Are you confused about all companies that offer personal training certification? What is the NCSF certification or ACE exam? What are their benefits? Why is it so difficult to figure out?

When I started learning to become a personal trainer, I couldn't believe that the personal training industry had been unregulated and distributed over the past few years. What I want to know is… What types of certifications in the US can be recognized by customers and quality fitness professionals? Why is it so difficult?

The fitness industry has proven to be one of the least regulated industries. The most important thing for aspiring trainers to learn before they start their careers is how the industry self-organizes to highlight reputable certification organizations.

NCCA – the only "gold" standard

This is the key… The National Certification Body Committee [NCCA, [http://www.noca.org]] is the primary certification body for the US Personal Training Certification Program.

The certified personal instructor certificate of the NCCA accredited body is the top certification that individual trainers can obtain. In addition, most gyms, customers, and business people want competent personal trainers to get certification from NCCA certification bodies.

These eight accredited organizations offer a variety of fitness and personal training educational seminars, materials and degrees. All of these are considered effective training certificates and can be a key first step in becoming a personal trainer.

General certification similarities

Each certification body is managed in a slightly different way, but all of them need their “graduates” to take one or more competency exams. Many times these exams include face-to-face practice. [I believe they should all, but unfortunately they don't.]

Eight NCCA certification organizations provide their own test preparation materials and their certifications to learn and prepare for their exams.

If you pass these exams, you will be certified for a continuous scheduled time period, usually 1-3 years.

After you get certified, each organization has different rules about how many “continuing education credits” [aka CEC or CEU] a trainer must take in a year to stay up-to-date. They also require the trainer to recertify when the certificate expires… of course, additional fees are required!

Let us give you an example… The American College of Sports [ACE] has a “personal coach” certification, and you can spend around $300. The certification is valid for two years. After two years, you must pay approximately $400 to re-certify for two years with ACE. This includes re-examination and registration fees. $400 is the average of the renewal fee [$69], you need to spend 20 hours of CEC [and pay]

While many certification programs insist that you do not need to purchase any courses that qualify for the exam, the new trainer needs to be very familiar with the type of material for each particular exam. Each team tests the core of skills and knowledge [such as anatomy and exercise science], but most have different aspects [such as nutrition or exercise trainers], and if you learn from different materials, you might even Do not know at all.

Blessing eight

Let's take a look at NCCA's eight personal training certification groups so that we can eliminate non-recognized courses that are advertised online every day.

1. The American College of Sports [ACE] provides a personal trainer certificate and three other health certificates. A range of practical training courses are offered in major cities across the country. These courses include two days and fifteen hours of teaching. The organization also has a family study program to prepare for the certification exam. These courses take approximately three to six months to complete, allowing you to work at your own pace.

2. The National Council for Strength and Fitness [NCSF] provides a personal training certification program and a home study program in preparation for the exam. It awarded the acronym Absurd Award to the "NCSF-CPT" certificate. They have many options and you can choose home study and interactive workshops. Upon completion of the course and exam preparation, you will be prepared to take the certification exam. The exam is available at more than 400 test locations nationwide.

The American College of Sports Medicine [ACSM] offers two methods to prepare for their certification exams. They offer one to three days of seminars or exam preparation for home study courses. They also offer popular health/fitness coaching certificates to those interested in teaching.

4. The National Academy of Sports Medicine [NASM] has Certified Personal Coach [CPT] certification, which includes a number of other certifications. They are very well known in the fitness industry and many top fitness clubs accept their CPT certification. There are some strict restrictions on the CPT exam [such as the number of exams you can take and the time you take the exam], which must be done in person. It is also available at computer testing centers across the country.

The National Strength and Regulation Association [NSCA], also known as NSCA-PT, is from the National Strength and Regulation Association. They offer two types of certification, one called C.S.C.S. and a personal training certification called NSCA-CPT.

6. Cooper Research Institute [CI] is a new NCCA accreditation organization that provides individual training certification. The name of CI-CPT comes from the guy who started the whole aerobics boom. His book was published in the 70s and is called "aerobics"!

7. The National Association of Sports Trainers [NETA] is also a new NCCA accreditation organization. Although its reputation is still catching up with its quality, it makes me feel very honored because students can get a lot of money from it.

8. The National Federation of Vocational Trainers [NFPT] is also an accredited certification by NCCA. NFPT offers Certified Personal Trainer [CPT] courses and a range of additional "Advanced" courses.

These personal training certification organizations offer a variety of ways to get the education they need to become certified trainers. They all have family, online and seminar courses, and some even offer correspondence courses at local universities. Everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses, depending on your training goals.

Hopefully this has cleared some of the confusion about high quality personal training certification in the world today.

Why is the personal training certification industry so confusing? was originally published on Spring