NASM vs ACE (Battle of The Giants): Which PT Cert Is Better?

There are few personal training certification programs with the heritage and popularity of ACE and NASM.

These two are unequivocally the biggest boys in the room when it comes to fitness training programs!

They are often neck-in-neck when it comes to stats and success scores.

They have the biggest reputations in the game and are the most sought after by trainers and employers alike.

But, is ACE or NASM better?

In this article, we review and compare the following on NASM vs ACE CPT Certification:

We promise you will be able to make an apt comparison and differentiate between these two goliaths of industry.

So with that said, let’s jump in and see the ACE certification vs NASM certification!

CPT	ACSM vs ACE Quick Breakdown	Features	Price
	NASM	The most popular and recognized certification providers in the world Specializing in corrective exercise technique methodology Great for newcomers and seasoned professionals	Check NASM Pricing
	ACE	One of the most popular and highly regarded certification providers in the world A non-profit organization that drives many community-based projects A good entry point for new, up-and-coming fitness professionals and group fitness experts	Check ACE Pricing

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One things we have to mention right off the bat is how valuable getting both training and nutrition certifications together can be.

When someone begins any fitness program, nutrition plays a huge role in their overall results and although most of the certs cover a bit of the basics, they don’t fully equip you to structure a client’s diet, which is where having that extra qualification comes into play.

If you have both certifications, you can charge more per hour, and you add more value to any coaching or training staff because you know more and can fulfill both of those roles. The more you invest in your own knowledge and in your credentials, the higher likelihood you’ll succeed right away.

That’s why at Trainer Academy we recommend you get both training and nutritional certifications as soon as possible.

The only issue is that it can be pretty expensive to buy two certifications.

Luckily, NASM has a great deal where you can get their personal training certification and nutrition coach cert for $999. Double check their website to see if it’s still available, but you should strongly consider it given the benefits of having both certs as a new trainer.

Accreditation

Before we even begin to take a look under the hood of these certified personal trainer certification agencies, it’s important to observe one special consideration.

This aspect is probably the first and foremost thing you should look at when picking a cert to qualify in, and that’s accreditation.

Accreditation is a seal of authenticity issued by one or several expert panels of governing bodies in charge of licensing an institution or business in a specific field.

In the case of health and fitness certifying agencies such as the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM) and the American Council on Exercise (ACE), accreditation works to legitimize the quality and methodology of educational services provided.

This is provided by NCCA Accreditation, a non-profit organization also called the National Commission for Certifying Agencies.

In fact, pretty much all the major certifications you will encounter in our reviews and insights are accredited by the NCCA.

It is the gold standard, the seal of authenticity we all know and trust.

In this category, ACE and NASM both hit the same mark. They are both nationally accredited personal training certifications.

Cost of Study Packages

Cost is an important factor when deciding which certification to go for and which certifying agency to approach.

CPT certification pricing for both ACE and NASM find themselves in similar positions, but this time not in the most ideal way. They’re certainly not the cheapest CPT certifications.

Both certs costs, at least on face value, are among two of the most pricey options you can look at.

We say face value because while the price is relatively high, it’s also totally worth it.

Torn between the NASM or ACE certification?

Both have a multi-package offering. Each package is tiered based on what study support materials you get and is therefore priced accordingly.

ACE has 3 standard tiers, while NASM has 4.

As you can see, NASM barely comes out as the more expensive option.

The total average for NASM certification courses is $1140.25 while ace averages out at $1115.70.

So purely on price competitiveness, the ACE personal training certification comes out on top. NASM wins one back through variety and having the cheaper tier 1 package.

However,  how much something costs needs to match up with its value.

For this, we’ll have to take a deeper look at the actual study materials to learn which cert is really worth it.

Check out the current price of each certification by clicking the links below.

• NASM
• ACE

NASM also scores a point on value when you consider their Elite Trainer Bundle. You can get 6-different certifications at a reduced rate.

This will give you a greater job opportunity because with this you can specialize in corrective exercise, strength and conditioning, along with nutrition and group fitness.

Finding your niche as a trainer is incredibly important because you can cater to a different type of client and get payed more because you are an expert on a certain area of fitness.

Having more knowledge will also set you apart from the basic cookie cutter trainer out there and you can design workouts and meals for your client that harness all of your scientific expertise.

We definitely recommend you give the Elite Trainer Bundle a shot if it’s still available at NASM. Head over to their website for details.

Quality of Study Materials

Again, is NASM or ACE better?

Both the NASM training certification and the ACE fitness certification certainly offer top-notch studying material!

ACE or NASM certification both come with the standard offerings you would expect.

The tier 1 packages of both certs sport the course hard copy textbook, a few options for practice tests and quizzes, access to the final exam, and a couple of supplementary materials.

ACE certification personal trainer program being slightly cheaper and having similar materials wins the tier 1 battle. 

However, things take a turn with the final tier. While ACE is definitely packing a lot with the ‘Advantage’ package, the NASM certified personal trainer All-inclusive package has more to offer.

Let’s take a look at what each cert presents to get a better idea.

From both of these tables, we can see how ACE and NASM study materials break down. 

Each covers the essentials of exercise science, biomechanics, wellness principles, and even some basic anatomy and kinesiology.

You may also check each certification program’s exercise library to learn exercises and progressions.

One thing that stuck out when it came to NASM was the sheer volume of resources, especially in the upper-tier packages.

The ACE personal trainer certification has great offerings too, but a bit less in terms of variety.

Personal training is a career, a business, an enterprise, and that’s why we really like the inclusion of the Business Accelerator in the top two tiers of the NASM packages, another bonus (although we wish they had more information on how to be a successful online trainer, which is important these days).

Once all is said and done, we give both ACE and NASM a score of 7/10 each.

While NASM has quite a deep variety of self-study support materials, ACE isn’t far behind and certainly clinches the best price title.

The team of experts from Trainer Academy who have taken and passed the NASM CPT certification and the ACE CPT exam has created well-researched and tested study materials to help you pass your exams in your first attempt.

Use the link to access the NASM MVP study package and ACE MVP study package.

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Exam Layout and Passing Grade

Is the ACE or NASM easier?

Let’s look at the NASM vs. ACE certification exam layouts and difficulty.

Is it well structured and comprehensive?

Is it going to help you solidify the skills and knowledge you’ve gained or is it just a regurgitation of memorized facts?

The NASM personal trainer certification exam is 120 multiple choice questions deep. You will be required to complete these within two hours.

The exam was originally administered only through a registered PSI facility, but can now be taken online via remote live proctoring.

You’ll need a minimum score of 70% to pass.

To do that, you will want to learn the areas of focus so you can manage your study time and resources efficiently.

Let’s look at how the exam content is broken down:

From this table, you can tell that the most crucial concepts to grasp are Exercise Technique and Training Instruction Workout Program Design and Assessment.

We feel this is very appropriate since those three areas form the bulk of practical engagement for most PTs in the business.

Now let’s look at what ACE brings to the table with its exam.

The ACE final exam is 150 questions long and runs for 3 hours.

Just like NASM, ACE’s examinations are conducted in approved PSI testing facilities, but there’s now the option to take a remote exam with live invigilation.

This is done through your computer’s laptop, allowing for a similar degree of in-exam monitoring as you’d expect from a real-world test scenario.

The exam itself is spread across four domains of focus. Each of these is weighted differently in the exam, so let’s look at how it all breaks down.

As you can see, the focus of the ACE CPT exam is very much in the realm of programming and program implementation.

Both exams focus on the actual practice of personal training.

While the course in its entirety encompasses all relevant fundamentals of health and fitness from an academic standpoint, the exam is simply designed to make you an effective health coach.

This is a great approach and allows you to focus your study prep on practical skills rather than memorizing scientific facts, such as anatomical or biological pathways.

The layout of both the ACE and NASM exams is great and provides a challenge in relevant areas of professional fitness.

Familiarize yourself with the free NASM study guide and NASM practice test alongside the free ACE study guide and ACE practice test from Trainer Academy.

Taking practice exams may ensure comfortability with test-taking!

Exam Difficulty and Pass Rate

With the actual structure of the exams out of the way, let’s look at how hard they actually are.

This is yet another statistic that sees ACE and NASM coming close to face value.

NASM has a pass rate of 64.3% while ACE has one of 65%.

Pretty much the same right?

Wrong! In actual fact, the ACE exam turns out to be harder despite having a slightly higher pass rate, and here’s why.

The passing grades for NASM and ACE are vastly different from each other. That means the exam with a lower passing requirement, yet still has the same passing rate, is the harder exam.

Simply put, having a lower barrier of success, yet still having the same success rate makes achieving that success overall harder.

That’s the case with ACE because while NASM has a 70% pass mark minimum, ACE is set at 62.5%.

This can only mean ACE has a harder exam when looked at with all variables at play.

Also remember, ACE is a longer exam. 150 questions compared to NASM’s 120. Having a longer exam probably ups the difficulty somewhat as well.

So in conclusion, NASM is the clear winner of the exam battle in our estimation.

Though you might hold the perspective that a more challenging exam exhibits greater quality assurance in qualifying as a trainer.

Both exams offer a reasonable degree of challenge, so prepare adequately.

We offer some second-to-none additional study solutions that go beyond what comes in the box with both ACE and NASM.

At Trainer Academy, we’ve developed an extensive suite of study materials designed by experts who’ve taken the exams and passed.

Use these links to access the NASM MVP study package and ACE MVP study package.

Retake Fee

Should you happen to fail your final exam, fear not, there’s usually an opportunity to try again soon after.

Both ACE and NASM have a retest policy for candidates who fail their first or and subsequent exams.

The opportunity to retake your failed exam comes at an additional cost of course.

Let’s take a look:

As you can see, both ACE and NASM have the same retake fee. 

Be wary of exam retakes.

If you’re not adequately prepared, you may end up spending more on just the retakes than you did on simply buying the certification package.

Certification Popularity

The popularity of both ACE and NASM places them as the top two certifications of all the NCCA gold standard certs we promote.

We’re going to look at two statistics to gain a clear picture of the popularity of these certs.

First, let’s look at enrolment figures.

Enrollment is an average of the annual number of people who buy each cert. It doesn’t show how many actually pass and qualify, we’ve already gone through that with the pass rates.

From this data, it seems NASM is miles ahead of ACE in terms of enrolment figures, a clear winner!

Another metric we can observe is searching for data. This figure shows which cert is statistically more sought after based on what people type into their internet search.

As you can see, both NASM and ACE are dead even when it comes to daily search queries.

So if more people are actively enrolling in NASM than ACE, yet the same amount of people are curious in either, what could be the reason?

Our theory is that it all boils down to marketing strategy.

NASM has a more active and far-reaching marketing strategy it would seem. 

NASM’s advertising machine extends as far as television commercials and also includes some affiliate and influencer marketing.

ACE takes a more conservative approach to advertise its educational services. They rely more on one industry reputation and affiliation with academic and professional organizations in the field.

This could mean NASM has a significantly larger marketing budget, explaining why it is statistically the most expensive cert overall.

Expected Study Time

Expected study time is subject to the test taker and their circumstances. So how long does it take to become a personal trainer with ACE or NASM?

If you are someone with a fairly relaxed schedule, and an abundance of so-called free time, there’s no reason why it should take you more than 3 months from enrollment to take and pass either organizations’s test.

If however, you have pre-existing commitments such as a full-time job, management of a household, or other academic commitments you would want to manage your time more effectively.

Ultimately, you need to beat the enrollment window.

The enrollment window is the period of time from when you buy your cert up until the test deadline.

This is the time in which you are permitted to get certified, failure of which will mean forfeiting the opportunity or paying for re-enrollment.

Let’s look at the enrollment periods for each, shall we?

So there you have it, ACE will permit you to qualify within 9 months, while NASM will allow only 6 months.

This means ACE gets the win on this one.

If you are a busy body and need help managing your study time, you’re at the right place.

Trainer Academy actually specializes in providing structured, guided study timetables with our study blueprint and cram guide that comes packages with most of our premium study materials.

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Average Income

Now here’s an exciting stat, one that many of you reading this will have been waiting for.

“How much can I make after becoming a personal trainer” is a question we get a lot. The truth is, it all depends on you.

There are way too many variables to be able to conclusively determine a fixed figure.

We did however manage to gain some sample data on what the average earnings are for both ACE and NASM cert holders. Let’s break it down:

Again we have a result where both ACE and NASM are statistically the top two and also very close, in terms of making money as a personal trainer.

But just like many other instances, NASM edges out ACE, albeit by an almost insignificant amount.

Personal trainer salary, especially where it concerns what cert a trainer holds, hinges on many variables.

With ACE and NASM, the industry reputation of these certs certainly gives their holder’s hiring and career privileges.

That means trainers with either cert have a more rewarding job hunting experience and can get towards a comfortable income sooner than others.

We can also look at the cost of both ACE and NASM as a factor that influences the income potential of cert holders.

Being that they are the two most expensive certifications means that they will likely have a higher percentage of candidates that sit higher on the socioeconomic scale.

Candidates in a higher income category, to begin with, will probably have the support and resources available to leverage into accelerated career growth and business development.

This will end up boosting income potential and raise the overall stats in that regard, giving you a good personal trainer career outlook.

Primary Focus Of Certification

One thing you’ll find interesting about the different certifications out there is that all of them have their own unique take on what they consider an important issue or area of focus.

While all are aimed at equipping passionate candidates with the skills to be able to train individuals from a range of population groups, each has its signature.

Did you know about the ACE senior fitness certification?

You may earn not only that specialization but others as well!

Learn more about how to get ACE certification in any other area that appeals to you and fits your career goals.

ACE is primarily driven towards public health awareness through change psychology and behavioral modification.

That is to say, ACE takes up the mantle as a cert that equips trainers to be able to change the habits of their clients, starting with remapping attitudes before reforging the body.

This is implemented through ACE’s IFT model or Integrated Fitness Training.

This is a program design model where the client is given some reign over its development.

By factoring in or integrating the client’s goals and current setbacks, a more personal approach aimed at changing behavior is developed.

This allows you as a trainer not only to guide clients through individualized progress but also allows you to maintain safety and assurance through it all.

Next, we have NASM and its approach to fitness.

The NASM personal training certification leans towards corrective exercise and performance enhancement.

But what exactly is meant by corrective exercise?

Simply put, it’s a bunch of exercise methodologies and protocols aimed at improving weaknesses, imbalances, and deviations.

Corrective exercise might mean balancing antagonistic muscle pairs, realigning spinal deviations, post-recovery rehab, or pre-performance prehab.

This is done through the OPT model, short for Optimal Performance Training.

The premise is to build a stable biomechanical foundation that will make it easier for clients to achieve any common fitness goal.

The OPT model starts with stabilization. This is one of the most fundamental areas of physical fitness, second probably to having decent cardio.

Being able to balance and stabilize are essential for human movement.

Next up is strong, having the ability to move and object in your environment effectively.

Last in the OPT model is power. Power is determined by how much strength you can exert in a given amount of time. The more strength in as little time as possible, the more overall power.

Power helps you respond to physically stressful situations with more control and speed.

Ultimately, what NASM personal trainers and the OPT model aim to do is to equip people with the ability to take control of their bodies and enjoy a longer, more productive life by doing so.

At the end of it all, we can see that both ACE and NASM PT certifications are aiming toward improving the health and wellbeing of the average person.

They both fulfill teaching the major aspects needed in the personal trainer job description.

ACE takes a more general approach with regards to public health behaviors while NASM is more systemic with regards to the pillars of fitness.

If you really want to get specific in terms of strength and conditioning programming we recommend looking at the NSCA CSCS certification. This cert will give you all the tools to train athletes. We have a CSCS practice exam to see if you’re ready to pass that cert and CSCS study material to get you ready!

CEU Requirements

When you certify through a trusted certifying agency such as ACE or NASM, you will eventually need to renew your certification to keep your qualifications relevant.

This is done to keep up with industry and research trends since our understanding of health and fitness sciences and practices is constantly evolving.

Recertification is typically necessary every two years with a few exceptions.

ACE and NASM are not exceptions, and you will need to recertify once every two years from your initial certification.

This requires you to pay a fee and submit CEUs, or continuing education units.

CEUs may be earned by taking online courses, attending seminars, webinars, live workshops, and even earning other certifications.

Certified by NASM?

Add the NASM Nutrition certification! A good nutritionist certification will increase your income potential and mean you can get hired for a nutrition coach job. We have a breakdown of the ISSA Nutritionist vs NASM CNC if you are looking at both and need some help deciding.

Go on to earn your NASM group exercise certification and become a fitness instructor.

If you choose the NASM group exercise certification, you will not only obtain CEUs, but you will then be able to instruct group classes!

These time-measured academic credits allow you to qualify for recertification by proving that you have remained active and engaged in your career as a trainer.

Let’s look at the cost and CEU breakdown for both ACE and NASM.

From this, we can see that NASM has a better recertification policy, requiring a lower recertification fee.

Both ACE and NASM have the same CEU requirements.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Certification Take Away

NASM vs ACE certification; this was definitely a tough review.

ACE and NASM are the top personal training certifications in the US by stats and popularity.

So which is better ACE or NASM?

In any case, we will give NASM the overall win. It scores higher statistically than ACE, but only just.

At Trainer Academy we want to you to pick the best cert for you!

Of course there are options out there like the ISSA CPT the NCSF CPT or ACSM certification.

We have a NASM vs ISSA article which covers those two certs head to head as well as NASM vs ACSM.

With that said, your choice will hinge on individual preferences and circumstances.