Certification for Personal Trainers
Posted by 
Seeker on Aug 31 2008 |
All Inclusive
Eventually, either my husband or myself is going to have to become a Certified Personal Trainer in order for us to realize our goal of owning a Fitness Consulting Business. We haven’t researched too much into what is involved yet so this is definitely an area that I need to educate myself about.
International Sports Sciences Association (ISSA) has provided certification and continuing education for almost 100,000 health and fitness professionals for the past twenty years. Earning ISSA Personal Training Certifications is possible through a home/online study course. This sounds perfect for our needs.
Here’s the bottom line: Fitness Training and Fitness Education are hot now and only going to get hotter. Anything that is connected to “natural healing” is going to be extremely popular in the upcoming years. Becoming a Certified Personal Trainer is going to be a great way to get involved in this hot new mindset.
ISSA is actively pursuing the accreditation of six of their personal trainer certification programs. This is a important indication of a quality certifying organization. They offer several different certification programs – one of which is sure to fit your needs.
The tuition and fees are very reasonable, in case you were wondering. I admit I was! For less than $600 you can be certified in your brand new career. There are no additional hidden fees either. No book fees, no application fees, and no exam re-test fees! I even saw something about tuition assistance for US applicants who have need. That is very interesting!
So…if you’re wondering whether this is something that would be a good fit for you, here is what you should do. Visit ISSA’s site and take their quick “Personal Trainer Evaluation” to see if you would be good at this. Then if it’s a fit, go ahead and request their Free Personal Training Brochure. That will give you all of the information you need to get started.
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You should really look into NASM (National Academy of Sports Medicine) certification. That’s the real heavy hitter when it comes to personal trainer certs. The absolute best training and preparation there is as far as the fundamentals.
I’m ACE (American Council on Exercise), AAFA and NASM certified, and those are the top in the biz.
ISSA is okay, but if you want a thorough, nationally recognized and internationally respected cert, ACE and NASM are the ones. All gyms recognize and respect those two.
The fact that ISSA is still trying to get accreditation for six of their PT programs just shows that they are not among the elite. They’ve been around long enough to have that by now. They are better for continuing education workshops to help you keep up your CEC’s more than actual certification as a trainer.
Depends also if you want quick and easy, or more value for your cert buck. Everyone’s goal is different. I always try to get and keep the absolute best certs under my belt.
03 Sep 2008 at 11:46 pm
Thanks so much for taking the time to share this info. I really appreciate the chance to learn from your experience. I will definitely use this information to make a decision about what to pursue.
04 Sep 2008 at 12:47 am
No problem, I’m happy to help. It can be a hard maze to navigate with all the certifications that exist out here.
You don’t want to waste your money, only to find out that you still need some other cert.
Oh, and it’s AFAA (Aerobics and Fitness Association of America), not AAFA. I’ve had that cert for years and I still transpose those first two letters!!
Good luck with your fitness venture!
04 Sep 2008 at 1:13 pm