They say that if you're not growing, you may as well be dying. As harsh as that sounds it may be true. Especially when it comes to continuing education in the wellness space. Health, fitness, wellness, nutrition, medicine, mindset; all of those fields are constantly changing. We learn new things every day about the body that we live in and it takes time for that new understanding to filter out into the general population. Fitness and wellness professionals are a big part of how that information gets out. But only if we make an effort to go and collect it, curate it and then translate it to our peeps. Our population, our community. And in that process we can influence the health and wellbeing of our people in powerful ways while still staying within our scope of practice.
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It’s time to stop working out and start working IN. You found the Work IN podcast for fit-preneurs and their health conscious clients. This podcast is for resilient wellness professionals who want to expand their professional credibility, shake off stress and thrive in a burnout-proof career with conversations on the fitness industry, movement, nutrition, sleep, mindset, nervous system health, yoga, business and so much more.
I’m your host Ericka Thomas. I'm a resilience coach and fit-preneur offering an authentic, actionable realistic approach to personal and professional balance for coaches in any format.
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How to Maximize your credibility using continuing education
They say that if you're not growing, you may as well be dying. As harsh as that sounds it may be true. Especially when it comes to continuing education in the wellness space. Health, fitness, wellness, nutrition, medicine, mindset; all of those fields are constantly changing. We learn new things every day about the body that we live in and it takes time for that new understanding to filter out into the general population. Fitness and wellness professionals are a big part of how that information gets out. But only if we make an effort to go and collect it, curate it and then translate it to our peeps. Our population, our community. And in that process we can influence the health and wellbeing of our people in powerful ways while still staying within our scope of practice.
One of the ways we can do that is through continuing education. If you’re already a fitness professional you are familiar with your certification agency’s requirements. If you’re new to the wellness industry or you’re a curious connoisseur of health & fitness, the way it works is instructors study their little brains out in whatever format they want to teach, pay a bunch of money to take an exam, receive a certificate and then every 2-3 years we need to submit a certain number of continuing education credits. It varies depending on what your certification is. But usually something like 20-30 hours.
Continuing education serves 3 primary functions. The first is to give fit pro’s a way to expand and support their professional credibility with the latest understanding of information within their field. The second is that it allows you - the fit pro - to specialize within your field. Third, it gives you the opportunity to refresh, re-energize and refill your well.
You can find really cheap or free CEC’s in a pinch but back in the day you could expect to pay around 100$ per credit hour or more for in person options. Now, with all the online options available the costs vary wildly.
Last week my guest, Carri Uranga of Drishti yoga teacher training was here and we talked a lot about yoga certifications, that process, and the way sometimes we can get sucked into the certification collection as a way to procrastinate. She brought up some really great tips on what to look for in a certifications and I wanted to expand on that for you today.
I think for new instructors it can be a little overwhelming to try to keep up with all the credits you need to maintain your certification and balance that with how much money you make or don’t make whatever the case may be. I remember feeling a little panicked about it when the numbers didn’t seem to add up. Grab a pen and paper because today we’re going to create a checklist for continuing education that you can use hopefully even if you’re not a certified fit pro.
Number one
How many credits do you need? What are your requirements and how often do you need to recertify? Do you hold multiple certifications?
I held NSCA CPT for years and during that time, I had to pay attention to certain categories of cec’s. I finally let that certification go for several reasons.
- It was expensive to maintain
- The pre approved cec’s were very athlete specific and I worked mostly with non- athletes.
- I wasn’t actually earning any money as a personal trainer. Most of my income came from group fitness.
- Because I held multiple certs I needed my CEC’s to pull double duty.
Every true certification will require some kind of CEC’s in order to maintain it. You can use almost any training as continuing education. It’s much easier if they are already pre approved for your certifying agency but even if it’s not many of them will let you apply to use towards your credits. That’s not to say they will always be approved but you can try. If you’re savvy about it you can layer your continuing education in a way that it meets requirements for all the certifications you hold.
Number 2
Budget. Cost is a big player for most people. Especially if you’re independent. These days there are a lot of online options that can give you what you need for not a lot of money. Some employers also will bring in training for their instructors and will foot the bill or defray the cost.
Number 3
Time. How much time you have to complete your requirements and how much time you have to devote to them.
It’s far better to plan intentional training than it is to forget about it until it’s time to recertify and then scramble to get the credits(any credits) at the last minute. Been there, done that. But think about how you like to learn and how you could fit that into your lifestyle.
There were years when I was raising my kids that I simply couldn’t afford to take a whole weekend away from my family, plus travel plus accommodations plus the cost of the training itself. Before you know it you’ve dropped 1000$ on a 3 day training.
Today even 3 day training can be done from the comfort of your own home. I’ve done a couple now and there’s definitely good ways to do them and better ways.
Number 4
What is it you do with your certification? Who do you serve and how do you want to support them?
Having a clear understanding here can help guide your decision making process and prevents you from wasting money on education that you really can’t use. There’s nothing worse than dropping a bunch of money on training and the only thing you learned was what NOT to do.
I don’t know about you but I don’t like spending money on anything I can’t use. Same goes for CEC.
So with those for things as a foundation let’s dive into checklist mode on what to look for when you’re looking to fulfill those requirements. You know how many credits you need, you have a budget, you have a time frame and you know what type of training you’re interested in.
Here’s some questions to ask about the choices.
- Is this training pre- approved for CEC’s in your cert. Agency?
- Does it fit into your budget?
- If you carry multiple certifications, can you double dip? Ie: yoga training counts toward ACE group fit or group fit + health coach
- How does this training support or expand your professional credibility in what you already do? Or is this an area you want to expand into?
- We don’t have to be an expert in endocrinology to share how Vitamin D levels can affect hormone balance. That tiny nugget of information could be life changing for someone.
- There are a lot of supporting specialties to explore. Think about what your students ask you about a lot or what kinds of things you’re curious about.
- How will this training affect how you can charge for your experience?
- It’s easy to fall prey to imposter syndrome when it comes to money mindset
- All of your experience has value. Even when you first start out. If you don’t or won’t or can’t put a value on what you offer, no one else will.
- If there’s something that will add a lot of financial value to what you offer it might be worth the investment.
- Is this another certification that will require maintenance and how will that fit into your other requirements? Is it another step forward or is it a fork in the road?
- Does this training fulfill your own curiosity or depth and breadth of experience? Will it make your personal or professional life easier? In other words, is this something that will make you a better human being or serve as self care?
- These training sessions can be just as valuable in the long run and help prevent burnout.
- Think about retreats, business mastermind groups, hobbies, social or volunteer events.
We aren’t machines. Whether you’re a fit pro yourself or a professional fitness consumer, Growth is an important part of a resilient and fulfilling life. How you continue your education can be a tool to build your business, support your clients and renew yourself. IF you do it in a mindful and intentional way.
If you missed last week's podcast with Carri be sure to go back and check it out, she has a great perspective on this topic.
Thanks so much for joining me today on The Work IN. I’m so grateful for each and every one of you! I’d like to invite you to savagegracecoaching.com where you’ll find the show notes and links for today's episode and a very special free guide to HOLDING SPACE for instructors and anyone else who comes into questionable contact with other human beings. Holding space is just a fancy way to say co-regulation which is something we do all the time with other people without even realizing it. This is a pivotal part of my Kinetic Grace Integration trauma sensitive framework and it’s totally FREE. Just go over to Savagegracecoaching.com and click the banner at the top of the page or the pop up and it’s all yours! Feel free to browse around through any of the other free resources available there and when you’re ready, let’s connect. You can find me on social Facebook and Linkedin or reach out and schedule a free consult to explore how we can work together.