Congratulations!  You’ve decided to make the all important, life changing move –a new career in fitness training.  If you’re reading this article, you may still be deciding if a career in fitness is what you’re looking for.  You know you’re health conscious; you try to keep wellness in mind when you make decisions about food, diet, exercise and other aspects of your life so a career in fitness training or personal training sounds like a good fit.  If this sounds like you, then we hope we can help you make this important decision by giving you some good advice and help you understand the importance of receiving a dual certification in fitness training from an NASM accredited program in the Kansas City area.

The first thing to take into consideration during your decision making process is MONEY!  Fitness trainers with dual certification make more money than non-certified personal trainers.  You may be making the career change because you’re unhappy in your current career, but you still want to make good money, right?  The certifications we’re talking about are Certified Personal Trainer (CPT) & Corrective Exercise Specialist (CES) – having these personal training certifications on your resume will enable you to counsel clients across all dimensions of their fitness training plans at the same time give you an edge over your competitors in the workforce.  These certifications are provided by the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM) and in the industry are considered to be the gold standard in certification in the sports medicine and related fields.

Another issue that should be considered during this decision making process is the type of program that best fits your needs.  Some programs offer classes online while others offer campus based programs that give you the hands-on training with instructors who are often in the field and know how to give you practical, real world advice, training and instruction as you learn.  Programs differ in length of completion time and you should research the type of instruction, certification and amount of time required to complete the program.  Knowing how the fitness trainer program works and what time classes are offered will help you decide if the personal training school is right for you – you need the school to meet your expectations to ensure it’s a program you can stick with.

Once you’ve found the personal trainer school that fits your needs its time to start thinking about where you’d like to work once you complete your certification.  As a certified personal fitness trainer you’ll have options to work in the obvious places such as gyms and health clubs or start your own private personal trainer business.  With the tools you’ll receive in school from the right program and instructors your possibilities will be endless!