Well guys! I did it! I passed the American College of Sports Medicine Certified Personal Trainer exam and I could not be more proud of myself. A little background of myself:
I grew up as a 'tom boy.' I was the only girl out of 4 kids in our family. But don't worry I was not treated as the princess of the family..I had to mow the lawn like everyone else! I was always involved in sports growing up from gymnastics to basketball to cheerleading to track and to my biggest passion swimming. I swam throughout high school and received a athletic scholarship for swimming. In college I graduated from the College of Charleston with a bachelors degree in Physical Education with a concentration in Health Promotion. I am currently a USA swimming swim coach. I have always had a passion for fitness and health and I believe that getting my CPT is just the natural progression of all of that.
Now-- Since I am a military wife and my husband is less than a O-3 I was able to utilize MYCAA. This is a military spouse financial assistance for certifications and/or degrees that further your career. This allowed me to pay for all of my study materials, webinars, and exam fees without any out of pocket expenses! This program is incredible! I was able to save $135 for all three books. $240 for the 6-week webinar. $280 for the exam. I was able to save a total of $655 dollars!!
I chose ACSM due to its high quality certification that it provides you, the fact that MYCAA covered all of this certifications expenses, and is certified through the National Commission for Certifying Agency (NCCA).
My timeline:
- Contacted MYCAA in October- Did the whole process of registering myself, contacting my counselor, and creating a academic plan in conjunction with MYCAA and ACSM.
- In late October I received my books and registered for my webinar
- Right away I began my webinar
- Finished webinar in mid-December
- Studied off and on
- Registered for my exam in mid-March
- Took the exam April 2nd
How I studied:
I probably should of studied more than I actually did. I studied like I did in college..here and there and a lot the few days working up to the exam. Old habits die hard I guess. I did buy the ACSM study Personal Trainer Study Guide. and I also downloaded pocket prep cpt. This app was great because I was able to take practice tests whenever I wanted to. Tests from 5-400 questions. Read Section 3 in the Guidelines for Exercise Testing and Prescription. Read as much of the ACSM Resources for the Personal Trainer as you can possibly bear. Read the whole thing if you can. But focus mainly on the planes of motion, last chapter in business, anatomy, exercise physiology, and kinesiology.
What you need to know for the exam:
- Equations:
- BMI with inches-- Lbs/height (in) x height (in) x703
- How to calculate target body fat with given weight and body fat %. Find out how much they should weigh with given target body fat %.
- How to calculate HRR
- How to calculate target heart rate with given percentages.
- How to calculate METS
- How to convert inches, cm, m, kg, lbs
- Words
- Ambivalent
- Spirometer
- Self-efficacy
- Negligence
- Superset
- Pyramid
- Concepts to know:
- Risk Stratification!!!! Very important
- Exercise Prescription! Read Section 3 of your Exercise Prescription small book
- General Population
- Pregnancy
- Children
- Older Populations
- Know about business plans
- Negligence
- Transtheoretical Behavior Model
- Motivation - Intrinsic/extrinsic
- Eccentric/Concentric
- Running up a hill/Running down a hill- What the quads and hamstrings are doing
- Uphill: Quads Concentric. Hams Eccentric. Down: Quads Eccentric Hams Concen
- Liability
- Most cost effective form of advertising
- Rotator Cuff muscles (SITS) and their functions
- Deltoids and anterior, posterior, and middle head functions
- Abduction/Adduction
- Spotting Techniques. This is in the main textbook and youtube some videos for a visual.
- Macronutrients
- How many calories are in each macronutrient.
- Protein- 4, Carbs- 4, Alcohol- 7, Fat-9.
- Recommendation for exercising in humid heat
- Client Assessment
- Planes of Motion and what plane your body moves in
- Flow of blood through the heart
Advice
Please know that this is a hard certification. Go ahead and humble yourself now. You do need to study even if you do have a bachelors degree in exercise science and/or a gym rat for a while. Think about needing to know this information for your future clients, not just to pass the exam. The more you can learn the better. This certification does not do as great of a job helping your create workout plans or how to actually do or teach the exercises. My advice is to go to a gym and learn and do these exercises yourself. Get taught by a personal trainer. Or even better..be a student before you become a teacher. Hire a personal trainer and learn what you like what you don't like how you will do better or do things the same. I learn best by doing, and I think this is the best way. I know I would never be as good of a swim coach if I never was a swimmer.
Good luck in all of your endeavors. If you have anything to add to this blog I am all ears!
Cheers!
Thank you for sharing all this information. To take up an examination and aim to pass it requires a lot of hard work. What I like most is your advice to be a student before you become a teacher. That through experience you will be able to learn best of your chosen career.
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