Is your Personal Trainers Certification safe for you? Do they need to be certified?

Below I am talking about this subject in general terms. There are exceptions to every rule:  No Personal Training Certification is without weaknesses.

Unlike a lot of professions, anyone can call themselves a Personal Trainer. There are no licenses required, and no amount of education required. The only way the public has of knowing if a trainer might know what they are doing is to look for a CERTIFIED PERSONAL TRAINER.  Just because a trainer is certified doesn't mean they are better than a non-certified trainer, it only increases the odds that they are: How experienced the trainer is can certainly determine how qualified they are.


The last time I checked there were over 250 Personal Training Certifications available if someone wants to be able to call themselves a "Certified Personal Trainer" many of them only require you to take an test online to pass their certification. I personally would not recommend anyone that just had to take a test online to obtain their certification.

How do you know if their Certification is worth the paper is it printed on? One of the best ways to determine if a certification is trustworthy is to look for NCCA accreditation. Although there is no guarantee that NCCA having accreditation means your trainers certification is worthy, it certainly increases the odds that it is.

"The National Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCCA) was created in 1987 by ICE to help ensure the health, welfare, and safety of the public through the accreditation of a variety of certification programs/organizations that assess professional competence. Certification programs that receive NCCA Accreditation demonstrate compliance with the NCCA’s Standards for the Accreditation of Certification Programs, which were the first standards for professional certification programs developed by the industry."



There are a few certifications that have great reputations for only certifying qualified trainers.  Look for the letters ACSM, NSCA, ISSA, NASM, (ACE is a very popular certification in my neck of the woods.) They are a very good organization, and their main focus is on making sure trainers are capable of helping the general population. I have no doubt that many ACE Certified Trainers are very good at training.

I am going to tell you about the two I am most familiar with.

The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) is the oldest organization certifying personnel trainers.) A lot of their members are Exercise Physiologist.

While working at Wetterau's Corporate Fitness Center our staff attended a weekend seminar on their certification. Their focus was mainly on cardiovascular conditioning. It was very scientific. I could see how this certification would help those working with cardiovascular issues. Many Hospitals look for this certification when hiring staff that work with their patients after cardiovascular events.

My boss at Wettearu had a Master degree in Exercise Physiology. She new a lot about cardiovascular conditioning. She was the type of trainer that would get ACSM certification. However, her education on strength training could have been much stronger. I remember one specific incidence where another employee was filling out a questionnaire for a job at different fitness center. We were going over the questions with him and my boss knew the least about muscles attachments and insertions out of the group. 

The ACSM are great at focusing on heart rate and blood pressure response to exercise. If you want your cardiovascular response monitored during exercise, this is the certification to look for.

I don't know if the ACSM is certified by NCCA but I trust them without any doubts.

I remember one of my graduate classes (Prescribing Physical Activity) at UM-St. Louis (we called it UMSL at the time) went to DePaul Hospital to see a demonstration from one of their Exercise Physiologist of a stress test on a treadmill. I volunteered to be the victim. They attached the various electrodes to my upper body to monitor my heart rate and the cuff on my arm to monitor my blood pressure. If you have never seen one of these test, you begin walking slowly on the treadmill. At predetermined intervals the intensity is increased and your bodies reaction is monitored. This is an example of what a ACSM member might do on their job. Most trainers are not qualified for this responsibility.

IMP, the weakness of the ACSM certification is the lack of focus on strength training.  This brings me to my next organization.

The NSCA: They are certified by the NCCA:


Taken from their web site: "The National Strength and Conditioning Association (history of the NSCA) was founded in 1978 with 76 strength coaches from across the country with the common desire to network, collaborate and unify the profession of strength and conditioning. Since its inception, the NSCA has grown to nearly 30,000 members in 72 countries and become the leader in the research and education of strength and conditioning professionals.  Take a tour of the NSCA’s past and learn more about how it became the institution that it is today."

They are much more focused on strength training/agility and making people better athletes. The reason I chose this certification was I saw that older adults needed to work on strength and athleticism much more than cardiovascular conditioning. 

Their first certification is the Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) This certification was developed so that strength coaches would have a say to prove they are qualified to work with the athletes and teams they are in charge of training.


 




 
In the late 1990's the developed their NSCA-CPT certification. They wanted to offer a certification for individuals like me who where more interested in working with individuals on a one-on-one level.




What can you look for in addition to Certification when deciding to hire a Personal Trainer?
Look for reasons you shouldn't hire this trainer.

1. Ask them what kind of class room education they have when it comes to exercise.
2. Ask them what kind of experience they have in training clients with your needs.
3. Ask them about their insurance coverage as a trainer.
4. Ask them what clients/conditions they don't feel comfortable working with.
5. Ask them for references and then call at least a couple of them to see what they think about the trainers style and abilities.
6. Ask them what kind of continuing education they have. What kind of seminars they have attended. How much time they spend on continuing education.

You only have one body, be careful with who you hire to help you work on it.