You took that step and got your personal training certification. Now you’re wondering what’s next? One of the greatest benefits of personal training is the flexibility to approach it however you want. As a personal trainer, you can decide to work in commercial, private, and/or online. Within each area, there are many opportunities for a career in personal training.

In BC, our program allows for us to provide an integrated approach to becoming a personal trainer. Our emphasis is on the practical application of the NASM certified personal training curriculum. This allows students the opportunity to really emphasize that implementation of their knowledge, the practicing of rapport building and other soft skills with experience of running an amazing personal training session.

We have just started with the foundation of our house. But the thing is, you can’t live with just the foundation. We need to make improvements and upgrades and we can do this through taking continuing education. In fact, that is a requirement to be able to renew your NASM personal training certificate.

The INs and OUTs Post-Certification

After you have become a certified personal trainer, you’ll have to remember to maintain your certification. We will reference the NASM certification for our blog but every certification may have slight differences to their requirements.

NASM requires their certified personal trainers to complete 2.0 (20) continuing education credits (or units; often abbreviated as CECs or CEUs). This requirement is necessary as you renew your certification every 2 years alongside your CPR/AED First Aid training. In addition to the previous requirements, there is also a renewal fee. NASM provides two options for their certified personal trainers: one time fee of $329 USD or the ongoing fee of $99 USD. A good way of looking at it is if you intend on being a personal trainer for 5 years, the one time fee will pay itself off. CPR/AED First Aid training is considered to be worth .1 CECs.

Another consideration is the cost of taking courses as they can range widely depending on the topic, instructor, duration, and/or location. There are many courses available, some of them will be pre-approved for CECs which means the creator/instructor has sent in paperwork and paid the fees so you won’t need to. Pre-approved courses can be easily selected when renewing one’s personal training certification where as non-approved courses require you to complete a petition form to send to your personal training governing body. In the case of NASM, the petition fee is $25 USD but can range among other certifications.

The amount of CECs given is decided by the certifications governing body but it is often based on the material and number of contact hours. Moreover, CECs are often only valid within the period they are taken relative to the recertification date. So it can be counterproductive to take too many courses all at once as only 2 CECs will be valid for that period.

Typically however, most in person courses are between 1-2 days and can range between $99-$1000+. Fear not, there are also free and online based courses and certifications that are eligible for CECs. At BCPTI, we host workshops, seminars and certifications to assist our community post certification. Contact us anytime for more information and preferred pricing for our students and graduates.

It is our opinion that in-person courses provide so many benefits that are often missed out on when doing online courses. One of the largest benefits is networking in the fitness community. These relationships can provide cross collaborations, expansion of reach, business opportunities and more.

However, there are instances where taking in-person or larger courses may not be feasible and/or you may only need a few CECs to top up. In these instances, there are many online options. Online CECs often require individuals to read and complete tests to receive the CECs. There are many paid and even free options out there. In fact, NASM keeps a catalogue of courses that they offer at varying price points as well as offering free monthly courses; check that out here

Closing Out

Part of acquiring more knowledge, experience and application through courses and workshops is to overcome that sense of imposter syndrome (check out our blog on imposter syndrome in the fitness industry). Depending on what one’s strengths and weaknesses are as a personal trainer, taking the related courses to become better will improve our own success. Our suggestion is to not only take courses that interest you but also challenge you. If your knowledge and lifting style is typically more hypertrophy focused, take some in depth hypertrophy courses to lean further into it or take courses on biomechanics and corrective strategies. This will open up how you can help your clients so they can keep developing and gaining strength as you have improved their capability so they can challenge their capacity.

Looking to get certified as a personal trainer in BC?

Here at the British Columbia Personal Training Institute, we provide the option of in-person learning, online only, and hybrid learning. BCPTI teaches the NASM Personal Trainer curriculum and is one of the best options to get your personal training certification in BC. This assists our prospective students by offering greater choice and flexibility. Our program teaches students to gain, train and retain their clients through integration of the NASM CPT with industry relevant coaching and support. Learn our system of service, science and sales.

Our program is 8 weeks long with a 1 week reading break to give students the additional time to catch up on content. There are 2 intakes, day and night to provide more options. Full time within our program is 3 lectures per week.

Day Intake: Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 8am-3:30pm
Night Intake: Tuesday & Thursday from 5-9pm AND Saturday 9-4pm

BCPTI also integrates a practicum experience with our partners at Fitness World Canada to provide our students the opportunity to shadow and learn from current personal trainers. The practicum experience assists students with exposure to additional facilities, networking with fitness professionals and receiving additional coaching and learning opportunities.

Moreover, by completing our program requirements, we offer job placement at Fitness World by facilitating the hiring process (note: this does not guarantee a job).

Interested in becoming a personal trainer? Look no further and reach out below to get more information.