who is encouraging trainers to be better (or worse)?

Another great post from critical fitness! (HERE)

I believe that the author has repeatedly been told he is “Firm but Fair” and I really feel that articles like this opinion piece do a great job in forcing all of us to “turn the lens on ourselves” & review our practices.

The section in here that really resonated with me was the use of fake titles.

As a Health professional (mandated registration) we have fairly good controls, albeit sometimes a bit too tight (in my opinion), over the titles we can use, so it continually frustrates me seeing unqualified dolts referring to themselves as “Lord God and Emperor of all things health” when they have a short course in exercise prescription sufficient to start a career as a gym instructor.

Anyone who knows me, knows this is what I look like when I see bogus claims – I’m pretty sure Apple used me to design this Memoji

Why am I posting on this and not just sharing it?

Recently I received a bulk email from the Australian Fitness Network where a British Qualified Personal Trainer (Bachelor of Sports Science) was being promoted as an “Epigenetic Educator” as part of a programme that trains “Health Coaches”.

To put this in context, the Australian Fitness Network’s mission statement is to be “the leading source of information and professional development in fitness”.

I contacted the Network by email on May 13th to find out what the basis for this title was:

“As Mr THE TRAINER is being promoted as an “Epigenetics Educator” by yourselves, and this is a budding field in genetic science (in which only a few of the “top of their field” geneticists would be considered competent) can you provide some background as to the formal education that enables Mr THE TRAINER to have a competent, valid and educated opinion on such a complex scientific topic please?”

The response came from Kate Kraschnefski, who is the National Training Manager for the Australian Institute of Fitness, as the official response from the Austrailian Fitness Network. She stated:

“THE TRAINER has a Bachelor of Science (Sports and Exercise) from the University of SUCH THINGS in the UK and is the Managing Director – Health & Fitness for A COMPANY.  A COMPANY is a global health and wellness system that is underpinned by evidence from a range of scientific fields.  It has proven to be a successful tool for many fitness professionals who have achieved great results with their clients, which is why we invited THE TRAINER to be a guest on our podcast.  You can explore the science behind A COMPANY here https://wherewetry.to.sound/sciency”

It is worth noting that there are no peer reviewed or appropriately published articles on the website that was linked and some questionably loose definitions of science and the supposed included concepts (which include Ayurveda and TCM which couldn’t be further from science if they tried). I have removed the trainer & company names from the quotes as the issue here is about the promotion of fake titles, not the substance of the company themselves. Block Capitals and bolded test are my additions as replacements.

It is really important here to break this down into what criteria the Australian Institute of Fitness and the Australian Fitness Network deem as reasonable to claim a title, apparently, it is:

 being a director in a company (credible or otherwise) that wants to call you that title, so it can use you to sell a product that people believe works for them (post hoc ergo propter hoc).

This is just the big business version of a self employed Personal Trainer picking a title to sound “more special” than the rest.

Why am I bringing this up here? Well, as is so clearly pointed out, we need more “Good Trainers” out there and less bad ones. So, while  Critical Fitness’ aspect of a “Bad Trainer”, claim false titles, is being promoted by Kate – the National Training Manager of an institute of study and the representative of the Australian Fitness Network in these issues – what hope do we really have?

An example of how a Personal Trainer justifies their change in title:

One such “Health Coach” in my local area notes that they were a personal trainer who was struggling with the nutritional advice that they were able to provide to their clients (IMPORTANT: this is not a surprising statement given providing nutritional advice is generally outside of the professional scope of a personal trainer here in New Zealand). To remedy this they went looking for a “new qualification” to “give them (their clients) all the answers”.

This demonstrates a significant lack of knowledge about the health sector, (no one qualification has all the answers – any that suggest that they do are clearly bogus).

The answer they chose to this was (no, not getting qualified as a dietician)….. they completed a “Mastery Series Weekend” to sell a product (that does offer all the answers, to, well, literally everything) – this is NOT a reputable qualification and is comparable to completing your training to sell Tupperware.

The best bit? You should see how this “Health Coach” charges ($599 for a subscription to a cellphone app, an assessment and 6 weeks of support including a Facebook group) – far above what their Diploma in Fitness would normally support you paying for their time.

It is most important to remember: These people are NOT health professionals.

Image Credit: First10EM

The take homes:

• Avoid the “Health Coaches”, “Master Trainers” and those looking to have an answer to every question – if they don’t even know that they have a lane, how can they be expected to stay in it?
• Just because someone is endorsed by a training institution does not mean that everything they are selling is within their scope of practice.
• Bias affects everyone, even those who should know better – this is not solely an issue with the Australian Fitness Network, but bare it in mind before you head off down the rabbit hole with any professional body.
• If there is someone out there selling a product as an expert or educator – they should have university or qualifications authority recognised qualifications in that area of specialty.
• “Heath coaches” should have a health sector qualification, be registered with a mandatory registration authority and working within their mandated scope of practice – if they are not? They have no obligation to you, your outcomes or your health.
• Demand better from your trainers and get yourself a great one! One who has a collaborative network of other trainers and real health professionals who can step in to help where they don’t have the qualifications or expertise.
• Remember, a great trainer may be the rose amongst the thorns, even the “professional” bodies seem to want to encourage trainers out of their lane…… for the life of me, I just cant figure out why.
• To the Trainers – Be proud of what you actually are, what you can do and do it well. If you aspire to be more, get a real qualification, get registered and come join us in the health sector – not as “Lord God and Emperor of all things health”.

Qualified, considered opinion pieces from pages like Critical Fitness encourage and promote the good within the Health & Fitness sector – make sure you are getting behind these people and support what they do for us all – they encourage us all to be better!

Cheers again for the great work Critical fitness – keeping us all on our toes.

Health & Fitness

Az