Fake Personal Trainer Certifications

As I was driving to a client the other day, I noticed a personal training studio that was offering a “personal training certification” class. When I returned home, I went to their website and discovered that the “certification” was taught by the gym's personal trainers! This got my spidey sense tingling because, unfortunately, I've seen it before.

What is a Fake Personal Trainer Cert?

Every so often, I run into someone who tells me the sad story of how they spent hundreds of dollars on fitness or personal training certification that was offered by a health club.

The “certification” usually consists of the gym’s personal trainers teaching the class. The class runs for several weeks and often consists of various hands-on exercise techniques with little in the way of classroom time spent discussing the science and art of personal fitness training.

Sometimes, the gym also allows the student to do an internship at the gym as well. While I like internships, what's offered here is basically the gym getting “free help.” While the student probably follows personal trainers around and learns a few things, they may also be doing grunt work.

Personal Trainer Certification Reviews

It's a Big Win For The Gym

For the gym, it’s a win-win situation. They get money (“tuition”) from people who want to be personal trainers. The certification becomes a profit center for the gym. It's another way they can make money. If the person is also a member of the health club, the club gets paid twice – for the gym membership and the “certification.” If the person does the “internship,” the club gets free help.

Sometimes, the gyms also make the person get “re-certified” every year or so. This means that the gym gets a steady stream of extra cash from its students. An extra bonus for the club!

What a great deal, right?

Here's The Problem

Nobody BUT that particular gym accepts the certification! Nobody else accepts it. It’s usually only after the person has spent their money and obtained their certification that they realize that no other gym in the world accepts that cert.

Also, sometimes, individuals usually don't learn very much. I've personally seen this. The students sometimes don't even learn the basics of exercise science or, more importantly, the real-life ways to spot heart disease and other serious health problems that fitness trainers run into every day.

Why Don't Gyms Accept Fake Certs?

Health clubs are pretty stringent about the certifications that they accept. They often look for something that’s been around for a long time or that they know is a quality certification. Why would they take a risk employing somebody who may or may not know what they are talking about?

For the novice, individual who wants to know more – but who will never work as a trainer, these gym-based “certs” may be an option. But, for those who want to work as a personal trainer, this is not the answer.

What Fitness Certification Is Best For You

If you are thinking about a certification offered at a gym, here are some questions to ask yourself:

Who else – other than this health club – accepts this cert? Double-check by asking around.
Who are the people teaching you? Are they also personal trainers? Who are they certified by?
How much does it cost to get “re-certified”? Who do you pay, and who do you get your continuing education credits from? Is it the health club or will they accept credits from other organizations?
Will you learn more than personal training – marketing, exercise science, etc?
What will the internship consist of? If it’s sweeping the floors or other grunt work, forget it.

Don't Risk It

I don’t know the prevalence of gym–based certifications, but I do know that people who pay for them run the risk of getting the short end of the stick when they try to find a job in the real world. Because of that, I wouldn’t risk making it your primary or initial personal fitness certification.

What do you think?

Comments

Debbie says February 4, 2022 at 8:19 pm

I found a certification from ASFA has anyone ever heard of this

Joe says February 5, 2022 at 5:11 pm

Debbie, they have been on my list to review for some time. I believe they are an online/virtual fitness certification organization. I discussed them briefly in the comments of this review of online certs.
http://joe-cannon.com/online-personal-training-certification-review/ Do you have any specific questions about them? Ill try to knock out a review soon

Hello ! I am currently looking into doing a program with this online certification called New skills Academy for Personal Trainer Instructor cert I tried to do as much research as I could and I also messaged a girl who said it’s legit but I’m not so sure ..

Joe says February 10, 2019 at 10:36 am

Kassandra, I discussed Online certs in depth in this review the review of online personal trainer certs (link goes to the review). I looked up New Skills Academy.I did not see an address for the company but some of their awards makes me think they may be based in the UK. If you are in the UK, great, just go to local gyms and ask if anybody has heard of them. If you are in the US, some fitness centers in the US may not accept certs from organizations they have not heard of. The girl who told you about them, do you know her or was this a random email?

Wow Joe, I just saw a flyer for a personal trainer certification at my gym. they were saying that part of the course you get to follow their personal trainers around. The cost was $800 for a 6 week course.

Joe says July 19, 2018 at 7:16 pm

Hi Fredrick, Ive seen flyers like that a few times myself. I think fitness centers offer their own personal trainer certs to increase their monthly incomes. Im sure people will learn some good things in the certs but my only issue is nobody other than that gym would likely accept it. So you, still have to get a nationally recognized cert if you wanted to be a trainer and work at another gym. For the $800 cost of the gym cert, you would get a nationally recognized cert and do it for less too.

hi! have you look at the NPTA website and the certifications they offer?

Joe Cannon says June 3, 2017 at 8:31 am

Hii Daniela, do you mean NPTI – national personal trainer institute? I have looked at then
NPTI personal trainer review NPTI Chicago Review I didn’t see “NPTA” when I searched. If they have a website, let me know here and I will take a look at it for you

Joe- is the WITS certification any good. I read so many pros and cons to everything. What do you recommend about WITS? Should I do it?

Joe Cannon says February 27, 2015 at 8:25 am

McPhillthy, I have a review of WITS. Here is my review of the WITS personal training cert.

Hello, Joe! I am looking to become a personal trainer, and your website here has been an invaluable resource while I figure out where to start. It has been incredibly helpful to have good, quality information stated in a simple and understandable way. I want to become a GREAT trainer, not just a certified one, and I am so happy to have a resource I feel is reliable! I can’t count how many posts of yours I have read through, and it is supremely helpful in deciding which program I will go through, what classes I can (and should!) take, and how to keep improving after the certification. No other site I have found knows what they are talking about, and/or provides information in an unbiased way. I just wanted to say –thank you. – for such an awesome collection of information! Rock on! 😀

Joe Cannon says January 15, 2015 at 3:05 pm

Jen, thanks so much for saying that – you just made my day! 🙂 Let me know if I can be of any help as you try to become a personal trainer. I mean it too.