WASHINGTON — Personal fitness trainers in the District will soon be subject to uniform standards in an effort to keep unqualified candidates out of the business.
A regulatory panel, known as the Board of Physical Therapy, is working out standards and will vote on them next week.
The District would be the first place in the country to regulate personal trainers, and many suspect other jurisdictions are taking note.
Council member Mary Cheh, Ward 3, expressed hesitations Tuesday, while recognizing that the standards haven’t yet been established.
“I think you regulate only if you need to regulate, and I haven’t seen what the real issue is here,” she says.
“What I think could be a way to resolve this is to simply allow people to voluntarily put themselves on a list and identify their credentials,” she says.
Supporters believe regulations and standards could help send phony, unqualified trainers to the showers.
Personal fitness trainers themselves are concerned with more hoops to jump through and additional costs.
Both sides get to have their say over a 30-day comment period.
The panel votes Sept. 22.
