Whew, talking about exercise can be exhausting!
Friday, Saturday, and Sunday from 9-6 were spent sitting on a gym studio floor listening to AFAA certification specialist talk about teaching group exercise. There was some doing, teaching, and exam taking but it was a whole lot of sitting.
And it was in Richmond so each day I sat in the car for nearly 2.5 hours roundtrip. Ugh.
It was a good weekend though. Friday I participated in AFAA’s Primary Group Exercise certification course. I originally trained and was certified to teach group exercise in 2006 with 24 Hour Fitness. It was a great 4 day training and I went on to teach for them and take biannual workshops to remain certified, until I left the country in 2008.
When I applied to teach at gyms here in Charlottesville they said “where’s your current AFAA certification?” so I scooted off to Richmond. This is not to say that I don’t think it’s important to keep up with continuing education, I just found AFAA’s Primary Group X cert a little basic, even with the 400 page textbook you had to read beforehand. And yet if I hadn’t already taught for years it would have been way too much information, too fast. I am not exactly sure who it’s geared towards, most people in the training were already instructors.
Saturday was filled with Practical Yoga and Sunday with Practical Pilates. I have been practicing both yoga and Pilates for 12 years and have dabbled with teaching both of them. Having said this, I am against teachers taking one day workshops to qualify them to teach either of these super-detailed forms if they don’t also have years of personal experience and study. This is how students get hurt. This is how students continue to have poor form for years. This is what gives gym Pilates and yoga a bad name. And it’s insulting to the yoga and Pilates teachers who spend a lot of time and money to get trained to teach these forms.
It is my intention to continue to seek training in both yoga and Pilates but I also feel that with 12 years of experience (really longer, I used to hang out in the corner as a kid while my mom taught. I can still hear her yoga teacher voice….), extensive training in alignment from a lifetime of dancing (including earning a B.F.A from 4 years of daily training), and years of experience teaching dance and group exercise has prepared me to teach safe, effective, and creative classes. And this AFAA workshop cert tells an employer just that. 🙂
The workshops were held on the gorgeous University of Richmond. We didn’t get a lot of free time but I did manage a few lunch break runs and a morning walk/yoga session yesterday morning when I arrived a little early.
Campus is filled with arches, wooded walkways, and cathedrals
The lake was my favorite feature, especially the trail that led all the way around it.
I ran around the world!
This courtyard within the international center gives the lake a run for it’s money as my favorite spot!
Details everywhere
I am glad the weekends over (too much driving and sitting!) but I almost wish I had a few more days to wander around UR!
Happy Valentine’s Day!
I woke up to Valentine’s Day oats and coffee delivered to my bedside. 🙂
Now that’s how to do Monday morning! (Nope, that’s not my bedside, Tate took off for the clinic after delivering the goods so I got up)
We don’t have big plans today, a few patients this afternoon and preparation for our big Grand Opening this Saturday. It’s our 10th Valentines Day together! We were each others Valentines 11 and 12 years ago but we weren’t physically together for the day.
Celebrate the love and tell someone they hold a special place in your heart, be it romantic or otherwise.
♥ ♥ ♥
P.S If you are thinking of certifying with AFAA feel free to ask me more questions about my experience, I’d be happy to share!
Beautiful photos, Faith. Really beautiful.
Thanks so much Debbi! I’ve always loved photography and it’s so much fun to have a venue to share (and a reason to take!). Happy Valentine’s Day!
I literally just signed up to be certified in NASM…. I was terrified to commit to one certification, it’s a big investment and there are SO many. I chose NASM to keep my options open as far as employment but do you have any opinions about NASM or any of the other big ones like ACE and ACSM? Do you need a group fitness cert specifically to teach classes or can you still teach with a personal training cert?
I don’t have any personal experience with NASM, ACE, or ACSM, I just know that they are all well regarded in the industry. My Personal Training certs are from ISSA and AFPA. I was NOT very happy or impressed with ISSA but I was pleased with my training from AFPA. Sadly I think that most of these cert programs are kind of bogus, as in they don’t really reflect what you know or your ability to be a successful trainer. If time and money was not an option I think it would be amazing to do a PT training in a small group for like 100 hours or something.
Since PT and Group X certs are mainly required by gyms for insurance reasons I believe it would be fine with your employer to teach with a PT cert. Just know that a PT cert does NOT train you how to teach a group x class so unless you are a natural I would recommend a group x cert (or a whole lot of home practice).
Please keep me updated on your experience with NASM! Good Luck!
I have seriously been considering certifying as a personal trainer & would love to be able to teach cycling. I want wanted to pursue teaching yoga & pilates for a couple years now — I have a good background [especially in pilates], have been practicing for years & used it a lot as an injury & sports LMT but could definitely use specific training. I will surely be picking your brain on this!
You should totally do it! I would be happy to share with you any info I have from my personal experience with these career choices.