The Best Personal Trainer Certification? [Part 3]

Specialized Certifications for Personal Trainers & Strength Coaches:PICP

I just took the Poliquin International Certification Program (PICP) level 1Strength Coach Certification in New York City ($650, 3 days).  It wasreally good information.

I learned about the certification through a mentor, Joe Dowdell. I trust hisopinion because he is very committed to continuing education and has takenpretty much every respectable certification.

Charles Poliquin is a famous strength coach who has trained more Olympiansthan any other strength coach I can think of  (except maybe MikeBoyle).

If you read Part. 1 of this series, you know that there are a lot of goodcertifications out there, and there is no one best certification for everyone.It all depends on who you want to work with and your path to owning a personal training business.

But, if you want to work with athletes to increase performance, thiscertification is up there with the NSCA’s C.S.C.S. and the Athlete’sPerformance mini-internship (both of which I have taken, and honestly, eventhough NSCA is the most respected, I feel like I got more practical knowledgefrom  Poliquin and Athlete’s Performance.)

There are several things that I loved about this certification, and a coupleof things that I think could be improved.

Pros The level 1 strength coach certification focuses on manipulating acutetraining variable (sets, reps, tempo, and rest) for highly effective programdesign.  These may seem like basics, but no other certification covers itlike Poliquin.  It’s amazing how few people really understand how tomanipulate time under tension, tempo, and rest for specific goals andsports.  They also emphasize creating precise descriptions of everyexercise, to ensure the most amount of variation and adaptation (Squat vsBarbell Back Squat Shoulder Width Stance). I loved how much research theyprovided as evidence, although they could have done a better job summarizingit.  I have found that the best certifications specialize in onearea.  (Too many certifications try to be a jack of all trades, and end upbeing a master of none.) The information easily transfers to practicalapplication, and is applicable to your general population clients. If youwant to learn program design, in particular for power, strength, or fat loss,this certification is great. They provide a good methodology and protocol fortesting maximal strength, although somewhat incomplete (see below).  Basedon this test, they provide a nice formula, based on studies, for assessing thebalance of strength throughout the upper body.  (Ex. If you lift xxx onthe bench press, you should be able to do 8rm of external rotation with 8.6% ofthat bench press weight, and if you can’t there is an imbalance etc). Thecourse instructors were friendly, knowledgeable, and generous with theirattention. You have to take a test before being admitted to the class, inaddition to a test at the end.  I like this!  Only committed trainersshow up, and they show up with a good understanding of the basic material, sonobody asks stupid questions. Cons One of the instructors didn’t understandBASIC biomechanics.  Either that, or we had a major miss communication.Some of the pictures in the manual were misleading and/or confusing. The littledemo on stretching was a waste of time at best, and misleading at worst. Stick to what you are good at, leave the stretching to certifications thatfocus on that! We were quizzed on Cluster Training and German Body training,which is very cool stuff, but we only glossed over it during the lecture. I would like to have spent more time on these specific programs, but there is alot of good info about them online too. Some of the topics in the manual couldbe worded better.  Initially, they do an ok job of defining the differentstrength qualities (limit strength, maximal strength, absolute strength, speedstrength, strength endurance), but aren’t as clear when they refer to thesequalities later on in the manual. They were clearly negligent and not followingtheir own methodology when they chose a trainer to demonstrate the 1rm testingprotocol for the bench press.  The specifically chose someone who appearedto be out of structural alignment, and then tested him to his limit, withoutever asking him if he has been working out consistently for the last 12 weeks(which is their own protocol). Furthermore, they should change their protocoland ask what kind of workout has been done over the last 12 weeks, because aperson could be working out for 12 weeks and still not be ready for a 1rm benchpress.  RULE # 1 in personal training is do no harm.  The trainercame in the next day and couldn’t participate in certain lifts, and myunderstanding was that he had joint pain, not just muscular soreness.  Notcool and not necessary.  I later talked to another trainer who said he wasinjured in a PICP certification.

You may read this last part and say “Whoa, no way am I doing thiscertification” but I think you should reconsider, it is a very valuablecertification, just know your own limits and don’t do anything you think isrisky (and keep the ego in check!  I know it is hard when there are othertrainers around).

We all had to do a 1rm test to get experience; I chose the pull up because Iam a rock climber.  I was able to do 1 pull-up with 90lbs loaded on me,chin over bar.  There are several exercises to choose from, so you shouldbe able to find one you are comfortable with, and if not, you can and shouldpass.

Biomechanics

Regarding the biomechanics issue, one of the instructors mentioned he does 1and ¼ reps on bench press with girls with the ¼ rep at the top of the motion,because this part of the motion overloads the triceps and girls care about theback of their arms looking good.

Totally cool with me.  This instructor had mentioned that he is veryprecise in tracking his programs and exercises, so I asked was if he evermanipulated their intention on the bar to overload their triceps also?

In other words, you can push out against the friction of the barbell withyour triceps, your hands aren’t going to move, but the line of force caused bythe friction, when combined with the line of force of the barbell (gravity)creates a resultant with a different line of force that changes the forceangle’s at the axes of rotation of the shoulder joint and elbow joint. (Not atypo, axes is the plural of axis. Who knew?)

With intention, you can make the lowest part of bench press harder for thetriceps, and the top part harder for the chest.  Can you do this and stilllift maximal weight? No!  Can you just lift a barbell with only yourtriceps? No!  But that was not my question.

His response was “I would love for you to come do chest with me sometime” asif who could bench the most would settle who knew the most (It doesn’t,duh).

Whoa there cowboy, first off, I was just asking a question, second off, Iwould be honored to workout with you because you know a lot, even if you don’tunderstand basic biomechanics, and thirdly, you are welcome to do one of myempire state building stair workouts with me.  I can get up 86 flights inUNDER 15minutes, I would love to watch your face as you try and keep up,although to do that I would have to slow down, and slow ain’t my stylebuddy.  Either way, neither of these workouts would settle anything, I wasjust trying to learn from his perspective without losing my perspective.

His final response was “Yeah, you could probably do that, but why not justdo a triceps exercise instead of modifying a bench press?”  Really, didn’twe start this conversation because you said you liked modifying a bench presswith 1 and ¼ reps to hit the triceps more?  Sheesh!  I wasn’t goingto push, because it wasn’t a seminar about biomechanics and I didn’t want to beone of those trainers who take over a lecture to prove their point. Anyway, this instructor has a lot of potential, but he is young andtesty!  I liked him to say the least

I hope you enjoyed this post, and will consider this certification. Also, if you want to be able to rip apart knowledgeable instructors, textbooks, and pretty much everyone else in the gym about biomechanics or exercisemechanics, you should strongly consider the Resistance Training Specialistcertification.

What is your favorite certification? Why?  What information helped youpick a certification?  Is there any topic you want to learn about inparticular?  Would you take the PICP certification?

Until next time, keep your business fit.

Johnny Fitness

PersonalTrainingBusiness

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