subject: Non-traditional Professionals Take To Online Cpe Courses [print this page] Everyone has heard of online CPE courses for doctors, lawyers, accountants, and the like, but how about for personal trainers? No joke: even health club workers are now expected to maintain a certain level of knowledge about developments in the field!
Yes, personal trainers. That's right; "those people!" That is, if industry movers and shakers such as the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) or the American Council on Exercise (ACE) will have anything to do with it. The "CPE" in the term "online CPE courses" stands for "continuing professional education." Of course, gym workers aren't often thought of as "professionals" by most people, much less the kind of professionals that need to be recertified periodically. Isn't that so?
Again, not if ACE or the ACSM can help it. Citing the ever increasing knowledge base that personal trainers must possess, these organizations have tried to promote a more professional image for such fitness industry workers; indeed, continuing education credits are already required of those they certify as trainers. But such efforts may have hit a plateau. It was the ACSM that first offered certifications during the postwar baby boom, in fact, though decades later the industry has only seen a proliferation of competing certifications - hence online CPE courses for trainers, coaches, and other industry job titles remain the monopoly of the organization certifying them in the first place.
To be honest, it's really the insurance companies that are most interested in certifications, for use as a possible shield in case of lawsuit. For no matter how hard the gyms and certifcation-peddlers might try, most people rightly regard trainers as not on the same level as doctors, lawyers, and accountants. Turnover is high while the quality of trainers, despite certification, is often low; many franchise gyms hire teenagers - kids - to advise clients paying eighty dollars and up an hour (of which only twenty to forty go to the trainer).For one thing, many chain gyms have college kids working as personal trainers: hard to see a doctor, lawyer, or accountant regarding such workers as fellow "professionals!"
Okay, having said all that, it's still a nice thing to have, the certification. They demonstrate a minimum level of knowledge and, even, competence! Some is better than none for sure. The most reputable certification-granting organizations in the fitness industry require candidates to successfully complete multiple-choice exams of a hundred questions or so. Though such exams are not too difficult, they do demonstrate that certain standards are in place and must be met for many trainers! However, don't forget that it isn't that big a deal.
by: Paul Wise
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