Can I become a personal traner without being certified?

[Ronin4help]

Under one circumstance is this o.k.

If you are working on getting your certification and this process will conclude itself in a short time. Much like a pre-med student working in a health clinic or a law clerk or paralegal sitting third chair. The work helps in your experience and it helps in the educational process.

But as a matter of general practice, working with no credential is a stupid concept.

[ninjames1]

whats with the hate guys, he asked a simple question, an honest one. Just say no he doesnt need one but its recommended. Im in the process of getting mine but i train a bunch of close friends at my house. If they get hurt they shrug it off cause we are friends. No legality issues. Dont worry Lopez. Haters gonna hate, but i would recommend you getting one because you might end up growing your business more then you think you will and it will be to protect yourself. I hope everything works out for you man.

[KyleAaron]

If they get hurt they shrug it off cause we are friends.

Until they get very hurt and can't pay their medical bills. If they have to choose between bankruptcy, continued pain and suffering and suing you, well...

Good luck, you're going to need it.

[rdferguson]

You can legally train people without being certified. However, can you get insurance to train people without a certification? That would depend on your area. If you aren't certified, then you probably won't know when not to train someone or what not to do with clients, which will increase the likelihood of you doing something that does some real damage to someone. In that instance, whether you're insured or not, it's probably going to end badly for you.

A certification isn't technically necessary, but it is a wise starting point.

[yvonnegetfit]

Is it legal for me to train clients without having any sort of certification? Of course I will tell them I am not certified, but is there anything illegal about it?

I have a friend who is a weight lifter. He is lifting with a beginner three times a week. He is showing him what to do as they lift together. He is not a trainer. Is he at risk for being sued?

[hiltonrp]

It's 100% not worth it. If you're training..."training" people before you're even certified and inquiring as to whether or not you can keep doing it until you get your certification it's obvious that's the path you want to take for your career. Why risk your future endeavors because you can't wait a couple months and you can't dish out a couple bucks to get said certification and the insurance? I've "trained" about two people and throughout the entire work out my anxiety was through the roof cuz I had the realization that if they get hurt, you're not their friend anymore. You're the trainer who didn't know what he was doing and got them hurt. Don't be a derp. Get your certification and train with peace of mind

[blackshores]

Lopez27: Do you have a lot of money if you do send me your address so I can come train with you. I would love to get hurt while you train me. Since you don't have a cert it would take about ten minutes in court to get all your money.
Why do people come to this sight where most if not all of the people have a certifcation and say ***** are usless? Do you go to your doctor and say I want a non certified doctor to work on me since I had a certifed doctor that was'nt very good, do you go to a lawer that has'nt pasted the bar because one that has did'nt repsesent you very well?
By the way iif you don't have any money please send your address anyway the courts can set up a payment plan or put a lean on future earnings.

So pretty much... one must not use their real name or any real info and only meet in public areas with their clients taking cash only for payment. There's very easy ways around this to simply walk fat people on a tread mill... honestly...

take my screen name to court and show the judge screen shots of me and attempt to get ahold of me... hehehehehe... see where this is going now?

of course, one can easily have a legal document typed up and signed by the trainee... that all exercises during the training session are solely on the client's decision to adhere to the practice and choosing to do so is volunteering his well-being upon himself only and the trainer is at no legal or medical obligation if any sort of legal complications arise due to the trainee's decision to take part in any type of exercise. (also there can be plenty of fine print at the bottom saying whatever you'd like... for instance... trainer will get back double or triple payment if any legal issues occur during routine while trainer has no obligations for medical or court payments if sued... all that jazz)

if someone says no... they will not sign any paperwork then simply tell them then you cannot train them.

Also during signing of this paperwork it is good to have a neutral witness to also sign claiming to have been there at the time of the reading and signing of said paperwork.

[KyleAaron]

Relevant. In three parts, and if you're a trainer or would-be trainer and don't have time to learn about legal issues, then there really is no hope for you.

[zerokool828]

You can do anything you want bro, and a cert if you really wanted can be printed out online. Obama printed out his harvard degree why cant you? Don't listen to the naysayers.

[MikeCaulo]

Nothing legally wrong as long as you dont claim to be a certified trainer, however the liability is massive. You should def invest in a cert and some insurance.

[Ronin4help]

You can do anything you want bro, and a cert if you really wanted can be printed out online. Obama printed out his harvard degree why cant you? Don't listen to the naysayers.

This is why you want to get properly educated. Can the case for the separation of the educated from the idiotic be made any more apparent than this post?

[pt2u]

I have been reading this thread and I had to sign up just so I could respond to this as my anger levels went through the roof. I have spent most of my working life in the motor trade and a few years ago I obtained my MOT licence, meaning I can test a car. I would not have been able to do this without a suitable qualification. Would you be happy knowing that some numpty who claims to be a mechanic has MOT'd your car and passed it, saying it is perfectly road legal when in actual fact, that person has no idea what they are checking on your MOT. There is a reason why people get qualifications, it means that you have trained and been assessed in your particular field and a professional body within that industry has agreed that you meet a certain standard.

This is exactly the same with personal training. I have recently obtained my Level 3 personal training diploma. In order to get this I have spent nearly £3000 and spent hundreds of hours studying. I have also travelled up and down the country attending training courses, practical exams and pulling my hair out with deadlines for assessments. I have not done all this to know that some 19 year old, green eared, unqualified child could potentially earn themselves money doing something I am qualified to do.

Also, as other people have already said, getting insured is going to be extremely difficult. And should anybody get injured whilst you are training them, in a court of law, you will be absolutely 100% screwed mate. And to be fair, even if you are not training them at the time, all they need to say is that they were following your advice and you are still screwed.

Do yourself a massive favour, go away and think about whether you want to do this for a living and take the correct steps towards doing it. There are thousands of gyms all over the country that are willing to take on apprentices and train them correctly. If you decide that you don't want to do it then don't bother inflicting your lack of knowledge and quite frankly, your ignorance upon other people. For you to state that someone would get injured as a result of themselves not doing something correct, rather than anything to do with your advice is absolutely ridiculous. We live in a world where people will sue you for anything, and you have to cover yourself in every which way possible.

[Ronin4help]

I have been reading this thread and I had to sign up just so I could respond to this as my anger levels went through the roof. I have spent most of my working life in the motor trade and a few years ago I obtained my MOT licence, meaning I can test a car. I would not have been able to do this without a suitable qualification. Would you be happy knowing that some numpty who claims to be a mechanic has MOT'd your car and passed it, saying it is perfectly road legal when in actual fact, that person has no idea what they are checking on your MOT. There is a reason why people get qualifications, it means that you have trained and been assessed in your particular field and a professional body within that industry has agreed that you meet a certain standard.

This is exactly the same with personal training. I have recently obtained my Level 3 personal training diploma. In order to get this I have spent nearly £3000 and spent hundreds of hours studying. I have also travelled up and down the country attending training courses, practical exams and pulling my hair out with deadlines for assessments. I have not done all this to know that some 19 year old, green eared, unqualified child could potentially earn themselves money doing something I am qualified to do.

Also, as other people have already said, getting insured is going to be extremely difficult. And should anybody get injured whilst you are training them, in a court of law, you will be absolutely 100% screwed mate. And to be fair, even if you are not training them at the time, all they need to say is that they were following your advice and you are still screwed.

Do yourself a massive favour, go away and think about whether you want to do this for a living and take the correct steps towards doing it. There are thousands of gyms all over the country that are willing to take on apprentices and train them correctly. If you decide that you don't want to do it then don't bother inflicting your lack of knowledge and quite frankly, your ignorance upon other people. For you to state that someone would get injured as a result of themselves not doing something correct, rather than anything to do with your advice is absolutely ridiculous. We live in a world where people will sue you for anything, and you have to cover yourself in every which way possible.

Very good advice.

[WickedTuff]

Cool. How much would the insurance be without certification?
As for getting certified, I might in the future if I plan on making a career out of it only to attract more clients. But I honestly believe most certifications are a joke, I've seen plenty of PTs who have many certifications and don't know what the hell they're doing. I know I won't have a hard time finding clients being uncertified and I only plan on training a small amount. Thanks alot for the responses!

I'm with you, Lopez27 I received my first certification through ISSA (International Sports Sciences Association). I found their training to be excellent and thorough. Unfortunately, when I started looking for a gym job, No one took that cert!! But everyone takes NASM, which I found to be woefully inadequate. And then I found out why: you have to do a separate certification $$$$$$$ for each category, i.e., nutrition (! Really?!), special populations, etc. I'm also a degreed (BFA) Dancer and find that I have more scientifically accurate information than many trainers I have had sessions with/observed. A trainer I worked with at NYSC had only gone through the NASM initial cert and injured at least two people right off the bat. She's still training today. eek

These guys may be right about the insurance thing, but honestly, I don't know any dance teachers that have insurance. Be sure you have your clients sign a waiver and make sure the language is explicit. Any one taking on an exercise program knows that they are at risk. If you are not being negligent, they should not be able to sue you. The fact that the people responding on here are focused on covering your ass is a big indicator of where their focus is, imho

It seems to me that the money grubbers got ahold of the whole training racket and turned it into a business enterprise, rather than the health focused discipline it should be. The focus on any gym job is SALES SALES SALES instead of just hiring good trainers and paying them well so that they can teach people how to exercise in the most beneficial way to them. Like I said, 'racket'.

You don't need a certification to teach people the best way to achieve their goals. Maybe call yourself a fitness instructor instead of trainer. Or better yet, maybe we should just create a new category the way "life coaches" have. We can make the goal educating people about the science of fitness. Maybe we should start a whole new category.

Best of Luck to you

[WickedTuff]

So pretty much... one must not use their real name or any real info and only meet in public areas with their clients taking cash only for payment. There's very easy ways around this to simply walk fat people on a tread mill... honestly...

take my screen name to court and show the judge screen shots of me and attempt to get ahold of me... hehehehehe... see where this is going now?

of course, one can easily have a legal document typed up and signed by the trainee... that all exercises during the training session are solely on the client's decision to adhere to the practice and choosing to do so is volunteering his well-being upon himself only and the trainer is at no legal or medical obligation if any sort of legal complications arise due to the trainee's decision to take part in any type of exercise. (also there can be plenty of fine print at the bottom saying whatever you'd like... for instance... trainer will get back double or triple payment if any legal issues occur during routine while trainer has no obligations for medical or court payments if sued... all that jazz)

if someone says no... they will not sign any paperwork then simply tell them then you cannot train them.

Also during signing of this paperwork it is good to have a neutral witness to also sign claiming to have been there at the time of the reading and signing of said paperwork.

Excellent Response. The fear mongering on here is pretty intense. I'm with you

[Ronin4help]

Excellent Response. The fear mongering on here is pretty intense. I'm with you

There are good lawyers (like trainers) and there are bad ones (like trainers) A bad trainer can only afford a bad lawyer. However, a client (possibly affluent) can afford a good attorney. The good attorney will devour the bad lawyer and his measly liability form and then after he (she) wins, will be sure to have his (her) fees included in the settlment for wasting his (her) time.

[SteenRoutine23]

Okay so i was currently having the same dilemma. However i quickly figured out that, yes there is crucial knowledge from certifications that you should research. The problem is, too many people claim to be personal trainers and suck. If you have been training for years and continually learn new methods to better your clients then you will be fine. In addition, if you are good at what you do, clients will find you. Start with one. The insurance is the biggest piece of the pie. **** all this you need a cert, because although they are valuable for many reasons, your knowledge and the results they yield will be the tell all. Hope this helped, good luck brotha.

[Ronin4help]

Okay so i was currently having the same dilemma. However i quickly figured out that, yes there is crucial knowledge from certifications that you should research. The problem is, too many people claim to be personal trainers and suck. If you have been training for years and continually learn new methods to better your clients then you will be fine. In addition, if you are good at what you do, clients will find you. Start with one. The insurance is the biggest piece of the pie. **** all this you need a cert, because although they are valuable for many reasons, your knowledge and the results they yield will be the tell all. Hope this helped, good luck brotha.

Post is several years old. OP has since given up personal training, has worked at Apple-bee's restaurant, has been a cashier at the neighborhood hardware store and is currently helping out at his uncle's auto body shop.