11 Nov 2008
Best Personal Training Certifications for Personal Trainers
NASM CPT
NASM CPT
Personal Training Certifications are a Topic of Much Debate in the Personal Training Community
The topic has crossed this blog numerous times before and it has again.
The Best Personal Trainer Certifications is this weeks weekly fitness top 5 list on my website askthetrainer.com
To tell the truth, I was feeling lazy and have other projects going on so I decided to do an easy list. I also planned a special Thanksgiving list for a couple weeks from now.
Which personal training certification which is right for you depends totally on which clients you plan to train. My list consists of the top 5 personal trainer certifications for general personal fitness training such as Gold’s gym, 24 hour fitness, any private personal training studio etc.
If a personal trainer was looking to obtain a certification for clinical settings, ACSM is the best. In any strength & conditioning setting, NSCA-CSCS is definitely the best.
I have mentioned many times that the certification does not make the trainer but some personal training certifications are simply more applicable than others. This is why I chose the NASM as the best certification.
I have neither the time nor the money to check out every personal training certification but I have seen some practice tests for different personal training certifications and they were pretty simple.
The Top 5 Personal Training Certifications
[polldaddy poll=1099093]
Do you not think you are a little biased. I have studied for the CSCS and the PES. I think the NASM PES is a better certification. The CSCS leaves so much open to interpretation. The PES is so well put together and incorporates Corrective exercise training that is looking for imbalances. They then correct these to prevent injuries. PES has its strong points and so does the CSCS.
Patrick Determan
November 5th, 2009 at 12:53 pmpermalink
Why would I be biased? I have the NASM-PES, CES and CPT certifications as well as the CSCS and the testing format and requirements alone put the CSCS above the PES. Any discussion about certifications has to clarify what direction it is going. Is it going the direction of which piece of paper is better, or what knowledge is the trainer actually gaining from taking the test. Since there are a lot of quack, inexperienced personal trainers who take advantage of the lack of licensing and regulating, a certification’s value is most safely assessed by the requirements rather than the substance… It’s unfortunate, but unfortunately it’s the way it is.
Mike Behnken, MS, CSCS
November 5th, 2009 at 1:34 pmpermalink