[noercarr]

Ive been a carpenter all of my short life, (im 23) and due to michigans economy, im currently laid off, ive decided to take a new career path, something im gonna enjoy the rest of my life. I ordered the NSCA's PT textbook on tuesday and hopefully will recieve it by the weekend. I have only 3 months to get this done before my unemployment runs out. (i feel like such a bum, but theres not work in my field right now) Im hoping to feed off the generosity of others knowledge, to help me get through this.

Ive never considered furthering my education before, and this is a totally foreign thing to me. I hope to start towards a degree in exercise science and technology by the summer, if not sooner. But first things first, i wanna get certified. Ive read one book in my lifetime, literally, and i just finished it about 4 days ago, (Girth Control: the science of fat loss and muscle gain, by Alan Aragon) it was a DEEP book for me, and i didnt begin to grasp all of it, but it was great motivation to DO something. So i look for your help in conquering this challenge of constant studying and application of methods, thats before me. Any advice will be truly appreciated and i look forward to learning all that i can from those of you currently going through the same process, and especially, those who have aced the exam!!

[muscletrainerdh-NSCA CPT]

Hey noercarr,

Welcome to THE TANK! And congrats on deciding to pursue a career in personal training.

Make sure you read through the NSCA section of the site as well as the business and marketing sections.

Good luck and let us know if you are struggling with any specific issue!

All The Best,

Dave

[standAPART]

Good choice for a book! Alan Aragon is a colleague of mine and he is an authority on nutrition. As for your journey with personal training, use the NSCA text and study it religiously. Go to a gym to "apply" the things discussed in the textbook and I would also recommend meeting up with a veteran trainer and interview him.

[DarkCreator]

Good Luck! I just started on the same journey about 2 weeks ago (switching into the personal trainer field). Yes, the text is very intimidating (still hits me with the "stress wave" every now and then) but just study the material in accordance to the DCO and it provides a very nice study outline for you.

[noercarr]

Great, thanks for the advice. Ive been weight training 4-5 days a week for about a year and a half now, and actually realizing how large a part nutrition plays in the whole process. Mainly been following the guidelines of AA (that guy is a genius). I will definatly try and set up a interview with an experienced trainer, great idea.

Dark- thats great news, have you set out a timeline for yourself? Whats the DCO? and did you only buy the text, or did you go with the package of cd-roms and practice exams? I hear that buying at least 2 of the practice exams are simply, the only way to go. I should be receiving the textbook today, and will order the other materials as suggested/needed.
Thanks for the support!

[DarkCreator]

My timeline is pretty much to test by the beginning of June, before I move down to VA - should be a pretty good job market down there compared to up here in VT. As far as the materials go - I ordered one of the packaged deals, the NSCA-CPT PremierPlus+ Preparation Package. Since you already ordered the Text book though you can just get the NSCA-CPT Premier Preparation Package - the "+" is the difference . Oh, did you join the NSCA yet? Its a good idea just to save a good deal on the materials as well as receiving some kick-ass research journals from the NSCA.

The DCO is inside of the Exam Content Description Booklet. Since there is no way that they could test you on almost 700 pages of text in a timely manner, they give you an exact breakdown of how many questions they will be asking for each of the different subject matters. They also pose a few questions for each topic and subtopic that they present - kinda like a ready-made study guide/worksheet for you to do. The questions don't always directly correlate to the text though so sometimes its just a matter of critical thinking....or just asking for help here on the boards .

[noercarr]

Fantastic. I havent joined just yet, but it makes no sense not to since its about $120 for membership, and you save $105 on your cert. exam fees. Not to mention the discount on materials you mentioned. Well i got the book about an hour ago, and finished chapter one.... its gonna be a rough ride. To me, VERY complex, especially when i havent heard of 80% of the names of these muscle fibers and nervous sytem components, let alone, what purpose they are serving. I will have to re-read chapter one probly 2 times over later on.

This DCO sounds very important, im gonna need to get my hands on it. Im still tossing up between the premier and elite package, i hear the practice test are quite some help, so if anyone has a reccomendation, im all ears.

In case you havent seen this yet, im gonna start picking through some of these old journals till then!
http://www.nsca.com/Perform/backissues.asp