Telecommunications consultant Carole Bajus takes her exercise time seriously.
As a working mother, her time is stretched to the breaking point, so she made the decision to hire a personal trainer. “I go because it’s a commitment,” she says. “When you’re busy, everyone knows that the workout is the first thing to go. Having an appointment with a trainer means it’s scheduled like a business meeting, so I take it as seriously as one.”
Physical fitness, like everything else in western society, seems to jog from one trend to the next. Disco-beat aerobics classes of the 1980s were supplanted by the runner’s world of the ’90s.
And this century, fitness buffs, couch potatoes and busy businesspeople alike are tapping into a new trend – the growing industry of personal training.
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| Karen Dyer photo, Business Edge |
| Donna Hutchinson at the West Vancouver Community Centre looks for both accreditation and schooling when hiring trainers. |
Personal trainers are now bouncing up everywhere, and with no governing body there is a wide variety of experience and education available.
They offer a number of advantages over sweating it out in the gym all by yourself. A knowledgeable personal trainer can design an exercise and often a nutrition program customized to individual needs, and can be there to make sure that the client completes the work safely and regularly.
Many trainers provide their clients with support between sessions via telephone or e-mail. They can test client progress on a regular basis by taking measurements and assessing body fat percentage.
Bajus works out with a trainer at a gym in North Vancouver in hour-long sessions twice a week, and supplements the trainer-led workouts with gym time on her own.“The other big element is the cost,” she says. “You pay dearly for your time with a trainer so it’s a bigger decision not to go.”
The going rate for a personal trainer is as variable as the qualifications, with the usual range being anywhere from $50 to $120 per hour. Most have current certification in first aid and CPR. Private trainers often have their own liability insurance, while those who work out of local recreation centres and gyms are usually covered by the organization’s insurance policy.
Scott Lear is an assistant professor of kinesiology at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, and works with the cardiac rehabilitation program at St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver. Students hoping to become personal trainers form a significant percentage of his classes.
“As the population ages, the demand for personal trainers to have more of a health focus has really increased, and I think it will continue to do so,” he says. “As people become more knowledgeable about their own health and fitness, they expect their trainers to have a bit more skill and training.”
Lear notes that in his experience, younger people who seek out personal trainers do so for performance or esthetic reasons, but as the population ages, more people want to be active for health reasons. “There seems to be a much greater demand for expertise,” he says, noting that specialized training is often directed at specific parts of the population.
“Because acute care is so much better these days, there are more people living with heart disease than ever before,” he adds. “As the death rates from heart disease have decreased, there are more people who are trying to find ways to keep their hearts healthy.”
The courses that Lear teaches include active health assessment and promotion as well as kinesiology and cardiac rehabilitation. “Specialized training commands a higher salary for personal trainers,” he says.
Donna Hutchinson has spent 15 years in the fitness field and is currently the weight room and rehabilitation co-ordinator at the West Vancouver Community Centre, responsible for hiring the personal trainers the newly redesigned centre keeps on staff.
“When I’m hiring a personal trainer I look for BCRPA (British Columbia Recreation and Parks Association) certification first,” she says. “That’s the main fitness accreditation given in this province. I also look for some kind of international accreditation plus schooling.”
Personal training isn’t like it used to be – “just for movie stars,” Hutchinson says. “If you look around, you’ll see everybody has a personal trainer – even your grandparents are doing it now.”
Hutchinson’s staff has a wide variety of educational backgrounds, including some who hold kinesiology degrees as well as diplomas in exercise science and human performance.
There are also a number with specialized training in sports and conditioning, sports injury specialists, and pre- and post-rehab specialists including healthy heart, joint replacement and osteoporosis.
Hutchinson is quick to point out that training and education alone are not enough to make a good personal trainer.
“It’s so important to have good communications skills,” she says. “Life experience really counts in this job, because as a personal trainer, you have to be able to connect well with your clients.”
Stanley Wu was a military policeman in Hong Kong and England before coming to Canada. He now runs Peak Performance Fitness, a private personal training business in British Columbia. He trains clients in local gyms, but says he finds they most often prefer workouts he sets up for them to complete in their own homes.
“Some clients can afford to have all the gym equipment in their homes, but that is really not necessary,” he says. “An exercise ball, a mat and some tubing are all you really need for a good workout.”
In addition to his BCRPA certification, Wu brings a wide variety of experience to the programs he designs. He also works as a certified lifeguard, swim and aqua-fit instructor and puts his martial arts training to good use.
“I work 15 to 18 hours a week as a personal trainer,” he says. “I can’t do it full time, so I mix it up with the other fitness careers.
“Being a personal trainer is very tiring – you have to read the client’s mind, motivate them, keep them moving for an hour. It is also very physically draining.”
Another demanding element of the job is keeping on top of the latest information. “Research is really important,” Wu says. “Things change so rapidly and you need to keep on top of changes within the industry. I am constantly updating my information by taking courses and doing a lot of reading at the university and on the Internet.”
Finding a personal trainer is often as easy as dropping in at the local recreation centre or asking around. Word of mouth is a powerful advertising tool for many personal trainers.
“The best part about this job is seeing the results,” says Wu, beaming. “Nothing compares with a satisfied client.”
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