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My first degree is in Criminal Justice. My second is in Exercise Science, with nutrition coursework on top. People find that funny when they hear it. A strength coach with a Criminal Justice degree?
I get it. On paper it looks like I took a detour. I didn't switch. I finished my Criminal Justice degree, added Exercise Science and finished that too. Everything from the first degree came with me.
Think of it like widening a highway. You don't go back to the on-ramp, and you don't give up the road you were on. You add room. The trip keeps going, with more space to move.
Your First Step: If you're thinking about adding something new, in school, in work or in your training, write down three things you already know how to do that would come with you. Most people find the list is longer than they expected.
The Breakdown
Lesson 1: Why I Picked Criminal Justice
I graduated high school in 2010. As a kid, I did taekwondo, wrestling, football and baseball. I dropped team sports around 16, but I never stopped lifting. When it came time to pick a direction in college, I picked Criminal Justice.
The joke was that I wanted to exercise my rights. The real plan was law enforcement or juvenile corrections. I wanted to help bring down the rate of recidivism, the number of offenders who end up back in the system. My idea was simple: give them fitness as an outlet. "Hey, this is a great outlet. You should try it."
I don't look back on that choice as wasted time. It was the right call for who I was then, and it taught me things I still use.
Lesson 2: What I Saw From the Inside
Then I saw how it actually worked. The youth centers I was in were understaffed, undervalued and underappreciated. The funding wasn't there. There was no money for a fitness program, and unless I won the lottery, I wasn't going to be able to build one.
So I looked at the law enforcement route and Act 120, Pennsylvania's police academy. Friends of mine who went through it and graduated a little before me weren't guaranteed full-time positions. They ended up working part-time jobs through a couple of different precincts. A couple of them became my clients, and their schedules were less than consistent.
Meanwhile, I was already working in fitness. One of my first jobs was at the college rec center, starting in 2013, and I was already making money as a trainer in commercial gyms. Why would I go back for Act 120 when I was already building something? I stayed on my path.
The gym was personal, too. After high school, I peaked near 420 pounds. I crash-dieted on my own, and then I rebuilt through school.
Lesson 3: Why I Added the Second Degree
Why add Exercise Science? Honestly, I didn't want to be the fat cop.
Once fitness became the work, the degree made even more sense. A degree can't be taken away from you. Certifications always want you back for continuing education credits, hundreds to thousands of dollars of them, just to stay current.
Exercise Science is the "why" behind the "what": how muscles work, how the body responds to training, and how food fuels it. That's the ground every post on this site stands on. Fitness shouldn't be overcomplicated, but you can only make something simple once you understand it.
Lesson 4: "I Don't Know, but I'll Find Out"
Some of my best lessons came from clients who didn't fit a template: special populations, people coming back from injury, adults returning to a sport after 5, 10 or 20 years, and athletes. Coaching athletes from sports I never played taught me the most hands-on. I picked up sport-specific takeaways I'd never have learned from my own training.
I liked the challenge. It pushed me out of my comfort zone and put me in a position where I could tell someone, "I don't know, but I'll find out." That's an honest answer, and it's a better one than guessing.
It also expanded what I could do. Working for myself, I could buy a piece of equipment and say, "Let's try it. If it works, awesome. If not, I'll get rid of it and we're back to square one."
Lesson 5: Certifications Are a Mixed Bag
I tried certifications on top of the degree. Some were worth it. Some weren't, and they weren't all the same quality. The renewal cycle got old fast: spend money, spend money, spend money. You can renew CPR every year for credits, but a class from someone I actually trust and value often doesn't count. I'd rather spend that money learning my craft.
The degree does open doors. In the personal training industry, the NSCA's certifications are the top tier, and the CSCS (Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist) requires a bachelor's degree. If your goal is to chase a certification, the NSCA is the route I'd take over most of its competitors. I do think it's worth it. I just haven't been able to justify the money for a piece of paper to tell me I'm qualified.
Lesson 6: What Criminal Justice Still Gives Me
So what did the degrees give me? By themselves, not much. Both of them raised the bar for me. They gave me something to aspire to, a different work ethic, and different fundamentals and skill sets. But they didn't make me. They put me on different paths and gave me different ways to think critically.
Criminal Justice required me to learn how to articulate, write and record, a fundamental skill that was lacking in the criminal justice field. The hands-on work during my internships built on that, and mixing the two fields gave me a niche in a market like personal training.
People assume the first degree has nothing to do with coaching. I don't see it that way. It gave me a keen sense of observation and listening. Every situation is different. My job is to watch, listen and then figure out what a person wants and what they actually need. Those aren't always the same thing.
It also kept me connected to the people in that world. I've coached law enforcement, military, first responders and educators. That's why I offer them the M.O.R.E. Heroes discount: it's my way of giving back.
Nothing you learn is wasted if you keep using it. The road gets wider. The driver stays the same.
Lesson 7: A Degree Is the Floor, Not the Ceiling
I have no regrets doing both degrees. But a degree didn't make me a good coach. It gave me a foundation. The coaching came from the floor: the rec center, a commercial gym, a boutique gym, mom-and-pop and commercial gyms as a contractor, and then going fully independent at the end of 2018. Clients followed me when I left.
A lot of certifications are overvalued, and I don't think college is worth it for a lot of people. Hands-on application matters. You can have all the degrees and certifications in the world, but if you've never applied any of it, what's the point? Where's your validity? If I'm hiring someone to build a deck, I want the person who has built decks, not the person who only read about it.
I don't think a piece of paper by itself makes you valid, and I don't think a degree automatically counts for more than a certification. It depends on the stage of your life and your career. If you want certifications because you feel they make you more credible, that's fine. You either have to justify the expense, or see it as an investment instead of an expense. Right now, I don't see certifications as an investment, though that could change. What I do see as an investment is a class or a coach that gives me hands-on experience.
That's real pain pays later. The sweat equity, the trial and error and the comebacks you put in now pay you back for a long time. The trap is thinking you're stuck on one path because you've already put years into it. If the path you're on isn't enough to take you where you want to go, add another.
Bro Science Check: "You need a fitness degree to be a real coach."
What the Research Says: This one isn't about a study. It's about what credentials do and don't measure. My degree gave me the foundation. The coaching came from years on the floor with real clients. Certifications are mixed in quality.
Verdict: Keep. A degree or a certification gets your foot in the door, but it's not a guarantee. Be mindful of your situation, your starting point and your goal. Then watch how a coach explains things, adjusts a plan and treats their clients.
What I'd Tell Someone Thinking About Adding a Second Path
- List what comes with you. Skills, habits and people all come with you.
- Get experience while you learn. I was coaching while I was still in school. Nothing teaches like real people.
- Pick education for knowledge, not for a title. Learn what you need to do the job well.
This is one chapter of how I got here. Next: Strength Training 101: Why Everyone Should Lift.