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Sunday, March 5, 2017

4 Things It’s Not Okay to Do as a Fitness Professional

As a personal trainer and movement scientist, I often get asked for advice on fitness. (Go figure!) Whether it’s a friend, a family member, or a stranger on the internet with a cartoon character for a profile picture, I’m more than happy to share my two cents.

Of course, when I first started out in the industry I thought I needed to have all of the answers. I thought that if people came to realize I wasn’t all-knowing, they’d think less of me as a professional.

It turns out my thought process couldn’t have been further from the truth. In actuality, it takes a great deal of maturity and self-awareness to admit to your own limitations. People respect that.

Moreover, you can only parade around pretending to be smarter than everyone else for so long. Eventually, that shit catches up with you. Before it does, though, you’ll likely have no trouble dishing out plenty of unproductive and potentially harmful advice.

Which leads me to my motivation for this post. Lately, I’ve noticed a number of fitness professionals on the wrong end of the law in this regard. While this problem certainly isn’t a new one, it’s come to a head lately, to the point where I feel compelled to speak out against it.

I figured a constructive way to tackle this would be to provide a few examples of what’s NOT okay to do when you’re in a position of authority. I solemnly swear never to commit the offenses described below, and for the sake of the people we educate I beg of my peers to make the same promise hereafter.