|
 The District of Columbia, whose residents are generally fitter
than the rest of the country, is set to adopt the United States'
first regulations on trainers, following a law passed by the city
council last year. It named an obscure city regulatory panel, the
Board of Physical Therapy, to develop rules for trainers who help
guide exercise aficionados through their stretching, weightlifting
and crunches.
The board is set to vote on the new standards on Sept. 22. After a
30-day period for public comment followed by possible revisions, the
rules would take effect.
Backers of regulation say consumers need protection against
unqualified trainers and problems that can range from injury to
sexual misconduct. Opponents reject the move as government meddling
in an innovative business.
The effort "is first in the nation and it's going to set precedent
for the industry," said Phillip Godfrey, a medical exercise
specialist who has long tracked the District law on trainers.
Opponents also worry that Board of Physical Therapy rules will drive
up costs for clients and eat into health club profits.
"Personal training is the biggest profit center in health clubs -
hire a kid at $12 an hour and charge $40," said Sal Arria, the
president of the National Board of Fitness Examiners, a non-profit
which offers its own certification standards for trainers.
Washington would seem to be a perfect place to test fitness rules.
Its streets are alive with joggers and people toting rolled-up
workout mats and it was rated the fittest U.S. city in May by the
American College of Sports Medicine and the Anthem Foundation.
Labor Department figures show there were 241,000 fitness trainers
and aerobics instructors in the United States in May 2014.
Washington and its Virginia and Maryland suburbs ranked No. 3 among
metropolitan areas with 5,850.
INJURIES, SEXUAL MISCONDUCT
Since they have no central certifying body, U.S. trainers can get
credentials from dozens of competing organizations, said David
Herbert, a Canton, Ohio, lawyer and expert on exercise liability
law.
 Though regulatory efforts have failed in up to 20 states, Herbert
said that the industry had tightened standards in recent decades.
The number of agencies issuing credentials has shrunk from as many
as 400, he said.
"There's been reports of cats and dogs getting certifications
through some kind of system," Herbert said jokingly. "Most of that
is gone."
Washington's city council passed a law in 2014 ordering trainers to
register with the city. It let the physical therapy panel set the
rules that are due to take effect later this year.
Senora Simpson, the therapy board's chairwoman, testified before the
council about anecdotal reports of sexual misconduct, injuries and
misrepresentation by trainers. They also were often confused with
physical therapists, she said.
[to top of second column] |
"Even used car dealers can be reported to someone when the clunker
fails," Simpson said.
An early proposal would have mandated that trainers have a four-year
degree, but exercise specialist Godfrey said the Board of Physical
Therapy seemed to have dropped that.
CREDENTIALS CLASH
The question of who can work as a personal fitness trainer has
brought a clash over standards. Opponents of a city-created set of
rules for trainers include the CrossFit gym company while supporters
include a consortium of licensing associations called the Coalition
for the Registration of Exercise Professionals.
Graham Melstrand, the CREP's board president, said his group had
sought adoption of uniform regulatory standards in 10 states over
the last five or six years.
"We want to be present at the table and hope that when these rules
are crafted that they become a win-win for the local consumers and
for those exercise professionals that would help them out," he said.
CrossFit contends the city's new standards would strip its ability
to certify its own trainers.
"You're just looking at a land grab by a few agencies who are really
struggling with being competitive," said Nicole Carroll, the
company's director of certification.
Opponents of Washington's move point to a White House paper in July
that said a quarter of U.S. workers already needed a license to do
their jobs. They also say that regulations should be designed by
trainers instead of by physical therapists.
The regulations come as the U.S. gym industry is booming, according
to the International Health, Racquet and Sportsclub Association, an
industry group.
The United States had 34,460 health clubs at mid-year, up 28 percent
in a decade, and last year revenues were up 7.4 percent to $24.2
billion, association figures show.
Outside a Mint Health Club and Studio in downtown Washington, Cheryl
Arceneaux, a 51-year-old loan officer, said after a workout she
favored rules for personal trainers.
"I'd want that," Arcenaux said. "I wouldn't want them injuring you."
(Reporting by Ian Simpson; Editing by Scott Malone and Frances
Kerry)
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
