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| Step 1: Is Personal Training Right for Me?  Step 2: Get Certified Step 3: Get Ready to Run Step 4: Launch Your Business Step 5: Working with Clients
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Does NCCA Accreditation matter?
It depends on what you want to do with your certification. If you are looking for a long term career or are interested in starting a personal training business, the NCCA accredited programs will be the best personal trainer certifications for you. But NCCA is not the only accreditation. ISSA seems to be bucking the trend by pursuing accreditation through a CHEA (Council on Higher Education) and the U.S. DOE (Department of Education) approved accrediting body. While these accreditations may be meaningful, perceptions in the industry is what really counts. And currently, NCCA is the main accreditation.
If you just want to get your first job, don't want to spend a lot of time or money, or are unsure if personal training is going to be your career, you should choose one of the non-NCAA accredited programs from our free online personal training certification database.
This page contains only Non-NCCA accredited courses. You can also view pages on NCCA accredited, a summary of online course options, as well as our complete summary of all certification programs in our free online personal training certification database.
Our free online personal training certification database is the only one of its kind on the Internet. If you find this site useful, please consider supporting our site.
Each of the links in our free online personal training certification table will take you to our information page for each program.
| NPTI | ISSA | AFAA | |
| Certification | Certified Personal Trainer, Certified Nutritional Consultant, Diploma in Personal Training, CPR Certification |
Certified Fitness Trainer (CFT) | Personal Trainer |
| Established | 1988 | ||
| Workshop length | 500 hours | 2 days | 3 days |
| Workshop Availability | Locations in 23 U.S. cities and Online option | US major cities | |
| Program Cost | $5900 | $745 | $449 |
| Materials cost | Included | Included | $59 |
| Industry recognition | Med-High | Med-High | Med |
| NCCA accredited | No, but diploma program is state approved | No | No |
| Prerequisites | 18 years old, U.S. Citizen or Green Card (not required for online program), High School diploma or equivalent | High School Diploma, 18 years old, Adult CPR Certificate | Unavailable |
| Exam Questions | 160 | ||
| Exam Time | |||
| Exam Cost | Included | Included | Included |
| Retest Cost | one free online, $149 at seminar | ||
| Exam deadline | 2 years | ||
| Exam locations | Major US Cities | Major cities worldwide | |
| Time to Complete (Approx.) | 6 months (4 month and 12 month options available) | 13 to 16 weeks | |
| Recertification | N/A | every 2 years | yes |
| Recertification Cost (Approx.) | N/A | $600 | $600 |
While I have made every effort to ensure the accuracy of this free online personal training certification comparison table, please let me know if you think there are any mistakes. Organizations offer many similar programs and options. All of my information and cost estimates are based upon the base personal trainer certifications.
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