Hi,
I already have a NASM cert (got 98% without any studying), although it is currently expired.
I am interested in getting another cert that will actually challenge me and teach me something new.
I was looking into Charles Poliquin's Cert. Does anyone have any suggestions for most elite cert programs out there?
http://www.charlespoliquin.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=207&Itemid=86
Background:
I been lifting since I was 12 years old. I'm 23 now.
I read over 700 books on health, so I want to learn something much more challenging than what is typically taught and required.
Thank you for your help!
If you are that smart you should just start your own cert.
Maybe NSCA-CSCS is what you are looking for. Not sure if its challenging enough for you. The cert doesn't really matter much anyway.
What are you hoping to get out of a cert besides learning anyway?
Chang,
There is only one cert out there which will truly teach you a ton and be a challenge and that is the I.A.R.T. fitness clinician cert. It is unique. I have certs from NSCA, ACE, ACSM, YMCA, ISCA, NSPA, USAW...
They are all okay. Of the above listed, the NSPA was the toughest and most well put together. Still. I am confident that if you truly want to expand your knowledge of traning and take it to another level, the I.A.R.T. is the way to go.
If you need more info, e-mail me at strengthonline@yahoo.com
TAKU T.N.T.
Whats wrong with good old university? You want to specialise, then do a masters degree in S&C? Thats how it Works in Australia anyway
Wiggy,
NO. They are in fact the only group I have come across that truly teaches anything of real value in their certs. Almost every other comany teaches the same basic crap (flavored of course with their own spin). The I.A.R.T. actually teaches people how to think and look at every detail as it pertains to the individual. their system is the only completely non-contradictory one I have come across.
Plus, the question was something that would challenge him and teach him somehing NEW. If he aced the NASM with no studying as he says, then all the others ACSM, NSCA etc will offer little that is new, different or a challenge.
TAKU T.N.T.
I don't think there are any certs out there that you should take if your goal is simply to learn something new and challenge yourself. Take the time and spend the money to read books that aren't part of some course for some certification.
Unless you will specifically make more money because of a certification I don't see the point. At one point I had both the NSCA certs and two of the ones from USAW but I let those all lapse years ago.
Buy the right books and challenge yourself to learn from them, virtually all the material for certs is lower level and elementary at best.
jeremy hamilton - If you are that smart you should just start your own cert.
Maybe NSCA-CSCS is what you are looking for. Not sure if its challenging enough for you. The cert doesn't really matter much anyway.
What are you hoping to get out of a cert besides learning anyway?
I just want to LEARN something NEW. I want to make sure I know everything out there.
I don't really need a cert as I train people with my own methods anyways. But I figure there's always someone better than you.
Better to learn from the best first so I can be the best later.
Taku - Chang,
There is only one cert out there which will truly teach you a ton and be a challenge and that is the I.A.R.T. fitness clinician cert. It is unique. I have certs from NSCA, ACE, ACSM, YMCA, ISCA, NSPA, USAW...
They are all okay. Of the above listed, the NSPA was the toughest and most well put together. Still. I am confident that if you truly want to expand your knowledge of traning and take it to another level, the I.A.R.T. is the way to go.
If you need more info, e-mail me at strengthonline@yahoo.com
TAKU T.N.T.
Taku,
You are amazing! Thank you for sharing your wisdom and experience with me. I got started with bodyweight exercises at 14 years old with your program actually!
I also learned about interval training from your posts almost a decade ago now.
Thank you for your recommendations. I will email you soon.
Cheers,
sputniik - Whats wrong with good old university? You want to specialise, then do a masters degree in S&C? Thats how it Works in Australia anyway
I checked out the tests and lessons from exercise specialist classmates, and I knew more than they did. So I didn't think it was worth the time to get that degree.
I already graduated with 1 major and 3 minors in 4 years. I don't want to go to school anymore either, haha.
Thanks for the suggestion!
8weeksout - I don't think there are any certs out there that you should take if your goal is simply to learn something new and challenge yourself. Take the time and spend the money to read books that aren't part of some course for some certification.
Unless you will specifically make more money because of a certification I don't see the point. At one point I had both the NSCA certs and two of the ones from USAW but I let those all lapse years ago.
Buy the right books and challenge yourself to learn from them, virtually all the material for certs is lower level and elementary at best.
I agree completely! What books do you recommend in particular?
I read all the books, articles, etc. I could find, and I seem to have reached a limit on what is truth. I plan to create my own fitness program/certification in the near future, but I figure it is good to check out others before I do that.
Also, I was hoping that there was something elite cert that actually has HIGH standards and true VALUE.
I know there had to be something better than ACE and NASM and all the other same crap out there.
Cheers mate,
Wiggy - Taku,Isn't IART pretty much HIT-based?Wiggy - www.workingclassfitness.comHi Wiggy,Great website! I'm going to send you an email soon as I'm also working on a fitness site, but targeted for the average audience who wants to be fit and healthy with mostly bodyweight exercises and a few simple equipments (Bands, swiss balls, pull-up bars, etc.)
Chang,Have you read....
Adaptation in Sports Training by Viru
Programming and Organization of Training, or Special Strength Training by Verkhoshansk
Textbook of Work Physiology by Per-Olof Astrand
Motor Control and Programming by Schmidt
Strength & Power in Sport by Komi
Neuromechanics of Human Movement by Enoka
Biomechanics in Sport by Zatsiorsky
Functional Metabolism by Storey
Supertraining by Mel Siff
If you haven't read all these then you probably have plenty of books left to read I'd say. I am quite sure you will find far more value in three books than in any commercial certifiation and many of the people who created those certifications should have spent time themselves reading these books.
Taku,
Thanks for the info. Didn't realize that - I remember reading so much about them in various HIT circles, that I thought they were most HIT-based. I'll have to check out some of their articles.
Chang,
Look forward to an email - it'd be great to hear from you.
I agree with much of what Joel ("8weeksout") is saying. Just buy and read books for knowledge's sake - don't worry about the certs.
In fact (and this is gonna piss a few people off), I think that certs are largely over-rated. The saturation of certs in the fitness market (from things that anybody can get like ACE to more "prestigious" ones like NSCA to many of the BS certs out there (I mean fuck, I can think of 5 different kettlebell certs off the top of my head). Many of these "certifications" are nothing but over-glorified seminars, or what might be considered continuing education in other professional circles. But, while you might be able to charge $hundreds for a seminar, you can charge $thousands for "certifications". It's a load of crap. And many of the people I see "certified" have about as much business giving fitness/strength/conditioning advice as my wife does working on the car.
Sorry for the rant - it just burns me up.
Wiggy - www.workingclasfitness.com
8weeksout - Chang,Have you read....
Adaptation in Sports Training by Viru
Programming and Organization of Training, or Special Strength Training by Verkhoshansk
Textbook of Work Physiology by Per-Olof Astrand
Motor Control and Programming by Schmidt
Strength & Power in Sport by Komi
Neuromechanics of Human Movement by Enoka
Biomechanics in Sport by Zatsiorsky
Functional Metabolism by Storey
Supertraining by Mel Siff
If you haven't read all these then you probably have plenty of books left to read I'd say. I am quite sure you will find far more value in three books than in any commercial certifiation and many of the people who created those certifications should have spent time themselves reading these books.
Awesome recommendations! Thank you so much. I read a few of those, but these are exactly what I am looking for.
I hope that we can create a new cert where people are required to master and apply these books before they even take the cert course.
Cheers,
Wiggy - Taku,
Thanks for the info. Didn't realize that - I remember reading so much about them in various HIT circles, that I thought they were most HIT-based. I'll have to check out some of their articles.
Chang,
Look forward to an email - it'd be great to hear from you.
I agree with much of what Joel ("8weeksout") is saying. Just buy and read books for knowledge's sake - don't worry about the certs.
In fact (and this is gonna piss a few people off), I think that certs are largely over-rated. The saturation of certs in the fitness market (from things that anybody can get like ACE to more "prestigious" ones like NSCA to many of the BS certs out there (I mean fuck, I can think of 5 different kettlebell certs off the top of my head). Many of these "certifications" are nothing but over-glorified seminars, or what might be considered continuing education in other professional circles. But, while you might be able to charge $hundreds for a seminar, you can charge $thousands for "certifications". It's a load of crap. And many of the people I see "certified" have about as much business giving fitness/strength/conditioning advice as my wife does working on the car.
Sorry for the rant - it just burns me up.
Wiggy - www.workingclasfitness.com
Amen brother! I feel the same way.
It's sad what passes for certification these days. At the NASM workshop, I wouldn't have paid money to 99.9% of the people there. Hell, I wouldn't even take their training if they wanted to train me for free!
The fitness industry needs more people like you who actually leads by example, who knows the science, and who cares about results.
Thanks bro.
I would agree that certifications are completely overrated. People just need to remember that outside of the big three (NSCA, ACE, ACSM) certifications are a profit making venture. The NASM and all these other certifying organizations were founded to make money and turn a profit, not to truly educate.
Even the big three non-profits bring in plenty of money through their activities, but at least they spend the money and have research arms that actually do something somewhat productive. Every once in awhile there's a good study in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research or the Medicine and Science in Sport & Exercise Journal of the ACSM.
These other profitable certifications are not doing anything besides selling books and products at ridiculously inflated prices. For the cost of one KB certification you could literally buy half the books I mentioned above. Some of the gurus like Poliquin charge ridiculous amounts of money for their internships and such too and I highly doubt any of them are worth it judging from what I've seen of some of the programs they've written for their clients.
Most people should get a library card and use the internet and amazon.com for their education and leave the certifications for the trainers at 24 hour fitness.
Hey Wiggy,
it appears that the I.A.R.T. has changed (internally) and no longer seems to offer any articles etc on their web-site. I know that the former founder and president has stepped away and that they hace recently mved their HQ from Canada to New York.
Joel,
I totally agree with just about everything you have said regarding Certifications and the governing bodies that support and or prmote them. I feel the NASM and the ISSA are two of the worst (for different reasons).
Unfortunately (and I know you did allude to this) the NSCA produces so much horrible "research" it is almost a joke to read their journals. It appears that these days the ACSM is not much (if any) better.
TAKU T.N.T.
Yes I totally agree about the NASM, from what I've seen it's terrible and I believe it has something to do with Apex and 24 Hour Fitness at this point. I also agree that there isn't much of value in the NSCA's journal these days, but I don't know that it's necessary accurate to say the NSCA itself "produces" the research. For the most part the reserach is done through various universities or organizations and simply published in the journal of strength and conditioning research.
I don't believe the NSCA actually funds a large percentage of the work that gets published in their journal. Generally speaking I'm not a big fan of the NSCA, it's very generic and lower level material and I quit really paying much attention to them quite while ago.
Some of the better journals I do pay attention to though are:
Journal of Applied Physiology
Journal of Clinical Exercise Physiology
International Journal of Sports Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism
Cell
Journal of Applied Biomechanics
International Journal of Biomechanics in Sports
There's some I'm forgetting but those are some of the better ones and there's some good stuff if you read through them.
Hey Joel,
I am sure you are right. I did not mean to imply that they fund the research. Yet...if they allow it to fill the pages of their journal, then in my mind they are ultimately responsible for producing a lot of junk.
TAKU T.N.T
P.S. I am a fan of the Journal of Applied Physiology