Too many NASM certification programs at once? I really think so. A bit of help please

[runalexrun87]

First of all, I'd like to mention that I am a stay-at-home mom of an almost 5 month old boy, so studying will probably just start around 7 pm M-F after my husband gets back from work for about 1 hour, and hopefully in 4-5 hour sessions in the weekend. I am using a military spouses program that allows me to get registered for these courses for free, so I did a bit of research and finally decided to go with NASM. I called them and spoke to a gentleman there and after about 30 minutes on the phone, he highly suggested that, beside the CPT course, I should also sign up for CES, Nutrition Specialist and Women fitness Specialist. I know CPT only offers you 6 months to finish it and I would like to just focus on that, while the others are 1 year long programs. When my son turns 1 year old, we are looking at putting him in day care, so I will be going to work after that, hopefully somewhere at a gym, with or without a CPT on my resume. Now I am wondering, is it too much to sign up for right now? I still have to look up exam retake fees, but as far as I've seen so far, the other certifications are all open book with an online test. Anyone else in a situation similar to mine? Should I just take the CPT and leave the rest for after? or maybe pair CPT with one more? They also have a Weight loss Specialist but he recommended I take the CES instead. I only have an $1800.00 budget and he's pushing all of these together and being quite aggressive about it.
Thanks for reading

P.S.: I just joined today and I'm still in the process of reading through the forum.

[Bradster101190]

First of all, I'd like to mention that I am a stay-at-home mom of an almost 5 month old boy, so studying will probably just start around 7 pm M-F after my husband gets back from work for about 1 hour, and hopefully in 4-5 hour sessions in the weekend. I am using a military spouses program that allows me to get registered for these courses for free, so I did a bit of research and finally decided to go with NASM. I called them and spoke to a gentleman there and after about 30 minutes on the phone, he highly suggested that, beside the CPT course, I should also sign up for CES, Nutrition Specialist and Women fitness Specialist. I know CPT only offers you 6 months to finish it and I would like to just focus on that, while the others are 1 year long programs. When my son turns 1 year old, we are looking at putting him in day care, so I will be going to work after that, hopefully somewhere at a gym, with or without a CPT on my resume. Now I am wondering, is it too much to sign up for right now? I still have to look up exam retake fees, but as far as I've seen so far, the other certifications are all open book with an online test. Anyone else in a situation similar to mine? Should I just take the CPT and leave the rest for after? or maybe pair CPT with one more? They also have a Weight loss Specialist but he recommended I take the CES instead. I only have an $1800.00 budget and he's pushing all of these together and being quite aggressive about it.
Thanks for reading

P.S.: I just joined today and I'm still in the process of reading through the forum.

I say do it one step at a time, why rush it? You want to absorb the knowledge throuroughly so you can apply it , not memorize it and move on. Get the CPT , see how you l like it and go from there.


And the open book side of the test does not help much because the questions in those are not simple 2+2 , they require you to think about many factors leading to one answer.

So again I just recommend you have fun with it , relax and do just the CPT for now.

[runalexrun87]

I think the same, one at a time. Guess the guy from NASM will be slightly disappointed, but I'm not sure he realizes how much work a baby is.
Does anyone else have any other opinions? I'd love to hear from more folks.
Thanks Brad

[Endevorforever]

Depends on what you want to do when you get hired at the gym. The NASM CPT will help you work with any number of clients, but will restrict you to the OPT model. OPT model is not bad, but there is more to exercise than meso-cycles. You will find more useful information in the CEUs and it doesn't take very long to get done with the CPT.