By Molka BenHammouda, Contributing Writer
West Liberty University started a personal training program last semester. The program was going pretty well, and that’s why they decided to keep it and advertise for it for this spring semester.
Currently, there are three trainers working in this program. Being a personal trainer is a part of their studies and what they want to do in the future. Miranda Snell, one of the trainers said, “I decided to be a personal trainer because I thought it would be really good job experience in the field of exercise physiology which is what I am majoring in.”
Dalton Bobes, another trainer, said, “I chose to be a personal trainer because it is what I am interested in as a career after college.”
Their job is not easy. They need to do a lot of work in order to get to know the people they are training and their objectives. They also keep up with them every week.
“When we meet up for a session a workout is written out that is catered to their needs and goals and take them through the workout while teaching them correct technique,” Snell said. “Then, based on if they want me to or not, I will tell them what I recommend they do on the days we don’t meet up in order to keep working toward their goals.”
Trainers are learning a lot through the experience. “I am learning that I really do enjoy training people and that everyone has their own pace so you have to approach it a new way each time,” Bobes said.
Snell also said, “I may have to change my plans entirely because someone either has more trouble than I thought, or is way stronger than I knew.”
The program is working well.
“We are trying to get feedback from the students by the end of the semester to see what was good and what went wrong and grow on it for the next year,” said Kate Billings, Campus Activities Coordinator.
She added, “We want to make more formal partnerships with different departments, maybe we can set up an internship or some hours that students can use to be personal trainers on this program.”
