Hello again! Today, I’m just going to talk a little about my education and how I got to this place of being a personal trainer. I think that it’s important for people to know this about me as they read my posts and, possibly, as they consider becoming one of my clients, so here it goes…
I graduated from ASU in 2013 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology. Did I use that degree at all? Nope, I did not. I thought that I wanted to be a therapist while I was in school but once I finished my Bachelor’s degree, I decided to take a couple years off to work full-time at my family’s company rather than continuing on in school. Throughout those couple years, I learned a lot about accounting and the business world, but I️ also learned that I really hate working a desk job. I was bored out of my mind sitting at a desk five days a week. I loved working with my family, but I wanted to do something that I truly loved.
As far as my fitness went for those years – I got into lifting weights, rock climbing, and running in obstacle course races in my free time. All of which, I absolutely loved. I was in a relationship with a girl who was heavily into lifting, so she taught me a thing or two about being in a gym. This opened my eyes up to a whole new world of fitness. I had never really been a gym-goer (I’m actually still not – I much prefer to throw some weight around at home or in a park), but it introduced me to personal trainers and what they are all about. I loved the passion these people had and the lives that they lived. Because of the combination of lifting with her, rock climbing on my own, and running obstacle course races with friends, my passion for fitness had somehow been reignited while working a job where I sat for at least 8 hours a day.
With this fire burning inside me again, I decided to go back to school part time while I continued to work. My goal at the time was to earn an Associate’s Degree in Exercise and Wellness. I ended up falling even harder for the world of fitness as I learned the science behind it all. During those couple years, I was required to do some internships also. I interned at three different places in total: at an athletic training and physical therapy location, at a boot camp and free weight style gym that also allowed me to do some speed training with young soccer players, and I helped create a pilot study for my school that incorporated group classes and personal training with senior citizens. Each internship gave me a completely different experience but I loved them all. At that point, I knew that, without a doubt, I wanted to do something in this field.
I finished up my Associate’s Degree as well as a Certificate in Nutrition and a Certificate in Personal Training. I loved it so much that I went onto to ASU again to take some classes to prepare to apply to the Master’s program for Exercise and Wellness. I️ thought that a Master’s degree would be beneficial down the road if and/or when I️ started to network with other professionals or if I decided that I wanted to teach at all. But after taking almost all of the required classes that I needed to apply, I decided that I wanted to put a hold on school for a couple years again and start a training business instead. I had gone from hands on experience at my internships to sitting in a classroom, and I could feel the passion slowly seeping out of me. So I signed up to take the ACSM Certified Personal Trainer exam, passed it, and now here I am.
Something that may surprise you is that being a personal trainer actually takes little to no education. A kid who just graduated from high school can study a little bit, take an online test and – BAM – he’s officially a personal trainer. Having a degree in the field is great and all until you realize that most people in the general population care more about how you look or what your hands-on training experience is, rather than your actual education. I can see both sides to this argument though. It’s important to know the science behind a training program, but it’s also important to have experience with actual humans so that you can see how their bodies react to a training program that you have created. I would hope that the people who don’t have any educational background do some serious independent research before starting to train people though. Education gives us a solid foundation of knowledge to build our experience off of, so that’s what I’m here to do now. I can’t wait to get started with those of you who decide to contact me. I hope to hear from you soon!
Much Love Friends,
Chelsea
CKB Coaching, LLC 