“You must have courage to bet on your ideals, to take the calculated risk, and act. Everyday living requires courage if life is to be effective and bring happiness .”

                                                  -Maxwell Malty

I met some very special people at the Club Industry tradeshow in Chicago. People in the fitness industry always strike me as special. Fitness professionals have chosen to take their passion for fitness and use what they have learned to help others improve their lives. The people I met have not only made a commitment to help others, but they also had a gleam in their eyes that displayed an intense enthusiasm for fitness and a fervent drive to make the world a better place by helping their clients become better people. It is my sincere hope that I can find the words that will continue to inspire all of you in the IFPA Association to keep that fire burning just as brightly.

Each and every one of us has a song inside. My goal is to get you to raise your level of consciousness so you let that song out. The most overlooked of all human tragedy is the people who die without ever taking the opportunity to live. The people who fail, to fulfill their destiny by letting their songs die inside of them. The people who never take the risk and act on their ideals.

I’m going to share a visualization trick I first started using as a gymnast in college. I hope you find this technique useful.

After every practice I would sit quietly off to one side and go through a simple stretching routine, but the real purpose was to reflect on my performance in that practice session. I would review every move, routine and exercise I performed that day, always asking myself the same question: Did I give 100%? Did I go all out? Or did I hold back out of laziness or fear?

My competitive gymnastics days are long gone, but I am now fiercely competitive at life. I still go through the same reflections, but it’s a different visualization now. Today I imagine a time about 100 years in the future when I’m lying in bed, an old man at the end of life. From  that perspective I’m looking back on everything I’ve done, everything I’ve achieved, my successes and failures and what I wanted to achieve and what I actually achieved. I still ask the same 3 questions: Did I give 100%? Did I go all out? Or did I hold back out of laziness or fear?

What I hope I will be thinking when that time comes, is what I hope you will be thinking when your time comes, the words of a great man: …”but I firmly believe that any man’s finest hour - his greatest fulfillment of all he holds dear - is that moment when he has to work his heart out in a worthy cause and he’s exhausted on the field of battle victorious.”

NOCA/NCCA Update

The IFPA submitted the NOCA/NCCA accreditation application on September 20, 2004. The NOCA/NCCA process is a very rigorous, time consuming, extensive and expensive process. The IFPA is going through this process to increase the credibility of the fitness certification industry.

IHRSA has recommended this process because of the embarrassment created by “nefarious” certifications that will certify pets, online, for $99.00. Since most consumers and many entry level trainers cannot distinguish the “alphabet soup” of certifications, several organizations including the IFPA, IHRSA, NSCA, ACSM, ACE and others have decided that the NOCA/NCCA process is an essential step in differentiating valid, credible certifications from the “snake-oil salesman” that present certification credentials that are not worth the paper the typical computer prints out.

If you are paying attention to the debate raging over this initiative, you are already aware that not all of the legitimate organizations agree with this course of action. Several organizations do not believe the NOCA/NCCA process is the only viable option to this dilemma. Two major hurdles that face FOR PROFIT certifications (NSCA, ASCM and ACE are the only not for profit certifications in the industry – all other certifications are for profit organizations) are the facts that; 1) NOCA, until this year has never accepted FOR-PROFITS and 2) NOCA does not believe that a “practical” test can be scored objectively.

Beyond the 3 NOT-FOR-PROFITS mentioned above, there are many FOR PROFIT certifications that have worked extremely hard to provide high quality certifications for the fitness industry. There is no difference, in the opinion of the IFPA, or other FOR-PROFITS, in the ability of a FOR-PROFIT to deliver higher quality and value, than it is for FOR-PROFIT Health Clubs to provide higher quality and value over NOT FOR-PROFIT Health Clubs such as YMCAs. Indeed, for many in the fitness industry it has become a requirement that those in the FOR-PROFIT sector MUST deliver higher quality and value than those in the NOT FOR-PROFIT sector in order to compensate for the tax exempt status and other advantages that NOT FOR-PROFITS use to damage or destroy FOR-PROFITS. Unfortunately, many are reacting to the fact that while NOCA has changed the rule allowing FOR-PROFITS to apply for accreditation, NOCA has not changed the 21 standards required for accreditation. These 21 standards are unfairly biased toward NOT FOR-PROFITS and to date, NOCA has not accredited any FOR-PROFIT (we are all extremely hopeful here at the IFPA, that we will be the first).

The second legitimate problem that many have with the NOCA process is the extreme difficulty NOCA has with any “practical” exam. NOCA believes practical exams are too subjective in grading.

While this is a true, academic argument, the IFPA agrees with the importance of practical testing.

The IFPA’s first Job Analysis Survey was conducted over a decade ago and the need for a practical certification test was of paramount concern for gym owners, managers and personal trainers everywhere at every level of experience. Many fitness professionals and experts complained  that most certified personal trainers knew their anatomy, physiology and other academic subjects, but did not have a clue how to take a client through a workout, teach an exercise properly or even adjust the equipment correctly (most could not tell the difference between a squat bar and a bench press bar). For this reason, and others, the IFPA and others feel it is critically important to maintain a practical test in our certification.

The IFPA can personally attest to the fact that our efforts to meet NOCA’s 21 standards and maintain the practical section of our certification exam has dramatically increased the cost of going through this process. To date, the process is costing the IFPA well over $100,000 and costs are continuing to climb. The costs associated with record keeping, statistical analysis, exam scoring, training, etc. for the practical makes everyone at the IFPA wonder if it is all worth it!

Therefore, the IFPA is asking for your feedback. Do you think the practical portion of the IFPA certification exam is worth it? Now the IFPA awaits the decision of the NOCA/NCCA Accreditation Committees response to our application (I find the word “application” inadequate to describe a document that filled a 6 inch binder).  Due to the volume of information contained in this “application” it will be months before NOCA responds.

Wish us luck and of course we will notify you as soon as we get a response.

IMPORTANT:  Everyone needs to be aware of several changes that were made to IFPA Certification programs: 

1)      The IFPA Personal Trainer Distance Learning Program was discontinued.  NOCA will not accredit a Distance Learning test.  The IFPA has introduced an Independent Study course that is an updated and improved course.  Successful completion of the Independent Study Exam will allow the Personal Trainer to receive a “Certificate of Completion” for the Personal Trainer Independent Study course, but not a “Certification .”  Due to NOCA requirements, all IFPA Certified Personal Trainers must pass a proctored, closed-book certification exam. 

2)      There have been various changes to the internal administration and logistics at the IFPA, many of which you would find boring.  However you do need to be aware that the passing score for the IFPA Multiple Choice Exam remains 80% while the passing score for the Practical Exam has been changed from 80% to 79% (while you might think this is no big deal, to NOCA - it’s a big deal).

 

Nutrition

On Monday, I had really good news for all of you coffee drinkers; research out on Monday claimed that coffee had four times the amount of anti-oxidants as green tea.  Unfortunately the research out on Tuesday claimed that coffee drinkers that consumed more than 1 cup of coffee per day had a dramatic increase in inflammatory diseases.  So the logical choice would be to keep your coffee consumption to one cup per day.  For those of you that drink your coffee through a garden hose, you might want to explore the definition of the word “moderation .”