[kacey]

I am debating on whether or not to attend the ACSM 3 day workshop. The only issue holding me back is that I was told it is usually packed with college age kids and I am in my 30's. Is this true?

[BrianB]

I just took it this past weekend. I'm 39. There were probably an equal number of people that were my age or older vs. younger than me. It was a good, balanced group. Some folks were new to the field, but there were many professional trainers as well who were already certified by other organizations (NSCA, NASM, ACE, etc.) who wanted ACSM "for credibility" (their words, not mine).

I think the workshop was worth the money and time. I'll let you know how much it helped (or didn't) with passing the exam after I take it. Good information and contact building and hands on value in any event.

[kacey]

Thanks for the quick reply. I am going to attend this weekend. Its great to see someone my age is going through the ACSM certification as well. This has been a stressful experience but well worth it in the long run! Good Luck on the exam.

[kacey]

I attended the 3 day workshop this weekend. I found that the workshop was mostly review so originally I was upset that I spent that much money BUT I realized that I should be happy that it seemed more like a review to me because others were struggling. Another student in the class was very lost. She said she called ACSM and asked when the appropriate time to attend the workshop was (beginning of studying or after studying the material for a few weeks) and they told her anytime was great. She ended up being very lost and very frustrated because she did not understand most of the terms and abbreviations being discussed. I suggest reviewing your material prior to attending any workshop.

[BrianB]

Hi Kacey. I'm getting back in the swing of things and posting my experience with the 3-day workshop and the exam.

I (like you) had read the majority of the text before attending the workshop. After my first day of the 3 day workshop I felt kind of like you do -- like I had wasted my money. I was actually borderline angry because I felt like I was trapped with an almost impossible decision to make. My choices were: a) abandon the class and use the next two days to study instead of going to the workshop. Sure I'd have wasted my investment in the workshop, but I'd gain two days of study time, or b) go to the next two days of the workshop and hope that I did get something out of it that would make it worth having done it.

At the conclusion of the workshop we had to fill out the course evaluation, rating, among other things, whether or not we got out of the workshop what we hoped to get out of it. This was hard to do because I didn't know if I had or hadn't. Now that I've taken the exam, I know that I did get out of the workshop what I hoped to get out of it, and that is reinforcement of those topics most critical to success on the exam, coupled with some hands on contact.

Now that I've passed the exam (quite easily, and after only two weeks of study) I know that the workshop really did target and reinforce things on the exam that the official study materials were weak in. I'll be making a separate post with my exam study hints after I post this.

Anyway, on balance, if you can spare the money to take the 3-day workshop, I think it will a) help you pass the exam, b) help you understand some things that are poorly explained in the texts (such as PNF stretching for example -- having done it was completely different than what I envisioned after the explanation in the book which was poor at best). The study guide they give you at the workshop also pulls together a lot of information and boils it down into charts and lists that help guide your studying. One of the most helpful parts of the study guide is the lists of review topics for each section (in the back of the guide). There aren't really any "answers" here, but the topics (and page number references) are good to guide your study. For each topic mentioned in the review I went and made up as many questions as were necessary to cover the topic, and looked up the answers in the 4 books I used to study. Making and doing the flashcards on the specific review topics helped a lot. There is also at least 1 page in the study guide that is worth the price of the course alone (but now that I know about it, you could get it from other sources). That is the page that tells specifically how to "spot" the various freeweight exercises. The ability to do this is a KSA, but none of the 4 books (RPT, GETP, CR, or RMGETP) covered it worth a darn and the exam had very detailed questions on this topic (that were absolutely not answered in the texts).

If anyone out there is considering the workshop and has specific questions, pop 'em out here and I'll take a shot at them.

[BrianB]

Here is the link to my study tips post.