Personal Training Certification: How Did You Choose?

Christina · Joined: 14 Apr 2006 Posts: 850

How did you decide which personal training certification you wanted to pursue? Did you talk to other personal trainers? Did you base your decision on cost? Did your employer encourage you to go with a particular certification?

I don't think we've ever talked about this on the forum and I am curious.

Christina

jackson · Joined: 05 Sep 2007 Posts: 85

I chose the NSCA-CPT certification after looking at each organization and what they stood for. After that I looked at the certifications of the Trainers in the gym I attend and decided I didnt want the ones they had. I know that may have been unfair but having trained with one and observing the training of the others I was sure that if they were a true representation of the certifications they held I wanted no part of it. I know a certification doesnt gurantee a great trainer but I believe it should teach you a baseline to be held accountable to.

I then looked at reputable trainers (i.e. Alwyn Cosgrove, Craig Ballentyne and the like ) that I hold in high regard and at what certifications they held. I contacted Alwyn's wife Rachel and discussed certs and she too agreed the NSCA was a great way to go.

Lastly I was on another forum and was talking about what cert to choose and someone recommended I take the "easier" certification just to say I had one. That was the final push to not just be a trainer the easy way but to work hard for it through a challenging exam.

So here I am and I hope to pass and become a reputable trainer of high quality myself.

randall · Joined: 27 Nov 2007 Posts: 13 Location: Orlando,FL

I took the WITS course that my local Communtiy College offered. I thought by having a certified instructor teach the course and having a hands on part of the course, it offered more, learning wise.

After taken the course, I still think I might go for another certification, I want to learn as much as possible.

txfitgirl · Joined: 22 Dec 2007 Posts: 1

I'm currently researching which certification I want to go with. Many, many years ago I had my primary exercise certification with AFAA but never did put it to use. I liked the company and what they had to offer. Does anyone have any experience or thoughts on this organization?

chrisg35 · Joined: 01 Dec 2007 Posts: 19 Location: Johnson City, TN

You can hold all of the "top" certs and not know a thing and the opposite is quite true also.

However, even with that said, I would honestly look for one of the top four certs: NSCA, ACSM, NASM, ACE. The only reason is because currently these are the only four companies that are Nationally Accredited (SP?). I have my NSCA-CPT and am currently studying for my CSCS. Both of these are good tests to take and pass, and are very tough!

It all boils down to what you want to do in this field, you will find that in this field the people that are successful are those that continue to improve upon their education all the time, no matter what cert they hold.

Hope that helps!

Chris