ISSA vs ACE – Which CPT Wins The Battle in 2024?

The ISSA certification focuses on optimizing adaptation to exercise, training athletes, and peak performance whereas the ACE certification focuses on developing healthy habits and the psychology of health behavior change. Both certifications are accredited by the NCCA (National Commission for Certifying Agencies), which most employees require for employment.

Let’s see which one is the best fit for you.

ISSA, ACE, or Other?

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Welcome to our Trainer Academy ISSA vs ACE comparison article.

We will be comparing personal training certifications from two of the most prominent best organizations in the fitness industry: ISSA and ACE.

In this article, you’ll learn about the following:

• Cost and quality of the study material
• Study packages offered by both organizations
• Expectations for future income with the certifications
• Answers to the most commonly asked questions regarding ISSA vs ACE

Both ACE and ISSA compete with each other as personal trainer certification programs  to attract aspiring personal trainers. Each organization offers a similar quality of personal trainer certification, but have carved out their own niche. ACE focuses more on the psychosocial and human elements of personal training. ISSA focuses more on the applied exercise science side of personal training. Naturally, each organization tends to attract a different type of aspiring personal trainer. But, the personal training philosophy each organization emphasizes can set the trajectory for your early personal training career by influencing the way you think about personal training and the type of trainer you become.

Following reading this article, we assure you that you will be able to make a better decision when comparing and contrasting these two top training certifications in the fitness industry.

We highly recommend that you take our helpful quiz to find the best personal trainer certification for you.

Let’s jump right in and find out which of these two is the best personal training certification!

CPT	ACSM vs ACE Quick Breakdown	Features	Price
	ISSA	Solid technique and programming Excellent business skills Limited special populations	$828.00 for ISSA
	ACE CPT	High-regard amongst employers ACE is non-profit and community focused Solid starter certification	Check ACE website

ISSA CPT

• Exam only cost: $599
• Packages: $1,199.64-$2,099.76
• Requirements: CPR/AED, High School Diploma
• Passing Score: 70%
• Pass Rate: 93%
• Average Completion Time: 2-4 Months

$828.00 for ISSA

ACE CPT

• Exam only cost: $636
• Packages: $850-$1,175
• Requirements: CPR/AED, High School Diploma
• Passing Score: 70% or 500 out of 800 points
• Pass Rate: 65%
• Average Completion Time: 3-6 Months

Check ACE Website

Trainer Academy Guides

• Complete, efficient study system
• Audio guide, flashcards, and mnemonics
• 850+ practice questions
• 99% pass rate
• Exam pass guarantee
• Affordable

ISSA CPT Study GuideACE CPT Study Guide

Provider Materials

• Curriculum study preparation
• Includes text, graphics, and videos
• 200+ practice questions
• No exam pass refund guarantee
• $1,199.64-$2,099.76 for ISSA starter package
• $$850-$1,175 for ACE starter package

$828.00 for ISSACheck ACE Price

Free Study Guides

• Curriculum material overview
• Complete chapter breakdowns
• 60 practice questions
• 130 flashcards
• Exam cheat sheet
• Free from PTPioneer and Trainer Academy 

Free ISSA Study GuideFree ACE Study Guide

ACE stands for the American Council on Exercise. It is one of the most popular personal trainer certifying bodies institutes in America and is similarly well known to NASM.

ACE was founded in 1985, making it nearly four decades old at this point.

Over the decades, the ACE has established itself as an organization that champions both public health initiatives and the education of trainers who take a person-first approach, focused on sustainable exercise adherence and successful exercise adoption. This is reflected in the content and structure of ACE’s flagship certification: the ACE personal trainer certification.

ACE’s personal trainer certification is best suited for working with the average person to improve their health and quality of life. A majority of personal training clients at a standard conventional gym, where most personal trainers work, spend most of their time working with everyday people who want to improve their health, quality of life, and body composition in a sustainable way – while also feeling good about themselves in a healthy way.

This is the sort of population that ACE designs its personal trainer certification around. And, because of how prevalent and harmful lifestyle related chronic diseases are, ACE also emphasizes strategies to reduce the risk of clients developing lifestyle related chronic diseases. This includes but is not limited to lifestyle related chronic diseases like cardiovascular disease and type II diabetes.

ACE’s highly tailored education allows, ACE personal trainers to develop skills that make a meaningful impact on real people’s lives by helping those people move their bodies and exercise in a way that truly works for them.

ACE also offers many specializations to go after once you are certified. They all pair well, no matter which personal training certification is received.

Their Group Exercise Instructor cert is one of the best group fitness certifications out there as well. If you want to become a fitness instructor, ACE is a definitely a great good place to start.

ISSA stands for is the International Sports Sciences Association. It is one of the most prominent personal trainer certification agencies and supports the education of personal trainers across a large number of different countries.

ISSA was able to solidify their position as a leading international certifying body for personal trainers because it was the first distance-based certifying body in North America. This allowed ISSA to establish itself and develop brand trust all over the world before any of its local competitors in North America began attempting to do so for themselves.

ISSA offered fully online personal trainer certification programs before any of its competitors went all-in on an online model. This not only allowed it to reach aspiring certified personal trainers around the globe from a logistical standpoint, but it also attracted local trainers who found the convenience of online-only coursework appealing.

The ISSA personal trainer certification is one of the most well known personal trainer certifications in the industry, given that a large number of trainers hold one.

In addition to the personal training certifications, ISSA offers a variety of other specialized fitness certifications. there are also This includes the ISSA group fitness certifications, ISSA strength and conditioning, special populations certifications, and ISSA Nutritionist certifications.

ISSA also has a master trainer program that includes all of its best fitness certifications in one bundle. This is one of the multiple types of fitness certification bundles that ISSA offers, which allow you to earn multiple certifications at once. Doing so will cost a bit more money up front, but will be cheaper than paying for each of the certifications individually. It also helps you become more employable, which can be helpful when trying to find your first personal training job – especially if you don’t have much prior work experience in the fitness industry. It can really help differentiate you from the competition and set you up for success. 

Having multiple certifications is also helpful from a practical standpoint. Taking action to further your education will help you become a more effective trainer, which means you will be better able to help your clients achieve their goals. For example, earning a strength and conditioning certification will help you become better at exercise programming. This makes you more effective at helping clients who are more advanced. Similarly, earning a nutrition certification helps you better support your clients in navigating dietary and nutrition struggles. Earning a nutrition certification expands your scope of practice beyond that of a certified personal trainer, but your scope of practice will still be much lesser than a licensed and registered dietitian.

We recommend earning multiple certifications if you have the resources to do so.

Plus, having multiple certifications gives you more flexibility in terms of the roles you can pursue. This can make it easier for you to adjust your career trajectory over time as you learn more about yourself as a personal trainer. It can be hard to know the exact type of personal trainer you want to be, and exact type of job you’d be best-fit for, until you start directly working in the industry. Multiple certifications gives you a lot more flexibility to explore your options after you start working, since you won’t be as limited to one niche.

It’s worth the investment, and the ISSA CPT and Nutrition Coaching combo in particular can be a helpful certification bundle since it provides you with a mix of skills that are highly complementary to one another, are highly relevant to real world client needs, and are translatable to work in many different fitness roles.

Go to ISSA’s website if you’re interested in exploring their certification bundle offerings. It can make your life easier in the long-run.

Before we go into further detail about the nuances of the ISSA personal trainer certification and ACE personal trainer certification, we are going to cover certification accreditation: both what it is and how it works.

Certification accreditation just means that an organization that specializes in quality assurance has officially evaluated and approved of a given certification. They have determined that the certification meets a minimum standard in terms of its administration, testing, and content quality. Certification accreditation is basically just a third party verification that lets you know that a certification meets a certain standard. It’s designed to be something that you can trust because the accrediting body puts their name on the line by asserting that they themselves stand by the quality of that certification.

It’s important to keep in mind that when considering certification accreditation, this only reflects that a certification met a minimum standard. Certifications that are accredited can all vary wildly in terms of how far above that standard their practices and content would actually fall. This is why some personal trainer certifications are much higher quality than others. Check out our articles discussing how common personal training certifications stand up to one another for more information!

In the world of health and fitness certifications, accreditation is handled by two main organizations.

The first and most prominent is the NCCA or National Commission for Certifying Agencies.

Most of the major “gold standard” certifications in the US are authenticated by this organization.

The other, which is just as legitimate but less common, is the DEAC, or Distance Education Accrediting Commission.

This one is responsible for authenticating the content and operations of distance-based learning institutions.

As far as ISSA or ACE are concerned, let’s take a look at which one is accredited by which Commission.

Use the links below to get a comprehensive understanding of both highly recommended certifications – as well as current deals.

• ACE
• ISSA

As you can see, ACE has its accreditation provided by the NCCA, much like the NASM CPT certification, while ISSA is a DEAC-accredited institute.

ISSA is a distance-based learning certification, the first of its kind amongst the fitness certifications we feature and consider the best.

Other major certifications have since followed suit in offering online delivery and administration of their programs and exams, but ISSA did it first.

Besides the prestige and assurance of quality that earning a fully accredited certification accreditation brings, it can also help your employability as well. Most unaccredited certifications out there are low quality and filled with misinformation. Employers recognize this, so holding an unaccredited certification could work against you in the hiring process. At the end of the day, certifications only matter in that they tell your future employer and your clients that you are able to competently practice in this profession.

If the quality of a certification is not verified by a third party, like an accreditation agency, then it doesn’t provide much useful information about your abilities to your employer in most cases. There are some rare exceptions where unaccredited certifications do hold weight, such as the Precision Nutrition certification, but this is an outlier and something that would be hard to know unless you were already very well versed in the norms of working the personal training industry.

However, your safest – and usually best – bet will be to focus on attaining certifications that are fully accredited when possible. Or, certifications that are associated with organizations that have other previously accredited certifications, like ACE or NASM.

Cost is an important factor that can influence which certification you ultimately end up purchasing on your way towards becoming a personal trainer.

Although both the ACE and ISSA personal trainer certification programs have plenty of differences, and are best-suited for different types of aspiring trainers, they are both able to prepare you for general personal training. And, they are similar in overall quality. So, even if you don’t feel that you can afford to get your personal training certification through the organization you most prefer, you will still be okay. You can find success with the certification that isn’t the best fit for you, if you find that you really need to. The differences somewhat matter, but both are designed to prepare you for the same general career.

It’s often the case that personal trainer certification agencies will present you with more than one option in terms of the study packages that you can purchase.

These options are usually differentiated by on how many study materials are included in each package, with the cheapest containing the minimum amount of resources that the organization feels you’d need in order to successfully study for the personal trainer certification exam from scratch. Naturally, paying for a more expensive bundle will provide you with more supplementary resources that can increase your odds of passing the personal training certification exam on your first attempt.

So let’s take a look at the costs:

From this, we can see that ACE is generally the cheaper organization to work with when you are aiming to just purchase a single personal trainer certification.

Get updated about the latest deals and discounts from ACE by clicking here.

However, if you want to purchase multiple certifications at once, the overall cost per certification for ISSA comes out to be a bit cheaper.

Despite this, the cost of a standalone ISSA personal trainer certification is pretty expensive. It is actually a significant mark-up from what ISSA certification cost used to be, but since they acquired NCCPT, an NCCA-accredited agency, ISSA has bolstered their CPT package to include a traditionally accredited exam.

One thing to note when it comes to the cost of certification is that the price often fluctuates based on discounts, specials, and promos.

These happen very often, so you have a good chance of scoring a big discount if you sign up at the right time.

Another way of enjoying a massive discount with ISSA is going for the buy-one-get-one offer (BOGO), which allows you to get a personal training certification with their nutritionist certification for free.

Also, you can decide to opt for the ISSA Elite Trainer Bundle, which consists of the personal training certification and three specialty certifications of your choice for a rate of $125 per month paid over 12 months, or $1,500. This allows you to obtain a few extra highly practical certifications like a nutrition certification. This directly helps both you and your future clients.

You can also earn a strength and conditioning certification through this bundle if you’d like. Although you can do strength and conditioning work with just a normal personal trainer certification, earning one that is specifically for strength and conditioning will make you a stronger candidate when applying to strength and conditioning jobs. It also serves to make you a better strength and conditioning coach than if you only had a foundational understanding of exercise science from just a personal training certification.

Overall, ISSA offers a pretty cost-effective deal because of the value their certification bundles offer relative to their cost, despite the price tag itself being high up front. Visit the ISSA site to verify the offer is still available.

Affordability matters, but the relative value of each certification bundle can also change depending on how effective they are at supporting your education. This is reflected in the amount and quality of study materials that each personal trainer certification organization offers you in each of their packages. So let’s take a look at the quality of study materials.

Having the right study materials and resources at your disposal can strongly influence how effectively you will be able to learn the information presented by each organization’s personal trainer certification course. This can influence the total time you need to study for the exam, your odds of passing the exam on your first attempt, and how well the information you study actually sticks with you into your professional practice after you pass the personal trainer certification exam.

Great study resources are important for exam success, but they are also able to provide you with value after the exam ends. Once you have a study resource, you can always look back on it for reference at any point in your career. It can help you to problem solve a situation with a client in a way that can meaningfully improve your client’s health outcomes.

So, study resources are important for a number of different reasons – both before and after you pass your personal training certification exam.

We will rate each certs study package out of 10 based on the quality and quantity of materials they offer. We will also consider a variety of packages and costs.

As you can already tell, ACE wins purely based on variety; with three packages, each offering a robust suite of study materials, the options certainly add value.

ISSA isn’t without merit, though.

In it, you will receive some amazing materials. You also receive an attempt at an NCCA-accredited CPT exam administered by NCCPT.

You may have heard of NCCPT as one of the certifying agencies popular amongst trainers in the US. As of 2020, they were acquired by ISSA and now operate as a subsidiary of the institution.

This allows ISSA to follow a hybrid program system with both NCCA and DEAC accredited courses.

ISSA still just has one package option and fewer materials included in it overall, making ACE the clear winner in this category.

We’ll give ACE 8/10 and ISSA 7/10.

When it comes to studying materials, we still believe in increasing your odds by investing in some premium third-party materials designed and put together by professionals who’ve actually earned the certification. That’s what we offer here at Trainer Academy.

These premium MVP study packages are intended to not only help you learn the information but to retain them for future use.

You will find the study techniques useful in reducing your study time drastically, come with an exam passing guarantee, and much more.

Check out the ACE MVP study package or the ISSA MVP study package; the choice is yours.

Once you’ve assessed your options and made your decisions, it’s time to knuckle down and get the exam prep rolling.

In this category, we will look at how the exam is designed, as well as how it is graded and administered.

It’s important to understand the layout of an exam since most of them are divided into uneven segments.

These segments have a different distribution of the total exam grade, meaning some will require more focus than others.

First, let’s look at the exam structure:

Both ACE and ISSA have pretty similar question counts, with ISSA coming in with 160 multiple-choice questions, while ACE brings in 150.

We mentioned how each exam section is weighted differently, with some types of content being more represented on the exam than others. Understanding what types of content the exam emphasizes, and which it doesn’t, can help you use your exam prep time  more effectively.

Let’s take a look at how the breakdown of the sections:

The sections have been listed in rank order from least featured to most featured. ACE comes in with four sections, while ISSA has 6, but one glaring similarity is how the course content is distributed in terms of exam relevance.

As you can see, the least significant sections deal with the professional and administrative side of personal training, while the most emphasis is placed on the programming and instructional side of things.

This makes sense since your role as a PT will largely be concerned with planning and executing workouts.

That means incentivizing students to master these areas of the curriculum by making them a more prominent focus in the exam is a smart way of producing quality trainers.

As for administration, ISSA is completely online. It is, after all, the king of distance-based certs.

The exam itself is self-paced and an open book, meaning you have no time limit and can page through any study resources to gain the correct information.

ACE is run more traditionally, with a pencil and pad exam written in a physical testing location with a proctor invigilating the process. 

There is, however, the option to take the exam online via a live remote proctor. This is basically a hybrid of a real-world and online exam, where your computer’s webcam is used as a means by which you are monitored.

The ACE CPT exam is 3 hours long, but you can leave sooner if you complete the exam before time is up. Although it can be helpful to spend the extra time double checking your answers. Even if you are confident in the material, it’s common for candidates to misread an exam question during the test, causing them to lose points.

Check out the ACE personal trainer study guide and ACE practice test to have a first-hand experience working through test questions similar to what you may find on the ACE personal trainer exam and also get familiar with the exam layout and passing grade through constant studying and practice.

Understanding the structure of the exam can certainly help in gaining the upper hand when it comes time to write the test.

But understanding how difficult the exam is a strategic advantage when considering how much effort and attention you’ll need to exert in your studies.

As far as difficulty is concerned, ACE and ISSA couldn’t be more different. To compare this statistic, let’s take a look at the pass rate percentages for each:

As you can tell, the ACE exam isn’t incredibly difficult, but it still poses a worthy challenge and requires some care and preparation.

The ISSA exam, on the other hand, has a near-perfect record when it comes to successful candidates. You only have a 10% chance of failing this test. This is partly due to the effectiveness of ISSA’s study prep materials in preparing candidates to sit for that exam and pass successfully. But, it is also due to the exam requiring less mastery of the material than a personal trainer would need in order to pass the certification exam for another prominent organization in the field. However, the former does not make up for the latter. Overall, ISSA sets the bar lower than the average personal trainer certification company does.

That being said, we believe ACE is the best of the two options. It may seem that an exam being more difficult at first is a bad thing, but it can help you become a more skilled personal trainer in the end. This will help you much more over the course of your career than it will hurt you.

That being said, regardless of the exam you end up taking passing your certification exam with flying colors will not be a difficult task if you click on the links below:

• ACE MVP study package
• ISSA MVP study package

If you want more detailed ISSA test info, we have an article to help you!

In the unfortunate event that you fail, you will be able to retake either exam soon after your unsuccessful attempt.

To be eligible for that, you will have to pay a retake fee in most cases. Let’s have a look, shall we:

To retake the ISSA Certified Personal Trainer exam after your first failed attempt, you simply need to request a retake.

This is one of the few cases where a retake is totally free, that is, for the first time. After that, any failed attempts will incur a cost.

As for ACE, the retake policy is pretty standard in that you will need to submit a retake application along with a fee of $199.

It’s obviously in your best interests to pass the second time around; continuous retakes do get expensive, as you can imagine.

Knowing how popular a cert is might seem unnecessary at face value, but it can be a rough way of predicting how familiar employers may be with that certification. Gyms are more likely to be familiar with a certification if there’s a higher chance that trainers applying for jobs at their facility hold that certification. Although, this is just a rough measure because this isn’t always the case. As an example, the NSCA CSCS is extremely popular and well known, but due to the difficulty of its material very few trainers hold one.

To learn more about how popular each certification is, let’s look at two metrics—search data on Google and enrollment figures by certification. Although this information does not allow us to accurately extrapolate why an organization is more well-known, it can still tell us roughly how well known they are.

Let’s take a look at enrollment first.

When it comes to enrollment, more trainers enroll in ACE’s program, with around 30% more enrollment overall.

The next statistic we will look at is search data. This metric displays how many people actually search for each cert as they browse the web for options.

This data suggests that google search habits are different between ACE and ISSA. Although it is impossible to definitively know why, this may be for a number of different reasons. For example, the populations interested in each organization may have different internet search habits, candidates may use different search terms, non-candidate traffic can skew results, and individuals searching for other topics may use those search terms which skews results.

The latter point may be a strong contributing factor as to why enrollment figures differ so much from search trends, because ACE is associated with the name of multiple companies and characters in fiction, while ISSA is much more unique.

The amount of time it takes for you to go through each CPT program and take the exam is an important factor that may influence your final decision.

“How long does it take to become a personal trainer?” Well, it depends.

How much time you have available to study will influence how much time you can spend weekly on exam prep. This will in turn influence the total number of weeks you’d need in order to be ready to successfully complete the exam and pass. 

Other factors like your ability to study effectively, ability to retain information, and prior familiarity with topics covered on the exam will influence how quickly you finish studying as well.

There is plenty of variation in how long candidates might need to study, but each certification package is designed with a candidate that has no prior experience and is worse than average at studying in mind. This allows for a higher proportion of candidates to have the resources and time they need to complete the exam successfully than if the certification programs were only designed for the best-prepared and fastest-learning candidates. At the end of the day, certification programs want you to pass and earn their certification if you are qualified to do so. It’s why they prepare you for success to the best of their ability. It’s also why many certifications, including ACE and ISSA, come with an exam enrollment period that’s on the longer end.

The enrollment period is the amount of time from when you purchase and sign-up for your cert to the deadline for your exam. However, many candidates finish studying well before reaching this deadline.

Let’s have a look at how long you’re allowed for each:

ACE comes out on top with the most flexible enrollment period of 9 months, while ISSA grants you just six months, which is still fairly adequate but significantly less leeway in terms of time management.

Where ISSA does come good is their built-in ten weeks guided study system.

This does all the time management for you, allowing you to study appropriately at a reasonable pace, and making your test ready in just under half the allotted enrollment period.

This guided study system isn’t rocket science, however, and can be easily replicated with ACE, which has the advantage of having three whole months more to work with.

Here’s the one you’ve been waiting for, the average income each certification could potentially earn you.

Income stats are vital when selecting which credentials to gain for your PT career. Knowing how much you stand to make is important for any career choice. How much can a personal trainer make with an ACE cert vs an ISSA credential?

These statistics aren’t easy to come by, but fortunately, we managed to rustle up some fairly accurate average annual income estimates for both certs. It’s also important to keep in mind that your earning potential will vary depending on a ton of different factors like your geographic location, the type of gym you work at, your total number of certifications, and years of experience.

ACE wins out again by having the most lucrative income statistics. This means as an ACE trainer, you’re likely to earn more than an ISSA coach.

ISSA certified personal trainers, however, end up with approximately 13% less annually than ACE certified personal trainers. However, this may also just reflect differences in the type of clients and type of gyms that different certification holders prefer to work with and at.

Another interesting and important factor that could very well sway your decision despite other categories meeting your standards is the scope of focus each cert has.

This is an indication of the trajectory your career could take once you qualify.

Each certifying agency has its areas of focus, and that’s the direction or niche they aim to point to successful candidates.

ACE is focused on general habit optimization. That means through ACE’s curriculum, you’re learning how to improve your clients’ routines and attitudes in the long term toward a healthier lifestyle.

This is part of the reason why ACE is so popular. It addresses issues that most clients fundamentally struggle with – and, that if go unaddressed, will prevent them from achieving their health goals long-term.

ISSA focuses more on the practical aspects of programming and program implementation.

Since a decent portion most of the work you’ll be doing as a certified personal trainer involves exercise programming and program modification, the ISSA certification can be helpful when trying to fulfill your personal trainer responsibilities. However, none of this really matters if your clients don’t end up sticking with exercise in the first place.

We wish both certifications spent a little more time on the online business aspect of fitness training since this has been a market that more modern trainers end up tapping into at some point in their career. ISSA does have some basic information which can help you learn a bit about how to become an online personal trainer, but it’s not comprehensive. As it stands, online training is positioned to be a big part of the future of personal training.

Each of the certs does have some good offerings in terms of specializations.

If you are interested in working in a specialized area of personal training, you should check out the following niches offered by ISSA and ACE.

• ISSA SAC
• ISSA GROUP
• ISSA Nutritionist
• ACE FNS
• ACE GROUP

At Trainer Academy, we also have free study help for other certs:

For NASM, there is a NASM CPT study guide and NASM test questions.

If you pick the NSCA CSCS, we have a practice CSCS test and CSCS exam prep.

And then, for the ACSM personal trainer certification, you can look at our free ACSM study guide and ACSM practice test.

All of these are quality options to consider on your trainer journey!

All good things must come to an end, and the same is true for your new, shiny ACE or ISSA certification.

That’s because once you’ve certified, the clock begins ticking for the expiry of your certification.

This means that you’ll need to renew your fitness certification when the time comes and to do that, you will need to fulfill certain requirements.

Requirements such as paying a nominal recertification fee, but chief among them is the CEU requirement.

CEUs or continuing education units are time-based credits that prove that you’ve maintained active learning and development as a trainer.

CEUs are gained by completing other certification programs, courses, workshops, and other approved academic activities.

So let’s take a look at the requirements for both ACE and ISSA.

Both ACE and ISSA have the same CEU requirements; however, ISSA recertification wins out by being the cheaper one to recertify.

Both ISSA and ACE are well known certifying bodies that offer fully accredited personal trainer certification exams which are recognized by most employers out there.

Both certifications offer value to an aspiring personal trainer, and that value differs between organizations. 

Future fitness professionals can benefit from either one of these certification courses because both certifications allow them to work in the industry as a fitness professional.

However, we believe that ACE is the better one overall, albeit by a slight margin.

That doesn’t mean ACE is definitely the one for you. You’ll need to weigh up all the factors against your own preferences and circumstances, and we hope this article made that task a little easier. We also have an ACE vs NASM breakdown if you’re looking at that organization or ISSA vs NASM.

References

1. Foundations and Applications for a Certified Personal Trainer. books.issaonline.com. https://books.issaonline.com/product/Foundations-and-Applications-for-a-Certified-Personal-Trainer-
2. ‌Malek MH, Nalbone DP, Berger DE, Coburn JW. Importance of health science education for personal fitness trainers. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. 2002;16(1):19-24. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11834102/
3. ‌MELTON BF, ROMANCHIK-CERPOVICZ JE, RYAN GA, GALLAGHER CG. The Influence of Education on the Nutritional Knowledge of Certified Fitness Professionals. International Journal of Exercise Science. 2021;14(4):239-249. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8136576/
4. Cieslinski Q. Comparing Personal Training and Strength and Conditioning Certifications Across Multiple Organizations. Published online January 1, 2016.
5. Akerson M. Investigating Personal Fitness Trainers’ Qualifications. Published online January 1, 2014.
6. Waryasz GR, Daniels AH, Gil JA, Suric V, Eberson CP. Personal trainer demographics, current practice trends and common trainee injuries. Orthopedic Reviews. 2016;8(3). doi:https://doi.org/10.4081/or.2016.6600
7. Brust S. Nutrition Content of NCCA Personal Fitness Trainer Certification Curriculums. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. 2014;114(9):A93. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jand.2014.06.317
8. Craig AC, Eickhoff-Shemek JM. EDUCATING AND TRAINING THE PERSONAL FITNESS TRAINER. ACSM’s Health & Fitness Journal. 2009;13(2):8-15. doi:https://doi.org/10.1249/fit.0b013e318198e4cc