Hello, All. I'm in the U.S.A. There might be an idea in this letter for
those of you who are real experts in exercise and health promotion. I've
decided that one way to conquer my own execise resistance which comes and goes -
lately comes more than goes, is to take a class on how to become a personal
trainer. ;-) I'm not kidding though. I thought I'd exercise more if I knew why
I
was moving particular muscles rather than just thinking in generalities. That
gets boring to me. There is an all day, 6 days over 6 weeks class that
involves 3 hours of lecture and 3 hours of practicum each day with a written and
practical test at the end. There's a book by the American Council on Exercise
and you end up with a certification - which is sort of scary actually because I
know one doesn't become an expert in six days, but I'm not really looking to
become anyone's personal trainer just yet. Being taught is some basics of
how to exercise, exercise physiology, nutritional thought, how to use weight
machines, how to assess for fitness and how to design a basic workout program -
all for the healthy, unimpaired population. Special populations like the
elderly, the ill and injured and people who are very obese involve different
training. There is also another four day program that is just on strength and
conditioning. Since I'm a social worker with an interest in exercise resistance
and since the teacher is a "real" teacher (an instructor with a master's degree
in the subject at the university here), I thought I'd give it a shot.

Evidentally, you don't have to be thin, wear a thong to work out, or even
want to be a personal trainer. They said a lot of people take this course for
their own well being so I guess I won't get laughed out of the place. I'm
actually more interested in people who are larger, who don't fit the mold of
those
who you usually think of as exercising. I see a lot of eating disordered and
non-exercisers, over-exercisers in my practice. At any rate, a little formal
training is always a good thing as long as one knows one is not an expert.
I'm used to thinking in terms of full university degrees in subjects so I'm very
cautious about expecting a whole lot from a six day workshop but I think I'll
learn some very good basics.

So, have any of you ever thought of giving a weekend class or a multi-day
workshop to the public which is sponsored by some legitimate association on
exercise? I'd think that lots of people are actually interested in a crash
course
on what to do. The cost of the program I'd doing is between four and five
hundred dollars (American).

Best, Connie Konikoff in Louisiana, USA