A personal fitness coach shows the result of his client's physical test on Apr. 16 at a Beijing fitness club. [Photo/Beijing News]

The fitness craze has led a number of clients to be overly credulous of fitness coaches, many of whom have later proved to be unqualifed.

Zhen Yu is a young woman in Beijing who paid thousands of yuan to a fitness coach in one of the city's gyms with the hope of getting rid of the fat around her waist.

Two months later, however, her waist hadn't slimmed down and her weight remained at 65 kilograms, the weight she'd started with.

"It was really upsetting when I paid thousands of yuan for the private training, and two months later there I still hadn't made any improvements," Zhen said.

In many gyms, some customers choose to pay for personal coaches who are supposed to help clients lose weight in quicker and more effective ways. However, many of the private training programs prove to be useless and the unprofessionalism of the personal coaches can sometimes lead to accidents and injuries.

In July, 2014, Zhang Wanting, a 17-year-old girl in Shenyang, Liaoning Province, died in a weight-loss program organized by a popular gym. After several days of intense training and stringent control over food intake, the girl collapsed and died in front of the coach.

According to Beijing News, people with flamboyant titles such as "fitness coach for individual training" may just be laymen who obtained certificates from training classes lasting less than a week. However, the price for a single coach may reach 300 (US$46.18) to 500 yuan per hour.

Zhou Ji (pseudonym), a superintendent in a gym near the Central Business District in Guo Mao, E. Beijing, said -- throughout his 12 years as a fitness coach -- he has seen few coaches who could be accredited as professional.

He said that accidents sometimes result from misguided instructions from personal coaches, the most common injuries being a rift of the meniscus in the knee. Without stringent evaluation on the qualification of fitness coaches in China, it's easy to obtain a certificate that can generally offer jobs opportunities in a fitness club.

Zhou recalled that when recruiting coaches not long ago, he met a man with work experience in a hotel lobby applying to the job with a fitness coach certificate, although he knew nothing about fitness or gym exercises.

"It's not a single case," Zhou said. "Many applicants who change their occupation in hope of securing positions in fitness clubs are those who consider private fitness coach as a more decent and less strenuous job."

According to the National Strength and Conditioning Association in the United States, fitness coaches in the country are required to have at least a bachelor degree and Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation Certificate, in addition to an accreditation exam.

Shi Shusheng, professor from the Sport School of Nanjing Normal University, said that regulations for the market of fitness clubs should be tightened. The guild association should redesign the exam process with sufficient curriculum hours and fair evaluation.

Shi also said that when a fitness coach has an accident while training clients, his certificate should be reviewed to see whether or not there are violations and loopholes for the assessment of his qualification. And the evaluation institute responsible for his accreditation should be fined or revoked as long as there are legal breaches.

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