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  The Society for Consumer Advocates and Mavens

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CERTIFIED PERSONAL TRAINERS

The demand for "certified personal trainers" at health clubs and gyms with paid memberships has risen dramatically, so much so that there are not enough certified personal trainers to go around. Consequently, this has opened the flood gates, so to speak, for not-so-qualified "pretenders" to find jobs as certified personal trainers!

Anyone can go on the Internet, pay a fee and receive an official-looking certificate stating you are a CERTIFIED personal trainer then go out and seek a job or clients as a certified personal trainer! People are getting injured because too many of those in charge of your personal training are not truly qualified to do the job! You may want to seek out a gym or health club that "personally trains" their own personal trainers BEFORE they are allowed to personally train you.

Also, find out what your particular personal trainer has been specifically trained to do. For example, a trainer specializing in nutrition may not be what you need if you are seeking weight training.

Making matters more confusing, there are hundreds of personal trainer organizations a trainer can get certified with so there is no standardization to help protect you from getting a sub-standard personal trainer. Consequently, so-called "certification" or "accreditation" may be deceiving since no real training is necessary to get certified, especially if you simply go on the Internet and pay a fee for your "official" certification from an "official-sounding" organization or association of personal trainers.

SUPPLEMENTAL SOURCE: CBS-TV NEWS 12/2/02

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