a few: For $99 you can take an online test for certification and become a CPT instantly. If you fail the first time you are allowed to continue re-taking the test until you pass. Multiple organizations design their own educational material, administer their own tests, and grade those test, with no outside oversight. Think about

Would you want your doctor to be educated, tested, and licensed without some type of objective outside oversight? I think not. Other programs are put together by bodybuilders or powerlifters and cater to that audience. The problem is that they are only qualified to work with that small segment of the population but their business card says Certified Personal Trainer. When their rent is due, they may decide you meet the requirements to become one of their clients. This is a short list of the potential problems encountered when dealing with a Personal Trainer certified by anyone other than the seven organizations certified by the NCCA. My

Certification by one of those seven groups does not guarantee you will get a Great Personal Trainer from them but it does mean the person is at least qualified to hold the title Certified Personal Trainer. Use the list of organizations as a shopping guide when looking for a Personal Trainer. If you want to find a Great Personal Trainer, someone who can truly make a life-changing difference for you, read my article about finding that person at EzineArticles.com and then perform some interviews with qualified Personal Trainers. I wish you the best of luck in your search!

Cliff Wiese has been active in fitness, sports, and sport psychology since 1981.

If you do anything over and over again, same thing, same time, day after day, week after week, you will get bored! Add to that the fact that exercise does not always show immediate results, and you can quickly see how easy it is to lose that motivation you had when you first began your new, or rapidly becoming old, exercise program.

The task is to keep your fitness routine fresh and appealing, not just get on the same old hamster wheel day after day,

This is where a fitness trainer can work wonders. The value of a professional trainer is not simply in the wealth of information he or she can provide, nor the guidance through the maze of machines and methods. A good fitness trainer can also help provide the motivation necessary for success in an exercise, fitness, or weight loss program.

Of course, part of the motivational ability of the professional fitness trainer is in that wealth of knowledge that they possess. A good trainer can show you how to vary your routine. He or she can show you tips and tricks to make your workouts or diet more effective. A good trainer probably

Of paramount importance is the ability of the fitness trainer to make you feel at ease with those times when you feel you are failing. Of equal importance are the times that the trainer realizes that you are getting stale and need a break. An inexperienced exerciser may not realize, or be able to emotionally accept, that it is necessary to step away or take a vacation from the fitness training regimen from time to time in order to achieve a higher level of success.

As with so many things

Here are a few things to think about when selecting a fitness trainer:

1. Is the trainer certified? There are many highly regarded professional organizations such as APFA, NASM, or NCSF which certify fitness trainers.

2. What is the educational background? Many colleges and universities offer degree courses for those entering the field of fitness training. You might want to know what your potential trainer has achieved.

3. Is the trainer qualified in first

4. What is the trainer’s personality like? Meet with this person and take some time to get to know them. Was this person referred to you by a friend? So much the better. You are going to spend a lot of time with your trainer, and there will be moments of frustration and discouragement. It is important that you feel comfortable with your trainer as a person.

5. What are the trainer’s goals

The contributions of a fitness trainer to an exercise program go beyond standing there exhorting you to knock out one more rep or chewing you out for slacking off or failing to meet his or her goals. Your fitness trainer needs to be able to provide guidance, advice, encouragement and the motivation necessary to stay on track with your exercise or weight

Donovan Baldwin is a Dallas area writer. A graduate of the University Of West Florida (1973) with a BA in accounting, he is a member of Mensa and has held several managerial positions. He has written poetry and essays for his own use, and instructional media in many of the positions he held. After his retirement from the U. S. Army in 1995, he began writing articles on various subjects for websites he owned as well as for use by other webmasters. He has a keen interest in health, fitness, diet, and weight loss and has recently completed courses on Diet and Nutrition, and Fitness. He has posted a review on a great

A prolific poet and author of several books including his pre-911 book A State of Emergency, Breakthrough for a Broken Heart, The Next Wave, Stop Lusting & Start Living, Supernatural Fire, Are You Ready for True Love?, Almighty Matchmaker and many more!

Paul is a worldwide professional speaker who has addressed audiences in 40 countries and 6 continents, while traveling to over 50 countries as Paul

As a fitness trainer, life coach and minister, Paul embodies leadership he being able to impact people physically, mentally and spiritually. Paul is also a selfless philanthropist who works in war torn nations and tsunami stricken Indonesia. Paul runs to the battle, never forsakes a challenge and forges ahead through the fiery trials of life until he arrives at a place of celebratory victory.

Paul is a dynamo that has a worldwide influence through his books, videos and public speaking. The creator of the TV show: Enlarge Your World Paul is a brilliant innovator, visual demonstrator and ingenious communicator.

This entrepreneur, freedom fighter, liberator of lands and

A minister of love, wisdom and power to the peoples of the world, Paul Davis breaks the mold, builds the individual, co-creates with you a compelling future to catapult you forward, enabling you to discover your intended destiny and fulfill your lifelong dreams!

Academically outstanding, Paul has collected degrees and certificates of completion from the University of Central Florida, Spirit Life Bible College, U. of Washington, Harvard Business School, Hofstra Law School, Hong Kong Law

Paul s hobbies are: surfing, weight training, baseball, dancing, martial arts, photography & videography, world travel, creative writing, real estate investing, entrepreneurship, interior design and chess.

If you have unfulfilled dreams and longings of the heart that have yet to be realized, let

Paul distinguishes and differentiates himself as a public speaker in that he is impacting the world having spoken in 40 countries and 6 continents thus far. Bold and fearless, Paul has risked his own life for the results he has produced in the lives of others. Paul has defied natural law going to war-torn countries and nations on the brink of destruction to deliver his message. Indeed this man is the message.

Paul Davis is author of Breakthrough for a Broken Heart a book telling us how to “Overcome disappointments

Paul’s compassion for people & passion to travel has taken him to over 50 countries of the world where he has had a tremendous impact. Paul has also brought revival to many in war-torn, impoverished and tsunami stricken regions of the earth. His nonprofit organization Dream-Maker Ministries is building dreams and breaking limitations.

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The purpose of anaerobic training programs is developing the force, the fortifying of the body or the muscular mass. There are situations when only force or muscle fortifying is intended. The typical example for these situations is given by the sports organized in categories, in which physical force (with the interdiction of going over

The purpose of anaerobic fitness is uniform, balanced and harmonious development of all the muscles, without ignoring their functionality. This last idea is important for making a clear difference between fitness and the tendencies, many times narcissistic, manifested by body building practitioners. The sportsman who takes up fitness wants to be able to and is able to do something with his muscles, more than showing them in contests or in different other occasions

One of the important characteristics of anaerobic fitness trainings is the use of general programs, during which all or almost all the muscles are worked out in one training session. In body building the programs are divided and trainings are focused every time on one, two or at most three groups of muscles; while in fitness one training can be focused on a certain area, but it does not exclude the other muscles, which will benefit, directly or indirectly, of at most one exercise for each group of muscles. This way, the programs are not excessively long; they take an average of one hour and fifteen minutes; thus the catabolic faze is avoided;

Another modality of reducing the time of training is doing super-series whose object is to train two antagonistic groups of muscles (chest and back or biceps and triceps, etc.). Thus, for each group of muscles must be performed a series of exercises, without a break in between; the break is taken only at the end of this double effort. The programs can also contain triple series or even giant-series (more than three exercises one after the other). The intensity of the training can be considerably increased: many muscles can be trained in a short time.

The weekly frequency of the training remains the same (three sessions); so

Anaerobic fitness is recommended to all somatic types, with specific differences of modality of training.

In the cases of ectomorphic and mezomorphic types, all the series (3 or 4) performed on the same machine must be finished,

In the case of the endomorphic type (the overweight), circuit training is preferred: the group of muscles trained is changed after every series and the whole circuit must be repeated three or four times. This type of training consumes more calories because an aerobic component is introduced by not having breaks between series and slightly increasing the cardiac frequency.

Growth of muscular mass through fitness programs can’t exceed one weight category (5-6 kg), but they do not misbalance the other motion parameters.

Gaby Munteanu is a fitness trainer, with over 15 years experience, and

HealthFitnessWorld.com is dedicated to providing high-quality, free advices, tips and resources on health, fitness, body building, supplements, nutrition, weight loss, beauty, massage, acne, medicine, depression, massage.

This article may be reprinted or published without the author’s consent as long as the “About” and “weblinks” are kept intact and active.

There is so much confusion out there surrounding exercise advice. Not only is it confusing what you should be doing, but the order in which to do it can be just as perplexing. One of the most common questions I m asked is, How should I structure my workout in order to burn the most fat? Along the same line is the popular question, If I m going to do cardio and resistance training in the same exercise session, should I do cardio first or weights? Here is the answer

Almost everyone will have the best results by

1. Resistance training uses carbs and only carbs for energy. If you deplete your muscles of stored carbs and then try to perform strength training, you will be weaker during the strength training.

2. Cardio can be performed by tapping into the energy in bodyfat. It takes 20-30 minutes of activity for the body to switch from primarily burning carbohydrate to burning fat. If you weight train first, that means you are already burning fat at the start of your cardio session.

3. Your heart rate will be elevated sooner during your cardio session. Weight training elevates heart rate. This means that within a few minutes at most during

If you have ever belonged to a gym, you have probably noticed that almost everyone does cardio before weights. Most people do this for one of two reasons:

A. They don t know any better, or

B. They want to get the boring part out of the way first.

Those in the know do their weight training first! Of course, your other options are to do them at separate times

There is one situation where you might answer the question, “cardio or weights first” with “cardio,” and it’s the case where you’re an endurance athlete training for performance in endurance events. If endurance event performance is your priority, go ahead and train cardio first, even though it’s not so good for fat loss. If you goals are fat loss or muscle gain primarily, be sure you answer “weights!” when the question, “cardio or weights first” arises.

What other fitness myths

Gina Paolino is a certified personal fitness trainer with the AMPFT. She is the owner of the in-home fitness training business, “Home Bodies.” She is also the author of the weight loss book, “Mind Over Fatter: A 30-Day Overhaul of the Mindset That Has Sabotaged Your Fitness and Weight Loss Success.” Her programs have helped hundreds of people in MA and NH shed inches and pounds and re-gain health, youthfulness and vitality. Learn more about her programs and read other articles by Gina at [http://wwww.homeexercisecoach.com]homeexercisecoach.com.

Many golfers lack flexibility in the rotation of their spine and hips during their golf swing. They may overcompensate with their arms. Trying to

What flexibility exercises should you add to your fitness program? Before you start a flexibility program it is imperative to evaluate your strengths and weaknesses with regards to your current range of motion. Most athletic trainers, sports conditioning specialists, golf fitness trainers and physical therapists can take you through a battery of flexibility tests. They are trained to properly identify areas of restriction and potential for improvement.

The next step is to creating your own stretching program that is geared towards

With a flexibility training program in place you ll conquer the playing field as your mechanics improve and you feel better about your movement. Take the time to learn about your current body restrictions and you ll easily take your game to a whole new level.

Susan Hill is a nationally recognized golf fitness trainer, CHEK golf biomechanic and sports nutrition specialist. For more

Winter holidays are extremely popular in the state of Maine. Sugarloaf, located on Sugarloaf Mountain is a ski resort that appeals to every member of the family. The Sugarloaf resort has a grand history of winter sports. In 1951, the Bigelow Boys created the first ski trail on Sugarloaf Mountain. Today, the trail is a premier ski area, second in elevation to Mount Katahdin, the highest mountain in Maine. This Ski area is a favorite among all the

Cannon Mountain is very popular among ski enthusiasts too. Located in New Hampshire, Cannon Mountain is the home of the New England Ski Museum. A haunt for all winter sports lovers, the museum contains an extensive collection of historical ski equipment, literature, films, clothing, photographs and artwork. The museum is officially recognized by the United States Ski Association as a regional museum and is recommended by scholars and historians for its extensive and rare archives.

A Ski vacation can never be complete, without a trip to the Canadian Alps. Its snow-clad cliffs offer thrills that are every skier s delight. Blue Mountain that lies on the south of Georgian Bay in Ontario is Canada s

Whiteface Mountain is considered the best ski resort in America. Whiteface Mountain is located in upstate New York. The mountain is considered the fifth highest mountain in State of New York. The Adirondack range, Whiteface Mountain, has a beautiful all round view of the mountains in Canada and Vermont too. Many daredevil skiers attempt skiing on Whiteface Mountain, as it possesses one best vertical drops in the eastern part of United States. Located near Lake Placid, Whiteface hosted the Alpine Skiing Competition of the Winter Olympics, in 1980.

Among the other affordable places,

It is advisable for skiers to wear warm clothing and follow runs, trails or patrolled ski routes that are checked for safety. Most skiers enjoy cross-country skiing, but non-professional skiers are warned to stay within the boundaries of the resort. Cross-country skiing is not appreciated in most European countries. These countries

Skiing, considered a fitness exercise by fitness gurus, is a great way to get in good physical shape. The experience savored on a ski family vacation is a unique and memorable one.

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Sometimes, personal training fitness careers may require a bachelor s degree for various hiring institutions; however, the greater part of employers seeks candidates who have at least achieved certification from an accredited school or college.

Once individuals have made the active decision to pursue personal training fitness careers, it is wise to review

Common academics for personal training fitness careers include exercise science, physical education, anatomy and physiology, first aid and CPR, kinesiology (muscle testing), nutritional counseling, and business training. In addition, while many training courses like this focus primarily on personal fitness, some degree programs integrate additional coursework in business administration and management, as well as general training in communication, humanities, and other health sciences.

The great prospect of personal training fitness careers is that according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, “opportunities are expected to be good for fitness workers because of rapid growth in the fitness industry.” Also, depending

If you (or someone you know) are interested in achieving personal training fitness careers, let professional training within fast-growing industries like massage therapy, cosmetology, acupuncture, oriental medicine, Reiki, and others get you started! Explore career school programs near you.

Employment source: Bls.gov (US Bureau of Labor Statistics)

Personal Training Fitness Careers Today
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