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Starting a personal training career can be a daunting task for those who may not have a wide breadth of business experience or are new to the field. You may have the passion and dedication to starting your new business, but how exactly do you get started? What are the best ways you can set yourself up for success, and ensure the investments you make in your career, and in yourself, will produce worthwhile results that will provide you long term stability? Many people try to take the fast track to their personal training career, signing up for online certification courses and jumping headfirst into the field. While this may work for a select few, statistics have shown that there are much better ways to go about the process if you want to succeed in the most comprehensive way possible. 

Instead of online courses, in person certification courses have been shown to be far more effective when it comes to the physical training and education regarding all the elements that go into being a personal trainer. Programs like those that are offered at recognized institutions such as the National College of Exercise Professionals (or NCEP), provide prospective trainers with the in depth experience they need to build a long term career and achieve their financial goals. 

When taking an in-person certification course, a trainer is also able to get one on one experience with professionals that have been working in the field for years. They can get the questions they have answered and be guided on how to best proceed with their business, gaining insights that can only be found by talking to these experienced professionals who have knowledge in mentoring up and coming trainers. The president of NCEP, Michael DeMora, recognized the need for new personal trainers to have in person guidance to not only help with their approach in training their clients, but to allow them to build their training business in a prosperous way. He realized how effective in person training, unlike online certification, is at mirroring the hands-on training that a new personal trainer will have when building their client base. To help best prepare a trainer for this, the certification courses offered by NCEP provides business training alongside the physical training certification, as well as guidance nutrition, and on how to create beneficial interpersonal communication with clients that will encourage loyal, long term business relationships. Furthermore, Michael recognized the difficulties new trainers face when trying to build their client base and get in contact with gyms that will hire them, he responded to this need by creating programs within NCEP that help place certified trainers with gyms and training facilities not only in a trainers local area, but also in major cities throughout the US, a resource only offered to those who take advantage of the in person training due to the high quality standard it holds it’s graduates to. 

For NCEP, class sizes are small and limited to make sure that trainers get the individualized education they seek. For those looking to get a jumpstart on 2020 and take advantage of the high season of personal training, thus setting themselves up with clients that will last and who coming back to them for months to come, NCEP is offering a special discount for their Standrad Personal Training course. For those who sign up early, there are extra reading materials and videos that will be sent out via email, allowing a trainer to prepare as much as possible and take advantage of every resource offered. Capitalizing on a special discounted session allows you to get the most you possibly can out of your initial investments into your career, ensuring that you will be able to get back what you put in swiftly when you take action to build your business and start a new chapter in crafting your personal training livelihood! To sign up for this course visit the NCEP website: www.ncepfitness.com an use code NCEP100 at checkout to save 20% off. Military and veterans get up to 50% off when they email proof to [email protected].

National College Exercise Professionals offers unique hands-on functional fitness workshops to train future personal trainers for the upcoming holiday resolution season! 

With the new year right around the corner, the demand for personal trainers is about to skyrocket as people make their fitness resolutions and look for guidance on how to best change their workout habits. For those who are looking to be a personal trainer, now is the best time to get a jumpstart on their certification so they can begin to inspire and train people to live their healthiest lives, and build a business or find a training job that will not only allow their career to grow, but also to sustain itself and thrive! 

But what is the best way to become an elite personal trainer, fitness clubs will hire? How can one guide their personal trainer clients to get the results they want so they, and their friends, keep coming back? While there are many popular online personal training certification courses available, it has been shown that in-person training courses are often the best way for a trainer to build the skills they need to provide the ideal results for their clients, and maintain lasting client relationships. 

Unlike many online courses, hands-on certification allows a trainer to delve deep into how they would interact with their clients, not only in how they would physically train them, but also how they would build their business relationships with them. The National College of Exercise Professionals (NCEP), for example, provides not only in-depth physical training certification, but also helps trainers by providing them with extra training material consisting of books and videos, bringing them through business and leadership workshops, nutrition training, and even helps with job placement at facilities ranging from your local area to cities across the nation. 

This October, NCEP has a special opportunity for trainers looking to maximize their career potential. By partnering with Equinox Fitness in the city of San Francisco, NCEP has set up an offer where trainers who attend the live certification course will be scouted by the exclusive company, giving them the chance to be brought on to the top-notch team and have access to high profile clients and business opportunities. Elite trainers at Equinox make upwards of a six-figure yearly salary, and this program’s personal connection to this competitive company gives trainers who are seeking to build their career a unique edge that not many get the chance to take advantage of.

Certification classes are small and often one on one, with no more than about 20-25 people over the two day intensive course. The founder and president of NCEP, Michael DeMora, discovered that unlike online certification, a more hands-on certification training can help mirror the hands-on training that a trainer will have with their clients. The courses at NCEP has certified thousands of trainers, fitness expert trainers like Tony Horton, who after taking courses at NCEP went on to found the highly popular P90X program that went on to revolutionize his career and the fitness world as a whole. 

NCEP and Equinox is offering this career changing opportunity for their personal training certification.

Future personal trainers are encouraged to  sign up for thirty days to at least 1 week in advance. After signing up for the workshop they are sent informational videos and reading materials to prepare for the personal trainer certification exam, so they can be as  prepared as possible when starting their certification, and will stand out to the training scouts who are looking to bring them onto the Equinox Fitness Club Team! To sign up for this course visit their website: www.ncepfitness.com an use code NCEP100 at checkout to save 20% off. Military and veterans get up to 50% off when they email proof to [email protected].

WHY WE TEACH FUNCTIONAL ANATOMY?

When most students learn anatomy for the first time they are introduced to what is called “Gross Anatomy.” Gross anatomy was invented by a doctor who used cadavers to find out the muscle function and also to learn where they attached inside your body. Gross Anatomy is a very good name for it. If you are not into the forensic sciences, it is really gross to work on a cadaver. Unfortunately, there are some glaring problems with trying to determine the function of a muscle on a dead person. First, most of the clients you will work with as a personal trainer are not dead. (Yes, that was our attempt at humor!) 

Let’s list some of the biggest problems with gross anatomy  and go over each one by one:

1. POSITION OF THE BODY, ONLY LOOKING AT “OPEN CHAIN” MOVEMENTS

First, the position of the body can really be a big factor—and a big issue. To understand how a muscle worked, the scientist would cut the muscle closest to one of the attachments (usually the origin) and pull on it. Whichever direction the limb or part of the body moved, they would label that movement as the muscle’s function. If we look at someone lying down, it means their feet are not in contact with the ground, or an “open kinetic chain.” When an individual is standing, the foot is in contact with the ground and thus, when a muscle contracts it is a completely different outcome. Let’s look at the upper body as an example. In an open chain (i.e., “Lat pull down”), the pulling movement would bring an object towards the body. In a closed chain (i.e., “pull up”) the pulling would bring the body up to the stationary bar. It doesn’t sound like there is a big difference, but the body recognizes it as a night and day difference. That is why some non-functional people can pull down amazing amounts of weight but cannot even complete one single pull up.

2. ONLY MEASURES THE CONCENTRIC CONTRACTION

Second, when a scientist pulls on one end of the muscle it is creating a shortening of the muscle, also known as a concentric contraction. We know from our physiology chapter that there are three types of contractions: concentric, eccentric and isometric. Throw in to the equation that there are three planes of motion as well: sagittal, frontal and transverse, and now we need to know the function of the muscle for at least nine different possibilities. Unfortunately, gross anatomy is limiting: it typically only tells us one function of the muscle in one plane of movement. Often times the one function gross anatomy tells you is not even the one that is used most often. For example, the gross anatomy function of the gluteus medius is to concentrically abduct the hip. The most dominant function of the gluteus medius is to isometrically stabilize the hip and to eccentrically decelerate femoral internal rotation during heel strike in the gait cycle. 

3. BRAIN IS NOT WORKING

Third, the last and possibly most definitive problem with Gross Anatomy is that the brain has stopped functioning or sending signals to the muscles. There is no muscle in the human body that works in isolation. In other words, when the brain sends a signal for movement to occur, it alerts all the muscles in the entire body that the movement will be occurring and every muscle prepares for the movement either by assisting in the actual movement or by stabilizing a part of the body so it does not move. As you know, the mind and body work together, and studying cadavers—and not considering how muscles work in unison with each other in living, active people—does not make much sense. 

Overall, we just wanted to give you a brief synopsis of why Gross Anatomy is just not sufficient for exercise professionals and why we teach Functional Anatomy and Functional Training.  

If you want to learn more about how to incorporate more of this knowledge in to your workouts we offer a full weekend class of Functional Anatomy.