NCSF Personal Training Certification
- NCSF stands for National Council on Strength & Fitness. They are a leading authority in the health and fitness industry, offering support services, educational programs and credentialing for the personal training profession. They are governed by a board of directors of 12. This board meets throughout the year to evaluate certification procedures, vote on issues about the program, set policies and discuss promotional ideas.
- NCSF is accredited by the NCCA. This stands for the National Commission for Certifying Agencies. This is a credential that is heralded as the gold standard of safe practices for certification programs. Organizations with this accreditation exemplify compliance with the Standards for the Accreditation of Certification Programs. These were the first standards set up for professional certification programs. NCCA utilizes a peer reviewed system to make sure an organization establishes top notch standards, demonstrates compliance and evaluates organizations based on their proficiency of products.
- The NCSF home study program is designed to give someone the convenience of setting his own pace to achieve his personal training certification. For the price of $299, candidates are sent a package of materials that prepares them to take the NCSF exam. These materials include a personal training study guide, textbook lesson plan, lab manual, CD-ROM and DVD video. All of these materials show candidates how to perform assessments and training techniques that are used in a real world personal training career.
- Just like a lot of other certification programs, NCSF offers an interactive two-day workshop in conjunction with home study materials. The workshop uses the same materials as the home study course. Candidates are required to go over the written activities and readings before attending the workshop to ensure that they understand the preparatory material.
The workshop itself consists of two days of high-intensity instruction taught by master level NCSF instructors. Theory is put into practice and with the supervision of the experts, students learn how to do everything from reviewing health history questionnaires to doing fitness evaluations, to setting up exercise prescriptions with multiple exercises. Upon completion of the course, the candidate is ready to take the exam. - Another thing that the NCSF offers is a personal trainer school program. This is a 32 contact hour course that enables a candidate to bridge the gap between common theory and practice. The classes are designed to target important areas in the fitness industry including program design for multiple populations and health screening. The key thing that makes this program valuable is that it is broken up into a lecture component and a practical lab component. This practical aspect is very important because it translates into actual training situations with clients. Body composition, nutritional analysis and body composition are all gone over in the practical learning segment.
These classes are conducted at various colleges and institutes year round throughout the United States. They range in length from 6 days to 16 weeks depending on the facility. There is a link below showing the locations and schedules. - Regardless if a candidate has done the home study program, attended a workshop or gone to the personal training school, each course ends with a certification exam. The exam consists of 150 computer-based multiple choice questions.This is taken at a Prometric testing center, and the candidates have three hours to complete it. There are approximately 400 testing centers across America, Canada and other U.S. territories. The examination costs $199 and candidates can register via phone, email or mail-in form. To take the test, a form of government issued ID is required. Upon completing the exam, candidates are notified on the spot whether they have passed or not. If they did pass, they get a certification package mailed to them that includes a certificate suitable for framing and a wallet-sized certification card. If a candidate does not pass, for $135, they can take another exam.
