National Academy for Sports Medicine: Certified Personal Trainer

"We are different, in essence, from other men. If you want to enjoy something, run 100 meters. If you want to experience something, run a marathon." -- Emil Zátopek, the Greatest Olympic Runner of All Time

For years I have wanted to get my Certified Personal Trainer certification from National Academy of Sports Medicine.  (The NASM CPT for those of you into TLA’s and FLA’s.)  So, two years ago and some change, I enrolled in NASM’s Master trainer and studied for my first certification, the CPT.   I was happy that I had achieved something that I had wanted for years…..but I haven’t done anything with it to be honest.  Actually, I haven’t done all that much physically as well.

What I should really title this post is “I got lazy after achieving a goal and just fell off the face of the exercise planet”…now that is being honest. 😉

I bring all of this up as I was reminded this evening of how much I loved to exercise after I read the notification for a book I had put on the waiting list.  The book happened to be “Today We Die a Little!: The Inimitable Emil Zátopek, the Greatest Olympic Runner of All Time” by Richard Askwith.  One of the most memorable quotes by Emil is “We are different, in essence, from other men. If you want to enjoy something, run 100 meters. If you want to experience something, run a marathon.”

This single quote brought back so many fond memories of running not just for exercise, but for pleasure.  That is the reason I had a goal of getting my CPT along with other certifications to become a Master Trainer…..so that I could help others achieve or feel that same thing I did as a net result of exercise-during or after.  As you can imagine though, life took its toll and years later I haven’t fulfilled the promise of doing something with the certification let alone doing something with my own training…other than an occasional run.

Needless to say that there is always going to be a tomorrow which gives me one more day to get it right.  Another day to work toward better health, learning more about personal training…another day to get it right!

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