I recently finished the NASM certified personal training (CPT) course. Since I’ve been training for many years and have at times thought about becoming a personal trainer, I figured now’s the time. It helps that I’ve gotten into the best shape of my life. I’d like to look the part if I’m showing people how to properly exercise. Taking a personal training course opened my eyes to many new things.
The course is quite affordable and I have a payment plan to make it that much easier to pay for. It’s relatively inexpensive to learn and earn with a new career in personal training. There are plenty of options when it comes to what I might ultimately decide to do with it.
I finished the course after I started writing this post
Being slow at writing blog posts, when I started writing this I was a couple of chapters in. Now that I’ve decided to finish and publish this post, I have completed the course and passed the exam. This means that I am a CPT. My immediate plans are to complete the nutrition coaching course that is part of the course package I ordered. There is also a virtual coaching course that I want to complete as that could be the wave of the future, or maybe the present for that matter.
I learned a lot more than I thought I would
Despite working out regularly for close to 30 years, I’ve learned a lot. I realize now that I’ve dropped the ball when it comes to warming up and balance training. My certified personal training course had also shown me the importance of using rollers for fascia stretching to combat soreness. Whatever the case, I now incorporate more balance and stretching into my workouts. I also make sure to get a short warm-up in before really going at it.
It was a slow start
Admittedly, I started out my online CPT course at a slow pace. I would do more studying when I had a day off from work but wasn’t in any hurry. There was plenty of time to get through it. You have 180 days from the date you purchase the course to complete the exam. It had been so long since I’d taken any class or course that I didn’t want to overdo it.
But a fast finish
My turning point came when I was a little more than halfway through the course and I went on vacation for a week and a half. I unsurprisingly did very little studying during this. When I got back home I decided to put more time into my NASM CPT course. It put more fire in my belly to finish when I would see the percentage completed get over 70%, then 80%, and so on.
Taking a personal training course exam
Once I finished the course I made sure to take the practice exam multiple times as each one is different, coming from a large pool of random questions. I ended up taking the practice exam 12 times and passed every time except for the one time I got disconnected and couldn’t get reconnected but it still recorded it. Even then I would’ve passed with one more correct answer and there were around 20 questions left. The exam itself had questions worded a bit differently than the practice exams, which made me a bit nervous. It was proctored as well, so I had somebody watching me even though I was sitting on my laptop at home. In the end, however, I passed the exam and recently received the physical copy of my certification.
So what now?
I know for sure that I would like to get into the virtual aspect of personal training. Especially with the events of the past year, it has become apparent how advantageous online personal training can be. By utilizing resources, such as this very blog, I feel I can reach way more people who want to make positive changes in their lives. Taking a personal training course was definitely worth it for this reason alone. I look forward to being a positive influence on others.