Personal Training Certification

[Sexxxton]

I've decided not to take the BCRPA certification. I think it's a bit of a scam and a monopoly. Also I found the course manual to be hokey, and much of the information was out of date. Apparently creatine doesn't work, and you should NEVER wear a lifting belt. Etc. Sigh.

anyway I'm looking at the ISSA or the ACE.

Just wondering if there are any gym owners (or PT's) that could give me a recommendation. I'm worried working as a Canadian with an American certification.

[Delt King]

When i owned my gym i looked for ACE or ISSA guys over Can-Fit-Pro or most of the other certifications.

[Sexxxton]

When i owned my gym i looked for ACE or ISSA guys over Can-Fit-Pro or most of the other certifications.

Cool, why? Would you recommend ACE before ISSA?

[macka]

Cool, why? Would you recommend ACE before ISSA?

ACE is more of an in depth course, ISSA has higher standards then can fit pro, although a few canfitpro certified trainers only have the cert for the insurance discount. A lot of the canfitpro trainers don't have much knowledge past what is taught in the course.

[Sexxxton]

ACE is more of an in depth course, ISSA has higher standards then can fit pro, although a few canfitpro certified trainers only have the cert for the insurance discount. A lot of the canfitpro trainers don't have much knowledge past what is taught in the course.

Cool, as far as knowledge, I don't think there'll be a problem wherever I choose to certify: I've made training my passion for some time.

So would you say ACE over ISSA then?

Does the insurance cost kill you if you go ISSA?

[Memo]

can-fit-pro is garbage

[GYMBRAT]

Can-Fit is lame BUT so long as you yourself knows your shit then its an easy in for a job you love....like myself... imho

GB

[Sexxxton]

Can-Fit is lame BUT so long as you yourself knows your shit then its an easy in for a job you love....like myself... imho

GB

I'd definitely be similar. Only, if Can Fit is crap, I'd be worried about not getting hired, frankly.

???

[Sexxxton]

On top of this...

What can I expect when I start working?

I assume I'll have to affiliate with a gym to get started. What are the going rates? What is insurance? How much does the gym take?

[macka]

When you start working as a "certified" trainer you might have better luck at a bigger club. Or you can freelance and hope for the best. The nice thing about bigger clubs is that you have a ready supply of dummies. If you can make them a success and keep them motivated you will have a base to start from for income. You also get paid a stipend and can train for free at a lot of the bigger clubs. Freelancing however can be rewarding too, but it is a tougher run at the market. A lot of gyms won't let you in unless you are able to show your own insurance and thats only if they don't have their own in house "trainers". A few gyms let in a select few outside trainers only because they bring in clients. So if you have the certifications, insurance and clientèle, you might have an in at the pricier gyms.

[Delt King]

Finding a job as a club trainer is easy enough if you have the personality for it. Working for the club you'll get an hourly wage and a cut of every PT session you do. The club will take the vast majority the training price though.

Working as an independant trainer is much better if you can find a gym still open to it. I charged a base rent and let the trainers go to town...some farmed from the current membership, while others brought in their own clients from outside. Around my area there are 8 clubs and none will let an independant work there. But there are a couple PT studios that allow it but you need to hussle and bring in your own clients.

Good luck...my advice (coming from somebody in the business for 17 years) go back to school and get a real job and do it only on the side because you enjoy it.

[Sexxxton]

When you start working as a "certified" trainer you might have better luck at a bigger club. Or you can freelance and hope for the best. The nice thing about bigger clubs is that you have a ready supply of dummies. If you can make them a success and keep them motivated you will have a base to start from for income. You also get paid a stipend and can train for free at a lot of the bigger clubs. Freelancing however can be rewarding too, but it is a tougher run at the market. A lot of gyms won't let you in unless you are able to show your own insurance and thats only if they don't have their own in house "trainers". A few gyms let in a select few outside trainers only because they bring in clients. So if you have the certifications, insurance and clientèle, you might have an in at the pricier gyms.

Thanks man, very thorough.

[Sexxxton]

Finding a job as a club trainer is easy enough if you have the personality for it. Working for the club you'll get an hourly wage and a cut of every PT session you do. The club will take the vast majority the training price though.

Working as an independant trainer is much better if you can find a gym still open to it. I charged a base rent and let the trainers go to town...some farmed from the current membership, while others brought in their own clients from outside. Around my area there are 8 clubs and none will let an independant work there. But there are a couple PT studios that allow it but you need to hussle and bring in your own clients.

Good luck...my advice (coming from somebody in the business for 17 years) go back to school and get a real job and do it only on the side because you enjoy it.

Cool, thanks. I have a solid 9-5 union job. I just want to do this for a little extra income and for my own satisfaction. Also, I'm in a grad programme now and this'll help with tuition.

[GYMBRAT]

Im getting mine as well, just for a part time gig on the side as I am going to be a full time Municipal fireman.....so will be a great time passer and I LOVE the gym atmosphere

GB

[Sexxxton]

Im getting mine as well, just for a part time gig on the side as I am going to be a full time Municipal fireman.....so will be a great time passer and I LOVE the gym atmosphere

GB

Cool, go for it. I would never want to make PT my full time gig, as I think you can destroy your own passion for training. But I think helping people with their training can be very rewarding if you keep it as a part time gig.

[GYMBRAT]

thanks man :)

[Dryvrgrl]

Im totally getting my canfit pro.. might be hokey, and all, but for real, I wont be training any serious lifters! Can fit is good enough to train fat people who want to start getting active! any Good Life, all you need is Canfit... plus its like 500 bucks... you can make that back in a couple weeks.

I depends on where you are and what you want to do.. I have a very marketable look to any 30 or 40-something year old woman who used to be hot and is losing it fast... that's where my focus is!.. no need for me to go back to school and spend thousands of bucks to pass on active living to middle aged women!!:)

[Sexxxton]

Im totally getting my canfit pro.. might be hokey, and all, but for real, I wont be training any serious lifters! Can fit is good enough to train fat people who want to start getting active! any Good Life, all you need is Canfit... plus its like 500 bucks... you can make that back in a couple weeks.

I depends on where you are and what you want to do.. I have a very marketable look to any 30 or 40-something year old woman who used to be hot and is losing it fast... that's where my focus is!.. no need for me to go back to school and spend thousands of bucks to pass on active living to middle aged women!!:)

I hear you, I'm much the same. My physique is certainly not the best, but it's good enough to market to most middle-aged guys.

[GYMBRAT]

I get BBer wanabes, hot chics, you name it, asking for my services (PT services that is) so I think I'll have a great clientele pre prepared for when I do get certified ;)

GB

[warlock]

If you wanna be a bottom feeder get can fit and that's it.

If you wanna charge more you better have better qualifications, know teh bussiness and how to market yourself

[Dryvrgrl]

If you wanna be a bottom feeder get can fit and that's it.

If you wanna charge more you better have better qualifications, know teh bussiness and how to market yourself

thats a little unfair of an assessment...

I know a woman who has all the education in the world, a national level athlete, works at an exclusive gym training rich clients and makes shit cash!

I know another lady who has a giant rack, has appeared in numberous magazines, FAILED her can-fit pro, looks like a sex bomb and makes over 70k a year.

How personable you are... how hard you work... how people like you and how you market yourself will make you successful in personal training. If you are just some schmo walking into a big box gym, you most likely need some certification... there might be some dude with a masters in Kineseology who looks like Pointxexter, and the next dude walks in with 16 magazine spreads and a movie star smile... well... what do you think?

It's like everything else in life.. make the most of what you've got and work harder than the next guy! How bad do you want it!!

TOSCA IS NOT A PERSONAL TRAINER Goddammit!!
(personal rant over.. thanks for listening)

[macka]

Exactly a good physique definitely helps. The guy who used to train here, was a skinny ectomorph who could eat anything. He is big into cardio yet all his clients look like shit. He only knows what works for him, and he has a mentality that it works for everyone. He was doing good until someone got hurt and they learnt he wasn't certified or insured.
He also didn't have the clients once they stopped making the initial gains.

[warlock]

Not unfair at all.

10 years working in Rosedale and Financial district in Toronto tells me that.

Whomever can pay more is more educated therefore wants a more educated trainer.

There is just so much that looks and personality can do for you.

If you don't know your stuff you can't change the variables of a session in order to cater to the needs of the client at that given day.

Miss pretty ass that makes 70k year is always running and frustrated because the quality of her clients is as shit as her knowledge so she has to work harder and getting more clients at that makes her a bottom feeder.

If you have a masters in Kin and look like shit that means you are incompetent as a trainer because you can't help yourself.

I know 2 trainers both quite sucessful.

He charges 125 and works a maximum of 40h a week, knows everything about exercise, lives teh lifestyle and is nice.

The girl makes about 50/h, looks great and spends the whole day entertaining her clients. Whenever she is off she is complaining about her clients and overall has something negative to say. Works non stop and has a decent lifestyle.

Who would you prefer to be?





thats a little unfair of an assessment...

I know a woman who has all the education in the world, a national level athlete, works at an exclusive gym training rich clients and makes shit cash!

I know another lady who has a giant rack, has appeared in numberous magazines, FAILED her can-fit pro, looks like a sex bomb and makes over 70k a year.

How personable you are... how hard you work... how people like you and how you market yourself will make you successful in personal training. If you are just some schmo walking into a big box gym, you most likely need some certification... there might be some dude with a masters in Kineseology who looks like Pointxexter, and the next dude walks in with 16 magazine spreads and a movie star smile... well... what do you think?

It's like everything else in life.. make the most of what you've got and work harder than the next guy! How bad do you want it!!

TOSCA IS NOT A PERSONAL TRAINER Goddammit!!
(personal rant over.. thanks for listening)

[GYMBRAT]

AWESOME post warlock

actually IFBB pro, Nicole Ball and I both are taking our can-fit PT as we speak. We both have clientele who love how we look and train that will continue training through us no matter....mainly because of how we look ;) just sayin

GB

[Sexxxton]

Inneressin' replies. I decided to go with ISSA in the end, because it's affordable and somewhat reputable. In the end, I'd like to end up with a CSCS. But I also want to compete myself soon; I think that'll be marketable as well. There's a provincial winner at my gym, and she does quite well simply off that alone.

[warlock]

AWESOME post warlock

actually IFBB pro, Nicole Ball and I both are taking our can-fit PT as we speak. We both have clientele who love how we look and train that will continue training through us no matter....mainly because of how we look ;) just sayin

GB

Great I guess that you are in your way to charging $500/h like Milos Sarcev does.

The man had the physique and has the knowledge, I don't know if he is as nice as you...

[GYMBRAT]

lol, nah that dude is awesome... thanks tho, we just have a great smaller town atmosphere going on ;)

GB

[SteveMan]

Some of the best trainers I know have a high school education and their Can Fit. Judging a PT based on their schooling and certs is not always wise.

I'm a certified exercise physiologist, and a certified personal trainer with the canadian society for exercise physiology(CSEP). In order to become a CEP you need a degree in kin, human kinetics or health sciences etc. Naturally people think trainers with degrees are going to be fantastic. Many people who graduated from my program couldn't verbally teach someone how to stretch their hamstrings. However, if it were a test question on a written exam they could probably ace it.

I remember being the client for students in my program when they were doing the practical test. If the student failed the test they could just do it again the following week, and again, and again. Eventually they all would pass.

The prof's who conducted the testing took a cut of the test fee which was $120 for the CPT. This ****ed the system because it motivated the prof's into testing as many people as possible for as many redo's as they want. IMO if a student failed twice they should have to wait 6-12 months before they can redo the test... giving them good reason to take it seriously and not do this trial and error shit.

[Mega Marty]

Alright, i've read most of the posts here and agree and disagree with them.

Certs are certs. I learned zero from my cert (AFLCA) other than, certs are junk.

Certs get you, exactly as stated, insurance if you're independent (like myself) which is what they want.

If you're looking for work for a club, then you better find out what they want. world health could want cert X, gold's might want cert Y, and world gym might want cert Z.

are any better than the rest? couldn't tell you, other than the 2 i "took" were garbage (ACSM and AFLCA) i didn't end up getting certified in either one, due to as OP pointed out, they're money grabs (4 out of 4 of my friends took the test, got 78%. passing was 80%. soooo they had to pay 75$ again re-write. strange, hmmm?)

once you have the cert, THEN is when you learn (before that too definitely)

the proper textbooks and real world experience will never be beaten by a "weekend" course, let alone an online one.

this is a place where TONS of money could be made if a GOOD cert came along and swept everyone up.

like the fella above me said, having fancy letters after your name doesn't impress me. I know Doctors who have crap for knowledge.

knowledge<intelligence<wisdom

knowledge is when some has done some form of research, written about it and made it avial for the public.

intelligence is when you read this knowledge and can regurgitate it (which is what MOST people do. i see it all the time. quotes etc of trainers with no idea how to back it up)

wisdom, is having the understanding and a working knowledge of the knowledge. THAT is when it matters. going out and doing it.

someone puts info out about the squat
you read about the squat
you squat and find out the truth.

make sense?

so, enough beating around the bush.

if you're looking to be good at what you do, read and do read and read and so on.

to make money? do what the bimbo does.

to be successful and win?

be the bimbo with wisdom... theres a thought for you...

[GYMBRAT]

good BUT an extremely obvious post ;)