Lisa Johnson’s post about her concerns about the certification of the 2 new trainers added into the Biggest Loser TV Show ran on this blog. I thought it was crucially important and pretty interesting.
Professional that she is, Lisa was able to snag an interview with both new trainers for the show and talk to them about the show and about their background. This is but an excerpt of sections of her interview and you should check out her entire post ..
I had the chance today to speak with Cara Castronuova, one of the new trainers for “The Biggest Loser.” I write for AOL’s That’s Fit which allows me access to group calls where a bunch of reporters pile on and each asks one or two questions.
< Cara Castronuova I usually hang back and listen to the other reporters before I jump in, but today I went second. My two questions: What are your certifications?
Do you have any prior experience working with the morbidly obese?
Certifications
Cara may or may not know about the post I wrote last month where I discussed how I couldn’t find any certifications for her listed anywhere online. This is unusual; if you’re a personal trainer, you want people to find about you and know your training so they hire you. Cara answered that she was formerly a licensed boxing coach with USA Boxing, is current on her New York state boxing license, and has an International Sports Sciences Association (ISSA) certification for personal training.
I checked with Bob Choat, a fabulous fitness expert and a retired Marine boxer. His response to the boxing licensing was, “That means she’s gone through extensive qualifications and training to be able to get licensed.” My response back to him was, “Phew.”
An interesting note here: Bob mentioned you have to be licensed to teach boxing in most states, meaning you have to register with the state in order to do business. But for personal training, someone only needs to be certified and doesn’t need to register with anyone. Technically, you don’t even need to be certified either (since no one has oversight); you can just “declare it so” and go find clients.
As for the ISSA personal training cert, Cara picked this up on September 2nd, I’m guessing just before the show started shooting. This is an online-only certification featuring 50 multiple choice and 50 true/false questions. This means she didn’t have to prove her skills and knowledge in front of a live tester who could evaluate her ability to train clients in a gym. The ISSA has pretty decent material, but I am always really bothered by people who don’t have to take a practical exam. The practical for my Pilates certification was two hours long and that doesn’t include the two-hour written test. This four hours exam was for my third level of training; there were also exams for both mat and reformer training.
BUT …
I’m a certified Pilates instructor. I had a low-level personal training certification a million years ago that I let expire. The Pilates certification is 500 hours and a lot of blood, sweat, tears, and money. It pales in comparison to a weekend personal training certification or an online certification. Most instructors take about two years to get the full certification. And all that being said, I’m seriously thinking about acquiring the ACSM personal training certification just so if anyone asks I can say, yes, I am a certified personal trainer.
As a side note, I watched about 30 minutes of Brett Hoebel, the other new trainer on the show, cueing exercises on YouTube clips, and I was impressed. He kept focused on form, breath, and varied his cues a lot. He also used visual and tactile cues to help people into good form. All good stuff there.
Working with the Morbidly Obese
Cara and Brett both said they had never worked with a population like this before. I would imagine a boxing club doesn’t get a lot of people at this weight. Cara pointed out that “not one page” of what she learned from her certifications prepared her for working with this group, and that she and Brett both got help and support from the seasoned staff of “The Biggest Loser.”
The entire post is more than what I have shown here. You should read it. The producers should read it because this cast of reality contestants are the most obese yet and thus have the most risk.
Stevie Wilson, LA-Story.com
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