Continued from
"How to Become a Personal Trainer: Part 01"
6. Exercise
Physiology and Anatomy
Exercise
physiology and anatomy, along with biomechanics and safety, provide the
foundation of knowledge, skills and abilities needed by the personal
fitness trainer to conduct the task of Exercise Management.
(See Duties and Tasks: #5)
This is the most
extensive, accurate, comprehensive and decisive job description devised,
developed or published anywhere. Careful study will give great insight
into the precise KSAs needed to become a highly successful personal
fitness trainer. Do not continue reading further until you clearly
understand what is required of you to achieve success. If you are to
qualify to join the ranks of the best personal trainers in the fitness
industry, you must both understand and prepare yourself for the KSAs
described above that you must master.
The chapter and
sections that follow are based on the job description described above,
but be aware: the KSAs described above are directed to the JOB
and do not entirely describe the CAREER. In order to have a
successful career, a specific business building section was added to
this manual and course.
Equally important,
the panel of experts decided to modify certain phases in a chronological
order. This step was necessary to make it easier for the student to
learn the KSAs so critical for success. Therefore, the job description
was modified into the following sections for ease of use:
Section One:
Client Consultation & Goals Assessment
Section Two:
Fitness Assessment: Testing & Evaluation
Section Three:
Exercise Prescription
Section Four:
Program Design
Section Five:
Exercise Management
Section Six:
Nutrition Education
Section Seven:
The Business of Personal Training
These seven
sections divide your personal fitness training manual. Each section
contains the appropriate chapters. Each chapter contains the appropriate
KSAs you must master to achieve your ultimate goal of becoming a
world-class IFPA Certified Personal Fitness Trainer.
How do you become a
personal fitness trainer?
You put forth the time, effort and energy in
dedicated study and practice to master the KSAs described in this
manual. There are no shortcuts to success. There is no easy way out.
There is no lazy man’s way to affluence. There is only one way to
achievement and that is through dedicated hard work and perseverance.
Do not look for shortcuts, or an easy way or lazy way. You should only
seek out opportunity. You hold virtually unlimited opportunity in your
hand. Opportunity to realize your own mental, emotional, physical,
financial, and spiritual potential. Opportunity to be your own boss,
set your own pay and be the best you can be. In order to help you
appreciate your opportunity and all it conveys, you are provided this
famous quote. Please read and take the time to understand the
sentiments expressed by Dean Alfange below:
“I Do Not Choose To Be A Common Man
I do not
choose to be a common man. It is my right to be uncommon...if I can. I
seek opportunity to develop whatever talents God gave me -- not
security. I do not wish to be a kept citizen, humbled and dulled by
having the state look after me. I want to take the calculated risk; to
dream and to build, to fail and to succeed. I refuse to barter incentive
for a dole. I prefer the challenges of life to the guaranteed existence;
the thrill of fulfillment to the stale calm of utopia. I will not trade
freedom for beneficence nor my dignity for a handout. I will never cower
before any earthly master nor bend to any threat. It is my heritage to
stand erect, proud and unafraid; to think and act myself, enjoy the
benefit of my creations and to face the world boldly and say -- `This,
with God's help, I have done.' All this is what it means to be an
American."
My father gave me a plaque with those words
written on it when I graduated from U.S. Air Force Pilot Training. His
constant encouragement was the driving motivation that took me from a
poor coal mining town in southwestern Pennsylvania to become an expert
in fitness, sports conditioning and nutrition. It is my duty and
obligation to do for you what he, and so many others, did for me. So
many times, critical times in my life, someone came along at just the
right time, and said just the right thing, that raised my level of
consciousness, enough for me to realize an opportunity right before my
eyes, an opportunity that moments before, I had been too blind to see.
You can call it what you like—luck, or Karma, or Divine intervention,
but something opened my eyes and put me on the right path, a better path
toward achieving my potential.
Despite any and all hardships and obstacles
you have had in your life, you have tremendous potential. Regardless of
where you are now, regardless of what you are doing, regardless of where
you are going, it is in your power to take a different path, a path
toward achieving your potential.
“No matter how far you have gone down
the wrong path -TURN BACK!”
The IFPA has earned the reputation of being
the most practical fitness, sports conditioning & nutrition, education &
certification organization in the world. Not just because the
curriculum contained in this personal fitness trainer certification
manual is the most practical in the world, not just because the many
other advanced fitness, sports conditioning and nutrition certifications
and courses the IFPA offers are the most practical in the world, but
because the educational and testing process the IFPA utilizes are also
the most practical in the world.
In order to be practical, you must first
start with honesty. In all honesty, you are about to find that this
IFPA personal fitness trainer certification course, and this manual, are
among the most user friendly you have ever encountered; but make no
mistake about this, you are about to embark on a very demanding
educational process. You are required to absorb a large volume of KSAs
that you must learn, and learn well, in order to qualify you to join the
ranks of the fitness industry’s finest personal fitness trainers—IFPA
Certified Personal Fitness Trainers. At times, the task may seem
daunting, but it is not. All that is required is time, effort, energy,
dedication and perseverance. You may have to expend more effort than
you have ever expended before, but the expenditure will be well worth
it.
It may help you to understand that the
effort you expend is not only for you, but for your family, friends,
fellow citizens, your community and your country. The effort you expend
is not just to give you a better life, but to lead others to a better
life through the professional KSAs you will soon master. The effort you
expend is not just about fulfilling your dreams, desires and goals, but
about realizing your full potential by helping others achieve theirs.
Perhaps you will better understand your
mission and how your valuable effort invested in this course will pay
tremendous dividends, by taking the time to read and understand the
eloquent quote provided below:
---------------------------------------------------
“This is the
true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as
a mighty one; the being a force of Nature instead of a feverish selfish
little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will
not devote itself to making you happy.
I am of the
opinion that my life belongs to the whole community and as long as I
live it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can. I want to be
thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work, the more I live.
I rejoice in
life for its own sake. Life is no ‘brief candle’ to me. It is a sort
of splendid torch which I have got a hold of for the moment, and I want
to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future
generations.”
--George
Bernard Shaw
---------------------------------------------------
After reading the quote, have you asked
yourself the question? Are you a “Force of Nature”? Or are you
a “feverish little clod”?
Self-awareness is an important attribute for
any professional, but especially for a fitness professional. This is
because you will be working very closely and individually with other
people. Before you can understand others, you must first understand
yourself. Before you can help others, you must first help yourself.
Before you can supervise others, you must first supervise yourself. And
finally, before you can change others, you must
first change yourself.
You would be doing yourself a great service
if you would muster the courage to go to your family, friends and
associates and ask them to give you a fair, open and honest evaluation
of how they perceive you. You can use the sample evaluation provided
below.
Personal Traits Evaluation Form
I am in the process of learning a new career
as a fitness professional. In order to achieve my goals, I need to have
people that know me well, whose opinions I trust and can rely on to help
me with their honesty to evaluate me on each of the personality traits
listed below. If you have not observed a specific trait or have no
opinion, please check the box under “Have Not Observed.” If you have
observed a specific trait, please check one of the boxes numbered 1-10.
One indicates that I have the very lowest rating of all the people you
know in that category, and ten indicates that I have the very highest.
“5” would mean I am average with all the people you know.
Click the chart to view it
full size.
Pretty tough evaluation, wouldn’t you say?
Before you rush on in your reading, it is important that you pause and
reflect how critically important this exercise is to your future
development. It can be a scary task to ask people to evaluate one job
characteristic. It can be an absolute nightmare to ask someone to
openly and honestly evaluate every single personality characteristic you
possess, but pause and think for a moment. How they think and feel
about you is already a fact! Nothing they put on
your evaluation is going to change that fact! The
only thing that will change is that you will learn what they think about
you. This exercise may be an uncomfortable task for you, possibly
very uncomfortable task for you, but it is an
essential step in putting you on the right path toward achieving your
destiny. Because the good news is that no matter how many low ratings
you get on the inventory, you can change each and every characteristic
for the better. There is an excellent system developed by Benjamin
Franklin over 250 years ago for personal development that will help you
become a “Force of Nature.”
The Benjamin Franklin personal development
system is detailed in his autobiography. The “Autobiography of Benjamin
Franklin” & is one of the recommended reading books on Dr. Jim Bell’s
Recommended Reading List. The list can be found on the IFPA website:
www.ifpa-fitness.com under the “Resources” button of the homepage
(located under the IFPA banner at the top of the webpage). Move your
cursor over Resources, go to the FitBits Archive on the drop-down
menu and click. Scroll down to Recommended Reading for Personal
Development 08/18/03 and click. All the books on this list are very
valuable books that can fill you with incredible insights & guide you
toward achievement. You owe it to yourself to read, study and learn
every one of these great books. Start with Ben Franklin, since it is
most important to your current exercise of self-awareness and
improvement.
You will use the same process used by Ben
Franklin to become one of the most accomplished “Forces of Nature” in
the history of mankind. Ben focused on 13 characteristics - these are
described below in Ben’s original words:
1. Temperance: “Eat not to
dullness; drink not to elevation.”
2. Silence: “Speak not but
what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation.”
3. Order: “Let all your
things have their places; let each part of your business have its time.”
4. Resolution: “Resolve to
perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve.”
5. Frugality: “Make no
expense but to do good to others or yourself; i.e., waste nothing.”
6. Industry: “Lose no time,
be always employed in something useful; cut off all unnecessary
actions.”
7. Sincerity: “Use no hurtful
deceit; think innocently and justly, and if you speak, speak
accordingly.”
8. Justice: “Wrong none by
doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that are your duty.”
9. Moderation: “Avoid
extremes; forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve.”
10. Cleanliness: “Tolerate no
un-cleanliness in body, clothes, or habitation.”
11. Tranquility: “Be not
disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable.”
12. Chastity: “Rarely use
venery but for health or offspring, never to dullness, weakness, or the
injury of your own or another’s peace or reputation.”
13. Humility: “Imitate Jesus
and Socrates.”
Initially Ben worked on one characteristic
per week. He made a chart titled ‘Temperance’. On the chart he made a
designation for each day of the week, Sunday through Saturday labeled
across the top, with lines drawn vertically separating the chart for
each of the seven days. He drew a horizontal line dividing the seven
categories in half. Whenever he did something positive reflecting
temperance he put a “+” above the line. Whenever he did something
negative toward his goal of achieving perfect temperance, he put a “-”
below the line. At the end of each day he would total the “+” and “-”
symbols at the bottom of the chart and reflect on what he did right and
what he did wrong. He would reflect on what he could do to get better
and how he could avoid his wrongful mistakes. At the end of the week he
would total the “+” and “-” for the week, reflect on his progress and
begin a new chart for Silence and repeat the process until he had
performed this exercise for all 13 characteristics. An example of this
chart is depicted below:
|
Temperance |
|
Eat not to dullness; Drink not to elevation. |
|
|
Sun |
M |
Tu |
W |
Th |
F |
Sat |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total + |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total - |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
After 13 weeks he modified the process to
focus on one characteristic, but to track all 13 each day still using
the “+” and “-”
symbols. The new chart would look like this:
|
Temperance |
|
Eat not to dullness; Drink not to elevation. |
|
|
Sun |
M |
Tu |
W |
Th |
F |
Sat |
|
T |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
S |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
O |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
R |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
F |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
S |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
J |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
M |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
C |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
T |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
C |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
H |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Though your focus this week will be on
improving temperance, you will continue to monitor all 13
characteristics. Each week you will move a different characteristic to
the top, but continue to monitor all 13.
By this time you should recognize both the
value of Ben’s system as well as the importance of getting as much
critical feedback on your evaluation as you can get. The more opinions
you get on your evaluations, the clearer you will see which
characteristics you need to focus your attention. If you are wondering,
“What does all this have to do with becoming an effective personal
fitness trainer,” then read ahead very carefully.
it has everything to do with
becoming an effective personal trainer!
It is no accident that the title is:
PERSONAL Fitness Trainer. Personal training is all about
personality and personal relationships. In order to become a personal
trainer, you are going to need a healthy personality and the ability to
function within a healthy relationship. Therefore, you must complete
this first exercise. Go back to the Personal Traits Evaluation Form,
make copies of the form, ask your family, friends and associates to
evaluate you, study the data you collect, evaluate your strengths and
weaknesses and customize your own self-development chart just the way
Ben did his, only customized to your personality weaknesses. You will
be required to continue this Ben Franklin Self-Development System
throughout this course. If you are wise you will work hard on this
system. If you are very wise you will work hard on this system
for the rest of your life. Don’t work for perfection, work for
improvement. Remember: Success is a journey, not a destination.
Best regards,
Jim Bell, PhD
CEO
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Special Thanks to the
IFPA's Sponsors:
Doctors Fitness Centers
Fitness Institute of
Technology
VORTEX
SCIFIT
A4M
ACASP
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
James
T. Bell, PhD is the
founder and president of the International Fitness
Professionals Association, IFPA.
More
Books from Jim Bell, PhD
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
