Something fitness-related.
I graduated with a silly arts degree, nowhere near my academic potential, and now I have tons of debt.
I’ve been working as a personal trainer for 2 years now but am unsure how to proceed.
I just got my NSCA CSCS materials (I’m otherwise certified by the ISSA).
I’ve considered physical therapy, but I think I’d like to be a strength and conditioning coach. Part of me wonders if it might be too difficult of a match because I have pretty much zero athletic background myself - I just love learning about the body!
I recently turned down an internship leading to potential employment because the money was shy, and I’d have needed to get a car (and accept all the expenses that come with the car) to get there before moving…if I got the job following the internship. I would have liked to follow that opportunity because it seemed to be an awesome learning experience!
I’ve considered going back to school, but that’s a big step as well. Before I do that, I’d have to be completely sure about my desired field and long-term plan of attack.
To the T-Nation crowd, what advice could you give me in the way of:
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how do you go about pursuing a successful career in strength + conditioning (or another aspect of fitness industry you want to share)?
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how do you handle taking the risks that seem necessary to break out of grinding away, not making enough money to pay all the bills?
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how would you go about finding the perfect fit as far as schooling/specified field?
Sorry for the disorganization, any advice you can provide will be appreciated.
I’m releasing a book on this. Will be out this summer.
In the meantime, check this one out:
www.amazon.com/Ignite-Fire-Building-Successful-ebook/dp/B007UB7HAS
I’ll be following this as I’m very much in the same boat- communications/arts type degree and wanting to be successful as a personal trainer/S&C coach but without degree or sports experience. Going back to. Just finished University in the past two weeks, going back is cripplingly expensive… plan so far is just to get certified PT status and apply somewhere for experience.
John R: I will definitely be purchasing both the book you reccomended and yours when it comes out! Thanks for that.
Yeah man, those silly arts degrees are such a waste.
Glad I didn’t get suckered into chasing one.
You’re a red head, either way you are fucked.
You’re a righteous dude there, Roman. Appreciate it brothers.
And Iron Dwarf, you’re the man. I bet you’re a really cool dude on the other side of that screen. I like your work as I’ve seen from your avatars.
[quote]nz6stringaxe wrote:
You’re a righteous dude there, Roman. Appreciate it brothers.
And Iron Dwarf, you’re the man. I bet you’re a really cool dude on the other side of that screen. I like your work as I’ve seen from your avatars.[/quote]
Thanks Inz! 
I’ll bet you’ll like me even more when I tell you I grew up in Pottstown, PA!
lol
Resistance Training Specialist
Muscle Activation Techniques
Do some reserch, the most valuable thing you’ll need is the ability to think for yourself.
After that its to be able to say what you mean and mean what you say.
And then realize that it’s all about physics…no physics no processes.
The RTSm Is EXTREMELY difficult will take you years to do it…but so worth it.
X-Factor, thanks for that info. I scanned the Resistance Training Specialist website…is this entirely online-based to get the basic certification (not the mastery)? As in, although it is a huge time committment to study, could I do this outside of a normal 9-5? Also, are you yourself or one of your friends certified and can attest to there being real value there? Sounds very interesting and right up my alley, just wanted to get your opinion and anyone elses on the actual value it brings…
Thanks man
[quote]Houston07 wrote:
X-Factor, thanks for that info. I scanned the Resistance Training Specialist website…is this entirely online-based to get the basic certification (not the mastery)? As in, although it is a huge time committment to study, could I do this outside of a normal 9-5? Also, are you yourself or one of your friends certified and can attest to there being real value there? Sounds very interesting and right up my alley, just wanted to get your opinion and anyone elses on the actual value it brings…
Thanks man[/quote]
The 123 is one weekend a month for 3 months, study is done at home between modules. This is the same as MAT. I have been exposed to this for a long time. And quite frankly the amount you realize there is to learn is staggering. RTS will teach you how to understand every force going through your body, how to manipulate it, regress it, progress it. When you start explaining to people that the force input for a leg extension should be at the tibial plateau as to reduce shear while the effort/moment becomes a wash…and how it sounds great but you don’t HAVE to do it…they start listening…and when they listen they get somewhere.
Victoria Silvstedt…swedish…enough said…
If you train guys, make sure their chest and bis get real sore. If you are training women, get their ass and their abs sore.
Trainers sell sessions and the illusion of improvement, not results
[quote]jp_dubya wrote:
If you train guys, make sure their chest and bis get real sore. If you are training women, get their ass and their abs sore.
Trainers sell sessions and the illusion of improvement, not results[/quote]
This is what I think of when I think of PTs.
I’ve thought about becoming a PT, but I just don’t get it. Do PTs vary the workouts each session? I would think if I were a PT that I would just give someone a program to do for a month and tell them to see me in a month to see the results and change the routine. I don’t know if I could spend 4-8 hrs a day having people do the exact same routine and being paid for doing nothing.
I don’t understand what else there is to do after teaching how to do the lifts properly. I’ve seen some PTs train people at my gym, but it seems like they just follow them around to the machines talking to them about their lives. It just seems more like they are being paid to socialize with them and not necessarily train them.