I have a few questions for you;

What certifications do you currently hold/held in the past? What population(s) do you anticipate working with? What areas would you like to expand your knowledge base for Personal Training?

My "fractional spouse" is a personal trainer. She's always said the certification is the part that matters least. No college degree either. That being said she's always considered NASM with high regard. FWIW, she works at the 4th largest health club in the country and will be the top performing female trainer this year.

Thanks and I agree that the certification matters the least. I worked 4 years as an exercise physiologist and again, have a degree, but so many gyms INSIST on certifications (even over experience and degrees, perhaps it's a liability thing/insurance, so what's a person to do...sigh). My focus would be to, on top of my cycling coaching, offer personal training not to the masses as much, but a focus on (after I get the basic CPT certification), weight loss and/or nutrition/sports nutrition. So I'm between ACE and NASM right now. I would re-cert in ACSM but really feel for what I'm focusing on, that ACE or NASM would be the right route. Hmmm....

For the most part those certifications matter very little other than as a "check the box" item, but you already knew that. Insurance may require a certification, it may be CYA instituted by some knucklehead who's not thought it through, or it might be that it's simpler to market as "all our trainers are ACE and/or NASM certified" as I suspect the case might be.

I've always been told that NASM is the most respected but don't know if that's actually the case. I was required to go the ACE route and was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the study program as compared to any other certification program (USAT & USAC included) I've gone through. The website is easy to navigate and fairly well put together. The test itself will not challenge you though it might pay to pick up some of the material used on Amazon and skim it briefly.

FWIW, I'd look for the certification that is least expensive and/or easiest to maintain with CEUs going forward.

Good suggestion on the maintenance part for sure. And the hesitation I was possibly having with ACE vs. NASM is simply how well put together their study/testing prep system was. Seemed like NASM promoted theirs as a step by step system, but I believe it's the same with ACE. Now time to think (I do like some of the continuing education cert's that ACE has). Thanks x 1000!

NSCA Personal Trainer cert is the way I would go. It is a more reputable organization and carries more weight. You could do the CSCS instead, either way.

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Simplify, Train, Live

Ive got ACE and have been certified for 3 years now. They have some pretty great workshops, continuing ed. I thought the ACE cert was good and not overly hard to pass. I went to school for Exercise Science. It has the basics for assesment protocols and how to build programming. From what i have heard from NASM is that they take more of a business approach. I have never looked into nasm. Also I saw the other day on ACEs website, they got a new Corrective Exercise CEC which is competing with NASMs. While studying for ACE they have a lot of practice tests, great modules and webinars to watch on each chapter, flashcards a lot of hands on stuff when you buy the bundle. PM me if you have any questions would love to help you out.

Like many said here, certification doesnt really matter that much. If you cant talk to someone and help someone reach there goals as a trainer, i dont care if you have 10 PT certs, means nothing.

I worked as a PT for 4 years and had both ACE and NASM. I got the ACE to start with just to get in the door with a gym because it was the cheapest one. Then I let the company I worked for pay for my NASM certs. I never felt like I used anything I learned from ACE, but used NASM material all the time (part of that is the gym I worked for required NASM cert). I started with just the NASM CPT, then added the Corrective Exercise Specialist and Performance Enhancement Specialist as my continuing education every 2 years.

Well my opinions are what they are, based on my rather limited experience, but I'd defer to Mike Prevost's in a heartbeat. In fact I've got two aspiring marines in a triathlete swim program and directed them to to his programs this weekend.

This is what I was going to say too... Having been NASM certified I didn't think the material was great and I do use the reference materials. It feels like NASM is a big marketing machine more than anything while the NSCA seems to provide more practical knowledge for working with athletes.

Being a personal trainer for the last 10 years and having experience with both NASM and ACE I will give you my breakdown of which certification is better especially for training triathletes. Since both of these certifications are what you would consider a "general" certification, they will both have a lot of similarities. That being said, there are a good amount of differences as well and they both specialize in certain areas. Although I think both certifications have given me valuable knowledge in one area or another, ,if you are only going to get one certification I think NASM is probably the way to go. This article between the differences of NASM and ACE does a good job of explaining what I'm about to talk about.

Let me explain my thinking behind this.

The ACE certification is more of a "general" certification for the general population is trying to lose weight or get back and exercise. The NASM certification is why it is considered a corrective exercise certification and deals with people that have all kinds of muscular imbalances. As triathletes, we do continuous repetitive movements in the sport. We run, bike, swim, run, bike, swim and this takes a toll on some of our muscles in terms of tightening up some areas while under training others.

This is one of the reasons why there are so many common injuries and sports such as afib, high hamstring tendinopathy, IT band syndrome, mad calf and many others that are caused by these repetitive movements. NASM's approach to coaching is to help identify imbalances (either tight or loose muscles) and aims to correct these before moving on to other aspects of fitness such as strength and power output. This keeps the body in good alignment as training progresses and more stresses put on body. I think their OPT training model is really good at progressing athletes and I think this is especially true for triathletes. There are good things I have to say about ACE as well but this discussion about which certification is best, I have to go with NASM for the type of training that we do here.

How serious do you want to be when it comes to things you can provide?

NSCA- Personal Trainer Cert is the step off point.

I don't deal with anyone that doesn't have a minimum of CSCS, because I've worked with a CSCS for 7 years now. After getting a CSCS cert, and if it fits in with your business I'd consider looking at Exos Phase I through III. Those are expensive and requires you to attend mentorship seminars that last at least a week for each phase.

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Washed up footy player turned Triathlete.