Need info on personal training

[Nathan]

Since I can't figure out what to do with myself this upcoming year school-wise, I figure maybe I'll get my PT certification and try to make a little money at that fo a while to pay back some loans. Does anyone have any good links? I understand I can do most of it online but will have to take some tests or some crap. Anyways, remember that I'm in Canada. Thanks for your help team.

 

[gymrat]

I'm looking into ISSA right now. I understand that they are pretty recognized and respected, even in Canada.

www.issaonline.com

 

[Nathan]

I'm looking into ISSA right now. I understand that they are pretty recognized and respected, even in Canada.

www.issaonline.com

I was told about them as well. Could you explain to me how it works and how long it would take to start working an making some money?

 

[AAP]

Want to know the best route for the most bucks?

Get an ACE PT cert. Before anyone laughs and says ACE is not all that good, the point is that you don't care if it is or not.

Once you have the ACE, look into classes in your area for becoming a Medical Exercise Specialist. They teach the class here. It is 10 weeks, 2 afternoons per week.

Once you finish the class, you get a certified (easy - no test) and then you are able to work on referals from physical therapists and doctors. The best thing about it is that you can bill insurance companies for this time. Anywhere from $90-$125 per half hour. No need to even go to a gym. You go to the clients house or they come to yours. All you need is a portable heat/ice pack ($40), small swiss ball ($25), theraband "cable" things ($40) and those stress relief balls that you squeeze. ($5).

You can even work directly in a physical therapist office if you don't want to travel to clients home (but you lose the $15 travel fee) or if you don't want clients coming to you. However, the PT will take about 20% of your fee in exchange for allowing you to use the office. The good part here is - you have an official office environment to see patients, you have all supplies for you there, no driving in traffic, insurance is billed automatically by the office personnel, plus the PT's will give you referals from their own patients so you have a source of patients to work with. The only downside is you have to give them 20% ($20-$35) per patient you see. Which is not a bad trade off.

 

[gymrat]

I was told about them as well. Could you explain to me how it works and how long it would take to start working an making some money?

All the basic info you need is on their website. You pay them x amount of dollars, they send you a book, you take a test. that's it.

I think.

 

[Boulder257]

Hey AAP...that's interesting, I have never heard about that. I think I am going to look into it. For the rest, I am certified by ISSA and you can start your classes online right away.

 

[gymrat]

Hey AAP...that's interesting, I have never heard about that. I think I am going to look into it. For the rest, I am certified by ISSA and you can start your classes online right away.

Do they mail you a text book and othe rmaterial? Or is all the material online?

 

[Boulder257]

Both, they mail everything to you, but you can start immediately because it is all online as well.

 

[chewyxrage]

Want to know the best route for the most bucks?

Get an ACE PT cert. Before anyone laughs and says ACE is not all that good, the point is that you don't care if it is or not.

Once you have the ACE, look into classes in your area for becoming a Medical Exercise Specialist. They teach the class here. It is 10 weeks, 2 afternoons per week.

Once you finish the class, you get a certified (easy - no test) and then you are able to work on referals from physical therapists and doctors. The best thing about it is that you can bill insurance companies for this time. Anywhere from $90-$125 per half hour. No need to even go to a gym. You go to the clients house or they come to yours. All you need is a portable heat/ice pack ($40), small swiss ball ($25), theraband "cable" things ($40) and those stress relief balls that you squeeze. ($5).

You can even work directly in a physical therapist office if you don't want to travel to clients home (but you lose the $15 travel fee) or if you don't want clients coming to you. However, the PT will take about 20% of your fee in exchange for allowing you to use the office. The good part here is - you have an official office environment to see patients, you have all supplies for you there, no driving in traffic, insurance is billed automatically by the office personnel, plus the PT's will give you referals from their own patients so you have a source of patients to work with. The only downside is you have to give them 20% ($20-$35) per patient you see. Which is not a bad trade off.

Wow and all the other threads about this said it was deadend job.

Thanks for that info. I take it you personally experienced all this?
How hard was it to find a job..etc? Please give some more info on this because i was thinking of going the PT route but I was discouraged from others experiences.....

 

[gymrat]

Both, they mail everything to you, but you can start immediately because it is all online as well.

what is involved in the course? I thought it was just a bunch of reading, then a test.

thanks for your info.

 

[AAP]

Wow and all the other threads about this said it was deadend job.

Thanks for that info. I take it you personally experienced all this?
How hard was it to find a job..etc? Please give some more info on this because i was thinking of going the PT route but I was discouraged from others experiences.....

I think Personal Training is not a good job or career move. However, personal training certification is the way to get your foot in the door regarding Medical Exercist Specialist and Orthep Rehab Asst. This is where insurance billing lies.

No, I have no direct experience in this. My friend who just died, he was the one I was going to build my new business venture this year around. This was going to be the business and services I planned on offering. Doing Insurance billing. He was proficient in medical massage, neuromuscular work and myofascial release. I was going to hire another medical massge therapist to work with him and 2 personal trainers to do the Medical Exercise Specialist. The new class is starting in March, runs 10 weeks. I was going to send the two new guys to this class and have them become certified.

My strong points and reason why I felt my business would succed inspite of me not doing any of the actual work was that I had connections with hundreds of doctors. Since my company deals in doctors every single day, I have met and made acquaintances with many of them. They have all told me that they have dozens and dozens of patients to send to a therapist or medical exercise specialist, only that it is very hard to find therapists or MES's that do insurance billing. And not many patients want to pay out of their pockets. So, it is a virtually untapped market there. The patient still has a co-pay of $10-$20, but you bill the insurance company the remainder. The average service is about $105. Not bad for half hour work. And you NEVER go below $90. The is market fee minimum.

I have found that if you do 3 insurance billings per day you can make over $90,000 annually. Not bad for only 1 hour worth of work per day. However, you hook up with a good doctor (ask your own doctor for referals, or doctors within your HMO network), or if you hook up with a Physical Therapist who is well known in the community and has a thriving business, you can do 5-7 patients per day.

 

[gymrat]

what is involved in the course? I thought it was just a bunch of reading, then a test.

thanks for your info.

bump

 

[theoak01]

www.canfitpro.com

this is the fastest way,will cost about 500 in total,I was going to do it but they arent having a class in my town this year,you could be certified in 5-6months depending on exams and class dates

 

[Boulder257]

The majority is reading. Then there is an interactive CD that you use, then a video that you watch. After that, you take the test which consists of 100 short answer essays, 10 essays, and 10 special projects. It is anything but easy, and incredibly informative.

 

[gymrat]

The majority is reading. Then there is an interactive CD that you use, then a video that you watch. After that, you take the test which consists of 100 short answer essays, 10 essays, and 10 special projects. It is anything but easy, and incredibly informative.

Thanks for the info. I'll hit you up with some karma when I recharge.

Cheers