hello from the south ????'s for you! - Personal Trainer Community - Forum

[shelby]

It's really refreshing to see such a place! kudos! A little info on me: I live in Mississippi, thinking of becomming a personal trainer. Im currently looking at my options. Im not new to fitness. I would do programs off and on since i was in high school(im 30 now). But for the past 3 years(after the third and last child was born), i went on a crusade to loose ALL of the weight, i started out with body for life,-it took me 6 months to get back to pre-preg weight for all THREE of my kids-i had to do some tinkering with the program to get there...then maintaining without becomming bored or obsessive!whew! soo. after that i have tried many various programs from well-known personal trainers(some online, ect.)-jullian michaels, lyle mcd(don't remember if he is really a trainer), michelle berger, chad waterbury(a whold bunch of programs from him), crossfit, some stuff off t-nation, abc bodybuilding,ect..- it's really neat to see how your body responds, and also what it doesn't like(doms???-lol) anyways, im wanting to get into this myselfto help others . Im a little worred because down here in the south....well... let me just give you an example: i was working out at the YMCA, and one of their personal trainers was telling her client how she LOVES this particular greasy, fried, fish restraunt!! I also remember down here going into a restraunt and their being NO GRILLED CHICKEN!!(yes, i was mad)..so im not sure there will be a huge need/want/desire for a pt around here?(i guess this is my MAIN worry.>>). but the work would be SO satisfying!!!i guess another thing that would set me back would be that my diet is not so squeeky clean as it should be--yes, i know that diet for most of us is 90% of the equation...try doing that when family and in-laws are constantly bringing home junk and you have to wait until they leave to throw it out..it's been a fight for a long time(and quite frankly, im sick of it!). anyways, sorry to ramble on...it's great that you all are on here and i will continue to read and be inspired as i fulfull my quest to become a p.t.
thanks for reading!

[muscletrainerdh-NSCA CPT]

Hey Shelby and Welcome to "The Tank".

First off, most trainers don't eat 100% healthy all the time. So don't worry about how perfect or not YOUR DIET IS!!

What you need to focus on is getting the knowledge and the skills to help people the way that you helped yourself!

On this site we basically promote getting certified through the ACSM, NSCA, NASM or ACE. So look up those certifications and take their courses and study and pass their exams.

As far as your specific population goes, I too am in a town where people seem to be perfectly fine being "Fat and Happy" and the market for personal training is very small. But you will always find people who want a trainer. For that you'll have to build your marketing skills.

There are several published authors that post here:
Marjorie Geiser
Kaiser Serajuddin
and
Joe Cannon

Who can help you out with that. I'd also recommend looking into Fitness Marketing experts like:
Eric Ruth
Sean Greely
And
Phil Kaplan


Good Luck and let us know what certification you decide and if you have any further questions.

Dave