Welcome to the fourth stage of the Medical Exercise Specialist Career Success Path – SPECIALIZATION. Everyone wants to be a specialist. You want to be the expert, know all the information and get all the clients. You want to attend all the seminars and workshops. You want to speak on stage and help others. Well now you’re entering the Specialization stage of the career path.

Here at the Medical Exercise Training Institute we have looked at specializations in three areas of MET: 1) orthopedics; 2) neurology and 3) geriatrics. Eventually, we will look at specialization guidelines in sports, cancer and padiatrics but these three are the ones to focus on to get the specialization process started.

Many other professions have specializations. Physical therapy has board specializations in a wide range of areas. I remember when these began with just a handful of options. Now they are numerous. The same thing will occur in medical exercise training. These three areas encompass...

Now that you have established a foundation and began the application of medical exercise training skills, the next step along the Medical Exercise Specialist Career Success Path is MANAGEMENT. Do you have the ability to take the knowledge gained in the foundation stage and the application of skills developed in the application phase to now produce positive functional outcomes for your clients?

This is the stage where now you determine if you can deliver on your promises to clients!! In this stage you know have to focus on “functional outcome measures” (FOMs). These are universal measures understood by both medical and fitness professionals which allow the determination if the exercise program is effective in managing the client’s medical condition(s). If the FOM improves, the exercise is effective. If not, steps should be taken to adjust the exercise program. This now allows medical exercise professionals to begin to managing conditons more effectively. Functional...

The second step in the Medical Exercise Specialist Career Success Path is APPLICATION. For any professional learning new skills, the safe application of those skills is a must. In our effort to acquire more knowledge, many times we forget the safe application of the new skills is very important and leads to retention of the newly acquired skills.

Application is a four point process. It begins with encouraging our Medical Exercise Specialist and Post Rehab Conditioning Specialist students to begin working with simple medical exercise training clients while going through the certification workshop.

Second, we recommend our students begin their observation hours in a physical therapy, chropractic and rehab setting during the certification workshop. Observation hours allow students to see clients with medical conditions in the acute and subacute stages during their treatment. The student will obtain a better understanding of the strategies and techniques medical professionals use. This...

Medical Exercise Training is here to stay and will grow over the next two decades. Over the last 25 years Medical Exercise Specialists have seen great success managing clients with medical conditions to positive outcomes as well as building relationships with medical professionals. The first step to achieve these milestones is the establishment of a sound…FOUNDATION. FOUNDATION is the first step on the METI – Medical Exercise Specialists Career Success Path.

A sound FOUNDATION is important for every medical exercise professional. There are a few vital courses that are components of the FOUNDATION. They are:

1. The METI – Medical Exercise Specialist workshop or the Post Rehab Conditioning Specialist workshop;
2. A clinical anatomy/pathology course. “Clinical” means relating to the observation and treatment of actual patients rather than theoretical or laboratory studies. This is the next level of anatomy beyond basic gross anatomy where...

Medical Exercise Specialists are finding opportunities in a wide range of settings from health clubs, to physical therapy clinics, to hospital based fitness centers. As opportunities grow there must be some outline of a path to professional growth and success for medical exercise professionals. This is our attempt at establishing a “Medical Exercise Specialist Career Success Path”. Education without a defined course can be useless. The steps we outline in this video are similar to what we see in other professions such as law, medicine and engineering. The six points along with MES Career Path are:

1. Foundation
2. Application
3. Management
4. Specialization
5. Growth
6. Leadership

Avoiding or missing the steps along this path can be done but there may be possible negative outcomes down the road. This is the first of a series of posts and videos outlining the “Medical Exercise Specialist Career Success Path”. Join us tomorrow for part 1 – Medical Exercise Specialist...

Medical Exercise Training (MET) is the New Modality to manage medical conditions. Exercise is the missing modality in many medical management plans. This five-part video series will review the importance of this emerging modality and how it may be used to manage our chronic disease crisis. Click the “play” button below to watch.