Personal Training Certification

I recently completed an online Certification Course in Personal training by Expertrating and would like to hear your feebacks on whether or not you think this certification will be recognised by most fitness institutions. I think I really did my homework before jumping at the chance to take this online course and concluded that Expertrating is legit. However, I do not feel satisfied even after doing the Personal Trainer's Course and having been into fitness for the past 5 years. I'm also not satisified because of how easy it was to get certified online. I always say, "Good things don't come easily", therefore I plan to do another Personal Trainer Cerfication Course very soon at a respectable and much recognised institution. What are your thoughts?
 
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A certification is a certification. Yes, it may not be well known but as long as you can defend your theory on how you intend to train it should be ok. If you are looking for highly known certifiction you should do either a NSCA, NASM, ACE, ISSA, or ACSM.
 
I have my PT cert from ACSM and it is a good one to have. I'm about to start working to get my Health and Fitness Specialist Cert through ACSM. (you have to have some college classes in exercise to take this one I think). I am not a PT at this point because I chose to become a high school coach, but I plan on going into PT very soon. I interviewed for PT in a few places and they all loved the ACSM cert. Just decided at the time that coaching was a better option.
 
We have a lot of online courses in Aus too, and unfortunatley they almost guarantee you will not get a job. The key bit to personal training is.....personal! And you can only learn that in a face to face course
 
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Hi, I think your assumption that the course you completed will not be recognized by most fitness institutions is accurate. The reason is because Expertrating is not an accredited personal training body. The National Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCCA) is essentially the gold standard for fitness certifications and includes certs like NASM, ACE, NSCA, ACSM, NESTA, NCCPT, NCSF (the AFAA is currently building up to this at the time of this writing). This is important to trainers because most gyms will only accept personal trainer certs that are accepted by NCCA-accredited agencies. So, if you are like many trainers who want to jumpstart their career by working in a gym, you may want to avoid a cert that is not NCCA-accredited.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you aren't really credentialed. The online method you choose would be like taking a nutrition class and claiming you're a nutritionist. You'd only take one of these if you could get private clients who didn't really care if you had credentials or not. You couldn't show up to a gym and use one of these to get a gym job.

For more information on gym accreditation and , check out the link.
 
Some good comments and I agree with some sentiments. For starters, a cert is not just a cert and to PersonalTrainerGoldCoast's point, many online certification options will NOT get you a job. If you get an National Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCCA)-approved certifciation, then you are more likely to get a job at a gym. The certification you mentioned is not NCCA-certified meaning it will not be honored by most gyms and is essentially just a waste of money. That is, of course, you are just trying to work with private clients who don't care about certs.

For some more information on the best personal trainer certifications, check out this resource: . It discusses things like NCCA accreditation, the cost of taking and exam as well as the study materials, the CEU requirements, and the primary focus of education.

It is an objective analysis on all the certs and provides helpful insight to people exactly in your situation who need to assess all the details before spending their time and money.
 
Yes, ISSA is generally considered a good certificate. Like danielfitness said, certifications accredited by the NCCA are generally very good!
 
Depends which country you wish to take certification too. Quals in the US are not recognised where I am in the UK. From the UK to the US you need a bridging course. Example - NASM is not recognised in the UK as it is not an ofqual regulated qualification. Quals in the UK must be CIMSPA and REPs endorsed and through Ofqual otherwise they are not worth the paper they are written on. US is far more lenient towards regulatory standards.
 
I agree with You. I studied this issue and one of the certificates I received was received by all participants of the online course.
 
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