“A lot of body-builders end up becoming trainers,” points out Ramesh Raja, the founder and MD of the Chennai-based ACME Fitness. The lack of standardisation and paucity of qualified fitness professionals has long been the bane of the fitness industry, he adds.
This is a gap that ACME hopes to bridge at their recently launched Acfit Academy, where people can pursue careers in the fitness space through a series of certification and training programmes, including an international one held in collaboration with the US-based National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM).
This is indeed the need of the hour, agrees Hariharan K, Managing Director of the Acfit Academy, a fitness professional with over 15 years of experience and multiple international certifications himself.
He points out that many of the people who come in to workout are there to correct posture, develop a sense of well-being or sort out their lifestyle disorders; what really matters is being comfortable executing your day-to-day activities and having a better quality of life.
“A six-pack is not the requirement of the general fitness community. And many of these trainers who come from pure body-building backgrounds don’t understand that.”
A peek into the courses on the Acfit website indicates what they now offer: a number of CFR Pro certifications (Corrective Functional Resistance Professional) across two levels and the NASM-Certified Personal Trainer course that describes itself as a, ‘systematic, evidence-based approach to designing exercise programmes can prepare you to help anyone reach their fitness goals.’
The courses are offered in an e-learning module where students will be provided with study material and access to online classrooms, followed by a series of tests and a final examination though there are also plans to have a direct contact module. And it is very inclusive; anyone can apply as long as they are passionate about it. The CFR can be used as a bridge course to the NASM, says Hariharan, adding, “The trainer has a negative connotation in many people’s minds. We want to change that.”
A fitness story
Ramesh Raja has always been an active person (and it shows). “I used to run and do body-weight exercises way back in school,” says Raja, who forayed into the wellness business in 1996.
He began by first importing exercise equipment from abroad, “the biomechanics was much better,” and distributing it in sports shops all across the city. However, there was a catch: after-sales service. “The customer was not happy, so I decided to enter the market myself,” he says.
Today, with around 22 stores across India holding exercise equipment of over 12 international brands including Nautilus, Bowflex and Lexco, the company has come a long way from its humble origins to become, “everything to do with fitness,” as Raja — whose clients range from home users to health clubs, corporates and leading athletes — puts it.
“People would come in and buy equipment and then tell us to send them a trainer,” says MS Kumaran, ACME’s Country Head, adding that the academy was started in October last year to help bridge the gap between customer requirement and trainer availability.
“The industry need a talented, skilled group of professionals,” he says. “As one of the pioneers in the industry, it is time we gave back to the industry and developed that pool of talent.”
Log into acfitacademy.com for details.