I finally finished my Personal Training textbook :) Why is it that the first and last chapters or so of textbooks are always the most painful? I mean that last chapter was long and boring and filled with all kinds of crap you just know you will never EVER use in your career. I don't mind it so much at the beginning ... I'm definitely a "get it over with quickly" type of person. Put it up front and then dive into the good stuff. And the majority of it was great stuff !! You know you're walking down the right path when the material you’re studying is fascinating to you and you're pretty sure you'd read it either way, just for fun.
I gotta say though, I sure did learn a heck of a lot. Well, I guess that is kind of the point isn't it ?? So now all that's left is the final exam. I will take a week or so to review the material, since it's been some time since I read the early chapters, and then perhaps take a shot at the practice exam before I attempt the real deal.
The exam itself is done online at my leisure, which is awesome, and it’s open book and un-timed. When I tell people this they find it very odd, and I suppose those feelings are justified. I've even had people ask me why I don't just go ahead and write it ... if there's no time limit and I can have the text right there in front of me (and the magic of Google), I could have in all likelihood written and passed the exam almost immediately after signing up for the course. Well call me crazy, but I actually WANT to learn the material. The thought of putting a person's health and well-being in my hands without being fully trained and qualified scares the shit out of me. I'm sure there are people out there that go through life that way, but I ain't one of them. Perhaps my past careers as Accountant and Real Estate Agent taught me a thing or two about ethics.
Naturally the course itself does have deterrents to this type of behaviour. There are 33 chapters in total, and there is an online quiz you must complete for each one. They are graded instantly and provide immediate feedback, and although the tests do not count towards your final grade, you must complete them before you are granted access to the exam. There are 2 sections on the final, the first consisting of multiple choice and true and false questions. The second section includes illustrated multiple-choice and matching questions, 2 Case Studies and 6 long essay questions.
Maybe writing the exam early isn’t as easy as it sounds. Even with the book and no time limit, long essay questions and case studies would take forever. It’s been years since I’ve written an exam, so to say I’m nervous is an understatement. Plus letting everyone know in my blog adds a wee bit of pressure ;)
I get the results of my exam within a few days after writing, then I suppose it’s time to find a job and start training !! Ideally I’d like a mix of doing some training at a gym and some on my own, right here in my condo if I can manage. From what I’ve heard getting clients is actually easier than you might think - fingers crossed :)
In other news … I started a running program last week, in an effort to get me motivated to get out there and exercise more. I have no intention of running a marathon, or even a 10K, though I do run this far on a regular basis now. No offense to all the runners out there, but I don’t want what I like to refer to as a “runner’s body”. When I see marathon runners I see very thin people. And this may sound odd coming from a soon-to-be Personal Trainer, but I like my curves !! I really do think there is such a thing as too skinny, and the typical marathon runner, in my opinion, is too skinny. I give them total props for all the hard work it must take to train for these events, but it just doesn’t interest me in the least.
The program I signed up for is with Nike+ online. I have this gadget that plugs into my iPod with a receiver that goes directly into my running shoes, and it monitors how far I’ve run, calories burned etc. I then download my runs right onto the Nike site, where there are competitions, training programs, and all others sorts of cool stuff I can access online. I chose a 12 week, 10K training program. It schedules between 3 and 4 runs per week, starting with 11 miles per week and working up to 24 miles in a week, including running hills, intervals and sprints. Yes, I meant miles there, even though it’s a 10K training program. Don’t ask. Should be fun in the July and August Toronto heat :-0
Wish me luck :)
dint understand anything..........
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