Professional Personal Trainer Certification Programs

So after much deliberation, here is the short list of professional certifications that I reviewed:

ACE
NESTA
NASM
CSCS
ISSA

With all things considered, I went the route of the National Exercise and Sports Trainers Association Personal Fitness Trainer affiliation. The NESTA certification course was designed by John Spencer Ellis, a fitness industry leader based in So Cal. As you may know, my wife is from So Cal and we have seen him online and through several television specials.

John Spencer Ellis clearly has leveraged his career in the fitness industry very well and we found their material to be very strong in both categories of fitness education & business fundamentals.


Likewise, we found that NESTA was growing in their influence within the fitness industry while others seem to be more static.