Wow, really? Nobody's gonna say it? Here's the thing nobody's bringing up - maybe that manager was actually doing you a favor. Think about it. If they can't see the value of a real cert over some flashy sales pitch, imagine working under them every single day. Sounds like a nightmare honestly. And let me ask this - how many people in that interview actually had the training background you do? Probably zero. That gym might be more about looking good than actually being good at helping people get results. Their loss, not yours. Honestly those boutique studios sandragrant mentioned are way smarter about this stuff. They know a trainer who can actually teach proper form is worth ten sales guys who can't spot a bad deadlift from across the room. Maybe this was just a bullet dodged wearing a sport coat.