Certification If you're interested in a career as a personal trainer, you need to be qualified. While you might be able to perform tremendous squats and even plan out a specific training program, that doesn't mean that you're ready to head into personal training as your career. Just as with any career, you need to make sure that you have the required training in place before you start looking for clients : both for your success and their safety. The truth is that personal training is a constantly evolving profession due to new advances in fitness and physiology. Science is constantly finding out ways to make the body better, so even if you know how to work out in a way that helps your body, you might not be properly ready to train another's body. You need to learn all that you can about the human body and how it works, how it moves as well as how to prevent injury. And in order to get certification for personal training, it is absolutely necessary. However, many people who want to become personal trainers don't realize that certification is imperative to become competitive in the personal training market. What's more is that you might not realize how many different kinds of certifications there are that you can get. When you're considering a career in personal training, you'll want to call around to the various gyms and fitness centers in your area to find out what kinds of certifications they require to work in their facilities. You might find that many are similar, while others are not. What you'll want to do is determine which personal training certification will be most versatile for the market in your area : it might be several different certificates. What can be said about personal training certification is that you will want to become certified through a nationally recognized organization. While there are plenty of personal training certificate programs that seem to be available over the internet; that does not mean that they are respected in the fitness community. Places like AFAA and NETA are two examples of widely recognized organizations. But you can also check with certifying organizations to check on what organizations will provide certification after following accreditation requirements for personal trainers. Once you've determined what certification organizations are the ones that you are interested in, you will want to start asking a lot of questions about the process. What exactly do you have to do? Some personal training programs will require that you take a class at the local community college or just take a written exam. What are their testing requirements and how are the tests administered? Check their customer service and communication skills to make sure that you're dealing with a legitimate company. If they seem like they're not answering questions, you might be talking to a certification company that isn't going to give you a proper certificate. How many personal trainers have they certified? Look for press releases and other news about the certification organization as well. When looking for certification, you will also want to see if they offer any sort of job listing service that will match you up with places that need personal trainers. This is especially the case when you're in a larger city that might not have as many spots available. Or, the city might have so many personal training needs that you'll need help to narrow down your possible job prospects. Certification generally consists of these educational methods: Class time Workout time Class projects Testing You can expect to learn about anatomy and physiology in these classes as well as learn what muscles will be affected by specific exercises. Personal trainers will also learn about form and creating programs for certain client needs. You might also be asked to find someone in your life to train and monitor the results of that personal training. The classes are not usually too time consuming and can last anywhere from a month to two months, depending on the hours spent in the class room. The instructors are generally personal trainers themselves and will be helping to prepare you for the specific certification that you signed up for. Certification is necessary for being a competitive personal trainer. Clients want to know that you are well-versed in handling a wide variety of concerns and exercise levels, as well as able to determine what to do for specific problems that might arise. Personal trainers that have certification can also expect to charge more for their services as they have been more thoroughly trained than their un-licensed counterparts. When you want to enter into personal training, certification isn't something that you should consider an obstacle, but rather a stepping stone into the career of your dreams. It only makes you more ready than most other personal trainers that are working.