Recertification - Personal Trainer Community - Forum

[Maurice]

I am writing on behalf of a friend who needs to complete his continuing education credits (20 of them) in order to recertify through ISSA. However, the prices through ISSA for their own classes were really high. Is there any other website or online school which can offer the same credits at a lower rate? (Price was $600) I'm sorry if this is the wrong section. However, I didn't see a corresponding section for the ISSA, so I just posted here.

[BrianB]

I can't be of help with ISSA, so in a way my reply is kind of stupid, but this is one of the things I *really* like about ACSM -- you can earn your CEC's 100% online and basically completely free with all of the opportunities they offer. You have a huge array of topics to choose from, so your continuing education can be in topics that really interest you (and are focused in your area of practice/specialization). I think some of the certs like NASM and others really exploit the continuing education requirement as an opportunity to keep wringing money out of their people [by tightly controlling the eligible opportunities to ones they make money from] as opposed to it's purported purpose -- to keep you learning and growing your knowledge. Sorry for the little rant. Hopefully someone here is ISSA and can offer some helpful advice.

P.S. Nothing against NASM or any of the others. I may end up doing a NASM CPT next myself. In truth, if I don't it will actually be because they are so restrictive on their CECs that it costs too much to "maintain" (compared to the value of an extra cert).

[standAPART]

Easy on NASM...I'd still take them over ACSM any day.

ACSM makes its money by obtaining grants from its affiliated (very large) corporations to fund studies,; grants from the government; and universities. Want to know why ACSM always does new research? Because they are paid a hefty amount to do so.

[BrianB]

Easy on NASM...I'd still take them over ACSM any day.

ACSM makes its money by obtaining grants from its affiliated (very large) corporations to fund studies,; grants from the government; and universities. Want to know why ACSM always does new research? Because they are paid a hefty amount to do so.

I really didn't mean to bash them. Best I can tell there is a lot of value in their methods and principles. I've ordered their certification materials for the knowledge even if I don't do the certification. I've just had the opportunity to talk to several NASM certified people recently, and the one thing they all complained about was their CEC credit program.

[standAPART]

People that complain about the recertification process or the money don't like to learn new things. And if money is the problem, they don't believe in investing in their future/career. I've put in $1000's of dollars in continuing education over the years. And every penny invested has returned two-fold.

[BrianB]

People that complain about the recertification process or the money don't like to learn new things. And if money is the problem, they don't believe in investing in their future/career. I've put in $1000's of dollars in continuing education over the years. And every penny invested has returned two-fold.

Your blanket statement is false. You cannot categorically say that people who complain about the recertification process or the money don't like to learn new things or don't believe in investing in their future/career. There are any number of valid complaints one might have about the recertification process and still be someone who loves to learn new things and/or believes in investing in their education.

Personally, I think the recertification process very important and adds a lot of credibility to the certification. I personally don't have a problem with the money or the effort. Where it is a bit inefficient however is the lack of coordination amongst the NCCA accredited organizations with regard to CEUs. In theory, each of the NCCA accredited certifying authorities (ACSM, NASM, NSCA, etc.) should all be attempting to accomplish the same thing with their continuing certification process -- ensure their certified professionals are continuing to keep up with the science, while still providing them the latitude to do that in specializations that interest them. What I'd like to see is the NCCA step in and say "we're going to be the ones that approve various activities for CEUs and say how many CEUs they are worth, and all NCCA accredited certifying authorities have to accept those CEUs (however they can still set their own policies regarding how many are required and how often, and mandate specific topics if desired, etc)". This would be similar to the university system where regionally accredited universities generally recognize credits earned at other regionally accredited universities, however they decide which credits will be required for each degree, etc. If the above were done, it would remove one of the great dis-incentives to holding multiple certifications.

I said that personally I don't have a problem with the money -- but that's me -- I make a good living doing something other than personal training and for me the whole PT thing is a "I'd like to give back and help people" and I don't really care what it costs me to become qualified, nor do I really care how much money I can make doing it. That said, I know what some of the personal trainers at the gyms around here are making, and the CEU expense for some of them represents a significant outlay.

While I think the CEU process/requirements need to have meaning, I don't think that it is absolutely necessary for it to cost the certified person $800 every two years. Obviously ACSM's program is accredited and they've found a way to let you get all your CEUs in a cost effective manner. If anything, the ability to earn CEUs cost effectively makes me want to do even more continuing education than they require. I'm guessing that I'll have the required number of CEUs done within a few months, but that won't mean that I'll stop -- I'll keep doing CEUs that interest me whether I need the "points" or not.

That's my perspective anyway. Opinions vary. The world would be horribly boring if they didn't.

[Christina]

I love a debate but can anyone answer Maurice's original question? Any ISSA certified folks on here?

Christina