Samstag, 1. Oktober 2016

What Happened and What Changed

A lot has happened in the past few months. I quit my old life and stepped into the field of Sports (mostly Martial Arts) and Fitness. This was the best decision I possibly could make. As a newbie you can find thousands of options: courses to visit, certifications to make and instructor academies to participate in. It is almost impossible to decide where to begin with . I was (and still am) lucky to have council in these matters, because without I may not have ended up where I intended to go. There were many ups and downs, but now I am happy to say, that things are moving in the right direction: I did my certification in FMS and became a certified Kettlebell Trainer. During summer, I was able to teach many classes and get some teaching experience. That was good for me, because I could see how theoretical things work out in the real world. I really hope to be able to continue teaching during the new semester. I love working with people and I love to see how they manage to get stronger and move better. The next step is the final exam of the Shinergy Instructor Academy next weekend. Accomplishing that will make 2016 a very successful year with three educational trainings and a new field of study.

Another big step ahead was the fact that the University of Applied Science in Krems accepted me as a student for Physiotherapies. This is a huge thing, because there were tough admission procedures to go through and many candidates applying. Nevertheless, there is more to come. I am not even close to the point where I intend to be. Neither in my theoretical knowledge and my experience, nor in my skills. There is a long way to go, but it feels good to be on the right track.

Beginning my studies in Krems I realized something: What I learned in the past few months about science, anatomy, motion and social skills are not only fundamental basics in sports, but in physiotherapies too. Of course, studies in physiotherapies will go much, much deeper, but I am talking about the very basics here. I realized that the things I learned during my time being an assistant Trainer were on a very high level of knowledge and still have high value. Of course, I knew that before too. I got books to read, exercises to try out and many topics to think about. All of these things were connected and made a lot of sense. What really surprised me was the fact how far these theoretical aspects lead into the academic world. I knew that what I learned worked in the gym and made people healthy and strong. But, I was impressed by the fact that all of these aspects are so important and of high value, that even professors teach them at the university. Exactly this point made me realize one huge lack: People understanding the complexity of movement, motion, sports and training. With people, I mean not only Trainers, but also Trainees and common people. With understanding, I mean the fact that people simplify Fitness, Sports and even Movement to a very dilettantish and amateurish level and don’t know how far these things are based in science and research.  

There is one thing bugging me, since I started to put effort into training and teaching. People don’t understand what training and working as a Trainer means. To be clear: there is more to the term Fitness and the job of a Fitness Trainer than you might think. The problem is that there are no requirements, neither for the title nor for teaching. We live in a world where one can get certified in a specific field of Fitness by simply attending a weekend course, or even easier doing an online course at home. Actually, there is no need for a certification to work as a Fitness Trainer at all. There are many people teaching classes without fundamental knowledge. Putting everyone in the same bowl leads to the fact that people think of Fitness as a very simple way of doing some workout.
Training is not simple. People have to realize that the body is a complex composition of many different aspects. A lot of science is going on there while we don’t even realize it. It is impossible to learn the body’s way of working during a weekend course or online. You have to spend months or even years working out yourself, reading and understanding. That prepares you for teaching classes. If a Trainer is smart he realizes, that these certifications don’t prepare for training people in a healthy way. Best way is to think about where the lacks might be and fill them with books, articles or courses more detailed. Important is the awareness that a certification doesn’t equal being an expert and knowing everything about sports and the human body. 

I know one thing: that I know nothing
Socratic paradox

For me the term Fitness means a complex composition of many different things. People have to be strong and mobile enough to get through daily life easily and pain free. If they aren’t, then it’s my job to give them good basics in fundamental movement patterns and basic strength to get through daily life easily. But, it goes deeper than that. Fitness should also be able to prepare for competitions or challenges (notice, that I am still talking about sports as a hobby here). I have to know how to prepare someone for a marathon. Also, I have to know how to prepare someone for a Martial Arts contest. The most important thing is that I need to understand that both game plans need to be completely different.

Now you see that there is an urgent need for some standards in the world of Sports and Fitness. A trainer should know the fundamental basics of biomechanics, anatomy and science of sports. Firstly, to get people fit and strong, but mostly and more importantly they need to have knowledge basics not to get their people injured. Making people sweat is simple. Getting people strong staying healthy is much harder.