ShareThisIn most states, the woman you ask to take just a little off the top -- yeah, your barber -- is licensed by the Bureau of Barbering and Cosmetology. You can see the certificate hanging right there in the mirror.
Likewise, that Joe the Plumber dude you hired must be registered with the Contractors State License Board. Ditto for the guy building your back deck. And the accountant who tells whether you can afford that deck is state-certified, as well.
Yet the professional to whom you entrust your most valued possession -- your body -- needs no official state seal of approval and, for all you know, has little or no training in exercise science and physiology.
There are, of course, many expert and knowledgeable personal trainers. They are inspiring individuals who set up workout schedules and nutrition plans that help many people tone their bodies, lose weight, train for competitions and promote a healthful lifestyle.
And, yes, many personal trainers are voluntarily "certified." Many of the certification programs are reputable and rigorous. Still, anyone with a hankering for fitness, an Internet connection and a valid credit card can hang out a "personal trainer" shingle by the time you finish reading this story.
"It's scary," says Walter Thompson, professor of kinesiology and health at Georgia State University in Atlanta. "My gosh, they license my haircutter, why not the person making me push 200 pounds over my head?"
More than merely a bad haircut is at stake when a person wanting to get in shape hires a trainer.
Both Thompson and Marc Rabinoff, chairman of the department of human performance at Denver's Metropolitan State College, have seen cringe-worthy bodily damage in their roles as expert witnesses in personal-trainer injury cases.
"I've seen people permanently disabled by trainers," Thompson says. "One case I did was when a personal trainer had someone exercise with one muscle group too much, and that person wound up in intensive care with rhabdomyolysis (muscle breakdown that leads to kidney failure). I'm seeing that more and more when I testify in court. People are getting hurt."
It's ignorance, not maliciousness, that leads to problems, according to Rabinoff.
"There's only one other profession where you can become a professional as quick as this one," Rabinoff says. "And that's prostitution. Anyone can advertise themselves as a 'personal trainer.' You don't even need certification. Go ahead and call yourself a trainer. You need nothing."
Legislators in a few states have periodically proposed bills to implement state regulations on personal trainers. None has passed and been signed into law.
So the fitness industry, which frankly isn't so keen on government regulation, is trying to regulate itself, albeit with sketchy success.
In addition to educating consumers about asking the right questions when searching for a trainer, some personal-training certificate organizations have called upon the National Commission of Certifying Agencies to evaluate and accredit the hundreds of certificate programs.
Only 10 so far have been given accreditation, based on the reliability and validity of the test, the breadth of course work and the level of oversight.
One such group is the American College of Sports Medicine, which offers four training certification programs.
"We have a series of knowledge and skills that you need to know to actually be a safe and effective trainer," says Richard Cotton, national director of certification programs.
"It covers a variety of types of questions, from rote memory things like knowing a blood pressure number to being given a case study and having to answer questions about how you'd deal with the client."
The San Diego-based American Council on Exercise, also on the NCCA list of accredited training certifiers, says its program works with personal trainers who have college degrees in the field and those who simply have an interest in learning fitness principles.
"If the trainer is going to work with at-risk individuals, with health conditions, I think it's important for that person to have the academic training with the experience," says Cedric Bryant, the council's chief exercise physiologist. "But for trainers working with presumably healthy clients, provided they have the hands-on experience as well as going through some type of training course and a legitimate certification, then (a certificate) should be a reasonable bar for that person to enter the field."
(E-mail Sam McManis at smcmanis(at)sacbee.com. For more stories visit scrippsnews.com)
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