New Video Link Posted!!

The First of the Fitness Professional Series video's is up on youtube.com. We've posted it to our video page and invite you to take a look and hear what some of today's fitness professionals have to say about the industry that they are in. In the future, we will be bringing you Dave Ganulin, President and CEO of Kettlebell Concepts, and Gail Bannister-Munn, Director of Group Exercise for XSport Fitness. Stay tuned, and either post or email to let us know more of what you want to see!

Go to video interviews

Venue Change for AFAA PFTv4 Certification and Exam

The new venue for this workshop wil be:

XSport Fitness

630 Old Country Road

Garden City, NY 11530

(516) 294-1003

Check our Instructor Schedule page for course times.

"Group Ex vs. P.T.": Clash of the Titans

It seems everyone’s got something to say about what group exercise and personal training is, or is not. There are those who are die-hard “Group Ex” people who don’t like either personal trainers or personal training, or both. The same can be said for Personal Trainers; many eschew group exercise classes and blatantly boast about having never taken a group exercise course. From where I sit, this sounds like sheer insanity…

Why? Because regardless of the modality, both group exercise and personal training are essentially designed, from a health and wellness perspective, to address the same thing- the human body. To argue over which presentation is better, is akin to arguing over which burger is better- the Big Mac or the Whopper; is there really a difference? In fact, the most financially successful fitness professionals that I personally know teach BOTH group exercise AND personal training. They essentially recognize that they ultimately serve the same purpose- to better our clients and improve their quality of life…O.K. Earnest, if what you say is true, how did this conflict enter the fitness industry consciousness, that Group Ex. and P.T. should be separated?

Third Party Posting Feedback

Wow!!...I’ve gotten a lot of email in response to the third party post from the other day. It seems that some mistakenly believed that I advocated the attainment of third party national certifications as a SOLE measure of determining the competency of today’s fitness professional. In actuality, I agree whole-heartedly with the majority of the commentary and wanted to post one that I received on the Facebook page. It’s from Michael Foresto, CSCS:


“You should know by now Earnest, while the NCCA is a great way to police the information that the organizations are indoctrinating the public with, if a certification is all that that a person is relying upon for their knowledge, ALL certifications are worthless; even the CSCS because even though you need a degree to sit for it, ANY degree is suitable. You need to know how the body REALLY works to make a certification worth the paper that was wasted to print it.”

Here’s the response that I gave on Facebook:

“Truthfully spoken if we were to use credentials as the SOLE means of determining craftsmanship, and that is what we’re talking about. True craftsmanship is an amalgamation of many things, too many to name all here, but CERTAINLY the possession of very specific skill sets relative to the functionality of the work, would be requisite...BUT, in an industry that is continually being redefined due to it's embryonic nature, establishing some measurable key indicators towards craftsmanship, moves us towards professional maturity...Would you really go to a surgeon who didn't go to medical school?! <HAHA in advance for those who say you would!>”

I love this kind of feedback because it reaffirms for me that we do have a VERY conscious base of fitness professionals out there. Hopefully, this forum will become a place and space of support for our industry’s growth and development. As evidenced by this post, you can reply here, or at the Anatomatrix Fitness page on Facebook. Just click on the name for the link.

Vince Metzo's Focus on Flexibility Workshop

When I first began in this industry, I often saw personal trainers taking their clients through a myriad of, what often looked liked, painful stretches, particularly around the shoulder. It wasn’t until I received some hands-on training regarding flexibility that I began to fully appreciate the skill set required to truly give my client a flexibility session that would be both therapeutic and relaxing.


Vince Metzo’s FCES workshop does just that, it teaches the requisite skill sets to be successful at truly helping our clientele. Even if you’re not a personal trainer, you might VERY SERIOUSLY want to take this course if only to learn more about your body and most certainly to learn WHAT THE HELL that personal trainer’s are doing at the end of a session.
Now that I’m in the know, I have to tell ya, a lot of those personal trainers are actually hurting people, and what used to look like painful stretching, was in fact that very thing. Go to the class, check it out, and if you like what you see, tell ‘em Anatomatrix Fitness sent you!

Click on the youtube.com link below for a preview, or go directly to the site to register by clicking on the title link above.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaXZSqMrYfI

What is Third Party Accreditation?

Many of you have emailed asking what 3rd party accreditation is, and what it's about. I've taken the time to post an excerpt about the NCCA, the organization that governs 3rd party accreditation within the Health & Wellness Industry. If you'd like to know more about the organization, simply click on the title, and you will be redirected to the appropriate page. I hope this helps to bring some light to this very important issue within our industry.

"The National Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCCA) was created in 1987 by ICE to help ensure the health, welfare, and safety of the public through the accreditation of a variety of certification programs/organizations that assess professional competence. Certification programs that receive NCCA Accreditation demonstrate compliance with the NCCA’s Standards for the Accreditation of Certification Programs, which were the first standards for professional certification programs developed by the industry."

AFAA Personal Fitness Trainer Certification v4 Workshop & Examination

August 27-29, 2010 

Friday- 1 p.m.-9:30 p.m.

Saturday & Sunday 8 a.m.-6 p.m.

The Real All Natural Gym
163 South 11th Street

Lindenhurst, NY

Instructor: Earnest L. Hudson, Jr., MS, CSCS, CES, PES

Change Comes Through Self-Reflection

"Our greatest fear is not that we are inadequate, our greatest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure." It is the conscious realization that we haven't any valid excuse to not present our greatness. We habitually lie to ourselves and the world, creating excuses as to "why we can't." We fear looking this truth directly in the eye...NO MORE!...On this day, claim the GREATNESS that lies before us!...What will you do to make you feel GREAT today?!!!