I'm interested in becoming a personal trainer. Can somebody give me some testimonials or advice on which direction to take? I was looking at ISSA? Thanks in advance!
Also what can one expect to make as far as $$$$??
I get this question so much, I should create a web-site just to deal with it.
1. If you are going to work for someone else, then find out what cert they think is important, and get it.
2. I would not recommend the ISSA (unless it fits the criteria in #1 above).
3. The money depends on many factors. I have been in the fitness industry for 25 years. I've seen many trainers over the years and only a small few make a solid, consistent lving at it. The nature of the business is that one must be able to sell. It is a sales profession. Your knowledge and exepertise are secondary. I've seen guys who are okay trainers and great salesmen do well, and I've seen brilliant talented trainers who could not sell, do poorly.
Unless you run your own business and set your own rates, you will have to work your way up the ladder. The pay for trainers is going down, while the prices charged for their services is going up. If you are doing well, you are lucky to make about 50% of what you charge.
Rates very broadly, in my area one can expect to pay anywhere from $65.00 - 120.00 per 50 - 55 minute session.
If you have other questions, let me know.
TAKU
Taku -
I get this question so much, I should create a web-site just to deal with it.
1. If you are going to work for someone else, then find out what cert they think is important, and get it.
2. I would not recommend the ISSA (unless it fits the criteria in #1 above).
3. The money depends on many factors. I have been in the fitness industry for 25 years. I've seen many trainers over the years and only a small few make a solid, consistent lving at it. The nature of the business is that one must be able to sell. It is a sales profession. Your knowledge and exepertise are secondary. I've seen guys who are okay trainers and great salesmen do well, and I've seen brilliant talented trainers who could not sell, do poorly.
Unless you run your own business and set your own rates, you will have to work your way up the ladder. The pay for trainers is going down, while the prices charged for their services is going up. If you are doing well, you are lucky to make about 50% of what you charge.
Rates very broadly, in my area one can expect to pay anywhere from $65.00 - 120.00 per 50 - 55 minute session.
If you have other questions, let me know.
TAKU
Thank You Taku, I guess i would like to work on my own,but working for a large gym would work also. I was just curious if there was a #1 accredited organization so to speak. A setting the standard type of thing,like a premier place to be certified that was universally accepted amongst all gyms.
Taku -I get this question so much, I should create a web-site just to deal with it.
1. If you are going to work for someone else, then find out what cert they think is important, and get it.
2. I would not recommend the ISSA (unless it fits the criteria in #1 above).
3. The money depends on many factors. I have been in the fitness industry for 25 years. I've seen many trainers over the years and only a small few make a solid, consistent lving at it. The nature of the business is that one must be able to sell. It is a sales profession. Your knowledge and exepertise are secondary. I've seen guys who are okay trainers and great salesmen do well, and I've seen brilliant talented trainers who could not sell, do poorly.
Unless you run your own business and set your own rates, you will have to work your way up the ladder. The pay for trainers is going down, while the prices charged for their services is going up. If you are doing well, you are lucky to make about 50% of what you charge.
Rates very broadly, in my area one can expect to pay anywhere from $65.00 - 120.00 per 50 - 55 minute session.
If you have other questions, let me know.
TAKU
What is the most popular sought out certification? 
In strength and conditioning I would recommend this order of importance (pick one):
1) NSCA
2) NASM
3) ACE
4) ACSM
If you have a degree in a health related field, CSCS is top dog... 
Also keep in mind that once you get certified as a personal trainer that isnt the end, you are constantly updating and relearning things as the field changes, look int he last 5 years alone, "caveman work-out", "300 work-out", "kettle bells" have made a huge comback over the past decade. as these things keep happening you as a personal trainer as required to learn them from qualified people not just spit ball how you think they should be used because you are now liable for the students safety and showing him improper techniques could land you in trouble. I got certifiedjust to expand my knowledge base and learn a little more about different work-outs, my friend sean however is a full-time personal trainer makes a nice living off of it, and he spends about as much time, studying and learning all the up-to-date stuff as he does actually training somebody, but he's also very high caliber and works with NHL players and a couple other professional athletes.
Despite what ruggerbouy and CBS, have said, I stick with my #1. recommendation above. Various certs are prized by various organizations. I would not place an ACE cert above ACSM.
I do not use Kettlebells, BOSU's, etc. I use evidence based exercise techniques. As the tagline on my web-site reads "TRUTH not TRENDS". I stay away from all the whiz-bang, latest, coolest, sexy hipster B.S. that floats around the Fitness industry, and stick with what works.
If I was going to recommend a cert organization, it would be:
Ultimately (again) if you work for someone else, get what they like. If you work for yourself, get what you like. Keep in mind that one should never take a cert just to learn. Anything and everything one could need or want to learn may be learned for free at your local library.
If I were going to create a package for trainer / coach 101 it would contain these books:
TAKU
Taku and Leigh are the best to answer this question..they did it for me in another thread.. How to Become a personal trainer...they answered a ton of questions there for me..try to find it
^ Sorry thread was titled Thinking about becoming a personal trainer
I bumped it for your viewing
Ttt
imkeithhernandez,
Thanks for finding the old thread.
TAKU
Thanks for all the replies and bumping that thread up,I appreciate it.
Know I'm a little late to the thread and haven't checked the bumped thread, but Taku hit the nail on the head with his #1 point - figure out where you want to work, and see what kind of cert it will take to get you there:
-An Xfit cert won't do you much good if you want to train university athletes.
-CSCS isn't necessary if you want to run bootcamps at the local park and build your own clientele this way.
-ACE might be all that's necessary to get started at your local mom & pop gym.
And so on.
Like much else in the fitness industry, certifications have been bastardized to all hell. Many certifications already out there sucked balls, but when much of the internet certification craze (KBs, Xfit, and many, many more) hit, things seriously jumped the shark. Many "certifications" aren't really certifications at all - they're overglorified seminars with a price-tag that's been increased by 300%.
At the same time, you don't have to be 'certified' to be worth a shit as a trainer. A very good friend of mine runs his own sports performance facility where he trains (mainly) middle and high school athletes. He's only got a BS cert (won't mention which one), but it's enough for him to be able to tell parents that he's "certified". (TIP - when you're dealing with the public, they won't know - nor care about - the diffrence between CSCS, ACE, RKC, IART, PDQ, FRAT, or whatever.) Yet the guy reads and studies his ass off, so as a result, he's a great trainer and gets results. Now that he's been in business for a few years, nobody really gives two shits about what kinda cert he has - but they know he takes several tenths off sprinter's 100m times, creates all-conference fullbacks, and has swimmers setting PRs and state records.
So bear that in mind.
The other thing to not take lightly is what Take said about being able to market yourself. If you can't do that, you won't make a damn thing. And if you can't make $$, you can't help people.
Wiggy -
Know I'm a little late to the thread and haven't checked the bumped thread, but Taku hit the nail on the head with his #1 point - figure out where you want to work, and see what kind of cert it will take to get you there:
-An Xfit cert won't do you much good if you want to train university athletes.
-CSCS isn't necessary if you want to run bootcamps at the local park and build your own clientele this way.
-ACE might be all that's necessary to get started at your local mom & pop gym.
And so on.
Like much else in the fitness industry, certifications have been bastardized to all hell. Many certifications already out there sucked balls, but when much of the internet certification craze (KBs, Xfit, and many, many more) hit, things seriously jumped the shark. Many "certifications" aren't really certifications at all - they're overglorified seminars with a price-tag that's been increased by 300%.
At the same time, you don't have to be 'certified' to be worth a shit as a trainer. A very good friend of mine runs his own sports performance facility where he trains (mainly) middle and high school athletes. He's only got a BS cert (won't mention which one), but it's enough for him to be able to tell parents that he's "certified". (TIP - when you're dealing with the public, they won't know - nor care about - the diffrence between CSCS, ACE, RKC, IART, PDQ, FRAT, or whatever.) Yet the guy reads and studies his ass off, so as a result, he's a great trainer and gets results. Now that he's been in business for a few years, nobody really gives two shits about what kinda cert he has - but they know he takes several tenths off sprinter's 100m times, creates all-conference fullbacks, and has swimmers setting PRs and state records.
So bear that in mind.
The other thing to not take lightly is what Take said about being able to market yourself. If you can't do that, you won't make a damn thing. And if you can't make $$, you can't help people.
Thanks, What cert should i get if i want to work for a university?
HUMBLED,
If you are interested in working with a college S&C program, the best thing to do is to approach a college and see if you can intern. Some schools have one head S&C coach overseeing the program and other guys actually implementing. Other schools have various S&C coaches working with various sports and or teams.
If you are interested in working with a particular sport (say football), then follow up on those programs and find out everything you can.
Again, once you've spoken to the S&C department at your college of choice, then you can determine what (if any) cert they feel is worth getting. Many schools would probably prefer you have some general knowledge, with little or no pre-concieved notion of specifics then they will indoctrinate you into their system.
TAKU
^Best advice.
Because another thing to keep in mind is that many schools (esp if you're talking about bigger ones) may want/need you to have a formal education in exercise science, physiology, or the like.
At the same time, if the head S&C coach is up-front and honest with you, he'll also give you an idea of what any real chances you have with getting a position there. For example, it's not uncommon for the interns and assistant S&C coaches at bigger universities to simply just be graduates of that university's education program(s). So a student goes in, gets their undergrad, goes for their masters, interns while in grad school, and goes to work as a low-level assistant coach after graduation.
That sort of thing.
Wiggy
I am a teacher/high school coach and have considerable experience in strength/performance training. I have almost 20 pro fights and have worked with athletes in many sports including other pro fighters.
I am looking at doing even more personal training for young athletes as word of mouth is spreading. I am thinking I should get some sort of certification if only to appease potential clients.
Can anyone post the fees and other expenses of the popular programs ? Thanks.
Just look up whichever organization you are interested in. They will all have rates somewhere on their web-sites etc.
TAKU