Personal Trainer Guideline

Before the late 1980s, personal training was considered a luxury service. As the industry evolved, it experienced the growing pains associated with emerging professions. Certifying organizations, such as the International Dance Exercise Association, the American Council on Exercise and the American College of Sports Medicine, modified and added to their guidelines and code of ethics. Knowledge of these guidelines is as important as memorizing the educational material required for certification.

Certification and Education

A personal training client pays significantly more for services than a member of a group exercise class. This obligates the trainer to make sure that the client gets his money's worth, by maintaining his certification. The certification process goes beyond taking and passing the exam. As fitness research methods gain sophistication, new theories evolve, and what you told your client last year may no longer be valid today. While trainers once needed to incur travel expenses to workshops and conferences, the Internet now has an abundance of online continuing education programs.

CPR

In addition to keeping up to date with fitness programming, maintaining your CPR certification is equally important. Since, hopefully, you do not get many physical chances to practice CPR, a physical workshop is the best way to refresh your skills. Most fitness centers now have AED defibrillators. If you have an older CPR certification, you probably do not know how to use them. When applying for a personal training position at a public gym, many managers will not let you start working until you show a current CPR card.

Scope of Practice

Personal trainers prescribe exercise programs and teach their clients how to maximize performance of each exercise. They may also give advice about how to maintain a healthy lifestyle, but this subject matter is often a slippery slope. Nutritional information, as indicated in Appendix D of the ACE Personal Trainer Manual 3rd edition," is outside the trainer's scope of practice, says American Council on Exercise resource center coordinator April Mahrer. While the trainer may be able to suggest nutritional guidelines, unless she is a registered dietitian, she cannot prescribe specific diets. Selling nutritional supplements is definitely out of the trainer's scope of practice. In fact, some personal trainer liability insurers will not insure trainers who sell supplements.

Injuries and Special Populations

Personal trainers may teach their clients how to avoid injuries, but unless they have medical training, they are not qualified to diagnose them. If a client comes to you with a specific injury, avoid working on that area until the client gets diagnosed by a doctor and receives a doctor's clearance for exercise. Some patients hire trainers when their insurance stops paying for physical therapy. If this happens, consult the therapist about appropriate post-rehabilitation exercises. Special populations, such as pregnant women, or people heart disease or osteoporosis, also require a doctor's note.

Physical Contact

The personal trainer/client relationship often involves close physical contact. Trainers must maintain a professional image at all times and you should avoid dressing in a manner that suggests you may be interested in something more than a professional relationship. Always ask permission before making physical corrections. If your client objects, find descriptive verbal means of making corrections. Some trainers will physically demonstrate the correct way to perform an exercise and then demonstrate how the client is actually performing it.