Which Personal Training Certification Is Best?

So, you want to be a personal trainer and are trying to decide which organization to go through.

First off, good for you!

Turning your passion for health and fitness into a career to help others is very admirable, so let me thank you.

Thank you!

Now let’s get down to business.

I’ve got good and bad news.

Let’s do bad news first…

Whichever personal training certification you go with does not matter. At the time of writing this there is no reason to choose one over the other, except if the place you want to work favors one certification more than another.

If you want to work at as a strength and conditioning coach you probably will need to get your CSCS from the NSCA.

But if you want to work at a private gym as a personal trainer, most likely they would be okay with NSCA-CSCS, NSCA-CPT, NASM-CPT, or ACE-CPT.

And if you want to work at a box office gym different gyms have different styles.

Lifting gyms like Gold’s Gym would probably favor the NSCA

Gen Pop Gyms like Anytime Fitness might favor NASM.

Try to match with where you want to work and the population you want to work with!

So let’s move on to the good news!

Whichever personal training certification you go with does not matter.

Yes! This is good news as well.

Here’s the deal, certifications are just letters next to your name. All they prove is that you studied enough to past the test.

Good gym owners don’t care about the organization you got your certification from, they care about you!

Your personality and learning ability are much more important to gym owners than the letters after your name.

Recap: Unless you’re trying to get a job that requires something specific, just get whichever certification is cheapest and easiest. (Most new trainers I talk to go with NASM)

Then, once you’re certified, go hard on continuing education, that is much more important.