my take on why NASM is so popular in gyms

Let me start out by saying I'm a natural cynic.

I believe the real reason NASM seems to be so popular in gyms today is in no way due to the superiority of the NASM. I'm not actually criticizing the NASM's program. I know its good, but so are quite a few other organizations personal training program.

I've seen and heard many comments saying such things as "NASM looks good", or "NASM sounds good", both to the gyms, and out of the mouths of the gym fitness managers.

Why do they think this? Because it has the word "Medicine" in the name. If the NASM chose a name without "medicine" in it, I firmly believe they would be far less successful, and would have their total costs for certification, and their ridiculous renewal cost of a $100 added to the costs of the ceu's a trainer needs to earn more in line with the others. This $100 added fee is the highest of all the certifications.

Then why not just ACSM (also has medicine in it) with the gym popularity? Because the ACSM content and test has a reputation of being too full of anatomy and physiology and clinincal information. In other words, too hard to pass - too scary to take. BTW a decade ago, ACSM was incredibly valued by gyms.

I think the health club industry would actually prefer it, if their customers had the impression that a personal trainer certified by an agency with the word "medicine" in it is more qualified then they really are in terms of healthcare. And I think the NASM is more then happy to take advantage of this.

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is difficult
by: Anonymous

the NASM is no Joke, I studied with NSCA as well and NASM works more with todays population. I don't think its just the "medicine" part of the name, it's what is being taught to the fitness professional along with CEU's. I personally don't work in a gym however that was one of the hardest tests I have taken.

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NASM
by: Anonymous

I would disagree with the comment that its because it has Medicine in the title. Its because NASM is an application based program not a science based program. If you study anatomy that doesn’t make you a good trainer it makes you good at knowing muscles. With NASM you know how to train when you hit the floor. They teach you how to do proper assessments, building programs for every level of individuals and ensuring strengthening of tendons, ligaments, and correcting any compensations before taking clients into certain styles of training, they teach proper exercise technique, and cover nutrition as well. That’s why gyms like NASM. We like to have a trainer walk in ready to go!

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nasm sucks
by: Anonymous

i think anyone defending nasm is doing so because they probably paid for the overpriced cost of being able to call them selves a personal trainer.i work in a fitness club where the trainers are forced to work their clients through a nasm style of training.you have severely obese members paying for training that is more concerned with their balance/core than the type of cardio they should be implementing.ofcourse they have balance/core issues,theyre hundreds of pounds overweight.all personal training certs are another money making scam.and another way insurance companies and laywers get paid.some of our trainers lost a few pounds and thought to themselves,"maybe i can help others"!?!!

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It's all BS
by: Anonymous

Until the personal training industry becomes regulated and licensed NASM will keep taking your money!
Personal training is the wild wild west! Anyone can memorize a bunch of facts from a book and pass an exam.
Massage therapists have go to school in order to be licensed.

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Have you took the time to read the different curriculums out there?
by: Ricky

NASM is the most COMPLETE book ever written on program design, the OPT System is a complete A to Z system that covers all levels of training and all key training goals and needs, the concept of integrative training makes NASM training VERY holistic. And given that for years ive heard NASM style program design has its roots in physical therapy training theory, NASM education and training method is strongly founded on functional training and corrective n body alignment exercise therapy. NSCA is good for theoritical weight training and sports performance program design. (specifically the CSCS curriculum) ACSM is good for theoritical (notice I didnt say applied) program design, strong medical/clinical knowledge, strong anatomy/physiology/biomechanics knowledge, a strong personal training theory, and strong career design and fitness industry knowledge. So my take is if you are looking for theory knowledge then ACSM BUT if you are looking for DIRECT APPLICATIONS now its NASM.

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nasm
by: Anonymous

I am in the middle of nasm cpt course. it is way too extreme. I feel like a premed student with this. I feel stuck now since the cost was so high for the course. I will most likely drop this course and pursue a different career. no thanks nasm.

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Was wondering what the big deal is about NASM
by: Anonymous

Hello, I found this from a Google search for "Why do so many gyms want personal trainers certified by NASM?" Little background: I have a Bachelor's of Science in Exercise Science and am an NSCA-certified Personal Trainer and an ACSM-certified Exercise Physiologist. I also have all kinds of other certifications (for group ex, etc.). This all comes with the territory of working in fitness for over 20 years. In the last 10-15 years or so, I've noticed many gyms (especially commercial gyms) seem to be relatively unimpressed with my certifications and even my degree - instead, they just want trainers certified by NASM. NASM was around when I was in college, but certainly wasn't considered as prestigious an organization as ACSM or NSCA. From what I can gather, NASM is actually
much easier certification to pass than NSCA or ACSM. So I was trying to figure out why all the gyms seem to want this certification! From what I'm reading here, NASM takes a more "practical" approach (e.g., telling you how to start and progress people, etc). This makes sense (reminds me of a personal trainer cert I once got for a Bally's I used to work at), however, until someone can show me some data that implies clients of NASM-certified trainers are getting better results than clients of trainers certified by other organizations, I refuse to believe this certification is "better". I've personal trained many clients over the years and when I looked around, I noticed that virtually all trainers' clients looked approximately the same in fitness level. (You always have occasional outliers, of course, but on whole). I believe this is because the same thing that is causing the client to seek out a trainer (lack of motivation) is the same thing that causes the clients to be inconsistent (cancel a lot of sessions, not do their "homework", etc.) It's just the nature of personal training. Now, if I were to look around and see NASM-certified trainers training extremely fit clients who had worked their way up from being couch potatoes, I would say there is something special/better about the organization. But that isn't the case.

my take on why NASM is so popular in gyms

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