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How to choose a Personal Training Certification Program

Filed Under Beginner, Certifications, FAQs

This is a Chapter Excerpt from my book “How to Become a Personal Trainer” written to help aspiring trainers understand the certification business

If you’ve reached this chapter, it means you’re trying to answer the “How do I choose a personal training certification program?” question that we ALL asked when we started. Let’s try and simplify this question a little bit…

Let me guess, you’ve never found a good answer, have you? Or the only answers you get are from certification providers who tell you that they are the best option ever to exist in the whole world?

Unfortunately, or fortunately, there is no straight “best” certification to get. In fact, there are quite a few that you can get that are perfect for your goal of becoming a personal trainer. Breath a sigh of relief, you will be ok if you pick one certification over another!

So instead of thinking “Which one is best?”, you may find it’s better to ask “Which personal training certification program is best for my goals?”

“Knowledge and the ability to create results is what will determine your personal training success”

Let’s walk through some considerations for choosing a personal training certification that’s right for you.

1. Questions that limit some choices

Let’s start with those one-off questions that could limit your choices. There’s no point in finding out that you want an ACSM personal training certification, but that there are no testing centers within 200 miles of you house! There is no point in wanting to go to an NCSF Training School if you don’t live in South Florida!

Location - If you live in a very remote place and it’s difficult to get to a major city, you may want to go entirely online. Check out what I have to say about online personal trainer programs and opportunities.

Time - If you can only devote a portion of time to your personal training education, you should steer away from programs like NPTI or other full time programs. Although I hate to push you away from more comprehensive education, until you can devote the time necessary, you should not attempt to do more than you can.

2. Type of PT you want to do (family, pt, ft, career)

Personal training is such a dynamic career that you can work part-time with just your close friends and family, or recruit hundreds of clients and open up a massive fitness center. Your initial goals should have an influence on how you educate yourself.

Remember, you are really just beginning to educate yourself when you get a certificate, you are not achieving a goal. The certificate or license is not the goal, education and experience that furthers your career is the goal.

Let’s look at some common limiting factors

* If you just want to train your friends, you may not need an NCCA personal training certification.

You could just take your current knowledge, enroll in a community college or weekend training session (like AAAI) and be certified to train your friends and family. I still recommend you get personal training liability insurance. However, if you are not soliciting new customers and working with people that know you and trust you, you do not need to spend hundreds of dollars to get a personal training certification.

For example, if you already know a lot about personal training, you could attempt the Expert Rating Personal Trainer exam for about $50. This is perfect for people that have already been training on their own or for people that have a degree in an exercise science. If you only want some credentials to work with your close friends and family, this is probably a more feasible option.

Over the years, I’ve met many of the best trainers who don’t carry a single certification. They have years of experience and don’t need to prove it to anyone for $200 a year. So don’t always dismiss a trainer that doesn’t have a long list of certifications next to their name, they may be the most talented one you’ve ever met.

* If you want to train part time while working another full-time job, you should study at home/online to pass an NCCA certified exam

There are many options and ways to do this method and it is probably the most popular. What you should keep in mind is your ‘end-goal’.

If your end-goal is to change from a part-time to a full-time personal trainer, you should get as much education as possible. Therefore I would not recommend doing an online certification, but getting a certification through one of the NCCA approved organizations.

This could mean possibly going onsite for a weekend of instruction, studying on your own (using books/computer), and traveling to the exam location. However, in the long-run, this is a much more valuable option that just taking an online exam and learning a minimum of skills.

* If you want to go full-time immediately, take a full-time personal training certification program

Many people want to switch their lives up and find that jumping in with two feet is the best method. Many personal trainers are disillusioned with the lack of practical skills most of the NCCA programs teach and opt to take a full-time course to rapidly improve their ability to create effective programs for their clients.

Courses such as NPTI, a two-year degree, or even a four-year bachelors degree are excellent for these types of educational opportunities. For assistance on financing these types of programs, see my information on financing your personal training education.

* If you want to make a career out of personal training, whether as a trainer, gym owner, franchise owner, or celebrity trainer, then education and experience are going to be the cornerstone of your life.

You should immediately dismiss online degrees and any program that is not part of the top-tier personal training certification accredited programs.

As a career-minded personal trainer, you should take advantage of the beginning of your career just like any new entrant would for any new position right out of high school or college. Soak up as much as you can, meet as many people as you can, and don’t be worried about bringing in big bucks just yet. This is the time to learn.

The lessons, tips, connections, and insights you get while you’re new will pay off handsomely as you mature in your profession. Most of my most profitable relationships started from my first few years of working. Those seeds grew and grew and now a majority of my high-value business comes from my first few forays into the field.

Results

The certification you earn is only as good as the results you achieve with your clients. I know many trainers that are “Certification Junkies”… they have 3 personal training certifications, yet lose clients after one or two sessions with shocking regularity. The reasons are clear; they communicate poorly, don’t help clients achieve results, and are concerned only with getting paid.

Having gone through a personal trainer certification program, or 7, means nothing if you don’t have the entire package…the personal skills, motivational skills, marketing skills, and business skills to succeed.

Getting a certification is an important step, but it is not the most important part of being a personal trainer.

My advice is not to sweat the certificate selection process so much. Just choose one that you’re comfortable with and believe fits with your goals. In the grand scheme of things, the type of certification you have only matters at the moment you meet your client, after then, it’s all up to you.

This is a Chapter Excerpt from my book “How to Become a Personal Trainer” written to help aspiring trainers understand the certification business

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