Personal Trainers Certification

Hi all,

Hows everyone doing? I was hoping I would be able to find a few personal trainers on this site. Or anyone who would have any information about the subject.

I am 21 years old and I am looking to become a personal trainer. Does anyone have any suggestions on the best place(or places) to get my personal trainers certification.

I have a little over one year of college credits as I was majoring in Physical Education. (mostly prerequisites) I decided that it would be better(and cheaper) to take a certified personal training course.

Is there anyone who has experience with this? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thank You, Stephen

Most of the better certifications require you to have a degree.

chaddukes,

I apprecciate your comment, however this isn’t the advice I am looking for. If anyone has any knowledgeable or first hand experience that would be awesome if you could comment.

One of the programs I am looking into is the NPTI, it is a 6 month course and seems to cover all aspects of personal training.

I have heard good things about NPTI. You might also want to check out any local colleges many of them offer a course in personal training. That is what I did when I was in school, I just never bothered to take the exam at the end to become certified.


Just avoid all those online programs many of the people I have talked to after completing the course were still clueless on even the most basic nutrition and exercise concepts.

Thanks justinrowland,

Yes the NPTI seems like a very good program and I am going to look more into it. I appreciate your comments.

Has anybody heard anything about ACE? Is it good? bad?

http://www.acefitness.org/getcertified/certific…

I would suggest you visit some gyms that you think are good and ask them what they require from their trainers, or ask them specifically if they would hire trainers with certain certifications.

From my personal perspective, I have heard good things about NASM and NSCA for personal trainer certifications.

My gym is hiring trainers and I have been studying for the NSCA-CPT exam. I want to start working as soon as possible but don’t yet feel prepared to sit the exam. My gym recommended that I get my ACE CPT in the meantime to get my foot in the door and I’ve now heard that at least in the area I live in, ACE is widely accepted at most of the gyms.

Good luck!!

I would say asking in your area gyms is good advice.

I recently became certified with ACSM (America College of Sports Medicine) as a Certified Personal Trainer. The offer several levels of certification based on your education. I was ACE certified several years ago, but never did anything with it and it expired. I found the ACSM test and materials more rigorous than ACE. I feel better prepared to start my business now then I did after passing the ACE test.

I think that the absolute best certification you can get is through the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM). This is also the most difficult certification to obtain, so you’ll be working hard for it.

The other three top certs in my opinion are through The National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) and American Council on Exercise (ACE) and the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM), which is another accredited certification.

You can also look in to the International Sports Sciences Association (ISSA). Fred Hatfield (Dr. Squat) and Charles Staley are on the advisory board, which is pretty impressive.

If you’re planning on training out of a local health club, you may want to check to see which certifications they accept (it can differ club to club).

Susan
www.CatapultFitnessBlog.com

Thank you all so much for the replies, I am going to look more into all of these programs and let you all know what I think of them.

though the ACE is a good cert, and pretty well known, I preferred the ISSA one. Not that the ACE was not helpful, ISSA just seemed more… educational.
i will be done with my BA in Exercise Science, from there I will be getting my CSCS.

Start with one, and see what works for you. Also check out www.personaltraineru.com
It is a huge network of personal trainers with years of experience. Everone on that site is great.
Also i am here, as well as others.

Have a great day!
RJ
njchallengefitness.com