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lunarkreatures · 3 years

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So did this a while ago, did everything by hand cause i didn't know i could download templates from storytellers vault. I wanted to do a fake cover just to test out CSP.

So the idea of it is something like the rage across books from werewolf the apocalypse that are supplements for many places in the world. rage across worlds would be completely different scenarios and worlds for werewolf the reclaimed that would basically be a tweaked version of forsaken that I am working on.

That aside I even wrote a full story that would be the introduction to the scenario of the red pyramid. you can read it after the read more.

The chronicles of the red pyramid

This is a tale from the old times, ages ago. A time when the red pyramid, the palace of the god king wasn't the nest of horror it is today, it's red shine would invoke adoration not fear. People would look at it's red light and feel safe, protected, but people sleep turned away from it's light, it's said that just sleeping looking at it is enough to give nightmares, or even invite the dark presence to from that place come after you.

There are many variations of this tale, many different interpretations, though the true story only the cursed heir and the warriors who decided to commit the first act against the gods know the truth. And I will tell you a tale, that you probably heard before...

The first slaying took place during the night, under the watchful eyes of the two moons, inside the red pyramid. Right after dinner, people tell stories of how the heir to the throne and her warriors just suddenly started attacking the soldiers in the castle one by one. Until it was only them and the king, the attack inside the castle was sudden, brutal, the hallways inside the red pyramid are still red to this day from the bloodshed. The bodies of the guards completely torn apart in pieces, the work of a true beast.

The savage warriors and their leader arrived at the top of the pyramid, the throne room, where the king awaited. The king pleaded to his child to stop this madness but the heir didn’t hesitate, she raised her blade stabbing the king, her warriors watched everything happen, all quiet.

The king fell unmoving on the floor, blood pooling around the unmoving body, the scene illuminated by the lights inside the chamber and the moons covered by the clouds. The heir however, was not satisfied with the death of the king, her blade went down one more time, this time cutting off his head, blood came out of the severed head, pooling around it.

She raised her blade towards the moons in victory. At that time the clouds stopped blocking the moons view. You know, many say that the small red moon was actually the previous queen's ascended form. Some say she is the direct daughter of the nameless god, the huge moon in the sky, and she was granted a flesh body to protect us from the spirits and once her duty was done she went back to the sky, others say she was mortal and due to a great sacrifice she ascended. Though that's not important for our tale, what is important is what happened when the clouds covering the red moon cleared. The light shone into the chamber, filling it with a red ominous glow.

Many things happened in seconds, the direct rays of moonlight changed all those in the room. It's said the moon went mad from the scene she witnessed, and cursed her child to take a bestial form. The heir, once a proud warrior, became a monster. Her loyal knights were also punished becoming animals. The dead king, it is said that the moon tried to bring her lover to life but something went wrong, something that was never alive was born out of this, a paradox itself. Something not made of flesh and yet it bled, could pass through walls and yet it was solid, was not of its world, and yet, it merged with it.

The now monstrous heir fought that, made it bleed and tried to kill that once again. The warriors also fought and suddenly the presence vanished along with the king’s severed head. When the guards arrived they saw the animal knights and the heir, and the dead king body. They prepared to attack but the animals vanished, the heir escaped through the window and to this day roams the land, cursing others to its same fate.

The red moon went mad from grief, cursing all who she felt deserved to be punished with the same curse she did to her child. Since then weird creatures roam the land, not the cursed, but incorporeal beings, abominations of flesh that hunt anything alive that they can find, twist the world around to grotesque things. It is said this is all the work of the cursed heir and her minions so tell me are you ready to spread the horror in the world and feast upon your loved ones?

...Uhm? What is with that face? HAHAHAHA I am joking with you, you feel deep down that this story is not true, right? Well that's the story many believe, but there is another version, like i said many versions. But because of this story we are monsters, the culprits of what has happened to the world, we are the cursed. We are always being hunted, and yet we are hunters of our own, we have a purpose.

You see, let me tell the other side of this story. First the heir we don't even know if she was cursed in the first place, just that she exists and almost seems to avoid us...i don't know why. Where i come from we refer to the heir as the moon’s daughter but others refer to her through other names.

And what could have caused her to do what she did? It is said that the king made the unthinkable, he opened a gateway between our world and another place, a place that is the reflection of our own, where the abominations live. He was able to break the protection the gods put in place, they sacrificed being able to talk to us to protect us from the creatures that come from the shadow, in many places the barrier between these worlds is weakening and things are changing. However it's not just monsters that live in the shadow the gods envoys usually talk to us and help us, teaching us the power of gods.

They say the heir to this day regrets what she had done, but there was no other way, the king was not himself anymore, he died long ago and something else was in its place, it said when she served his head, a black liquid oozed from it, taking form and shape ready to escape, the heir then pleaded the moon for power to fulfill her destiny, to give her a weapon capable of killing whatever that was that was when she changed, her blade merging with her, claws and fangs getting the power to slay even a god. And she attacked, giving a permanent injury on that thing that to this day bleeds, but was not able to kill it … heartbroken from what she had to do and feeling the pressure of her failure she ran away. Her loyal knights understanding her pain ran after the dark presence to not lose track of it.

That was when the moon trying to help her daughter kept a watchful eye one those she deemed worthy of helping, that's where we come in. We are blessed by the moon with a cursed responsibility. We need to hunt the creatures that cross to our world, kill the root of all evil, and restore the barrier. Only then we will be free of this curse, or so legends say. I hope you understand this, the moon chose us to be the protectors of our world, the fierce hunters of the shadow, some deny the hunter nature and their duty, and pay a high price by denying that, I hope you are different from the fools I met before.

What is this?

The umbra, the spirit world, a reflection to the world shuddered in darkness that we know. Still even to those who enter the umbra it's a complete alien place where things might or might not make sense, many planes and pocket dimensions, who can say that it's just the world we know that has a reflection there?

Rage across worlds is a collection of scenarios about other worlds, sometimes worlds similar to what we know and others completely different. However The primal fear, the beast, the hunter, the warrior is a reflection in many words, each have their own version of a werewolf. The umbra is a nexus to many worlds, with many stories to tell.

The chronicles of the red pyramid is a scenario of a different world where gods are much more closer to the world of flesh, where gods are much more flesh than spirit, where normal mortals can ascend to godhood. Where the werewolves were cursed into existence to roam between two worlds never belonging to any. The chronicles tell the tales of what happened, the current state and ways to break the curse.

#werewolf #Werewolf the Apocalypse #werewolf the forsaken #werewolves.#monster #monsters

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ofravensandgenesis · 4 years

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IT IS FINISHED no seriously, this took ages. First couple of days were fine and motoring along with progress, then I was laid out for a week-ish with health problems. Then once I was well enough again I was back to being fixated on finishing this piece of my lad Joshua here for another handful of days, so I’m super glad this is done now. More talk about the painting, details and process under the cut:

Art Entry 01, Joshua Rook, Junior Deputy of Hope County. Regarding the painting’s execution, stylistic choices, practiced methods, and speculation on further experimentation for skill and stylization. _____________________________ Honestly I thought that the uniform’s large swatches of green fabric would be more difficult than it actually was. Turns out that was the easier part compared to the shoulder patch and metal badge. x’D The metal badge design is based off of and inspired by a custom-ordered cosplay badge design I found while looking for references, in this post here (link,) from v-i-d-e-n-o-i-r’s blog and Far Cry 5 cosplay. There are some differences in the painting’s rendition above, namely I flattened the middle section and made it all concentric polished metal instead of painted and the great seal rendition in the middle doesn’t have silver lineart either. Those choices are as much for aesthetic reasons of eliminating the blue ring so it was all a fairly simple mono-material-looking surface as it was for simplifying having to forego painting the foreshortening that a spherical dome might entail. Also just because the rest of the metal turned out looking good enough that an additional bit of shiny metal seemed like it’d fit right in for this. That being said, the badge design that inspired this one is rad and awesome looking—and I totally didn’t realize it wasn’t quite like the badges from in-game assets until after I’d painted it. x’D So, I decided to stick with this one since it’s simpler and has cleaner lines, and less engraving to pick out highlights on. Metal is very hit or miss for me to get right, so I’m very pleased with how this one came out! :D I think I did well on that one. The shoulder patch originally I was looking at real world references and ended up changing the shape once I actually looked at in-game references on Staci and Joey—who I discovered have slightly different details on their uniforms, like the font for their name tags—Staci’s has an old-timey-looking-font with serifs, Joey’s is a non-serif more modern-style font. Some pictures have them having different buttons on their uniforms either in color or shape (the former being exported assets, the latter being in-game gifs/screenies/etc.) This is also how I learned that the little landscape with the shovel, pickaxe and plough/plow are part of the great seal of Montana. I had no flipping idea that was what it was, looking at the patches in-game. The cosplay community does some great work for that, for which I’m grateful. I ended up looking up references of what the state seal’s design was so as to see the smaller details, and to find out what the motto meant ”Oro y Plata,” meant, leading to etymology googling adventures from there, as usual. All important details to paint though I think here, since Joshua’s deputy uniform is symbolically significant to him and will remain so throughout his story as part of his internal conflict for a couple of reasons. One thing I knew I should’ve done from the start, and reminded myself to do, was the fact that I should paint all skin sections at the same time, so as to ensure they all came out the same shades. I did not do this. x’D I’ll have to actually try to do that next time honestly. Same with the hair sections, while I like how they came out, I do feel the differences between the three major segments in terms of brushwork is not as coherent as I’d like, even if beard hair is not necessarily similar in how it lays to scalp hair, particularly with length and such taken into consideration. Still, not bad. Could’ve used more refs for the backlighting and figuring out how the highlights would fit best on the ponytail, but I think the hair curves turned out nice there in particular. Overall, Joshua’s hair ended up messier than I’d thought with how the locks all end up looping this way and that across his head, but it does actually fit him well as a character for his hairstyle to be messy and loosely held together, but functional. It did end up longer than I’d intended, so we have him likely ending up with a nerdy Jesus hairstyle when it’s down. x’D (Thanks to @undead-gearhead for that mental imagery, I shall take great amusement in that should I get around to drawing Joshua with his hair down.) Aside from that, I think I’m slowly improving on figuring out how to paint glasses, though I’m thinking in the future I should test more layered reflective light on them or something where the frames are in contact or close to skin, particularly around the glasses’ bridge across the nose and such. Then there are the other deviation details added—like using dark green instead of the black for the uniform accents. The faded black looks great in-game, but I do think the buttons pop more against dark green instead for this painting. I’m a little bit surprised how well the button-placket section came out, Clip Studio Paint crashed when I painted the first rendition of it, sadly losing all that work. I thought it’d be okay but turns out it didn’t quite get to auto-save that recently enough, but the second go around turned out quite well I think, possibly better. I was originally planning to try to put more textured brushwork across the flat sections of the uniform material, but decided to skip it for speed—I’ll test that elsewhere perhaps, though I think it came out well with the watercolor brushes layered on top of one another like that as is. Among the other smaller details, there’s some tweaks and such for how Joshua’s eye shape, eyebrows, nose shape, hairline etc came out compared to references of Greg Bryk in his role as Joseph Seed. I think Joshua did come out looking like he’s obviously related to the Seeds as I was hoping for, but I’m kind of on the fence that people would look at him and automatically assume it’s Joseph specifically that he’s descended from. I hope so, but either way, that’s how he’s written in-fic. x’D Overall, I would consider this painting a success, though as usual I do wish it’d been faster to finish. I do think this was good practice for detail work, and metal shading, also: buttons. Still haven’t figured out how to paint lips with more pink or red tones, I don’t like the way they look when painted sadly, unless it’s lipstick. That may end up being a stylistic element perhaps, along with how I paint the lines for fingernails and other such details. Fun fact: I have to leave the shading on the eyes for last, or else my brain goes “The eyes are done! We’re done! Call it a day.” I’m not sure why, but so far, leaving them as flats until the end seems to work a treat for keeping me focused on finishing the rest of the work with less mental dissonance. Now if only I could figure out why despite knowing I should do all the exposed skin portions at the same time, I don’t follow through on that naturally as far as inclinations go. Maybe it’s a layer organization thing and perception of wanting, say, the cloth to be done first before working “down” to the hands and such in the sense of working from the head down? I’ll have to think on that some more and test things in the next painting. Perhaps color coding the order of layers to paint will help? CSP does have a nice layer-icon-color function that I’ve dabbled with here and there. There are so many brushes, I really do need to test out more of them, I use, what, four or five total, but primarily somewhere around two or three. Hm, but what to do with texture, and how to utilize it so? Hmmm, as far as personal appeal for methodology goes, I might prefer to use textures in select pieces for more emotional emphasis? If I can figure out how to do that in a messier speed-paint style of things. Rougher textures for conflict, for example. That sounds like an interesting idea to explore, I’ll have to remember that for a later piece. Maybe more heavily textured brushes will also help with the mental itch to refine things to a cleaner-level of refining instead of leaving it in a more organically rough state. Hm, maybe it’s a “mental texture” aversion or something, as far as an interplay between the brush’s texture and the flow of the linework/brushstroke. Perhaps more uneven brushes echo that in a complimentary fashion to better allow less mental discomfort for me personally when trying to paint in a faster, looser fashion? Honestly, very tempting to go try that out sooner rather than later on some art ideas I have, but I’ve been missing my writing very much of late with two time-demanding paintings back to back. So, ideas for a later time to experiment with.

#Far Cry 5 #FC 5 #Far Cry 5 AU #FC 5 AU #deputy joshua rook #my art #ofravensandgenesis's art #art talk #chatter #writing about art #writing about fanart #queue

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mcelroysimonsen02-blog · 6 years

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Rower S Rowing Equipment.

The pictures as well as pictures from the book are not reproduced within this excerpt; instead links are provided to on the internet recreations of the art works. It was bad policy, these critics preserved, to leave the future to realty designers, job engineers, and also a lot of public officials, that rarely raised their eyes from the matter right available. As you breathe out a second time, press down with your feet evenly and slowly lift even more of your spine from the floor. The statement finishes months of supposition that Engie meant to shut the plant as component of an action away from coal-fire power. After revealing the Dino Gems, Tommy forms a new group of Power Rangers to utilize a fusion of Dinosaur DNA and Technology to combat versus the wicked forces of Mesogog, as well as quit them from returning the Planet to the age of the Dinosaurs. The most terrific and vital benefit of setting up or fixing household hydraulic mobility device lift is that this training equipment does not need electric power to run or removal. Power dynamics, patterns of mutual impact, define the ongoing interactions between unborn child and also mommy, infant and parent, between enchanting partners, childhood years friends, teens, individuals at the office, and also teams in conflict. The organic treatment likewise includes ingredients which aid to stabilize pH of the body and increase secretion of male hormonal agents to enhance the problem of reproductive organs to enhance power and also duration naturally. The detainees have actually been stripped of all lawful protections as well as stand subjected to the pure force of American military as well as political power. From well-known fitness franchise business as well as small town training centers to several of the most unique and also upscale clubs in the nation, these are 2015's best American health clubs. The opening episode - already uploaded online - is a bit slow, however Power gets better in subsequent episodes. Exercises such as chain bench presses, where you loophole a hefty chain over either end of the weights when bench pushing, or banded deadlifts, carried out by tying a band over the bar, depending on completions and also deadlifting could enhance power. There are regional authority as well as office health clubs which are typically more affordable and have less complex charging structures. The power tidy is a three-part power lift that involves a dive, drop as well as catch with a packed weights. The PS20 becomes part of a EUR1.2 bn series of solar energy plants based on CSP technologies including tower plants and trough-style enthusiasts - where water is passed in tubes straight before allegorical mirrors that collect sunshine - as well as a couple of PV panels prepared by Abengoa. The Leeds-based business was established in 2008 and complying with a period of rapid development is currently the UK's largest fitness center operator, with 163 fitness centers and practically 790,000 participants across the UK. While I'm doing that, I'll shut my eyes, take in deeply for a count of 3, hold for 1, then take a breath out totally for a matter of 5. By doing http://invaloaredecumparare.com/zeus-in-cazul-in-care-pentru-a-cumpara-cum-actioneaza-compozitia-produsului-feedback-de-la-experti/ , I incorporate taking a breath exercises, meditation, and also power poses for a relaxing and also confidence-boosting start to the day. Allow more youthful kids place a sticker label on the graph for completed skills as well as hang the ability chart prominently in the fitness center. By combating Zedd's forces with the Power Rangers, Adam showed himself to be a suitable replacement for Zack as the Black Ranger. The magazine likewise champions interconnectors, which can link energy-hungry Britain with northern Europe, where there is a wind-energy surplus, or with a country such as Iceland - a centre of geothermal power as a result of its volcanoes. Once as well as for all that his will certainly to live is more powerful compared to any Ranger power, Tommy is able to confirm. I want you to enter into the health club today, pick your favored lift (squats for instance), as well as lift 1 pound greater than you did recently. Today's tools includes MP3 player plug-ins as well as integrated speakers so it is easy to do this. It takes 5-6 years to construct a power plant, however recognizing the future of power generation, Vivint built a virtual/future power plant in 2 years. Exactly how this man had actually been caught after a long search, after the moor, how he had stood unrepentant and also strong before the man that had power of life and also fatality over him, just how he refused to take the oath of commitment to the king, exactly how he had been fired dead prior to his cottage, as well as how his better half had been viewer of her husband's fatality. If you're thinking about joining a health club - or perhaps you simply signed up with one - you're on the ideal track! This also suggests that their devices is regularly being made use of and vulnerable to even more damage. As a whole, the high power poses are open and loosened up while the low power postures are shut and safeguarded. Yet, there are some entertainment alternatives which are likewise assisting home exercisers to stay on their devices for longer amount of times. Ask the management at your gym (or a gym you're considering signing up with) whether they are prepared for such an emergency situation and whether the team is trained to aid. He lifted my chin up so our eyes fulfilled, He leaned in as well as gently placed his lips on mine. wow this guy was remarkable! The Anderton Watercraft Lift is among just 2 working canal watercraft lifts in the country, the various other being the 15-year old Falkirk Wheel in main Scotland. On the heels of last season's new lift and also 997-acre terrain development, British Columbia's Red Hill goes to it once again in 2014/15. Other no-frills chains you could attempt consist of Fitspace, Pure Health club and also Klick Physical fitness, which is possessed by Fitness First. Gold's Health club offers numerous physical fitness courses that are educated by certified instructors. In the last corner there was an iron entrance similar to the door the rangers went into from, yet instead of having a ruby between, it had a picture of Planet. Olympic weight-lifting shoes can be a fantastic alternative for stamina professional athletes, particularly those that commit severe gym time to the Olympic raises specifically. Pneuma: Breath of Life is a fascinating initial person puzzler putting gamers' minds to the test in an aesthetically stunning world using the power of Unreal Engine 4. Pneuma offers gamers with a sense of admiration and also a relentless decision to solve every challenge and progression with a narrated story of self-discovery, checking out the essential nature of being. Power is Bertrand Russell's effort to discuss the mechanics as well as motivations behind the men who regulate the world and also have an extraordinarily large influence on history, which at the time of composing consisted of Hitler and Stalin. Method versus fitness center buddies to learn exactly what activities a specific Pokémon makes when striking, a decent 4G or Wi-Fi link to the internet to reduce lag and also a relatively quick smart device to ensure that there's no hold-up in between animations, the assault and your motions. They can not wonder about whether the Clean Air Act covers co2 contamination from power plants. Assents were additionally lifted against 3 support companies with close connections to the government in Minsk: Beltech Holding, Beltechexport and also Spetspriborservice.

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fitono · 6 years

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Do Trainers Need a College Degree to Be Successful?

College isn’t for everyone. I see that every day at my job, where I train young college grads to be personal trainers.

Some of them just want to train people, and could easily have done so without spending four years on campus and loading themselves down with tens of thousands of dollars of debt.

For those people, college is more of an anchor than a ladder.

But at the same time, I absolutely love my job. I’m an exercise physiologist in a hospital-run fitness setting, and I couldn’t have it without a degree in exercise science.

So how do you decide if college is the right choice for you? What are the benefits of a formal education for a personal trainer, compared to the cost? What are the risks of not spending that time in a classroom, compared to the benefits of going straight to work and gaining experience while earning money instead of borrowing it?

Let’s start with the easiest question, and then get into the tougher ones.

Who Needs a College Degree?

If you’re interested in physical therapy, occupational therapy, or exercise physiology, your decision’s already been made. Nobody wants to see a self-taught physical therapist after knee replacement. You need a degree.

Likewise, if you want to train high-level athletes in a college or pro setting, you may need to be a certified strength and conditioning specialist (CSCS), which requires a college degree. (It doesn’t matter what the degree is in; you can be an English major, as long as you can pass the test.)

The requirements for certification as an athletic trainer (ATC) are even higher.

Some gyms require both a CSCS and a degree in exercise science, but most don’t. For example, when my editor asked Eric Cressey, cofounder of Cressey Sports Performance, if he requires his coaches and interns to have a degree, he replied with an emphatic “Nope! I can teach them competency for our business better than any college curriculum can.”

So if you can get in the door at a place like CSP, where they train a long list of pro and amateur baseball players (including both of 2017’s Cy Young Award winners, Corey Kluber and Max Scherzer), how important can college be?

The Benefits of a College Education

School forces you to discipline yourself. How many of us would voluntarily subject ourselves to the kind of study it takes to write a paper on the biomechanics of bench pressing? If you want passing grades, you have to do that, and much more.

College also offers you perspectives you might not find on your own. You’ll have professors from all walks of life, with different opinions on nutrition, biomechanics, programming, and just about anything else that’s open to interpretation.

You may not agree with them, and you may want to forget everything they taught you the moment you pass their exams. But that doesn’t mean there’s no value in their perspective. Just hearing their side of the story, and learning how they arrived at it, will help you develop a cohesive training philosophy of your own.

Can you find a variety of opinions outside the classroom? Undoubtedly. Talk to 20 different trainers and you may get 20 different but equally passionate lectures on why their approach to the squat is the best approach. You may get that many in a single CrossFit box.

Where school is different is that these diverse views come from people who’ve spent decades of their lives practicing, studying, and writing rigorous research papers on these topics. They aren’t random people in the gym or on Facebook.

The Downside of College

You have to start with the cost.

College has gotten incredibly expensive in the U.S., for multiple reasons. Colleges now offer more amenities to entice students; states subsidize a lower percentage of each student’s tuition; federal grants are less generous; and college administrative costs have skyrocketed.

Combine rising costs with lower wages for the kind of work students typically get, and the upshot is that many of us graduate with crippling debt—a problem driven, in part, by how lucrative those loans are for the lenders.

By contrast, if you start training clients straight out of high school, and pay for your certs and continuing education as you go, you can have four years’ worth of experience, and no outstanding loans, by the time your peers graduate from college with zero experience and piles of debt. That’s if your peers manage to graduate in just four years. Many need more time.

This comparison makes two assumptions that may not apply to you:

That someone can start work as a trainer straight out of college. It’s rarely that easy or straightforward to get a job without experience or credentials.

That someone who goes to college will graduate without experience. Many train clients while attending school.

Is College Worth It?

Personally, I wouldn’t have learned what I know about anatomy, physiology, and biomechanics if I hadn’t taken those classes. School forced me to spend hours studying those subjects, with a combination of classroom lectures, textbooks, software, and hands-on work in a lab. I don’t know how I could replicate all that without college.

I also finished without debt, thanks to scholarships and working my hiney off. I started working 25-plus hours a week my very first week at college, and kept it up for all four years. Every dollar I earned helped pay for school. At the same time, I turned scholarship hunting into a hobby, and applied for everything I was eligible for.

Even with all that effort, I graduated with zero money in the bank. The only thing worse than being broke is being broke with loans to pay back for the next 10 years.

But let’s talk about you. If you’re on the fence, how do you decide if college is the right choice?

Start by answering these questions.

Why Do You Want to Go to College?

If I’m being honest, I’ll say it was because my parents’ generation hammered into my head the idea that I’d be a nobody without a degree. I’d end up living in a cardboard box behind Kmart. (Not even Walmart; those spots would be reserved for a higher class of homeless people.)

That’s obviously not true.

Getting a degree does open doors, but so does hard work and a willingness to work your way up from the bottom. And there’s never been an education requirement for starting a business and making it on your own.

Even with a degree, good jobs are tough to find. Nobody’s hanging around on campus offering six-figure salaries to exercise-science majors.

If you want to make that kind of money as a trainer—and people do it all the time—it’s going to take a lot of work, with or without a degree.

Will You Find Impediments to Success Without a Degree?

As I said earlier, there are companies that won’t hire people without that line on their résumés.

In my experience, though, there aren’t as many as we’ve been led to believe. More often, owners of gyms and training studios are looking for employees who’re knowledgeable, dependable, and charismatic. A degree might help you get an interview, but those qualities are more likely to get you hired and help you thrive.

Do You Know Enough to Succeed?

I’m not talking about what you think you know, or what you assume to be true because it’s worked for you. I’m talking about factual knowledge.

When trainers get together, the conversation often turns to the low bar for entry to our field. Literally anyone can take an online course and call himself a “personal trainer.” It doesn’t matter if they have any lifting experience, or if they know how to program, or if they know the first thing about coaching.

Some of those people present themselves as experts, and may even believe it. The less knowledge they have, the easier it is to convince themselves that they’ve somehow become Super Trainers overnight. The more confident they are, the easier it is to lure gullible clients who can’t tell the difference.

There are no shortcuts in our field. Proficiency takes time, study, and practice.

Can You See Through BS, Including Your Own?

Sometimes, when I’m talking to trainers without formal education, I notice how easily they fall for pseudo-science. They’ll claim fad diets, bogus supplements, and stupid training programs are panaceas not just for fitness-related matters, but for all sorts of health issues that no knowledgeable trainer would ever claim are within our scope of practice.

In every case, I see a direct link from their lack of education—from not having a basic understanding of the scientific method—to their gullibility.

Does this apply to everyone without a degree? Absolutely not. And there are plenty of college graduates who fall for pseudo-science as well.

All I’m saying is that it’s easier to embrace the absurd if you don’t have the background to understand why it’s absurd.

How to Self-Educate

1. Ask Questions

When I started training I felt like I needed to know it all, that people expected that of me, but that I really didn’t have a clue. The temptation was to fake it till I made it. I quickly realized I had it all wrong.

People really don’t expect you to know it all. They know you’re young. They know you’re new to the game. More often than not, people who know more than you will be happy to answer your questions if you’re willing to ask them.

There’s a lot to learn from wiser trainers, physical therapists, registered dietitians, and other experienced professionals, especially if their viewpoints are different from yours.

I pepper the physical therapists at work with questions all the time. As I see it, if I want to better understand a particular issue, I can either pretend I know more than I do, or fill the gap in my knowledge by asking someone who knows.

All it costs is two minutes of imaginary humiliation, which goes away the moment you realize your colleague respects you more for asking.

2. Read

At the end of this article I include a list of books that I’ve found helpful over the years. Only one is an actual textbook. The rest range from mostly pictures to mostly type, with varying degrees of readability.

Beyond my list, I encourage you to read up on anatomy, physiology, biomechanics, nutrition, programming, pain, recovery, mobility, injury prevention—anything and everything that might help you become a better trainer.

Most important, I believe, are nutrition and programming. In my experience, entry-level fitness pros are most likely to trip themselves up with stupid programs and straight-up dumb nutrition advice. Even with a college degree you probably don’t know enough about either subject.

3. Stay Up to Date on the Science

Maybe reading scientific studies is the best way you know to fall asleep. That’s fine. I understand. They’re not for everybody. But if you’re a trainer, the information within those studies is for you. Thankfully, there are other ways to access it.

These four research reviews are first-rate:

Alan Aragon’s Research Review

Mass (Greg Nuckols)

Strength & Conditioning Research Review (Chris Beardsley)

Weightology Research Review (James Krieger)

You can also find some terrific podcasts and video series:

The Fitcast

Barbell Shrugged

Half Size Me

Iron Radio

The Body of Knowledge

4. Be a Good Employee

I’ve worked with people, and you probably have as well, who are incredibly knowledgeable in their field, but suck at what they do.

Who cares if you know more than everybody else in the gym if nobody wants to work with you? If you’re surly, full of yourself, and bad at conversation, clients aren’t going to want to train with you, your colleagues won’t bother helping you, and your manager will eventually give up on you.

Every chance to learn, grow, and become a better trainer will be cut off if you don’t go out of your way to keep those opportunities alive.

Six More Ways to Succeed Without a Degree

At this point I’ve talked about “success” in general terms, like being good at your job. Now I want to talk about success as it relates specifically to financial security. These six practices, in my experience, are crucial for trainers, especially early in their careers.

1. Camp at your gym. When you’re starting a new job at a facility you need to be there as much as possible. Most financially successful trainers I’ve known worked incredibly long hours in their formative years. You want to make sure the members recognize you, and the staff sees you and notices how hard you’re working.

2. Lift at your gym. This follows from being at your gym all day. Where else would you work out? But it’s more than a practical necessity. Your workouts are sometimes your best marketing tool. Members need to see that you train hard, and practice what you preach. Your coworkers need to see that you know what you’re doing.

3. Get in good with your managers. Nobody likes a suck-up, but you do need to be on good terms with your boss for an extremely practical reason: The majority of personal-training clients come through the manager’s office. Whether it starts with a phone call or a drop-in visit, someone who’s interested in personal training usually expects the manager to recommend an appropriate trainer. You want your name to be at or near the top of the list.

4. Establish an online presence. Think of it this way: If you wanted to find a product or service near you, where would you go? Whatever comes to mind—Yellow Pages, Yelp, Google, Angie’s List—that’s where you need to be. You also need a website and a consistent presence on the social media that your clients are most likely to use. Personal and professional Facebook pages are the bare minimum. You need to show prospective clients that you’re a pro, that your clients like you, and that you’re worth the money.

5. Establish an absent presence at your gym. You can’t literally be at your gym all day, every day. That’s why you need your presence to be felt when you’re not there. The goal is what marketers refer to as top of mind awareness—TOMA for short. You can do this through brochures, bulletin boards, handouts, daily joke boards, or whatever else your gym allows.

6. Offer seminars. As Dean Somerset recommends in this article, take advantage of any opportunity to present information to any audience that will have you. If your gym has an in-service program, get into the mix. Do seminars in the community, or at local or regional fitness conferences. Talk about any subject in which you have substantially more expertise than your audience. Do this often enough and competently enough, and you’ll raise your profile not just in your gym, but in your community, and perhaps in the industry as well.

What’s Your Call?

The decision to go to college, or to finish your degree if you’re already there, or to go on to get a master’s or a major credential that involves time and money, is a tough one. It fills even the calmest person with anxiety. It’s supposed to be hard. If you’re not playing ping-pong in your head with all the pros and cons you aren’t taking it seriously enough.

I can’t claim to have seen it all, much less know it all, but I hope I’ve given you some tools to help you make that decision, or to help someone you know figure out the best path to success in our industry.