How long and through what association did you get certified? and what was your experience prior? And how much did it cost you overall? I need to get certified before summer if possible. I want to do it through ACSM because it isn't overly expensive and it is a well known company I beleive. Thank you.
Question for all personal trainers...
- Thread starter KJ333
- Start date
I did my Diploma in 2 years at Southbank Institute of Technology (Australia), which, overall, would have cost about $2,500-3,000 with government assistance (it would have added up to around $5,000 without). Each semester of study was about $700 give or take.
We often used the ACSM guidelines as core material for the course. That said, I don't know how well ACSM do at actually teaching Personal Training students. I'm told they offer qualifications through online tests, which is not nearly enough to learn how to train someone. But if you can get a course through them studying in class with a teacher, I suspect it could be worth doing.
Before I started my course, I had about 4 years gym experience, plus a year of experience in martial arts. My course took the approach of assuming every student had come in off the streets and had never even seen a dumbell or heard of a push up. This is good, because taking this approach resulted in them teaching us properly. There's a lot of shorter courses out there, which I think are only really good if you already knew how to do every exercise with good form and how to construct a quality program before you started the course.
We often used the ACSM guidelines as core material for the course. That said, I don't know how well ACSM do at actually teaching Personal Training students. I'm told they offer qualifications through online tests, which is not nearly enough to learn how to train someone. But if you can get a course through them studying in class with a teacher, I suspect it could be worth doing.
Before I started my course, I had about 4 years gym experience, plus a year of experience in martial arts. My course took the approach of assuming every student had come in off the streets and had never even seen a dumbell or heard of a push up. This is good, because taking this approach resulted in them teaching us properly. There's a lot of shorter courses out there, which I think are only really good if you already knew how to do every exercise with good form and how to construct a quality program before you started the course.
In that case...
Process Overview: Go to SBIT, study Cert III in class 5 days a week for a semester (in fact, 6 days a week for the last 6 weeks of semester thanks to the aqua instruction elective being on a Saturday when I was there), plus study for exams and do assignments outside of class. Get Cert III. Have 2 weeks holiday. Study Cert IV in class 4 days a week for another semester. Do work experience 1 day a week. Study for tests outside of class hours, do one massive assignment (which is about 30 pages long) covering about 8 units of competency. Get Cert IV. Now after a year of study, you're a qualified Personal Trainer.
Cert III Classes:
- Workplace Skills
- Risk Analysis
- First Aid
- Computing
- Client Screening/Fitness Testing
- Exercise Programming
- Exercise Science (Basic Anatomy)
- Equipment Use and Maintenance
- Resistance Training
- Nutrition
- Awareness of Special Populations
- Circuit Training
- Vocational Placement
Electives:
- Group Fitness Instruction
- Aqua Instruction
Cert IV:
- Business Skills
- Risk Management
- Facility Resourcing
- Advanced Exercise Programming
- Advanced Exercise Science (Basic Physiology)
- Postural Screening
- Exercise for Clients with Specific Requirements (Special Pops)
- Exercise and Nutrition for Body Composition Management
- Personal Training
- Vocational Placement
Electives:
- Strength and Conditioning
- Exercise for Older Adults
- Exercise for Children/Adolescents
And, if you were to do Diploma (which I would recommend if you have any interest in training Moderate Risk clients, which is anyone who has more than 1 risk factor):
- Managing the Organisation
- Marketing Strategies for Business
- Manage an Organisation's Risk
- Anatomy and Physiology in Relation to Disease and Health Disorders (actual Advanced A&P)
- Working in Collaberation with Health Professionals
- Exercise Interventions for Metabolic Syndrome
- Nutrition for Specific Requirements (Special Pops)
- Injury Prevention and Management
- Exercise Strategies for Musculoskeletal Rehab
- Exercise for Clients with a Disability or Neurological Impairment
- Exercise for Moderate Risk Children
- Exercise for Clients with Cardiopulmonary Considerations
- Role of Physical Activity in Health Promotion
- Advanced Computer Applications
- Vocational Placement
Electives:
- Advanced Strength and Conditioning
Process Overview: Go to SBIT, study Cert III in class 5 days a week for a semester (in fact, 6 days a week for the last 6 weeks of semester thanks to the aqua instruction elective being on a Saturday when I was there), plus study for exams and do assignments outside of class. Get Cert III. Have 2 weeks holiday. Study Cert IV in class 4 days a week for another semester. Do work experience 1 day a week. Study for tests outside of class hours, do one massive assignment (which is about 30 pages long) covering about 8 units of competency. Get Cert IV. Now after a year of study, you're a qualified Personal Trainer.
Cert III Classes:
- Workplace Skills
- Risk Analysis
- First Aid
- Computing
- Client Screening/Fitness Testing
- Exercise Programming
- Exercise Science (Basic Anatomy)
- Equipment Use and Maintenance
- Resistance Training
- Nutrition
- Awareness of Special Populations
- Circuit Training
- Vocational Placement
Electives:
- Group Fitness Instruction
- Aqua Instruction
Cert IV:
- Business Skills
- Risk Management
- Facility Resourcing
- Advanced Exercise Programming
- Advanced Exercise Science (Basic Physiology)
- Postural Screening
- Exercise for Clients with Specific Requirements (Special Pops)
- Exercise and Nutrition for Body Composition Management
- Personal Training
- Vocational Placement
Electives:
- Strength and Conditioning
- Exercise for Older Adults
- Exercise for Children/Adolescents
And, if you were to do Diploma (which I would recommend if you have any interest in training Moderate Risk clients, which is anyone who has more than 1 risk factor):
- Managing the Organisation
- Marketing Strategies for Business
- Manage an Organisation's Risk
- Anatomy and Physiology in Relation to Disease and Health Disorders (actual Advanced A&P)
- Working in Collaberation with Health Professionals
- Exercise Interventions for Metabolic Syndrome
- Nutrition for Specific Requirements (Special Pops)
- Injury Prevention and Management
- Exercise Strategies for Musculoskeletal Rehab
- Exercise for Clients with a Disability or Neurological Impairment
- Exercise for Moderate Risk Children
- Exercise for Clients with Cardiopulmonary Considerations
- Role of Physical Activity in Health Promotion
- Advanced Computer Applications
- Vocational Placement
Electives:
- Advanced Strength and Conditioning
I am doing my fitness course through the FIA. I just got my Certificate III and now doing Certificate IV which will be finished in October. So one year all up
I am doing it distance/online as I work full time. I go to the gym/exercise 5 days a week, and have a PT who has done the course through them so he helps me out with the stuff and when it comes to boot camp, lets me help so I get the experience and know what to expect when it comes time to the intership
All up it is about $3200. The books are online but I bought them outright as I can;t sit and read pages at a time off a computer and expect it to sink it. That's about another $130 on top of that.
Pretty good. There is an online forum, lots of resources and I'm enjoying the course
I am doing it distance/online as I work full time. I go to the gym/exercise 5 days a week, and have a PT who has done the course through them so he helps me out with the stuff and when it comes to boot camp, lets me help so I get the experience and know what to expect when it comes time to the intership
All up it is about $3200. The books are online but I bought them outright as I can;t sit and read pages at a time off a computer and expect it to sink it. That's about another $130 on top of that.
Pretty good. There is an online forum, lots of resources and I'm enjoying the course