Where to find the best trainer
Personal Trainer Certifications- Which is best for YOU? ACE, NASM, NCSF, NSCA, or ACSM?
what is up everybody this is Julian
powers or you can call me JP and today
I'm making a video on how to become a
personal trainer and I'm also going to
go over a few tips that you can keep in
mind on how to be a good personal
trainer but it's mainly going to be on
how to become a personal trainer and
what organizations give those out which
one's the best for you which one is the
best overall what what each
certification is that staff get two
things out of the way one sorry for my
shitty s writing I write like garbage I
don't know why I always have I'm not
very articulate like that I don't even
know if that's the right word
but also two I am certified by the NCS F
the National Council on strength and
finish so again I'll try to be as
unbiased as possible everyone always has
a little bit of biases towards their
towards their certification but when it
comes to that I'll just try to give you
hard facts it's about it and maybe in
comparison to the other certification
organizations also for the NSC and the
National Council and written fitness I
have their CPT manual come buy up the
book for the certified personal trainer
exam so and for the National Council on
strength and fitness I also have the
certified personal trainer a manual for
that too so for those to actually have
the book and for the ACSM the American
College of Sports Medicine I don't have
the cpt manual but I do have the
introduction to exercise science book so
I can I can't really give you a tell you
exactly what the personal trainer
manuals like but I can tell you
basically how they're kind of what what
their system is like a little bit but
also besides not having the books for
all of these I have books for three the
CPT manual for two I did a lot of
research all these online and I got
other people's opinions so again this is
a very subjective video I'm not trying
to offend anybody so it's 2016 a lot of
people do get offended so if you do get
offended honestly I don't give a so
watch another video now I'm just kidding
but yeah this shouldn't offend anybody
but starting with the first one um is
ace you if you're planning to be a
personal trainer and you're decide
oh the certification route you've
definitely heard of ace before from
again from doing review looking this up
online ace from basically all across the
board I've heard that ace is the easiest
it pretty much has the highest passing
rate out of all of these again knowledge
is knowledge it's how you apply it it
doesn't really matter but the fact that
it is the easiest kind of gives me a
little bit of indication that maybe so
up there probably a great amount of ace
personal trainers out there that know
what they're talking about don't get me
wrong but the fact that I has a high
pass rate means that maybe they're
lenient maybe the questions are easy I
don't know um it's hard to think that of
all of these that ace has the smartest
people and I really doubt that's the
case I just feel like their test is
easiest from what I've read even people
who have multiple certifications say
that ace is the easiest um so keep that
in mind
it has many many specialty
certifications so for example if you
want to get a personal trainer
certification and you decide ok why am i
sort of certified personal trainer
certification and I want to get extra
certifications in random things like a
corrective exercise specialist or a
sports nutritionist or something or
whatever it is ace has a good amount of
those that you can apply other little
shirts that you can get so you can kind
of further your education through those
it costs and for all of these I'm going
to go over how much it cost I'm going to
go over the baseline a package just that
the the basic study materials and the
tests so I'm not going to go over any
extravagant bundles all of these have
some type of crazy bundle that can come
with it but the basic exam and study
materials for ace is 599 dollars not
including tax so it may come up like 650
bucks
you have to recertify every two years
with ace so again think about that -
it's going to cost I don't know I didn't
looked at it but it's probably about
around 100 to 150 bucks to recertify I'm
so keep that I'm on every two years so
again ace is easy it's more of like a I
would say for the general population not
nothing crazy you're not going to be
training high level athletes if you get
someone that says I want to gain some
muscle you probably know how to do that
with ace again
maybe not a high-level bodybuilder but a
general person who wants to gain muscle
if someone's like you know I want to
lose some white aces path again that's
probably we're going to be a so
someone's like I want to learn how to
increase my sprint speed and jump higher
that's probably not going to be a good
certification for that that's more
towards again performance so alt is very
general and from what I've heard it's
the easiest I haven't took the test but
that's basically what everyone online
says NASA again this is probably again
one of the higher ones that you've seen
all across the board um you've probably
read about it maybe you have I mean
maybe you're already looking at it but
that's the National Academy of Sports
Medicine I'm pretty sure that's what
that stands for
it's I heard the exam is somewhat easy
from what I've heard them from my read
I've seen a few people take that and
then from what I've read online it's
it's not and by someone easy I don't
mean like it is easy it's in the middle
for some people if you're not really
good with you know like basically the
Health Sciences and exercise in general
it could be hard for you if you're
someone who is in school already or if
you've studied a lot on your own or just
the generally smarter individual this
might be a little bit easier one for you
but I've heard that it's fairly
well-rounded it's it's it's not it's not
bad when it comes to the amount of
knowledge you get the main thing that I
heard with the NASA is that it's going
to set you up for a big line gyms like
for 24 Hour Fitness LA Fitness things
like that those big change ins
that's going to their certification is
set to set you up for to work for those
it's dead on they have a specific thing
that you that they want you to do and
where you want it to work so when you
take that it may seem like they're
trying to almost I guess push you in a
direction you can do what you ever do
you want with any of these
certifications but I heard that that's
what they try to do as they try to it's
basically set up so that you can work in
big changes or gyms like that I heard
that it's also aimed more towards I
guess you could say like good form and
corrective exercise to slightly again
that's not what it's all about but if
you're picking up this shirt and again
you're aiming for more of a performance
standpoint like you want to train
football players this is not the SIRT to
go this is for again a general
population I heard it's almost like the
ACE except I heard it's more
in depth a little bit more knowledgeable
a little harder and again set you up for
big change in jobs that does also to
have many specialty certifications I
think I've seen like eight or nine on
there so they have like an MMA
conditioning certification you can get I
think they have a nutrition
certification um so again that's that's
another thing to think about the
baseline package with the test is $749
it was a little confusing looking at
that the prices on the website but I
came out to seven hundred and forty nine
dollars what I've seen before tax so
it's a little bit more expensive than a
Stu recertification for nasa ms two
years so again you got to keep that in
mind you know if you're a really busy
person two years is a little shorter it
doesn't get much longer than the other
ones it only goes up to three years but
hey i mean if you need the extra year
you the something to think about okay
the third one again this is the one that
i have i have a lot of experience with
it it's the NTSF it's National Council
on strength and fitness my the reason
why I got this before I even took it
just you know I'm not being biased the
reason why I got this one is because
when I read online people were saying
that it's harder than the up NASM and
ace not the last two but it was harder
than the general certifications out
there so I was like okay that's the one
I wanted I wanted to be challenged again
I was in the Marine Corps I got our due
to injury is an honorable discharge but
I like being pushed
I like being challenged and I'm kind of
a geek when it comes to training again I
love weightlifting I don't you know I
practice what I preach but at the same
time I wanted to be push that's why I
picked that so to me and when I took the
test too I can tell that they weren't
trying to tricky with the questions but
when I was taking the test I kind of
laughed because I was like wow if you
didn't study there's no way you're going
to pass it I studied for about a good
seven or eight months before I took the
test so um the I saw well would keep
that on mine um one's a little bit
harder um again this one also has many
specialty certifications so if you do go
with the NCS F then you're you're going
to be what I like to have like they have
a specialty certification on soccer they
have a sports need sports nutritionist
certification they have a plyometric
training certification they have a BOSU
ball certification or you know the BOSU
ball disks BOSU disks
they have a certification for that they
have a certification for band training
they have a lot of them I think I like
probably close to 20 around 20 so that's
pretty cool it costs $500 for your
baseline package for your book and your
your test you have to recertify every
two years so again and if i have to talk
about the actual knowledge in there
because i said it is harder what i would
say that this one does pretty good is
that because then this is one and I'm
certified in I repeated that but is
again it was pretty in-depth this one is
really good for I wouldn't say
maximizing performance but if you want a
good all-around cert that if someone
does come to you and they say well I
want to be able to jump higher that will
help with that and CSF you could they
definitely have a section in there
talking about a plyometric training a
little bit of it and talking about speed
of contraction and things like that so
you can train someone in that also - I
found like this one was really really
good on body building it just really was
the chapter on bioenergetics combined
with the chapter on biomechanics
combined with the chapter on anaerobic
training I feel like if you were aiming
for building muscle or losing fat I feel
like this one is really good on that one
again so if you want to aim for someone
said even on like amateur bodybuilding
level if you were really smart
individual and you combined a lot of
experience self knowledge plus kind of
like the book smarts part of it and CSF
is a good way to go again that's just my
opinion I've studied the book like twice
I've passed the test so I would
recommend now so again this is a really
good for performance not so much like
sports but more kind of general sports
and for gaining muscle and just overall
general general Phenix I gained with
this one you could help someone lose
weight you could help someone jump
higher you can help someone gain muscle
and it has a really good neutral evah
for nutrition it has a chapter on
macronutrients it has a chapter on
micronutrients it has a chapter on
supplements a chapter on weight
management a chapter on body composition
so basically if you're like if you want
to kind of have if you want to have a
nutrition portion with your
certification but you don't want to get
a whole nother nutrition esterification
but you want to get balance I would
definitely say the NC SF has a good
nutrition part I don't know about the
other two because I don't have a sore in
a sense of books
that's the N CSF so that's you know what
I know about that one cuz I took it um
oh yeah just you can see the book to
again bear with me I know the book is
really up I've studied it so much
and carry two places it's really
up it looked a hundred times nicer than
this but you know that the back cover is
gone the front cover is gone I'm not
going to show you crazy but if you look
right here a lot of knowledge it's a
really big book again I would definitely
recommend that for anyone who wants to
be a personal trainer okay the NA nsca
the national strength and conditioning
Association sorry blanked out a little
bit again this one is a little bit of
the harder ones - I heard that the
passing rate for the cpt exam is 56%
that's what I read online so that's
that's pretty hard that's pretty rough
and I would say this one is probably on
par or maybe oh I would say it maybe
because I actually have this book - this
one I just just got but again so this
one looks way nicer as you can tell
because that one I messed up this is a
hardcover and the one that I got from my
certification was softcover if that
matters to you to me it doesn't really
matter but again just showing it to you
a pretty big book if you look at the
pages it has a lot of stuff in there um
again I heard that that one was really
hard from what I read online
I haven't took the test book just
looking at the questions there there are
pretty good questions to start to put
the on par or a little harder than the
one that I took but again it's pretty
good the biggest thing I could say what
the NSEA is that they are aimed for
sports performance and performance in
general of becoming faster and I
wouldn't say so much as a bodybuilding
standpoint like NC SF and gaining muscle
yes it does definitely help with that I
would say these two are very similar
because I have both books I've looked at
both they are very very very very very
very similar but I would say the NSCA is
probably the nutrition portion of the
NSAA I felt like was way weaker than the
NC SS way weaker but it was better way
better on again sports performance on
moving faster like if you want to be
someone who wants to Train athletes I
would definitely definitely and CNSC is
better than all of these that training
ass
they have a whole chapter for plyometric
and speed training not just a section of
a chapter a whole chapter so yeah and
then they have a whole they just they
talk a lot about applying the stuff to
sports also too with the NSE a if you
want to get a very high insert you can
eventually ask when you get it you have
to have the bachelor's degree but when
you if you do plan to go to school then
you get a bachelor's degree you can take
the CSCS which is a certified strength
and conditioning specialist of
certification and basically means you're
a certified strength and conditioning
coach you can train high college level
athletes with that certification I'm not
saying it's easy to get in to get a job
with it again because that's highly
competitive but it's it's again that's
the only one here that has a
certification that you can get at a high
level for that type of for college level
athletes and like things like that are
right now I'm actually reading that book
I'm towards the middle of it so it's
really it's really high up there if you
don't have any background you jump in to
try to get the CSCS certification you're
going to be completely confused and
you'll have no idea what's kind of it
there'll be so many terms and all that
really kind of confuse you and throw you
off but it's a very good book so again
for sports performance NSCAA all the way
it's about $700 for the book and the
exam keep that in mind
there's few special t-shirts with this
one I really like it again it's overall
probably the best one on here in my
opinion just to throw that out there I'm
just going to throw that out there I
really like mine but I feel like the NSA
is a little bit better but again it's
few specialty shirts so if you want to
get a bunch of extra special t-shirts
they have one for military training they
have one for I think it's like a like a
corrective health specialist I don't
know what the name is it's for like
disabled populations and things like
that and then they have one again the
CSCS
and then the cpt that's it they only
have four total three besides the cpt
they only got three and the CS yes again
it's four you have to have a bachelor's
degree so basically if you don't wanna
get bachelor's degree besides the cpt
they only have two so again it's not a
ton they're what's really good about
this one too is you recertify every
three years some people may say well
that's not that good because you don't
have to update your knowledge as
frequently again the frequency of
recertifying is not going to make
someone a
or good a good a trainer again I feel
like if someone was a good trainer is
going to study no matter what so talking
to good trainers and people who are
going to study in their off time no
matter what I feel like that's not much
of a hassle three years is still kind of
frequent you know every three years
going to make sure you're good on your
knowledge and you know what you're
talking about but again I feel like it's
a little bit of a hassle every two years
because think about it you get your
shirt one year goes by then that next
year like oh I already got to worry
about getting certified again you know I
mean if you keep up when you study in
yourself I feel like three years is more
than enough it's more than enough time
you don't need to be that close so again
sports performance every three years
it's good and if you want a very high
end certification to kind of work
towards the CS is the way to go
I don't have that on the list because
that's not a certified personal trainer
that's again that's that's for do you
want to train like a football team or
maybe MMA or something if you apply
other techniques and then you can do
that um the last one on the list is that
a CSM the American American College of
Sports Medicine this one again I heard
it was harder and buy harder I don't
mean like again for all of these if I
say harder I don't mean you might take
you for all the people who are probably
thinking like oh it's not hard at all
I'm talking about for what I read online
and personal opinions again you could
take any of these tests and I could be
easy but for a general person generally
the ACSM was a little harder again this
one is aimed more for I would say on a
medical standpoint so for example if you
want to be a personal trainer but you're
eventually maybe thinking about going
into like a medical field or if you just
generally want a little bit aim more
towards a I would say like the
physiology part of exercise definitely
go the ACSM it's again this isn't this
is kind of almost like the opposite of
the performance side this is more again
a more like again like exercise
physiology knowing about the
cardiovascular system it goes really
in-depth on kind of like the nerdy stuff
I don't have a certified personal
trainer book that's what I read online
but I do have the exercise science book
and it was pretty in-depth there's a lot
of smart stuff in here so I really liked
that one too there are a few special
t-shirts for this one I don't think they
had any at all they had like two on
there one or two but it was basically
none they did have just like the NACA
they did have a high insert too but it
was for an exercise physiologist
assert that it's like college-level I
think you have to have like a bachelor's
or something I don't know you go on
their website but that one's pretty
pretty hard so for like the exercise
physiologist certification you've got to
have a ton of hours in like a shadowing
and clinical observation basically a lot
of volunteer work so again if you want
to go up and like step to a medical
standpoint or you want to be an exercise
physiologist but you still want to be
like a general personal trainer - I
would definitely go up to a CSM this is
the cheapest out of all of them for the
book without no membership rates or
nothing just regular rates for regular
person and the test and I included two
of the books in there it was like the
corrective exercise book and then the
regular book it cost about $400 so
that's fairly good so if you want you
know okay what cost $400 and for a CSM
you have to recertify every three years
so that again that's also in my opinion
it's also a good thing because if you're
you're that depending on time for
recertification that's not going to make
you good make you a good or a bad
trainer or a shitty trainer you are
which you are regardless of
certification so for good trainers I
feel like this is a good for bad
trainers not so much because the longer
time in between research the less you're
not going to the more time you're not
going to study so so three years for
that one now to sum it all up again
a CSM is the cheapest and if you want to
go for a medical standpoint go a CSM for
any sports performance mainly sports
performance things like that
I will definitely go NSCA by far that's
just my opinion especially with the
3-year recertification if you're looking
for and the all-around like the
all-around not like it's almost kind of
like a jack-of-all-trades it's not the
best in any one thing but it's kind of
like a jack-of-all-trades again it's
fairly good price $500 on many specialty
certifications again it is one of the
harder certifications but again it has a
two-year recert which I'm kind of little
not against but it's whatever I would go
NCS stuff but again I'm not saying that
they're the best they're not the best so
I would just say it's the
jack-of-all-trades it's not the best at
one thing which again could be a
negative thing depending on what your
goal is but if you're just like okay I
want a good sir I'm not trying to train
athletes at a high level and I'm not
trying to necessarily go to a medical
I just want a good CPT out Glenn CSF if
you're trying to specialize Sports
Medical NASA if you're just trying to I
guess I don't see the point in getting
the NASA or ace over any of these three
that's just my opinion if you're going
for a big change in you can go NASA
McGann there they set you up right for
that so in that instance if you're like
I want to work for LA Fitness I want to
work for some gym Gold's Gym 24-hour
Fitness you might you could get that
again I personally would in ACE to me
that just seems like the weakest out of
all of them it's the easiest to get in
what it I mean again that's just my
opinion from what I read online if you
want to be challenged more I could say
that if you're a person who's a little
scared of jumping into the medical
personal training because there's a lot
of knowledge out there go ace since it's
the easiest that could benefit you you
benefit you begin prices medium so it is
what it is now to say something about
all of these two they are all accredited
by the NCCA
the National certifying I forget what it
stands for it's like national certifying
credit crediting agency but basically
it's a third-party organization that
kind of gives like a stamp of approval
to other organizations that they think
have good knowledge so all of these
companies are accredited by the NCCA
which means they're all legit they all
are legit again already get my opinion
on that they all are legit and final
notes if I had to pick one that's
all-around best that I would get to
someone I would say go with the NSCA
that's just my opinion
again the jack of all trades NCS F the
best overall just my opinion is NSE
again I'm not even certified by them
either of those as good so yeah that
that's what it is what it is you can
take it for a grain of salt or you can
use this information if what you want
how to be a good personal trainer just a
few things whatever certification you
decide to get the main thing that you
should keep in mind is don't be a shitty
trainer and by that I mean don't be the
trainer that's on your phone
training true while they're training
people don't be the trainer that's over
there sitting down while the
person's doing repetitions you're not
watching them don't be the trainer that
don't be don't be lazy and by lazy I
mean
get your certification then barely when
it comes to recertification hunger
you're rushing or hurry up and glue over
your notes again just so you can barely
pass the test to me that's
garbage and I'm a personal trainer and I
don't want you to be a personal trainer
and ruin our reputation if you're going
to be a piece of
so again if don't don't be garbage don't
be lazy don't always continue to seek
more knowledge be responsible for your
actions you should always be seeking
knowledge also to in the fitness
industry you have to have tough skin you
have to have tough skin there are so
many everyone wants to be the
best trainer everyone has these shitty
ass fads that they're throwing out there
and everyone has a really strong opinion
oh I feel like a lot of personal
trainers their egos are up here up here
so one stay humble stay humble you do
not know everything you're a personal
trainer you're not a doctor you're not a
you're not a dietician that's the
biggest thing too is that you're not a
dietician you're not all you don't know
all about nutrition none of these no
matter how good they are with nutrition
they don't go that much into nutrition
they don't just as general nutrition
guidelines and stuff like that so you're
not a dietician you're not a doctor
you're not a physical therapist so again
stay within your scope of practice and
know where you're at don't be afraid to
say I don't know if a client asks you
something because if you don't you're
going to just be talking out of your ass
I've seen it too many times people try
to act like they know everything and you
don't I don't know everything on the
other end don't be afraid to stand up
for what you know was right you may come
across fat dice and someone may be
telling someone else about a fat diet
and then that person asks you what do
you think don't be shy with your answers
I mean everyone there has to be a system
of checks and balances here if you're a
good trainer I mean I'm not saying be a
dick to people but I mean state your
opinion if you think you're right think
you're right if you have a factual
knowledge from actual text and you're
not again you're not talking out your
ass defend your point I mean again
there's no need to be a dick about it
but I mean be B be humble but be
confident so again hopefully that all
helped you they're all pretty ok certs I
get my opinion on which is best if you
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again I'd really appreciate I like all
the support
but until next time peace
