"It is truly a buyer-beware (industry), and in order to do that, it's buyer, be aware," said Steven Loy, professor of kinesiology at California State University, Northridge, and regional director for the American College of Sports Medicine.
Trainers come with all levels of education, experience and certification, and it's up to the prospective health club or gym member to find out how qualified a trainer is before signing up for sessions that can top $70 an hour.
A researcher in the Exercise Physiology Research Laboratory at the University of California, Los Angeles, said that, of trainers recently studied, only a minority passed a test of fitness knowledge. Even trainers with five or more years of experience fared poorly, getting an average of only 44 percent correct. Those with less experience averaged 42 percent.
"There's a misconception that people who have more years of experience know more about personal training and exercise physiology," said Mo Malek, the researcher who conducted the study.
And that lack of knowledge can increase the risk of injury to clients and the financial risk to the health clubs that have been attracting rising numbers of Americans. In 1999, the number of clubs in the nation topped an all-time high of 15,300, serving upward of 10 million members.
"Over the last 10 years of research that we looked at, there's been an increase in health and fitness, but there's also been an increase in the number of lawsuits against personal trainers for negligence," Malek said.
In the study, 115 personal trainers across the Inland Empire filled out a questionnaire on nutrition, health screening, fitness-testing protocols, exercise prescriptions and dealing with special needs, such as a trainee's chronic illness or disability.
The study, whose results were published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research's issue for the first quarter of 2002, showed that a college degree or certification by a top-notch organization is a better gauge of fitness knowledge than experience, Malek said.
Those with at least a bachelor's degree in kinesiology or exercise science averaged 68 percent on the test, while others averaged 37 percent.
Only 19 percent of the studied trainers had a fitness-related degree, while 11 percent were certified by the American College of Sports Medicine or the National Strength and Conditioning Association.
Trainers who had both a fitness-related degree and one of the certifications averaged 85 percent on the knowledge test.
Some other certifications -- as by the American Council on Exercise -- can also provide some level of comfort about a trainer's knowledge, Loy said.
But educators warn that getting many certifications requires little more than taking a test on the certifying company's Web site and may be a poor indicator of the trainer's knowledge or skills.
"There are some that you can literally pay through the mail and get a certification," Malek said.
On the other hand, consumers may be looking more for someone with the personality to motivate them -- a workout companion who also discusses the events of the day with them -- than for a trainer with encyclopedic knowledge of physiology.
"Before I pick a personal trainer, I see how they work with other people," said Roger McCoy, a 35-year-old aircraft inspector from Woodland Hills. "They push you beyond what you would normally do."
Looks as well as an inspiring personality are a big part of the equation, said McCoy, who never has worried about whether his two trainers had a degree or certification.
"You obviously don't want a personal trainer who's a slob," McCoy said as he did a bench press at Tanny's Personal Fitness in Woodland Hills. "You just look at them, and if they look good and they haven't taken steroids or anything like that, they obviously know what they're doing."
Loy said that upscale clubs are more likely to impose rigorous education or certification requirements on their trainers, who typically get about half of the fee that clients pay to the clubs for their hourlong sessions.
At the Spectrum Club in Canoga Park, representative Lynn Eriks said trainers must pass a three-page exam and be certified by the National Academy of Sports Medicine and the National Council of Exercise Professionals, which is run by the 10-club chain's training director.
"We do not accept anybody unless they have a college degree or they have a certification," Eriks said.
At the Mid-Valley Racquetball and Athletic Club in Reseda, Jim Mara, a trainer for 13 years, is an exercise specialist certified by the American College of Sports Medicine and received a degree in kinesiology from California State University, San Bernardino.
"I believe there's 256 different certifications that you can get, but there are only four governing bodies that I would truly recommend," Mara said, listing those as the American College of Sports Medicine, the National Strength and Conditioning Association, the American Council on Exercise and the Calabasas-based National Academy of Sports Medicine.
Those organizations require either a fitness-related degree or extensive course work and testing for the trainers they certify, Mara said, while others may require only a one-weekend or even a one-day seminar.
Clubs sometimes pay trainers more money if they possess a degree or certain certification.
At Mid-Valley, the general manager, Harold Wright, pays trainers like Mara half of the $50 that members pay for an hour's session because they have a certificate from NASM or ACSM, which they renew annually, or because they are college graduates in physical education or related fields like exercise physiology.
"If you go on the Internet, you can take the test and your buddy is sitting right next to you, answering questions. That's a joke," Wright said. "We're not interested in having somebody with Internet certification."
Until they get certification, new trainers -- or those who have let their certifications lapse -- are allowed only to work the floor for $18 an hour, helping orient new members to the club's equipment and programs.
On the other hand, McCoy said pickiness about a trainer's qualifications "depends on how much you want to pay." After paying $35 to $50 an hour for a trainer's motivation and camaraderie, he realized that some of those times "I could have just used a weight-lifting partner."
Loy cautioned that formal education and certification are no guarantees that a trainer will be able to do the job -- or that lacking them is proof of incompetence.
"If you don't have certification, it doesn't mean that you don't know your stuff," Loy said. "And certainly having knowledge, if you cannot motivate someone, may be ineffective."