Resources for Personal Trainers
Before, During and After Certification
Things to Know for New Trainers
BEFORE GETTING CERTIFIED
Before deciding to get certified, whether seeking employment as a part-time trainer or making this a full-time career, here’s some things to help you in your decision making.
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Scope of Practice
A Personal Trainer is a fitness professional who possesses the knowledge, skills and abilities for safe and effective exercise, fitness program design, and coaching for the purpose of reaching personal health and fitness goals.
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Becoming a Personal Trainer
There are many reasons why a fitness enthusiast decides to become a personal trainer. A couple of those reasons will no doubt include good earning potential and job satisfaction. Are you ready to do what you love for a living?
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Salary Trends
Demand for personal training services is on the rise, especially as mainstream media has made our industry a more popularized and more attainable service – personal trainers aren't just for the wealthy anymore! Personal trainer services are more attainable and in higher demand, but your expectation for salary should depend on many factors.
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Work Settings
Health clubs are a great place to start working as a trainer. You can gain the real-world experience from your local club community - and clubs are always hiring! But there are a lot of places to consider, short or long term.
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Getting Certified
WITH WHO & HOW TO
After you decide that it’s time to get certified, the next step is to decide on the certification company that is right for you. Then, get certified! Most successful trainers have more than one certification, keep this in mind as you grow in your profession. Aspiring trainers start with NFPT certification because we’re well-rounded and fundamental. We work primarily with start-up trainers, and we’re always here to help you on your journey. Let us show you why NFPT certification is a great place to start.
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Why NFPT?
There are a lot of reasons to consider one certification company over another. We don't claim to be better, we claim to be different. We work hard so you'll notice our unique value to you, and we hope you'll choose NFPT certification because of the many ways that we are different.
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The NFPT-CPT Exam
We provide you with resources and prep material so that you feel confident on exam day. Use the NFPT Exam Content Outline as your checklist for test prep. and take practice tests as you go through the manual. Then, when you're ready, schedule to take your test at any one of over 400 locations worldwide.
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The Certification Process - Explained
Our certification process is easy to follow and within 2 short months you can be certified and working as a personal trainer! The process and preparation is considered a distance learning method and is self-directed, so you can take 1 week or 1 year to take your CPT exam - it's up to you!
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Compare Companies
We're happy to provide you with a snapshot of the major certifiers in our industry, and compare their costs and processes to our own. We did the research so you don’t have to. The organizations listed in our comparison chart offer accredited certification programs and demonstrate a range of credentialing levels, from entry level to advanced.
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NFPT Education
NFPT education is designed for the real-world in mind. For over 30 years, we have led the way in producing the most comprehensive fundamental education available. Our personal trainer manual is a complete guide for understanding anatomy, physiology and fitness concepts that are relevant to training using methods for specific goal-oriented exercise programming. We take a back-to-basics, trend-free approach to training methodologies that get results. Our unique approaches to learning otherwise difficult concepts will be refreshingly clear as you go through the education material.
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Personal Trainer Workshops
NFPT hands-on workshops are conducted by expert trainers in a gym-class setting. These workshops are not mandatory, but highly recommended so that you can learn firsthand and ask questions from a fitness training mentor. You can take a workshop before or after certification (if taking after you're certified, you can use your participation time in the 2-day, 16 hour workshop towards a full year worth of credit).
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KNOWING THE RULES
Before enrolling to any certification program, you should be familiar with the policies that you are expected to follow during your certification.
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Codes of Conduct
As a personal trainer, who is also a fitness professional, you are upheld to standards for working with the public and maintaining ethical codes. Personal training services are ‘personal’, and with that comes an additional layer of understanding your boundaries with clients. You are a provider of professional fitness training services, you represent other industry trainers and your certification provider, therefore conduct is crucial.
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NFPT Certification Requirements
All requirements for certification can be found in pages on this site. Requirements for certification eligibility, test administration, and recertification are all parts of NFPT terms of service to get and keep your NFPT Certification credential. All of these requirement can also be found in one convenient place, inside the NFPT Certification Handbook.
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Recertification Information
Before you get certified, with any certification company, know the requirements for keeping your credential. You should know what is expected of you, long term, before you commit. Every certification company requires Continuing Education Credits (CECs) and a membership fee. But these all vary from one company to the next. We are committed to making the recertification process easy to understand and the most affordable available,
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AS A NFPT-CPT, TAKE ADVANTAGE OF ALL THE RESOURCES
We provide you with tools and resources for putting your personal trainer certification to work! Don’t leave it to chance, use what we give you to assess and create exercise programs, to further your skill set, and to forward your career goals.
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Client Assessment Tools
Use NFPT consultation and assessment forms for an easy to follow step-by-step approach to implementing the right goal-oriented program. As a NFPT certified personal trainer, you have access to these forms and docs in your Online Account: Client information & Consultation Forms, CVD Risk Profile & PARQ, Body Composition Instructional Form, Movement Assessment Instructions and Professional Document Samples: Informed Consent, Physician’s Release & Liability Waiver
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Program Design Charts & Tables
Use our charts and tables for Recommended Exercises, Rep Ranges, Activity Expenditures, RHR and Movements & Total Sets to design the goal-oriented program that is right for your individual client needs. You also receive the Master Food List, Dietary Advice Chart and Supplement Table for an emphasis on healthy eating. These charts and tables are available to you as part of your certification package in your NFPT Online Account.
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FREE CECs for the Life of Your Certification
Every certification company requires Continuing Education Credits (CECs) and a membership fee. But these all vary from one company to the next. We are committed to making the recertification process easy to understand and the most affordable available,
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Certified Trainer Listing
This NFPT Certified Trainer listing allows potential clients and employers to quickly and easily verify that you are certified. It also acts as a great tool for potential clients to look for a trainer in their area, and contact you! We only include your name, city, state and zip so that your certification can be verified as a matter of public safety and interest. The rest is up to you. You're in control of what people see in your profile and can add as much as you want (i.e. your bio/resume, picture, and/or contact information).
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Job Board Search
NFPT, and our many partners and affiliations, will help get you jump started and then we'll support you in a successful journey for years to come. First and foremost, we'll connect you with a job board that helps you to find a local trainer job to get you started.
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Liability Insurance Discount
As a NFPT-CPT, you qualify for discounted liability insurance through NFPT's partner, CPH & Associates. It is important to protect yourself and your profession, and it costs very little to do so. If you are self-employed or an independent contractor, please look into an insurance policy that will assure you are not at risk for losing all that you have worked so hard for.
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ALL TRAINERS CAN BENEFIT FROM THE NFPT BLOG
On the NFPT blog are articles for everything you can think of related to personal training. Whether you’re certified with us or not, you’ll find this information to have value to you at any level and within any job setting.
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NFPT Articles for Personal Trainers
Everything from client relationships to exercise programming advice, it's on our blog. There are several categories to choose and search from, within each are articles for your own personal knowledge and to gain insight from other experts. Every article is written by a NFPT trainer, mentor and expert who shares for the benefit of our collective good in the industry we love and share in. You'll even find workouts that you can print out and share with your clients.
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Trainer Pulse eNewsletter
Each month, we send our enewsletter, Trainer Pulse, to all NFPT-CPTs and fitness enthusiast subscribers. Good news, you don't have to be certified by NFPT to get this valuable monthly resource. You'll be able to keep up on what NFPT is doing, what the industry is doing, and any blog articles that you may have missed.
Subscribe to Trainer PulseReady to Get Started?
Choose the Certification Package that is best for you. Then schedule your test day appointment and be ready to put your NFPT-CPT credential to work!
