IFPA vs ACSM - Personal Trainer Community - Forum

[mfajardo]

Hi Guys how are you? first of all I appreciate the attention and response to this question.
I am planning a change of 360 in my career, and part of that new plan is get certified as a personal trainer, I am trying to gather as much information as possible. Thinking a bit on credentials, which and what can give more opportunities in employment as a career , or what is the highest recognition that is accepted everywhere in the healthcare industry, I would like some advise in what certification is better IFPA or ACSM ..
having a good week ... and tks

cheers .....manuel

[Dinah]

Hi Manuel,

Glad to see you've joined the Forum. I guess your wife passed along the information I sent to her.

I'll start out by saying that no matter what certification you go with, it's just the beginning of your education as a trainer. It's really going to be your experience and how you keep up with your certification that is going to matter in the end.

That being said, when you are choosing which certification to go with, I think part of the decision is what do you actually want to do with it. You mention the health care industry. Are you interested in the clinical side of training? Like working with special populations at a hospital or rehab facility? If so, ACSM would definitely be one way to go since they have a stellar reputation and their foundation is much more clinical. If you want to work with athletes, then something like NSCA, which is known in the industry for its strength training knowledge would be a way to go.

I'm not familiar with IFPA, so I can't comment on that certification. Usually when people are comparing between certs, it's usually ACSM, NASM, NSCA and ACE. Those seem to be the ones (certainly) on this forum that are considered more widely.

If you're looking to get into a really good gym, then I would go with a cert that has "street cred". You want something that is going to open doors. I'm not sure how many will open with IFPA -- but I could be wrong.

I think you also have to trust your gut. Which one sounds more interesting and engaging for you? They all have their different study materials -- some have a larger online study focus and others primarily have the textbooks (like ACSM).

As you can see there's lots of things to consider and narrowing down what it is you're looking to do and matching it with the appropriate certification is a good place to start.

Dinah