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March 4, 2006
JReps II
The IART Personal
Trainer Certification institute is developing a new JReps
book and DVD set, to be released October 2006. The book will
include advanced discussions on the method, over ten new ways
to implement JReps for the most demanding workouts ever, real
case studies, and much more. The DVD will include the basics
of JReps (breathing, movement quality) and demonstrate all the
JRep possibilities with a 260+ pound competitive bodybuilder,
Rick
McCutcheon, who uses the method exclusively, right up to
the Canadian Nationals. Most importantly, you can be part of
this book. Visit the JReps
II link and there you will find a write-up on this book/DVD
combo and a case study document that you can fill out on your
JRep experience for inclusion in the case study section of the
book. We will require your contribution by July 2006, and so
do not hestitate. You will receive the book/DVD set at a special
discount price for your participation.
IART Articles
The IART Personal
Trainer Certification institute has two new PDF articles
for your reading enjoyment, The
New Principles of Fitness Science and Understanding
or Random Luck? Enjoy, and don't forget to visit our Synergy
2006 link to see the many new articles we are developing,
to be released this October 2006.
IART Telephone Conferencing
Attention IART students. Need questions answered? Need help on
your exam? Partake in our monthly conference call service, where
Brian D. Johnston will assist you with your queries.
Next Scheduled Meeting: March 25, 2006, 4 PM EST. Visit the private
students' update page for the phone number and access code. Please
note that Brian Johnston will attend only if he is notified that
you will be there. E-mail at least 48 hours in advance. On the
scheduled day, call the dial-in number and follow the prompts
to enter the access code. Announce yourself at the chime and
enjoy your free conference call. It's that simple. The phone
number and access code may change every few months, and so visit
the private students' update page to keep your details updated.
IART Web Site Changes
The IART Personal
Trainer Certification institute has updated its web site,
for easier viewing and navigation. The Success
Stories section has been integrated into the Articles &
Reports. The 'news' section is now called The IART Blog. Any
of the product write-ups and reviews can be found in the Articles
& Reports section (under Product
Reviews). The 'contests' section has been removed, although
the thousands in prizes for our annual Fitness
Clinician of the Year competition can be accessed by way
of a link from the home page, from the certification course section,
and our featured instructors section.
Legal Defensibility
Last blog, The IART
Personal Trainer Certification institute informed you about
the issue of 'legal defensibility,' from the perspective of the
National Board of Fitness Examiners (www.nbfe.org).
Here is another view on the issue by a legal firm:
Certification of Fitness Professionals
and Legal Defensibility:
What it Means (and Does Not Mean)
!
By: David L. Herbert, J.D. Senior Partner
Herbert & Benson, Attorneys & Counsellors at Law
The Belpar Law Center
4571 Stephen Circle, N.W.
Canton, OH 44718-3629
Tel: 330-499-1016 Fax: 330-499-0790 E-mail: herblegal@aol.com
Co-Editor, The Exercise Standards and Malpractice Reporter
The ability of certified fitness
professionals to defend themselves against negligence lawsuits
is an entirely different matter than the "legal defensibility
of the examination or certification process by which such professionals
attain their "certified or satisfactory test completion
status. Despite the foregoing statement, some within the fitness
industry have issued various communications indicating that the
certification of fitness professionals provides "legal defensibility
of such individuals from client negligence actions or similar
claims or lawsuits. Such statements really cloud the issue and
reach the wrong conclusions.
Certification does not provide
immunity (freedom from successful suit) or legal defensibility
(which pertains to the examination or certification process)
from negligence actions.
The legal defensibility of certification
or testing processes leading to some form of credential for any
professional, including those fitness practitioners engaged in
personal training activities, deals with the certification or
examination process itself as opposed to the later performance
of professional activities with clients which may lead to claims
and suits against such professionals predicated upon negligence.
Legal defensibility of the certification
or examination process looks at whether the process in a legal
sense is fair, reliable, non-discriminatory and related to defined
job or established professional criteria. If such a process is
discriminatory toward a person who is a member of a legally protected
group and as a result such a person is denied certification,
or due to such a factor, does not successfully complete an examination
process, that process may not be legally defensible.
Members of protected groups in
this regard include those who might otherwise be
discriminated against based upon their sex, race, color, national
origin, religion or protected disability/handicap. Those examinations/certifications
which are able to withstand such challenges based upon these
or other similar factors are referred to as 'legally defensible.'
While satisfactory certification
or successful completion of an examination process by fitness
professionals may well provide presumptive evidence of competency
and thus assist in demonstrating adherence to the so-called legal
standard of care which can be used to defend against negligence
claims, the attainment of such a status does not provide legal
defensibility in this regard.
Moreover, those organizations
which provide certifications/examinations do not defend those
who are certified or pass such examinations from claims or suits
against certified professionals. Lastly, such organizations do
not indemnify such professionals from any judgment or award which
might be made against those professionals due to the acts or
omissions which might occur while professional services are performed.
Defenses to fitness related personal injury actions or wrongful
death suits may be predicated upon a variety of factors.
However, such defenses have no
direct relationship to the certification or examination process.
While such defenses may include:
1) adherence to the so-called
standard of care in the delivery of service to clients,
2) lack of proximate cause between an act or omission and an
injury, or
3) the execution of an assumption of risk or a waiver/release
document, no defense to such an action relates solely to the
certification or examination process itself or the satisfactory
attainment of such a credential by a fitness professional.
Guidelines have been adopted
by the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
(EEOC) to assist employers and others to ensure that their employment
related examinations are job related, non-discriminatory and
legally defensible.
Those guidelines are contained
in 29 C.F.R. (Code of Federal Regulations) Part 1607. Professionals
seeking to understand the use of the term 'legal defensibility'
in regard to examination or testing procedures for fitness professionals
should review and understand such references. Those in the fitness
industry who seek to promote certification or testing of fitness
professionals as a means to withstand claims of negligence and
thus be 'legally defensible' or immune from suit are 'barking
up' the wrong tree.
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