From the ACE website, they state that they have certified approximately 90, individuals in the health and fitness industry. Check here for the current price on ISSA. The package comes with a hard copy of the textbook, a study guide for the textbook, practice quizzes and exams, and exercise reference guide, access to an online student forum, access to their online exercise lab and unlimited support from ISSA fitness professionals. The textbook they provide is over pages long and contains an extensive collection of exercises and examples.
I think that the online exercise lab is cool because it shows you animated exercises so that you can see how to perform the exercises perfectly in a three-dimensional view. Make sure not to pass up my free ISSA study guide and practice test here. For an exam pass guarantee and to cut your study time in half, check out Trainer Academy for their study materials. This option includes the textbook in e-book format, practice exams, access to ACE study coaches, the study manual in e-book format, the ACE Academy elite, access to personal training resources and of course access to take the test.
The Plus study option includes a hardcopy of the primary textbook, a hard copy of the study manual as well as access to the Essentials of Exercise Science for Fitness Professionals. If you are the type of person that likes to highlight stuff or have a hard copy of the textbook, this is the package for you.
This package also comes with the addition of the fitness math online course which basically goes over the difficult to understand concepts such as your VO2 maximum, energy expenditure concepts or body composition. The biggest difference for me is that ISSA gives you a hard copy of their textbook with their package which makes all the difference to me.
For the best study materials, check out Trainer Academy. Check out my free study guides, practice tests, and flashcards for both certifications on my site:. The ISSA trainer online test case studies focus on developing a progressive week routine for two individuals with specific needs or goals. This is why it is critical that you spend a lot of time studying routine development, particularly in special populations, if you plan to pass this section of the test.
Even if you end up failing on your first time around with ISSA, to retake the test on your second try is absolutely free. If you aspire to be a fitness trainer and this certification interests you, I highly encourage you to check out my complete article that provides more detail.
I also have great articles to help those that want to become a personal trainer by strictly studying online and practicing what they see through the online animated exercise videos and live chat with expert fitness instructors.
You should also consider knowing modern technologies that make personal trainer job easier. In order to take the test, you need to go to the ACE website and sign up with one of their approved test-taking facilities.
After you purchase the package of your choice, you will have six months to sign up for a test date and take the test. ACE requires you to get recertified every two years and requires approximately 20 hours of continuing education. In addition to checking out their website, I recommend you read my complete article on the ACE certification here. Find out where you can get less expensive CEU s to get your certifications renewed.
Overall I like the test-taking process with ISSA due to the fact that they do multiple-choice, short essays, as well as real program design Incorporated in their exam. They also have a completely free retest fee as well as a cheaper recertification fee after two years. Test your knowledge with my free ACE practice test here.
The winner for the test and recertification is ISSA. Having spent time reading this educative piece, I know you have gotten more than you expected to make a decision that will set you in the right path. If you need more info on both certifications, kindly drop your questions in the comment section.
The answers to the two questions are yes , depending on what you want from each of the certifications. Regarding the actual body of knowledge, I really would recommend either of these certifications for people just starting out in the personal training business with a minimal understanding of exercise science.
Overall, the winner of this comparison by a hair is the ISSA certification! If you want to drastically reduce your study time, check out Trainer Academy for awesome study materials. Make sure to check out both sites below so you can get to know these organizations a little bit better before you make your final decision. As you start this awesome journey of becoming a personal trainer, I believe that I am qualified to tell you the ups and downs attached to the job of a personal trainer and the future of the fitness industry.
For those of you who would like to see this comparison in video format, here is the video I made a few years ago. As mentioned before, ISSA does have a slight emphasis on power training and athletic performance relative to ACE, so if you are planning on having athletes as the majority of your clients, I would recommend considering the ISSA certification. I highly recommend getting multiple certifications, including advanced certifications. This will make you a much more dynamic personal trainer with an array of knowledge across many facets of personal training.
After considering everything, I have to give the edge to the ACE personal training certification because more gyms accept it, they have better study material, and the test is not an open book.
I hope you found this article helpful, and if you have any comments or questions, please submit them in the comment box below. Helo sir, I want to become Nutrionist. I think that ACE is a better springboard especially if you would like to get started with nutrition.
I was start with their general personal training certification. Choosing ISSA was the biggest blunder in my life. I am sorry to hear that. It sounds like there are not too many regulations on who can become personal trainers and what is required in India. That is unless you purchase the premier package which comes with a free retest option just in case you end up failing the first time.
Good luck with all of your studying. Also, do you know if this both certification have good acceptance in Canada? With ACE you need to go into and exam taking facility. I just checked for you and there are five locations in Brazil that you can go to in order to take the computerized ACE exam.
In terms of the course itself, yes you can do everything in regards to studying online with the ACE certification. In terms of acceptance in Canada, it really varies from gymnasium to gymnasium but I would think that they would have a very similar acceptance to those in the United States.
I mostly just focus on the most important certifications in the United States since that is where I am from. I do not really have expertise on all of the other countries but I do know that some certifications are valid in Europe and surrounding areas such as the ACE and NASM certifications.
I would check with your local gymnasiums that you would like to apply to to see which certifications they accept. That is the most sure way you will know which one to go for. Yeah there is nothing wrong with getting another certification. Would possibly like to start my own business soon. Any suggestions regarding which very based on this information? Hello Jennifer, well in terms of both of these aspects, both of these certifications have a nutrition certification and both of them touch upon business aspects in their general personal training certification as well.
That being said, ISSA frequently has deals combining a free nutrition certification with their general personal training certification. Hi I am muaythai Instructor from India. I want to take a personal training course. I want to know how what is the duration of the ACE course. How much time whill i get to finish the course? It depends on how much previous knowledge of exercise science you have.
Most personal training certifications should last between three and six months of study time. That time can be shorter if you have a lot of knowledge about physical fitness before hand.
Great webpage! Thank you for the comparisons! I was trying to compare all this myself and it was getting quite overwhelming …Haha. So my question for you is which cert would you recommend: I have seen a personal trainer in the past and have some knowledge on personal training from PT and browsing the web, but i am interested to learn for myself the correct way to train to minimize injury and to have the most beneficial workout… And hopefully down the line train others if i am sucessful lol Also i live in Ontario, Canada… how do i find out if there are exam facilities for the ACE here?
I also have many other comparisons as well. Another great option is the NASM certification if you are trying to focus on minimizing injuries. Here is the website in order to find different testing websites for the ACE fitness certification.
How to enroll with ISSA. Accredited exams are based on the knowledge and skills you need to be prepared for day one on the job.
Many employers and gyms turn to this type of certification when making hiring decisions. Gyms actively seek to hire accredited trainers. Feel confident knowing your certification will make you stand out from the rest. ISSA accredited exams will provide you with a certification that is accepted by more gyms than ever before. The reason is that the exam is open book, online, save as you go. This is simply not true due to the fact that a person must truly understand and be able to pull from memory information from all the varioius topics in a limited time frame when taking any of these tests.
I have actually had want-to-be trainers approach me and offer to pay me to take the ISSA exam for them so that they can be "certified", simply because they know I have had to study hard and truly understand the various elements of training to pass my certifications. ISSA's textbook is good and the material is fine, but their testing format is such that I would never accept a person who only had this certification. Rating Wow, Mr. While I can understand your thinking to a point, never considering hiring one seems kind of harsh.
I find that to be kind of offensive. This was a very intense course for me, as I studied hard and read and re-read. I don't take things like this lightly. Education is not cheap. I have to be honest, I have a BS degree in Biology Pre-Med track , and although I graduated with honors, this course took me back to school.
Big time. Not only that, I am very serious about my health and fitness, the struggles I have had, and my desire to help others. It would be more fair to evaluate trainers individually as opposed to lumping them all into one category simply because you think they all cheat. Dept of Education. ISSA also offers better business development for its members. Some exams also require as part of the final exam a video to answer questions.
I have just completed my exam and mailed it in, I have not yet found out if i passed yet or not but I would like to say that those people that believe that the ISSA exam atleast for the SSC exam is easy, they are wrong.
The program design case studies will demontrate what type of trainer you really are. Training video: demonstrating youe knowledge as a trainer, how you interact with the athlete in the video, your exercise choices, your teaching ability to the athlete for specific lifts. All of which can be found in the text book, but in looking for the answers you automatically review the material that was studied throughout the course. Also unlike other certifications you MUST complete chapter quizes in order to complete the course, you cannot just walk in and challenge the exam.
They force you to learn before you go for your exam. I would not say this certification would make you an automatic expert but it gives you an excellent base of knowledge to start besides, no certification in the world makes you an "expert", unless that certification requires you to have in field experience, a degree etc In reality a trainer will not sit down with a client at a consultation and write a GOOD program infront of that client.
Every trainer has the ability to gather information, go home or to the office and strategically plan a successful program for the client, with this the good trainers should continuously reference textbooks and training techniques because event the brightest of people forget little details from time to time. Rating ISSA is good and I worked for Spetrum in San Antonio by: Anonymous I like how people think because some exam seems to have more weight or because it is an open book exam, it is no good.
One poster said education isn't cheap. That poster was right. There are quite a few programs out there that are very revered and yet they are open book test so get over it. It really is about the individual trainer and what they retain!!! Rating Surprised by: Anonymous Very surprised at the comment that someone out of high school could easily breeze through this material.
My falther-in-law looked at my new material and was very impressed. He has his phD in Physics. I love the courses so far and feel confident with the material.
I'm one of those people that sincerely study and take the quizes and tests with as little help as possible. Also, you can pay and go to a seminar and have the exam proctored.
Just my two cents. Good luck to all. I almost threw up from the first 3 units I'm studying in the CPT going all the way for my master certification. My entire family are biology majors, biochemist, dentist, health related carrer fields, etc. I don't think that this certification should be dismissed. If gyms, companies, etc. Just because someone may have another certification doesn't mean that they retained the knowledge. I'm busting my butt just to memorize everything and be able to relay it in medical and layman's terms.
Alot of institutions in San Antonio, TX don't want to look at you if you haven't completed at least a B. Companies don't want to be sued because they hired someone "not qualified" And p. Rating Issa assoicate degree?? I don't know how legit it is, if you can put the credits towards a BS, and after completing it how does that go towards being a CPT??? Please help. These mean nothing without years of experience Experience is living it and training all types of athletes on different training platforms..
I know the cert doesn't make the trainer. They are long, but everyone passes them, but even they did have a time limit on them. It you can read you should be able to pass a take home untimed test. Everyone who takes it seems to do really well. The pass rate is probably really high. I hadn't seen a person on any forum who has taken the exam, fail it.
It being open book and untimed does seem like they are just giving certs away. I know personal trainers aren't doctors, but would you trust a doctor with an online degree.
What I am most frustrated with is not the quizzes, it's the textbook. Somebody needs to go through and rewrite this book. Lots of information, and I do feel like I'll have a good grasp of biomechanics and training when I'm done, but geez it's been painful.
Rating issa for 5months by: Anonymous i just started the exercise therapy and rehab certification, and fitness nutrition.
But here's the thing.. The point is I could be hired by someone looking to get certified by them and do their final exam for them. All you would have to do is find someone who is knowledgeable on the material, pay them some money to take the exam, and BOOM you're certified. That's why I would never hire someone off certification alone but in my opinion ISSA does lose some credibility because their certification process is flawed in my opinion.
Rating Agreement by: Alexander I agree with a lot of the views on this page. You work hard. I had 2 books and you have to make 5 workout plans, essays, etc. It is really difficult compared to other Trainer Certifications. So why do so many gyms overlook ISSA and go for these "lesser" "un advanced" certifications? I don't understand it. You go over a little bit of everything in ISSA, and just the basics with others.
It makes no since that gyms will hire others because of this. Personally I believe there is some biased stuff going on, like gyms hiring young blond girls with little or no experience or like one gym I know of hiring a high school student, just because he played baseball. He had no certification. That is wrong. Because a lot of us trainers worked hard to get where we are at and are still not making enough to live on. It's just messed up. I am not taking the course, but my son is working his way through it.
With his experience coaching wrestling, he will be a great trainer. Open book tests are usually more difficult for that reason. I would rather take a closed book test any time. Cheaters will cheat on tests, and if they are poor trainers, they will get fired by any decent business. The essays force you to do research and go outside of their text, which is a learning experience in itself.
The nutritional side of any program is difficult because what works for some will not work for others and you can't be there with clients when they eat. Overall, I agree that is itsn't what certifications you have, it is what you learn and can apply with clients. People generally don't care about your certification; they just want to see results. It is up to us to broaden our horizons and make ourselves marketable. The test has questions on it such as, "Why do men have slower heart rates than women?
You have to think about what you've learned about stroke volume and physiological adaptations to exercise to answer that question. Men have larger hearts and lungs and, therefore, higher stroke volumes. Since more blood is pushed through with each heart beat, their hearts do not have to beat as fast. You're told that you have a client who can only exercise for 20 minutes and that he has been doing resistance training consistently for a year. Then you're given a multiple choice list of mainly resistance exercises and told to choose a, b, c, or d.
How do you answer the question when the choices only vary slightly? Obviously, you would choose the choice that would allow the client to work as many muscle groups as possible during that 20 minutes. Since he has one year of experience with resistance training, you'd choose the choice that provides one power, two core, and one assisted exercise. The assisted exercise allows him to work his biceps. Further, the NSCA knows what few other organizations know: aerobic exercise are resistance exercises; they are muscular endurance exercises.
Does ISSA let you know that? Also, how many questions are on a test and how many questions you must answer correct to pass a test is not a gauge of the comparative difficulty of tests. Some tests may require you to answer fewer questions correctly, because the test is so difficult that even those with college degrees in exercise science tend to miss a high percentage of the questions, i.
Further, many of you do not seem to understand the accreditation process. To get accreditation the tests must meet certain standards. Those standards also relate to how the test were put together, how the test makers chose and determined the difficulty of the questions, the importance of the questions to the job, etc. So the accreditation agency looks at how the organization validated the questions and how reliable tests are.
Would you receive the same score of an ISSA test if you took it both as an open book test and as a closed book proctored exam? If not, it then the test is not reliable nor valid. Earn an NCCA certification from the start. After that, it will not matter as much from whom you earn your other certs. I have been certified by the ISSA for years now and can't say enough good things about their courses, tests, certifications and especially their service.
They go above and beyond to help us, even after we've "taken their test. How you personally apply yourself and use the knowledge and skills you were taught is what makes a good trainer, doctor or plumber for that matter. The ISSA has incredible educational programs leading to certifications and now offers a nationally accredited Associates Degree in Exercise Science with an emphasis on Personal Training.
In fact, every NCCA accredited fitness organization must post that on their website. The reason is because NCCA accredits a test and if the organization giving the test requires that you take their course, they can teach and drill you with sample questions just to "pass the test. That, unfortunately leaves our incredible fitness profession without ANY educational requirements. If you're 18 years old, hold a valid CPR card and have a pulse, you don't need to take any courses or classes or quizzes - just pass the test.
Buy test questions online and memorize questions and answers and you'll most likely pass. Its true and esearch has proven that we all look for the easiest way out…. Requiring education is a good thing.
I wouldn't be so quick to say, earning your NCCA certification first, is best. I personally believe, taking classes, courses, quizzes and developing a knowledge of the subject is better for me than just studying just to pass a test. They not only REQUIRE education and have developed fair, valid and reliable test questions, they offer proctored exams for those who need a proctored exam to get a job.
Department of Education which involves having not just their tests reviewed, but their business practices, all their educational programs and even their success with helping students achieve their goals. I hope we all agree that we're in the only profession that can truly make a difference in helping to change this epidemic problem of obesity, inactivity and all the preventable diseases that result from things we address every day….
As a profession, if we're tasked to take this role and make a difference, I sure hope we think about educating ourselves first and passing a test second. If your gym doesn't recognize the ISSA, maybe you shouldn't work there. I'm earning six figures a year with my ISSA certifications and can't thank them enough for helping me succeed.
People often do not keep up, and many were never properly vetted to begin with.
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