Disgusted

Hi,

I've been looking at some forums and this one looks like there are some helpful people here, so I want to ask a few questions.

I live in a rural area and a fitness center opened here about 5 years ago. The next closest gym is about 40 miles from here.
I took a tour and decided to join the fitness center. I went for a couple of years and stopped going. Their so-called personal trainers have no certifications and have no more knowledge than I do about training. For example, I asked a question about working on different ab muscles. The 'trainer' told me to 'just do some crunches.'
They put you on a bunch of machines, set the weight, seat height, etc. and the computer keeps track of everything.

If you ask someone a question there, even if they're not busy, they act like they don't want to be bothered.

I wanted to work more with free weights but, like I said, I can read and do research myself and it's kind of stupid to pay someone for a training session when they're not going to show me anything more than I already know.

Okay, that's my experience with 'personal' trainers at this facility.

Using the machines wasn't doing anything for me, that's why I wanted a trainer to help me with free weights. I would like to go back, since, like I said earlier the closest gym besides the one in town is 40 miles from here. However, I know it's going to be a waste of money because there's no one there to help train me. Also, I've searched for personal trainers online and in the phone book and the closest ones I could find are also about 40 miles from here.

I've been looking at some websites; NFPT, AFTA, AFPA, NCSF..
I thought about spending $300-$400 for a course. I would get the knowledge I need, and figured I would spend more than that on a trainer.
I majored in chemistry and I've taken anatomy and physiology, I'm an EMT-I and I worked in the healthcare field for several years. So, I know that I have the discipline to study and pass the course. Although I'm not doing it for the certification initially, I thought that in the future I could use the certification and knowledge to help others. Having gone through the experience of my weight going up and down, I think I would be in a pretty good position to help other people, after being trained and certified.

I've read a lot of negative comments on other boards about these home study courses. I don't see a problem with them. Not everyone has the luxury of being able to get a bachelor's degree. I would gladly go back to school indefinately if I knew that I had enough money to pay tuition and pay my bills, etc.

I just wanted to run this by you all and see what people in the business think about it.
Thanks for any advice,
Greg
 
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