Personal Trainer Continuing Education

Another Cert.... Worth $600 ?

Every couple years it is a dreaded time for most hard working personal trainers.  The time of the year in which it is required to take some time to get those CEU’s.

Continuing Education:  Is it a Scam?

Fresh after spending a robust $600 on my newest 3 letters after my name I have been thinking about personal trainer continuing education.

First off, I wouldn’t consider it a scam, but more of a ploy to make money from the organizations which offer the certifications.

The continuing education does not take into account a personal trainer’s work experience.

Someone working in a completely non-related job could easily obtain and maintain a personal training certification by obtaining CEUs.

In this regard, CEU’s completely disregard the experience of personal training clients.  If you think of it this way, continuing education sounds much like a scam trying to rip money away from people who have the certifications.

Any personal trainer would agree, the experience of training a variety of clients far outweighs the knowledge learned in an online test or conference.  This is not to say that continuing education in the form of courses and conferences are not useful but should they be required?

In my opinion they should not be required and I think personal trainers should be able to use their work experience as continuing education but again, I have a bachelors and masters in exercise science.

About the NASM Corrective Exercise Specialist

I’ll admit it.  I blasted through the course material and took and passed the exam a day after I purchased the course.  My masters degree covered much of the subject so I already had much of the knowledge presented in the course.

The course which was delivered 100% online was very complete.  I would guess it would take a couple weeks or more to get through the course material which included a PDF textbook and many course videos.

The exam goes along with the NASM philosophy about approaching personal training in a very systematically, by the book way, clinical way.  It outlines many postural problems and overuse injuries and gives systematic ways to overcome the injuries through the corrective exercise continuum which is a 4 step process of creating proper functional movement by inhibition, lengthening, activation and integration.

The material is very useful for all clients, and the study material is definitely thorough and can help any personal trainer continue their education, gain some education credits, and learn how to help people move optimally.

Whether personal trainer continuing education is worth the price or should be required is besides the point that the NASM has a solid education program for personal trainers.