Club operators, personal trainers and certifying agencies are being urged to participate in a new campaign, Unite into One Standard, for the continuing education and training of personal trainers. The campaign is the focus of the First Annual Personal Trainer Summit set for 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 13, at the Club Industry show in Chicago.

The goal of the campaign and the summit, organized by the World Instructor Training Schools (W.I.T.S.), is to raise personal training standards and implement standards where none exist, as well as to go to one source for continuing education and training accreditation, says Jay Del Vecchio, president and CEO of W.I.T.S.

According to Del Vecchio, that one accrediting source should be the International Association of Continuing Education and Training (IACET). IACET accredits training programs that meet high IACET/ANSI standards and authorizes these organizations to offer official IACET continuing education units (CEUs) for their programs.

W.I.T.S., the American Academy of Personal Training (AAPT) and the International Fitness Professionals Association (IFPA) are accredited by IACET, and the three organizations have agreed to accept CEUs from each other and from any other IACET authorized providers.

Other initiatives of the campaign and summit are to ensure that personal trainers keep their certifications current, encourage more certification organizations to accept IACET CEUs and encourage those organizations to become an IACET authorized provider, Del Vecchio says.

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