Personal Training and Schooling question

allright, i start college as a freshman in the fall and was just curious what i would need to try to get certified as a trainer. i plan on majoring in biology and will probably end up doing something in the medical field. could i just take a couple of courses like exercise physiology and athletic training though and then take a test to get certified or do i actually have to have a college degree and everything first. i figure if i could get certified as a trainer it would be a great job while i’m in school. thanks for the help. Nic

About 4 years ago I was decorated an official “AFFA Certified Personal Trainer.”
The cross section of 120 people attending that fiasco (oops…I mean 3 day seminar)
would blow your mind…5% “Hard core Lifers,” - and 95% housewives, aerobics
queens plus a few “she men!”… all with less than 1 year of weight training under
their belts…(what kind of theories could they have developed in this single year?)
My lab partner was a young, local competitive body builder named Steve…He and I
wondered how, when these recruits finally got into the gym to practice their craft on
some unsuspecting victim, the other members would be able to know
“WHO WAS TRAINING WHOM?”… (JOEY Z.)

I’m about to start the second year in the best PT program in Toronto at George Brown College. At the end of the comimg year, I’ll be fully certified to Personal Train. Funny part is that in the 1 year of scholl and 3 years of lifting and reading, I know more than most of the Certified trainers I work with.

The thing that I’ve come to realize is that PT is small potatoes. Anyone can get certified by the Amercian Council on Exercise (A.C.E.)or others. Go to school, get a degree and go to the NSCA for any certification you do. CSCS and such titles count for a lot more. There’s only so many times you can hear “I want abs” or “I want to tone up” before you realize that Performance Training and Strength Coaching are where it’s at.

Joey Z is right. Cert's are generally a Fiasco. Do your homework. The cert you get reflects on you. Especially in the eyes of the people who you care what they think.

Nic, to answer your question properly, the only previous requirement you need is a
check for $399!..(Or what ever it is now) Big Rob was correct when he said, “Go to
school, get a degree and go to the NSCA for any certification you do. CSCS
and such titles count for a lot more”-----------------------------------------------------
For the $399, I came away with “squat” -I learned NOTHING. Why? For one thing, the
most recent footnote in the AFFA training manual was 1983; however, most were
between 1971 and 1978! ( I am not making this up)…And when I brought this to the
attention of my teacher, apply named “Miss Informed,” who was the head AFFA
instructor for the east coast region, her reply was “The human body
hasn’t changed any since 1978, young man!”…(I think they’re in it for the money!? )
Keeping it real - Joey Z.

If you decide to go the cert route prior to getting your degree I would recommend the CPT through NSCA or the CPT through NASM. Both are very high quality programs that don’t have impressive prereq’s but eliminate the crap in the exam itself. You’ll have to know your shit to pass either test. then you can work through school.