Here’s the truth about personal training certifications: They’re not all valuable. At least, not for the reasons you think.

You should know a few things about personal training.

Personal training is an industry with very little to no regulatory oversight. This means that your 90-year-old grandmother or that guy beside you on the bus playing games on his phone can both become a personal trainer in a weekend. And with so many personal training certification options, it can be difficult to compare the many certifications or even tell them apart. Some can hold more weight than others, or can be less useful or unnecessary.

That’s why it’s important for you to understand how a top personal training certification can enhance your personal training career. Your choice for your certification impacts how you’ll spend your valuable education dollars, time, and energy as you grow your personal training business within the industry. We’ll go into why certifications aren’t everything and then do a comparison of the many available personal training certifications.

Before we go any further, please note that The PTDC is in no way affiliated with any personal training certification. It is an independent blog dedicated to the improvement of the fitness industry and the success of the trainers who work within it.

IN CANADA? We also have Top Personal Training Certifications: Canada

Your Clients Don’t Care About Your Certification

Sure, they might nod their heads when you extol the benefits of your certification, but remember the number one value you offer them: their results. Clients don’t care about how hard you worked to get certified; they only care about the results you can get them.

Your successes, or failures, are dependent solely on delivering the goods, results, to your clients. It doesn’t matter how good you are at sales and marketing. You have to help your clients achieve the results they want. To that end, the best personal trainers have combined both knowledge and passion to provide a high-quality service that changes lives and has results to show. A piece of paper doesn’t give you anything like that.

Rather, a certification is a means to get your foot in the door. It’s the starting line. Most gyms won’t even hire you without one. If you’re independent, many insurance companies won’t cover you without one. Depending on which gym you want to work at, you may be asked to get a specific certification. When you’re applying for a personal trainer position, ask if the employer has a preference (many do). But also make sure the certification can be applicable to many other places and bolster your expertise.

Being Certified Does Not Mean That You Are Qualified

Certified personal trainers are a dime a dozen. A certified personal trainer that’s actually worth his or her salt, on the other hand, is a diamond in the rough. Simply put, a certification will not prepare you for training clients. You might have textbook knowledge and applications, but real human beings aren’t going to behave exactly like what you learned or read about online or in books.

In reality, personal training is no different from any other profession. In order to do a great job with a variety of clients, you’ve got to develop tons of practical and varied experience. An accountant, for instance, isn’t ready or skilled enough to take on a wide variety of cases right after graduating. No, he or she ideally goes to work at a firm under the supervision of a mentor or manager first.

Because the barrier-to-entry is a lot lower in personal training, many new trainers may be optimistic and have high expectations of their abilities and outlook. Little do they know that without proper guidance and plenty of experience, there is no way that they would be ready to train a 15-year-old boy who wants to put on muscle; or help a 70-year-old woman with arthritic fingers and a torn ACL. These can be complicated cases that require years of wisdom.

Certainly, years of experience with your own fitness regimen and related reading material have their merit–I’m not dismissing that kind of important first-hand experience. At the same time, understand that your experience is vastly limited to, well, what works on yourself. Up until the point you start training other people, your “research” has likely been focused on making your own workouts better or healing from your own injuries.

So unless you’re going to be training your clones, then it’s going to take continual work to learn, adapt, improvise, and respect the profession. Eventually, you’ll likely no longer think as a beginner does and forget how it feels to be uncomfortable and lacking confidence in the gym. (This is such an important point that I expound on it in the entire first chapter of my book, Ignite the Fire: The Secrets to Building a Successful Personal Training Career).

–> Want to be a better personal trainer? Find out how.

If you don’t know something, always remember that it’s okay to say that you don’t know as long as you follow it up with: “…but I’m going to find out.”

Let Your Passion Dictate Your Education

Your continual education is the best investment you can make. After all, you are the product and the resource. So spend as much as you need to be the best you can be, and don’t ever stop. Spend on seminars, conferences, classes, and things of that nature, but don’t be so hyper-focused on whether this education has a certification tag attached to it.

Remember what I said before about personal training being unregulated? That means that anybody and his dog can create a certification for fitness professionals. Save your money from expensive, meaningless certifications and instead put it towards books, training, workshops, mentorships, and internships. Seek out the best resources on whatever topic it is that you’re interested in.

Don’t be a cheapskate when it comes to your education. Your knowledge is how you become more qualified, not with a piece of paper. Perhaps more important than choosing “the best” certification is finding a place to work that has the best opportunity for growth. In other words:

1. There’s a manager or mentor who can support you and allow you to ask questions.
2. You get the opportunity to get your hands dirty and work with a ton of different clients.

Above all, stop following somebody else’s template to develop your skills.

However…There is One Main Benefit of a Certification

I might’ve harped on certifications for a bit there, but there is a huge upside.

Information overload is a serious issue these days. The information is often disjointed or so confusing that it’s hard to figure out what to do with what we learn.

Keep in mind that when you register for a certification, no matter how specialized it may be, an expert has taken the time to consider the methodology, gather all appropriate research, and combine everything together into a platform for education. In essence, that can save you time, which is your most valuable asset.

What is the Best Certification for Trainers?

Here’s where I finally give you the answer to what you’re likely looking for. Unfortunately, I’m going to give you the answer you probably don’t want to read: There is no “best” certification.

I’ve been in the industry for a long time, and I’ve yet to come across any cert that truly stands out. Having spent $10,000-$15,000 of my money on my education each year during my active personal training days, I can say that my best recommendation is to simply views certs as stepping stones for future knowledge acquisition.

Knowledge begets more quality knowledge.

Instead of just telling you to get a specific cert, I’ve provided a handy reference chart below that compares the many major certifying bodies. You’ll see that there is a wide variety in cost, location, required contact hours, and testing. Choose based on what works best for your position. For many, the best choice is to get a certification, get your foot in the door, get experience, and let your passion dictate your qualification moving forward.

Do I Get CEUs For That?

In order to be re-certified, certifications require continuing education units (CEUs), or also known as continuing education credits (CECs). Almost every personal training certification allows you to get CEUs for outside and unsanctioned events. This means that any event you attend counts towards your requirements whether they say so or not.

So attend a seminar if you think it will help you or your clients, but don’t think twice about going just because they haven’t applied to count as CEUs with your certification. Go because you want to learn and to help your clients, not because you want a piece of paper.

–> Start building your dream fitness career now.

Top Personal Trainer Certification Comparison: United States

Note that this is a comparison of the American certifications. If you live in Canada, we did a sister post comparing the personal training certifications in Canada. You can check it out here.

There are are a lot of certifications so the chart has been split into 3 segments.

Personal trainer certification comparison

 

U.S. Certifications
Certification	ACE	NSCA	NASM	ACSM	NFPT
Full Name	American Council on Exercise	National Strength and Conditioning Association	National Academy of Sports Medicine	American College of Sports Medicine	National Federation of Personal Trainers
Website	acefitness.org	nsca.com	nasm.org	acsm.org	nfpt.com
Year Established	1985	1978	1987	1954	1988
Is there a required membership?	No	Yes	No	No	No
Membership Cost	NA	Student: $65 Professional: $120	NA	Student: $10 Professional: $230	NA
Length of the Training	6 Months (exam voucher purchased with study materials expires in 6 months)	NA – study materials do not include exam voucher and have no expiration date	180 days (exam purchase expires after this time)	NA – self-study, though workshops and webinars are available	1 year (exam must be taken within 1 year of program purchase)
Program Cost	Exam Only: $399	Exam Only: Members: $285 Nonmembers: $420	Exam Only: $599	Exam Only: Members $219 Nonmembers: $279	Exam Only: $329
Material Cost	Standard: $599 Premium: $699 Premium Plus: $799; all include exam	$20-$449; does not include exam	Study Packages range from $699 to $2399	Study Guides from $46 to $143.48	$479-$569, including the exam
Prerequisites	18 Years Old, Valid ID, CPR/AED	18 Years Old, HS/GED, CPR/AED	18 Years Old, Valid ID, CPR/AED	18 Years Old, HS/GED, CPR/AED	18 Years Old, HS/GED, 2 or more years personal fitness experience
Test Procedure	3 hour exam; 150 questions	3 hour exam; 150 questions	2 hour exam; 120 questions	2.5 hours; 120 questions (+30 unscored)	2 hours, 120 questions
Exam Location	Computer-based; over 500 US and Canadian test sites	Computer-based; over 160 assessment locations in the US; limited paper-based testing in US	Computer-based; scheduled through 3rd party for US & Canada	Computer-based; over 5000 locations	Computer-based; over 350 locations
Retest Cost	$299.00	Members: $235 Nonmembers: $370	$199.00	$150.00	$119.00
Approximate Time to Complete	6 Months (exam voucher purchased with study materials expires in 6 months)	NA – study materials do not include exam voucher and have no expiration date	Online prep options last 9 weeks, but program can be completed at own pace up to 180 days	NA – self-study, though workshops and webinars are available	1 year (exam must be taken within 1 year of program purchase)
Recertification requirements (how often and what’s needed)	Every 2 years; 20 hours CECs”	2 years; retake exam or up to 6 CEUsc (which equals 60 contact hours)	2 years; 20 hours of continuing education	3 years; 45 CECs	Annual, 2 CECs per year
Recertification Cost	$49-$139	Up to $50	$99 for two years or $299 for lifetime certification (must still submit CEUs every 2 years)	$30.00	$85 per year

 

U.S. Certification Comparison (continued)

 

 

U.S. Certification Comparison (continued 2)

 

 

Please note that I don’t promise 100% accuracy from this chart. It is meant to give an unbiased comparison. For all up to date info on certs visit the website listed or call the organisation directly.

---

Buy this book if you want an unfair advantage in your training career:

Most aspiring or current trainers are left to figure it out for themselves. You don’t need to go it alone. Instead, buy a copy of Ignite to get the insider knowledge that you need, and your client deserve.

Now in V2.0, Ignite the Fire is the most positively reviewed book for trainers on Amazon with an astounding 680+ 5-star reviews. Specifically, you’ll learn:

• Find, market to, and sell your ideal client while seamlessly dealing with objections (pg 64)
• Deal with the 10 most common difficult client types (pg 160)
• Develop multiple income streams while maintaining your reputation (pg 202)

And more.

Get your paperback copy at www.theptdc.com/ignite or, if you prefer, get it on audible or Kindle on Amazon.