best college and college major for personal training career?

[gonzaga111]

help wanted??

[jmonty]

i heard that most PTs just go to a lame class for a few weeks, and are mostly full of ****.

that's just what i heard though. =p

if you want to be a hard core trainer, join the Marines and be a Drill Instructor, or the Army and become a Drill Sergeant.

that will probably take 3-6 years, however.

[hutch42]

im an exercise science major...some of my class mates want to be personal trainer but there isn't much money since just about anyone can become a personal trainer without a college degree. I want to be a physical therapist so thats why im an exercise major.

[BFD Zio]

Yeah man...actually most people just become a personal trainer during college to earn money while getting a degree to do something else.

I'm a Nutrition and Exercise science major, but I want to work in either physical therapy or sports medicine.

[adoniscomplex]

ok hold on
lets think about this
one -the military doesnt know **** about training , they only train for one thing endurance (which would be a small portion of your cliental
two . how much money you make as a trainer is up to you and how you go bout it
\
any decent gym is going to give you 25 an hour to be a trainer so right there thats the possibliety of 50k a year
if you do in home training you can charge from 50 to 150 an hour depending on the city most in home trainers charge 65
do the math thats 130k a year (at 40 hours a week)

if you open your own studio you can charge other triners rent to work there plus your 65 an hour
so you can make an assload

if you are going to go to school for it , find a school with sports medicine and choose one portion of that , most sports med schools have exers sci

also go to nasm.org
order the materials and study like crazy imo they are the best of the certfications out there

[Eightpak]

Major=Kinesiology (exercise Science)

You also need certs: NASM,NSCA,ACE, AAFA. Any will do. Recomend the first two.

[adoniscomplex]

yo 8pack
whats afaa like ?
i have studied ace , nasm , and nsca

[mightymouse37]

The school doesn't matter as much as the degree. If you have a degree in exercise science/physiology, you already have an edge over the other trainers w/out a degree, at least as far as actually understanding the underlying concepts behind hypertrophy/fat loss.

That being said, your qualifications matter less than your abilities as a trainer. I'm one paper away from having my Master's degree in exercise science, and I've met plenty of better trainers than myself. They just have more experience, and have learned more tricks of the trade through trial and error. Learning about physiology of muscle and exercise will only take you so far.

It certainly did help me on the NSCA CPT test, though. I was nervous just before the exam (having spent less than two weeks studying the actual NSCA text), until I talked to a few other people taking the exam and realized 99% of them had never taken any courses and were relying solely on the NSCA materials to get them their certification.


When it comes to PT cert, I'd stick with ASCM and NSCA. In my opinion, they're the two best organizations out there, in terms of content and reputation in the scientific community. A good book for any personal trainer to own is Designing Resistance Training Programs by Steven J Fleck and William J Kraemer. Great information and lots of research to back it up.

Hope this helps!!

[Flex500]

The school doesn't matter as much as the degree. If you have a degree in exercise science/physiology, you already have an edge over the other trainers w/out a degree, at least as far as actually understanding the underlying concepts behind hypertrophy/fat loss.

That being said, your qualifications matter less than your abilities as a trainer. I'm one paper away from having my Master's degree in exercise science, and I've met plenty of better trainers than myself. They just have more experience, and have learned more tricks of the trade through trial and error. Learning about physiology of muscle and exercise will only take you so far.

It certainly did help me on the NSCA CPT test, though. I was nervous just before the exam (having spent less than two weeks studying the actual NSCA text), until I talked to a few other people taking the exam and realized 99% of them had never taken any courses and were relying solely on the NSCA materials to get them their certification.


When it comes to PT cert, I'd stick with ASCM and NSCA. In my opinion, they're the two best organizations out there, in terms of content and reputation in the scientific community. A good book for any personal trainer to own is Designing Resistance Training Programs by Steven J Fleck and William J Kraemer. Great information and lots of research to back it up.

Hope this helps!!

you should consider getting your cscs. It is much harder however than the cpt test, but with your background and some studying I bet you'd be just fine.

[mightymouse37]

you should consider getting your cscs. It is much harder however than the cpt test, but with your background and some studying I bet you'd be just fine.

Yeah I've considered it. I'm still kinda trying to figure out what to do w/my life. I've spent time as a PT, and personally, I didn't get much out of it. Nothing is more frustrating to me than trying to help people who really don't want to be helped. It's a waste of my time and a waste of theirs. I think being a CSCS would be pretty fun though; working with athletes, you can pretty much assume they want to get bigger and stronger. I'm hoping to eventually move out west to California or Utah and either work in the fitness industry as a strength coach or maybe an editor at a BB mag or be a wilderness guide or nature photographer. Kind of different fields, I know, but those are my two passions.

Sorry if this is getting off-topic, I'll shut up now.

[TXScout2]

Right on dude, all those sound like pretty good ideas. FYI the good certifications like ACSM and CSCS require you to have a bachelors degree before you take the test. And if you work at a decent gym you can be assured that you will be making probably twice the hourly rate that people without a degree are making. Trainers with a Masters usually make even more, although with a Masters you can start getting into being a strength and conditioning coach for athletes.

[LAWofNJ]

Hey guys hows the exercise science going? I'm gonna be taking exercise science in college to pursue physical therapy. How are the courses, fun, hard, etc. ? Thanks

[papi93]

I've spent time as a PT, and personally, I didn't get much out of it. Nothing is more frustrating to me than trying to help people who really don't want to be helped. It's a waste of my time and a waste of theirs.

You hit it right on the hand with this one. I worked as a personal trainer for four years and the majority of your clients are just as you described. Now I just train individuals who really want to improve themselves. If they do not put their heart into, I drop them as clients. It is a nice side job because you can teach what you love but it sucks as a full-time job (because of the majority of lazy clients you will have to deal with).

Papi93
NSCA - CSCS & CPT

[Squats]

Personal training is way too easy to get into these days. With seperate organizations around these days and people earning "certs" from them for $20.

If you want to be respected and have a lot more knowledge, you want to look into college. With a good S&C coach (many of the top ones ex. Kelly Baggett) and make sure you like the campus too! Study up on exercise phys, biology and all that good stuff for a few years.

That's were you'll get smart.

[mightymouse37]

Hey guys hows the exercise science going? I'm gonna be taking exercise science in college to pursue physical therapy. How are the courses, fun, hard, etc. ? Thanks

Well I thought they were fun, but then, I've also been known to spend hours at a stretch on this forum too.

It's funny, because my Bachelor's is in Communications, so I was coming from a totally different background. Most kids in the Exercise Science program were coming from a kinesiology/biology background, so I was kinda worried about keeping up at first, but...

I think I had the highest average in my first Exercise Physiology class. I pretty much set the curve for each test. The rest of the class would literally come to me after the lectures and ask me to explain whatever concepts they didn't quite understand. I don't know, all of the science and physiology of it just made sense to me. It was fascinating stuff!

Anyway, the only classes I had personally had trouble with were EKG (which was ok once I started studying my a$$ off, plus it was a grad-level class), and stats, just because math bores me, and our professor had a really lax attendance/homework policy, so I always did the bare minimum.

If you enjoy the science side of it, I think you'll be fine. We did all kinds of fun stuff like adminstering Max VO2 tests on each other, designing little mini experiments as a class (like testing diff sports drinks for effect on HR/BP/etc), supervision of seniors in a fitness environment, and case studies for exercise prescription.

Every program's different, but I had a blast - I was upset that it was only a two-year grad program. I would've gladly gone another two.

[B_Master_Flash]

if you want to be a hard core trainer, join the Marines and be a Drill Instructor, or the Army and become a Drill Sergeant.

Someone's been watching celebrity fit club.

I think a college degree to become a personal trainer is a bit overkill. Try competing in bodybuilding and winning a couple trophies, that will probably impress potential customers more than a degree in kinesiology or exercise science.

[LAWofNJ]

Well I thought they were fun, but then, I've also been known to spend hours at a stretch on this forum too.

It's funny, because my Bachelor's is in Communications, so I was coming from a totally different background. Most kids in the Exercise Science program were coming from a kinesiology/biology background, so I was kinda worried about keeping up at first, but...

I think I had the highest average in my first Exercise Physiology class. I pretty much set the curve for each test. The rest of the class would literally come to me after the lectures and ask me to explain whatever concepts they didn't quite understand. I don't know, all of the science and physiology of it just made sense to me. It was fascinating stuff!

Anyway, the only classes I had personally had trouble with were EKG (which was ok once I started studying my a$$ off, plus it was a grad-level class), and stats, just because math bores me, and our professor had a really lax attendance/homework policy, so I always did the bare minimum.

If you enjoy the science side of it, I think you'll be fine. We did all kinds of fun stuff like adminstering Max VO2 tests on each other, designing little mini experiments as a class (like testing diff sports drinks for effect on HR/BP/etc), supervision of seniors in a fitness environment, and case studies for exercise prescription.

Every program's different, but I had a blast - I was upset that it was only a two-year grad program. I would've gladly gone another two.

exactly what i want