This can’t be it.  I remember taking my first personal trainer exam, via submitting the answers in a booklet and sending it back in the late 90’s and being excited that it was complete, but then also thinking, “this can’t be it”.  That is all I had to do.  Is this the same process for all trainers and certifications?

You see I spent thousands of dollars on those books, spent another couple hundred on the test and spent months during tech school in the military studying to become a “certified personal trainer”.

When I began applying the principles from my newly earned certification to real clients, I quickly realized that I was not truly prepared. My certification taught old information that promoted the idea that eating six small meals a day would boost metabolism, a concept that has since been debunked, and ineffective training strategies, such as recommending that each muscle group should only be targeted once per week for optimal hypertrophy results

I thought I possibly just took the wrong certification exam so years later I paid more money to obtain a NCCA certification, this time from a more prestigious organization (oh yeah, the other certification is now a NCCA organization).

But it was the same again.  Outdated resources, surface level information, programming that was blanket approach and theory and practicum that I would never utilize.

On top of, it every two years I had to obtain these magical CEC’s that were supposedly setting me apart from the other trainers in my career field. I spent more money obtaining these specialized continuing educational credits, received a renewed certification on the wall for 2 more years once I met the “magical CEC criteria” and spent some more money for the renewal.  This was all literally meant to make you, and I believe that I was now even more prepared and qualified to be a “master certified personal trainer”.

Blah, Blah, Blah. Still Unprepared. Still didn’t know what I was doing.

Many trainers continue to rely on antedated methods, applying the same boot camp workouts to all clients regardless of their age, abilities, or individual needs. This one-size-fits-all approach ignores the unique characteristics and goals of each person.

When clients struggle to see results, trainers often place blame on factors such as poor adherence, genetics, or a lack of effort. They may label someone as a “hard gainer,” suggesting that success is out of reach due to innate limitations. The reality is that these trainers come from the same school of certification that I did—using standardized certification programs that encourage these blanket methods.

The key difference is that I chose to UNLEARN.

I started spending my time reading Brad Schoenfeld’s research on strength development and Menno Henselmans data analysis studies on fat loss, muscle growth, fatigue and total training volume and tested it on myself and then others to see what would work in real gyms and real clients.

I implement basic anatomy of origins and insertions into my programming, document the new data analysis for my own knowledge, tweak new volume methods for optimal MyoPS, educate my clients on the variables, sets and choice of programming per each muscle group that is best practice for Hypertrophy based upon these new studies. I began to help clients master there fitness and bodies.

So, what is the difference between me and your trainer who is still applying outdated methods from an outdated certification that they have hanging on their outdated painted wall?

I update my knowledge Every. Single. Week.

This is difference between me and your trainer.

Let’s Master Your Fitness Together.

-Jesse