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Certifications


willpeavy
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I was researching Personal Training Certifications and noticed there are a lot of them out there:

 

International Fitness Professionals Association

American Fitness Professionals and Associates

National Federation of Personal Trainers

International Sports Sciences Association

American Fitness Training of Athletics

National Council on Strength and Fitness

National Association for Fitness Certification

 

If anyone has an opinion on which ones are best/worst and why, please share!

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They are all different and have different things that they teach, but a lot of the information is the same, it's just the way they do it.

 

This is why there is a National Board because there are over 250 certifications with their own programs, and the National board is there so that everyone has the same knowledge and if states ever require a Licensing, you would already be Nationally recognized. I am taking that test on the 15th. You do need to be certified in one of the following certification companies that they are partnered with though before taking the National tests:

 

# Academy of Applied Personal Training Education (AAPTE)

# Aerobics and Fitness Association of America (AFAA)

# American Fitness Professionals and Associates (AFPA)

# International Sports Sciences Association (ISSA)

# National Association for Fitness Certification (NAFC)

# National Endurance and Sports Trainers Association (NESTA)

# National Exercise Trainer Association (NETA)

# Professional Fitness Instructor Training (PFIT)

# The Cooper Institute

# World Instructor Training Schools (WITS)

# International Association of Resistance Trainers (IART)

# U.S. Career Institute

 

ISSA is an accredited organization, not sure about the other ones. Go here to check out the site if you like: http://www.nbfe.org/

 

I am with ISSA and I can say they are good. The problem with all of these is that you need to manage your own time and have the dedication to actually study hehe.

 

Also, every 2 years you need to renew your certification with CEUs (Continued Education Units) so that you can update your knowledge (according to what they say).

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Cool, thanks for starting this thread, and thanks to Kalani for some of the info. I've been interested in personal training for a long time. A bunch of people think I am one, but I'm not. I may get involved with it sometime soon. I'm excited about going back to school in general. Just not sure what I'm going to do yet. This would tie in well with my license in massage therapy too.

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Will -

 

I've thought about doing the training bit some myself. One thing that I come back to is how much I'll want to know, or what the minimum level of education on something I'll want to have is, before I feel comfortable discussing it professionally. While getting certified may take some time and some work, whether that provides the knowledge you want to be able to impart may be another question... I know we've got others here who are trainers, I'm sure they're better suited than me to speak to the subject. Just figured I'd throw out what I'd been kicking around since you put this out here. Good thread, I'll be watching it develop

 

-Aaron

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Cool, thanks for starting this thread, and thanks to Kalani for some of the info. I've been interested in personal training for a long time. A bunch of people think I am one, but I'm not. I may get involved with it sometime soon. I'm excited about going back to school in general. Just not sure what I'm going to do yet. This would tie in well with my license in massage therapy too.

 

Anytime Rob, you are welcome.

 

Theres other fields of Personal Training that you can also get certified in to supplement your Certified Personal Trainer course, such as "Rehabilitation", "Exercising with Seniors", etc. Those count as CEUs

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I *was* an ISSA certified trainer, but unfortunately my certification lapsed when I didn't take any CEU's to keep current.

 

I think it was a pretty good course - covered all the basics, but as with anything else, you always have to learn a lot on your own that a course will never really teach you no matter how good it is. Without your own experience for at least a few years' training beforehand a certification is only worth as much as the paper it's written on.

 

In retrospect, if I was looking to actually get into the training business instead of taking the route I did, I'd have made a lot of changes (rant begins here) -

 

1. I'd get myself into better shape (eg. leaner) as nothing is a better advertisement for your services than your appearance. Yes, there are a LOT of knowledgeable people who are fantastic trainers that don't necessarily have herculean physiques, but these typically are people who LIVE to gain knowledge about training and did so for years to get where they have been. For a new trainer, the appearance you show your clientele will speak to potential trainees about the results that they may get if they follow your advice. Now, this will not necessarily ring true in a commercial gym where they throw clients at anyone with a certification who is employed, but for someone starting their own business or who works at a gym where they have to earn their clients, this will definitely help you to get more interest. People tend to WANT to train with someone who possesses an ideal physique (even if the person is not the greatest trainer...) so it doesn't hurt to have both sides covered for appearance and knowledge together.

 

2. I'd offer to train a few people for free or a very nominal amount just to generate some buzz and have references while getting used to working with clients. It can be pretty intimidating to get out there and just start training after you get certified, so if I were to do it over again I'd have trained a few people for references that I could have used. That way you can enter slowly and learn as you go in how to train people rather than be thrust into it for your livelihood right off with no experience. People's results will speak for themselves, and the references will be extremely valuable when getting into the business.

 

3. I'd learn much more than the courses teach about how best to specifically train for various sport activities. Checking with coaches and other trainers who specialize would be a great way to get more than just the initial info that a course will typically supply. For example, I'd have had no idea how to specifically train someone for strongman, powerlifting, football, baseball or anything else from the ISSA course. Sure, you get the basic components for how to train someone, but if you want to be marketable and well-rounded you'll want to do a LOT of independent study on individual sports training (unless you want to only train the "general fitness" types). The last thing you want to do is have someone coming in to build up their squat poundage and put them on a leg press - do something like that and you'll lose your new client before the first session is over with. There's a place here that Sensless from the board has spent time training at that specifically caters to those looking to enhance sports performance, and their business is booming because they know what they're doing. Rather than train all clients the same, the individual's sport's need is broken down, analyzed, and weak spots are strengthened to improve what they need to excel in their field. You won't learn this kind of stuff from a manual, so I highly recommend that anyone looking to get into training puts a LOT of effort into specialization so that they have the base knowledge when they get out there to train.

 

I'm sure I could think of more if I sat here long enough, but those are some points that warrant mentioning for those looking to get started in training. I know that I could never survive the terrible mass-market gym for being my home-base to train people at, so I would definitely have to do the things mentioned above if I were to try and get back into it again in order to be happy!

 

Ryan

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Hey VE, cool to hear that you were once with ISSA. Any plan to do the CEUs to pick it back up? Or are you with some other organization? I just had to comment.

 

 

3. I'd learn much more than the courses teach about how best to specifically train for various sport activities. Checking with coaches and other trainers who specialize would be a great way to get more than just the initial info that a course will typically supply. For example, I'd have had no idea how to specifically train someone for strongman, powerlifting, football, baseball or anything else from the ISSA course. Sure, you get the basic components for how to train someone, but if you want to be marketable and well-rounded you'll want to do a LOT of independent study on individual sports training (unless you want to only train the "general fitness" types). The last thing you want to do is have someone coming in to build up their squat poundage and put them on a leg press - do something like that and you'll lose your new client before the first session is over with. There's a place here that Sensless from the board has spent time training at that specifically caters to those looking to enhance sports performance, and their business is booming because they know what they're doing. Rather than train all clients the same, the individual's sport's need is broken down, analyzed, and weak spots are strengthened to improve what they need to excel in their field. You won't learn this kind of stuff from a manual, so I highly recommend that anyone looking to get into training puts a LOT of effort into specialization so that they have the base knowledge when they get out there to train.

 

You are right that you would need to do some research to research what to do with a client to cater to a specific sport. At the same time, a lot of it is pretty straight forward if you know what type of strength an event requires, such as explosive strength. You would then do exercises that would increase that so that they perform better. You wouldn't need to go out of your way to find extraordinary exercises (although some may help), but some would just be common sense once you got the principls of each different types of strengths as well as their curves.

 

If you are working in a facility such as 24 Hour Fitness, it limits your training styles even more since you need to keep it within the scope of the facility, and not the same if you were to be your own private business where you can implement whatever training regime you want (such as the parachute exercise).

 

Specific training is sometimes better than over all training and I have read that it is better to get specific in your field, than just being a over all trainer, such as you mentioned, a Sports Coach.

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Kollision,

 

Right now, I don't have any plans to pick my cert back up - I put in between 50 and 60 hours/week with my current business, and as much as training would be fun, I just don't have the time to do justice to 2 separate things that would both dominate my life. It just happened that within 2 months of getting my certification (and being jerked around by a small training facility that I had been led to believe was going to hire me...) I happened to get involved in my wife's business and have been here ever since. I've always dreamed of opening my own gym, but since it would be strength-sport focused I probably wouldn't have too many people looking for training but that just want to use quality equipment that they can't find anywhere else

 

You are right that you would need to do some research to research what to do with a client to cater to a specific sport. At the same time, a lot of it is pretty straight forward if you know what type of strength an event requires, such as explosive strength. You would then do exercises that would increase that so that they perform better. You wouldn't need to go out of your way to find extraordinary exercises (although some may help), but some would just be common sense once you got the principls of each different types of strengths as well as their curves.

 

This is very true, but for example, a huge majority of top powerlifters tend to train in a very specialized manner that does actually include quite a few special exercises that I could have never known about until I actually began studying it more. Despite the appearance that a deadlift is just a deadlift, some of the best at it will rarely ever actually train that specific lift outside of competitio; rather, they rely on specialized assistance work to improve it, making huge gains to their competition lift total while avoiding doing regular deadlifts for weeks or months on end. Something of this sort (which is definitely a bit of an exception) travels against conventional training wisdom but works for many people, and that would require in-depth study to find how to use this to a client's advantage. Since most people training in a commercial setting will never wind up having someone who comes to them looking to add 80 lbs. to their deadlift it isn't important for everyone, but for me, if I were to start training I'd want to be versed in all activities and ready for anything. And, like you said, depending on where you train people will also impact your abilities to suit their needs based on equipment, space constraints, and silly rules (such as no olympic lifts, no deadlifting, no chalk etc.) But, that's just the way I'd go about it if I were to get into training - I couldn't be happy just helping people to lose a few lbs. to look better when going to the beach!

 

Ryan

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Right now, I don't have any plans to pick my cert back up - I put in between 50 and 60 hours/week with my current business, and as much as training would be fun, I just don't have the time to do justice to 2 separate things that would both dominate my life. It just happened that within 2 months of getting my certification (and being jerked around by a small training facility that I had been led to believe was going to hire me...) I happened to get involved in my wife's business and have been here ever since. I've always dreamed of opening my own gym, but since it would be strength-sport focused I probably wouldn't have too many people looking for training but that just want to use quality equipment that they can't find anywhere else Smile

 

I wish you the best of luck in your endeavors. I know it is really time consuming, it's basically like having a class, but harder since you need to keep yourself in gear and moderate your time, which can just go over your head without you knowing it. If you opened your own gym, I bet you'd have a lot of Power Lifters coming there. A 270 lb Power Lifter Vegan...OOooo boy

 

This is very true, but for example, a huge majority of top powerlifters tend to train in a very specialized manner that does actually include quite a few special exercises that I could have never known about until I actually began studying it more. Despite the appearance that a deadlift is just a deadlift, some of the best at it will rarely ever actually train that specific lift outside of competitio; rather, they rely on specialized assistance work to improve it, making huge gains to their competition lift total while avoiding doing regular deadlifts for weeks or months on end. Something of this sort (which is definitely a bit of an exception) travels against conventional training wisdom but works for many people, and that would require in-depth study to find how to use this to a client's advantage. Since most people training in a commercial setting will never wind up having someone who comes to them looking to add 80 lbs. to their deadlift it isn't important for everyone, but for me, if I were to start training I'd want to be versed in all activities and ready for anything. And, like you said, depending on where you train people will also impact your abilities to suit their needs based on equipment, space constraints, and silly rules (such as no olympic lifts, no deadlifting, no chalk etc.) But, that's just the way I'd go about it if I were to get into training - I couldn't be happy just helping people to lose a few lbs. to look better when going to the beach!

 

Now we are talking professional field, and that is really tough. I don't think that people realize how much different the professional (or amateur, but I call it professional whenver it is competition since it is different from the casual lifter) circuit is from just the normal. I personally wouldn't train a professional because I don't have the knowledge on how to do so. You on the other hand would be better suited since you do these yourself. That by itself would make sense in regards to the manual not teaching you, since a lot of this type of stuff goes hand in hand with personal experience, and a field that you and your client can relate to each other which brings you and your client closer. The business aspect can be just as hard, or even harder than the training IMO, especially if you are not good with talking to other people (such as me, I need to overcome that , but I am doing better). Good luck if you ever venture into this field! Opening your own business would be the best choice if goind the direction you want, since you have more freedom of what to do. The only problem I see with it is actually getting people at first, since it is a professional thing, but you prolly do well with that and prolly already know Power lifters.

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Thanks to everyone who has responded so far. One thing I noticed when I used to workout at Gold's Gym, is that a lot of the personal trainers there had a bachelor's degree in exercise science (or a related field). So that makes me wonder how hard it is for someone with only a certification and no degree in the field to find work.

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I've been considering this route too Will. I don't think a degree is required to get in to the field. Most of the mega-gyms seem to always be looking for certified trainers. It would be a good start and a way to make connections and gain the type of experience Ryan is talking about. There are plenty of clients in the mega-gyms that are starting at such a basic level, it doesn't take much to help them. I help these people out myself, they can't even figure out how to use the machines.

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Thanks to everyone who has responded so far. One thing I noticed when I used to workout at Gold's Gym, is that a lot of the personal trainers there had a bachelor's degree in exercise science (or a related field). So that makes me wonder how hard it is for someone with only a certification and no degree in the field to find work.

 

Certifications help in some places in regards to how much you will be paid. Plus it adds more to your credentials. At a lot of the 24 Hour Fitness gyms, they have like a board with the trainers names and their credentials.

 

I have a friend that isn't even certified or a degree and he still got hired. I'll tell ya that a lot of PTs don't even know what the heck is going on. All they do is follow a handbook that is given to them and just write down on their board. If you go up and ask them a question, some of them do not even know.

 

Certification adds more to your credentials and looks better on your resume. Plus, you'll learn a lot that you never knew (at least that's what it did for me).

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Just to add, what I think is amazing is at the Bally's that I used to go to, they would occasionally put out info for a CFT course that they'd endorse for potential trainers that would give you your certification in just one 3-HOUR SESSION! Now, I don't know what quality of trainers they'd expect to get working in their gym from this, but would YOU trust anyone whose certification came from notthing more than a few hours' lecture followed by a short multiple-choice test? It just goes to show that the larger the franchise, the lower the standards for who they'll let on the floor to train their clients...

 

Ryan

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