I need a great career/job badly, I have the passion, what steps must I take?

[Richie_Awesome]

I've been wanting to get into personal training for a few years now, well, to be honest, most anything in the health and fitness field.

I love helping others live healthier and increase their quality of life. My problem is, I don't believe I am ready for college and would love to try becoming certified as a personal trainer.

Is there anyone here that has gone through with getting a certification that could act as a "guidance counselor" to me? I'd like to know which certification you received, how long it took, how stressful it all was, and, was it honestly worth it?

Richie.

[EMISGOD]

When I joined the site, I was vaguely kicking around the idea of resuming personal training. After asking and poking around a bit, what I found was that if you don't have a cert, then you better know somebody and be working on getting one.

So, I researched all of them out there and the only one that I think it worthwhile to get is one of them from NSCA. Why? Because there are less doors barred to this one than nearly any other. It carries a lot of weight and holds a lot of water to have one and it will take some time, money and studying to get it.

That covers your "is it worth it" question (can't train without one, so if you want to train, you need one) and your question about which cert.

As to how long it takes, this is up to you, of course as well as the stressful part of it, unless you mean how stressful is training. The more ground rules you establish up front, the less stressful training people will be, as both of you will have similar or identical expectations...

[hublife]

I've been wanting to get into personal training for a few years now, well, to be honest, most anything in the health and fitness field.

I love helping others live healthier and increase their quality of life. My problem is, I don't believe I am ready for college and would love to try becoming certified as a personal trainer.

Is there anyone here that has gone through with getting a certification that could act as a "guidance counselor" to me? I'd like to know which certification you received, how long it took, how stressful it all was, and, was it honestly worth it?

Richie.

1) Find a certification company you are comfortable with (I used NASM www.nasm.org). I've been certified with them for 8 years and have been very happy.
It takes about 3 months or less depending how hard you study. You will also need your CPR license (http://www.redcross.org/services/hss/courses/adultcpraed.html)
which only takes one evening and about $45 to complete.

2) Study, Study, Study, Study. Also apply what you are reading to your own workouts. There is nothing more disingenuous than a trainer who has their client do workouts that they themselves aren't willing to do. APPLY THE SCIENCE.

3) There are a few different avenues that you can start your career on. One is in a big corporate gym. The benefits are that you will get to meet A LOT of people and you will have the experience of sales/corporate bull****. The pit falls are that there is not any money in it long term from a PT's perspective. I would try to target a small studio who is willing to train you and teach you how to become a good trainer. This will also allow you to focus 100% on the clients etc... Your long term goal if you truly want this to work as a career is to eventually own your own business (like I do...see sig) and charge whatever you want and not have to give ANY of that money to ANYONE!

Let me know if you need any other help.

[Richie_Awesome]

1) Find a certification company you are comfortable with (I used NASM www.nasm.org). I've been certified with them for 8 years and have been very happy.
It takes about 3 months or less depending how hard you study. You will also need your CPR license (http://www.redcross.org/services/hss/courses/adultcpraed.html)
which only takes one evening and about $45 to complete.

2) Study, Study, Study, Study. Also apply what you are reading to your own workouts. There is nothing more disingenuous than a trainer who has their client do workouts that they themselves aren't willing to do. APPLY THE SCIENCE.

3) There are a few different avenues that you can start your career on. One is in a big corporate gym. The benefits are that you will get to meet A LOT of people and you will have the experience of sales/corporate bull****. The pit falls are that there is not any money in it long term from a PT's perspective. I would try to target a small studio who is willing to train you and teach you how to become a good trainer. This will also allow you to focus 100% on the clients etc... Your long term goal if you truly want this to work as a career is to eventually own your own business (like I do...see sig) and charge whatever you want and not have to give ANY of that money to ANYONE!

Let me know if you need any other help.

I am meeting with a trainer tomorrow, I'll update this when that is over! Thank you, thus far, tremendously!

richie

[Richie_Awesome]

I'm so excited!

[hublife]

I'm so excited!

How did it go?

[Balanced4f4]

Richie, I took a huge leap of faith and studied from www.afpa.com American Fitness Professionals and Associates and they give you 6 months to become Certified Nutrition Consultant, I did that almost 4 yrs ago, and you have to get re-certified every 2 yrs by taking continuing education so I am going to use them to get my personal training certificate, this allows less time about 4 months and you will need to be CPR certified also...so if it is your passion, as it is mine...go for it, take the leap of faith...pray about it and JUST GO FOR IT. I love what I do; I love helping people and it does open different doors for you. I left a $40k a year insurance agent job of 20 yrs to do what my passion was...and I was 39...never too late...I wish you the best...keep us posted.........Connie Allen, CNC

[Richie_Awesome]

How did it go?

*sighs,* he didn't show up :(

Well, I will let you all know when I do meet up with him.

richie

[hublife]

*sighs,* he didn't show up :(

Well, I will let you all know when I do meet up with him.

richie

Keep your chin up.

"Where one door closes another opens."

[Richie_Awesome]

I have a few phone calls and several emails from the ISSA, should I pursue that?

Is there a better way to go?

[mydamnself]

ISSA is very good. I did mine through them. They're starting to gain some traction against the big dogs. In the end it's going to be about what you do and the education you pursue. Cert mainly just gets you in the door.
If you want the gold standard check this site out.
http://www.chekinstitute.com/
And this course in particular.
http://www.chekinstitute.com/products_specific.cfm?product=492&corr=yes
You'll be a doctor by the time you're done.
Oh, btw, read all of these.
http://www.dieselcrew.com/articles/straighttothegripcontest.pdf

[Richie_Awesome]

ISSA is very good. I did mine through them. They're starting to gain some traction against the big dogs. In the end it's going to be about what you do and the education you pursue. Cert mainly just gets you in the door.
If you want the gold standard check this site out.
http://www.chekinstitute.com/
And this course in particular.
http://www.chekinstitute.com/products_specific.cfm?product=492&corr=yes
You'll be a doctor by the time you're done.
Oh, btw, read all of these.
http://www.dieselcrew.com/articles/straighttothegripcontest.pdf

I shall check this in a bit, thank you!

richie

[GoGoGo]

Hey I'm a lot like Richie except I'm 19 and I plan on going for a Bachelor's in Kinesiology soon. Would I still need to get certified or will that be incorporated into my Kinesiology courses? I just don't want to waste the money getting a certification if it would be part of my Kinesiology degree anyway. On the other hand, I would like to get a head start so that I can be training WHILE going to college.

[Richie_Awesome]

Hey I'm a lot like Richie except I'm 19 and I plan on going for a Bachelor's in Kinesiology soon. Would I still need to get certified or will that be incorporated into my Kinesiology courses? I just don't want to waste the money getting a certification if it would be part of my Kinesiology degree anyway. On the other hand, I would like to get a head start so that I can be training WHILE going to college.

I'd get certified