ISSA Martial Arts Specialist Course

[Daniel Sullivan]

I see this advertised here on MT and took a look. Anyone familiar with the organization or the course?

https://www.issaonline.com/info_sit...nfo_issa.cfm?gclid=CJfg9Kj695kCFctL5Qod1jHFFA

Daniel

 

[blindsage]

Back in the "old days", promotion to black belt was all that was needed in terms of securing credibility in the martial arts profession. But that's all changed now.

Really?

 

[Daniel Sullivan]

Technically, back in the old days, nobody wore a black belt, not a symbol of rank, anyway. The belt system is comparatively recent.

I will give them credit for one thing: I did ask for info on their site and they responded toot sweet, even addressing me as 'Doctor.' I hope that my company increased my pay grade in light of this new degree that I never knew that I had.

In all seriousness, though, do you know of anyone associated with them? It appears to be a general personal trainer course selection with an offered MA focused course.

Is the organization a reputable organization?

Daniel

 

[Daniel Sullivan]

"Back in the "old days", promotion to black belt was all that was needed in terms of securing credibility in the martial arts profession. But that's all changed now."
I did not have a chance to read through the site thoroughly, but in a weird way, this is true.

The black belt has been so degraded by money hungry GMs and their successors in what it symbolizes that the mere attainment of one really does not have any degree of credibility.

There was a time when a student who made it to brown belt was considered pretty darned accomplished and a black belt student was to be esteemed. Now, five year olds get black belts for showing up and managing not to wet their gi during class.

Daniel

 

[Flying Crane]

I had looked thru this actually.

My impression is that the only thing it MAY be good for is if you want to work as a personal trainer in a private healthclub. I think there are a couple of agencies that offer recognized certification as a personal trainer, and the healthclubs typically require this kind of certification for employment.

Is this agency one of the accepted ones? That, I do not know. But to my knowledge, there is no law requiring it as professional requirement, in the same way that you need to have a bar membership to practice law, or pass the medical boards to practice medicine. I believe it is just an industry norm that the healthclubs tend to go along with.

I do find it a flawed logic, however, to suggest that I need some other agency to give me the nod to be a martial arts instructor. If my sifu says I'm clear to be a teacher, that is good enough for me.

If I want to work in a health club, I would probably need to play the game and get certification as a personal trainer. But I don't think I would need to get this particular certification, with emphasis on martial arts. I expect ANY recognized certification would be good enough, and the fact that I focus on training my clients in martial arts is simply my choice.

My concern with such a MA-specific program is that they may attempt to push training methods that just don't make sense with your particular art. I don't think you can have a generalized course like this and expect it to be equally relevant to all martial arts. In fact, it may not be relevant at all.

 

[LuckyKBoxer]

I am familiar with ISSA. I got a personal training certificate from them back in 1997. I have not had any contact with them since that time though. They basically had a course, with books, classtime, and application that went over all the basics of the industry. I chose them because they were the easiest for me to access at the time, even though ACE was probably the most well respected certification available at the time. I imagine that the research has come along way since then, and I imagine based on what I got originally from them that anyone who does not have a degree, or personal training certificate or equivalent type education will benefit greatly from this. I am curious how in depth and specific they get.

 

[searcher]

I am currently certified through ACE for both PT and group fitness, plus I am currently preparing for my CSCS certification. ISSA was started by a powerlifter and tend to draw in quite a few powerlifting coaches(more then the NSCA-CSCS, but the CSCS is the hardest to get). I am not familiar with the ISSA MA cert, but it looks to me like just another continuing ed. class.

I see several orgaizations that offer similar certifications and many claim they can prepare you for teaching and promoting students. I have actually had some run ins with some of these people and they take much offense to a MA instructor calling them out. IMO, it is about as useful as the people saying they teach kickboxing and it turns out to be cardio kickboxing. Considering that all you have to do in order to teach that is take a weekend class and have a group certification.

 

[terryl965]

I see no value in what they do, with that being said I must sign off.