Would you let a doctor who barely got a C in med school operate on you?
Would you let a doctor who is going to get training to be a surgeon, operate on you now, even though he is enrolling in December?
Answers are, probably not.
Welcome to the beautiful land of credentials.
People are not stupid. They want to trust professionals to know what they’re doing. They want to see degrees, certificates, and a resume to prove that you are worthy and educated enough to help them.
As I continued creating my website and really getting down to the facts, it dawned on me that I was missing a very important aspect. I don’t have any accolades pertaining to fitness at all except my actual body. Great.
As much research, experimenting and time I have put into getting to know the body and proper workout routines it means almost nothing without a paper certifying that I know these things.
Furthermore, it is illegal to give specific nutritional advice without being a registered RNA or a nutritionist. Three quick blows that flew over my head. I (on paper) am not credible.
I think when creating a business that gives some sort of consulting or recommendations, you have to very aware of the law and the limitations that it brings you. You also have to be aware of yourself and what you are legally able to do. You could be capable of exceeding your limitations but that does not mean you are allowed too.
Most people would brush things under the rug and hope that they never get caught. They would continue giving advice because some customers will assume that they know what they are doing without googling or researching them before.
Take Dr. Love for example. An 18-year-old, whose real name is Malachi Love-Robinson, from Florida who posed as a doctor. Love not only had his own practice and website but had actual patients he was prescribing things too.
Dr. Love has no formal medical training at all. This man was treating patients with no credentials, no education in medicine and had his own practice (insane). Although, Dr. Love did have certification from the American Association of Drugless Practitioners, that did not give him any right to be treating patients.
In various interviews Dr. Love, very deceptively, said he believed that he was a doctor and that everything nothing he did was illegal. He wiggled out of questions, found loop holes in the health system, and kept his innocence throughout the entire ordeal.
Eventually Dr. Love got arrested (again) and received the reprimands he deserved.
But how many undercover Dr. Loves are there in the world? People who are finding tiny holes the system and twisting it to be in their favor right under your nose. I cannot be the Dr. Love of fitness (or anything associated with fallacies.)
So December, after I graduate, I will be enrolling in 2 programs one for Personal Training and one for Fitness Nutrition. Both provided by the ISSA, these certifications will help me understand health better and will allow me to better assist people.
As for right now, I can still give advice but it can only be general or recommendations. One of my nutrition professors, Jennifer Fleming, explained to me that I can direct customers to helpful website and use industry standards like the food pyramid. I can also give people recipes or try to direct them in the right path.
Originally this is not what I wanted to do but I had to adjust my program accordingly. As for workout plans, I can give out what I do but I have to disclose my lack of certification, my discretion pertaining to possible injuries and disclosing that doing these workouts will not guarantee anything.
Coming from a journalist perspective, we call this transparency.
I am not opaque.
I am not professionally trained in anything, my understanding of fitness has been learned through me and my own research. I do not want to fool, con or "Dr. Love" anyone into thinking I am a certified trainer or nutritionist because I am not, yet.
We all may think we know what is best to how to help others, but in this world you need to prove it on paper. I have made 3 pages on my website fully disclosing who I am, where I get my information and how my customers can also find this information. I want people to trust me, and trust that I have their best interest in mind. I don’t have a Bachelor’s in fitness or health and I am not specialized.
I am however committed to expanding my knowledge of fitness, committed to my responsibility to give the public factual information and I am committed to never lying to myself or to you.
I am translucent.
Song- Difference (Cudelsac)
“I rather die the truth; these people live a lie”
- Childish Gambino
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