The Best Personal Trainer Certification - Part 2

As a health and fitness professional, you'll have several employment options for not only your scope of practice, but also for the arena in which you'll work.

With this being the case, it is important to note that available fitness certifications may be tailored to fit one arena over another.

What does that mean exactly?

As the health sciences become a more popular choice, the available roles fitness professionals can play are expanding.

Here are a few of the settings in which you'll find us:

• Hospital/Clinical Setting
• Health Clubs / Gyms / Private Training Studios
• Education / Schooling System
• High School / College / Professional Athletic Teams

With the ever expanding options, the credentials and curriculum for each are becoming more specialized.

Does this mean that if the majority of your coursework prepared you for a clinical setting that you can't work with athletic teams?

No. You may have to do some "on-the-job" learning, but your education and certification can certainly cross boundaries within the health community.

The same can be said of a health professional whose experience stems from time spent on the athletic field. A transition to the clinical setting should be a comfortable switch.

Certification Options

ACE - An introduction to one of the more popular certifying organizations and their CPT offerings. Health professionals with this title are often found in both clinical and health club settings.

NASM-CPT - Despite it's heavy influence from the physical therapy community, the NASM-CPT is one of the most widely recognized certs among large health club chains.

NSCA-CSCS - Considered by many to be among the most challenging of the available certs, the NSCA-CSCS is geared primarily toward the performance development of athletes individually and in groups or teams.

NSCA-CPT - Provided by the National Strength and Conditioning Association, it's coursework is geared more toward the audience of private fitness trainers in health clubs and studios.

Additional Resources

Learn how to attract, secure, and keep more clients as you build your personal training business.

David Bohmiller's personal trainer course e-book has been used by hundreds of health professionals searching for an edge in a growing field.

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