Fitness Certifications FAQ

Recently I’ve started getting facebook messages with questions from friends or friends of friends researching fitness certifications.  When I first started thinking about getting certified I felt pretty overwhelmed. There is so much information out there once you start google searching personal training and group fitness certifications. All the acronyms start to sound the same– NASM, NCSA, AFAA, ACE, ACSM… OH MY (and that’s only a fraction of the certs out there!)

It’s been a long, expensive year, but I am now a proud NASM certified personal trainer, AFAA certified group fitness instructor and licensed in zumba, TRX, RIP trainer and indoor cycling.

Are you thinking about a career in the fitness industry and feeling overwhelmed about where to start? I hear ya because that was me one year ago.

 

I’m not pro on fitness certifications, but here are some  frequent asked questions I’ve received about the process

 

NASM

Why did you choose NASM? I chose to do my personal training certification with NASM for a few reasons. For starters, my job at the time offered me a pretty sweet discount on the package so that was obviously an incentive.

Besides that and the fact that my boss at the time highly recommended going the NASM route because the gym I was working at closely followed their philosophy, I also did my research to find out how well respected NASM was in the business. With lots of google searching I saw NASM is highly regarded in the fitness industry and believed it would be easy to find a personal training job with this qualification.

In my experience this has definitely been true, employers are always impressed to hear that I am NASM certified.

Which package did you choose? I opted for the package with the 1-day workshop. Thinking back on it now, the workshop was useful as far as being a personal trainer goes, but was definitely not a great aid when studying for the exam. At the time it was a bit frustrating because I knew I was taking my exam 4 days after the workshop and would have preferred something more focused on passing the exam.

How long did it take you to study? I studied from October 2012 and took my exam in December 2012. I definitely would NOT recommend taking only 2 months to study for the exam but I had a unique situation. I was already employed by a gym and they wanted me to take to exam ASAP. For the first month of studying I was also living in California and doing nothing with my life except working out, so I basically studied every day for 3-4 hours in the West Hollywood Library or on the porch

yeah, studying outside definitely made the process more bearable 🙂

3-6 months would be a more manageable to period to really delve into studying.

how did you study for NASM? I am TERRIBLE at reading textbooks, always have been, always will be. Because of this I decided to watch the online video for a chapter first, take notes, answer the specific study guide questions for that chapter, and then skim the textbook pages. After I finished a few chapters I would transfer the study guide notes to index cards and quizzed myself every day before looking at new material.

Once I finished writing initial notes on each chapter and learning my notecards I went back and read the chapters more in depth. Doing it this way was easier for me because I was already familiar with most of the information.

these notecards went EVERYWHERE with me.

Once I finished taking notes on all the chapters I started taking the practice exam every day before my study session as an indicator of what I did and did not know. Sadly the practice exam and the real thing are not identical, but it still helped to show me where I was still having trouble. There’s also a number of iphone apps that I used. I don’t know if they necessarily helped but it was still good to be constantly tested on the information in the textbook.

The other incredibly important thing to know for NASM is the overhead squat assessment and compensations page. When I first saw the chart I was SUPER overwhelmed at the thought of learning all the information. I decided to learn a little bit every single day with silly acronyms. Learning the chart a tiny bit at a time made it more manageable.

 

How do you take the exam? The exam is taken at a specific testing site. Luckily there were a few options of testing sites in Manhattan and one happened to be a block away from the gym I was working at. The day of the exam I was a shakey nervous mess. After waiting around in the holding room for approximately 30 mintues before I was allowed to take my exam I was on the verge of vomitting thanks to my anxiety.

I wasn’t allowed to take ANYTHING into the testing room with me. No water, no scrap paper, no nothing. I was not aware of this and basically freaked out when I realized that I wouldn’t be able to have scrap paper to write notes.

You find out right then and there if you passed when you exit the testing room. I almost hugged and kissed the nice lady working at the testing facility because I was so dang relieved to have passed. Instead I just cried with joy as I skipped down Lexington Avenue……

 

AFAA

Why did you choose AFAA? When it comes to group fitness there are a lot less certification options. I looked what what my favorite group fitness instructors had as their cert and found that most were AFAA group fitness certified. I also loved that AFAA had a practical part of their exam.

How did you study for AFAA? My study process for AFAA was way less intense compared to what I went through for NASM. After passing NASM in December I didn’t start back up studying again until January. My exam ended up being rescheduled because of a snow storm so I ended up studying for roughly 1 1/2 months.

Since I had already passed NASM I wasn’t feeling too concerned about the written exam (yep, a tiny bit cocky). Even so I went through the textbook and the study guide chapter by chapter and made notecards.

 

I reviewed what would happen during the practical part of the exam (the hands on part) so I knew what to expect. I didn’t stress out too much about that part because I knew the whole day leading up to the exam would be a mega review of what would be on the practical

What was the whole day exam like? The review for the practical exam was AMAZING. We broke each aspect of the exam down into sections so we knew exactly what to do and what to expect.

The part that caused me the most trouble was the individual presentation where you have to show 3 levels of an exercise in 2 minutes. My push-up presentation got cut off early and I literally almost burst out in tears right then and there because I thought I instantly failed. Luckily I did still manage to pass, but I recommend timing your exercise to make sure it fits in the time constraint.

The written exam was relatively similar to the practice exam.

After the whole day workshop you have to wait 4-8 weeks to find out your results. I swear I checked my mailbox every single day like a kid waiting for few college acceptance letter. I was thrilled and relieved when my results finally arrived 8 weeks later informing me I had passed. Really AFAA, did it actually take you 8 weeks to grade my scantron…… (end rant)

General Certification FAQ:

I want to teach (zumba, spin, etc) what should I do? Certain specific group fitness classes i.e. spin and zumba, require their certification or licensing. Being zumba certified is actually not a thing, instead you attend a 1 day workshop and at the end of the day are qualified to teach zumba classes. Zumba instructors pay an additional fee to be a licensed instructor. With this licensing they also receive monthly CDs and DVDs of music and choreography. You do not need to be group fitness certified in order to do the one-day Zumba workshop… but it might help you get a job.

There’s a number of ways to become a spin / indoor cycling instructor. I did mine via AFAA and their indoor cycling workshop. AFAA’s indoor cycling workshop is not a certification, but there are certifications out there via Schwinn and MadDogg/ Spinning

 

All of the above is my own personal opinion based on my own experience. There are plenty of reputable certifications out there.

What questions do you have about the certification process?

Are you certified? What was your process like?