7 Ways Recertification Improves Your Personal Training Career

There are many excellent reasons to recertify and keep your personal training credential valid. The most common is that you want to keep working as a trainer and you need it to keep your job. But even if your job doesn’t require certification, it’s a good idea to stay certified.

Expert Tips: 7 Ways Recertification Can Improve Your Personal Training Career

We asked experts why recertification matters. From potentially raising your income to meeting others’ needs, here are seven answers to consider.

• Increases Earning Potential

• Allows You to Specialize 

• Keeps You Updated

• Maintains Valid Certifications

• Enables You to Serve Clients a Fresh “Recipe" 

• Continues Your Academic Progress

• Helps Meet More Client Needs

Increases Earning Potential

Continuing education can help fitness professionals to increase their earning potential. As they gain new skills and knowledge, personal trainers can charge more for their services, and attract more high-paying clients. 

With a wider range of skills and knowledge, they may offer new services, such as specialized training programs, which can command higher fees. Additionally, fitness professionals who have completed additional certifications or training may negotiate higher pay rates or find more lucrative employment opportunities. 

By investing in their education and professional development, they can set themselves apart from the competition and gradually increase their earning potential.

Natalia Brzezinska, Marketing & Outreach Manager, UK Passport Photo

Learn more: Top Personal Trainer Salary by Sector, Gym, and State

Allows You to Specialize 

There are two main types of continuing education courses: those that provide more general knowledge on the topic, and those that dive deeper into a specific theme. The latter allows you to specialize in a particular area of health and fitness, whether that's nutrition for a specific age group, exercise conditioning, stress management‌, etc. 

Specialization is necessary because it will help position you as an expert in your field. There are already dozens of generalists in the industry, but there may be specific areas where clients struggle and need deeper support. Your specialization will allow you to provide your audience with a more personalized training experience. Not to mention, you'll be able to confidently offer premium rates, knowing you're one percent ahead of other professionals in your field.

Learn more: What Is a Fitness Specialization and Do You Need One?

Stephan Baldwin, Founder, Assisted Living Center

Keeps You Updated

There's so much knowledge, studies, and constantly developing information with the health and fitness industry. With new machinery, equipment, findings, and experimentations, new methods to gain results evolve. Getting a new certification helps a fitness professional stay up to date with the latest technologies, knowledge, and best methods to get the best results.

John Gardner, Co-Founder & CEO, Kickoff

Maintains Valid Certifications

The primary goal of gaining CECs is to maintain the validity of your certification. You can train customers, buy liability insurance, use nearby facilities, and promote yourself as a professional trainer with your PT certification. Your company might not grow and succeed if your certification expires. 

Additionally, the cost of retaking your certification exam will be higher than the cost of the courses. If the primary purpose of your CECs is to renew your certification, choose courses that are simple to finish. Spend less money by enrolling in free online and magazine courses, but be sure your certification organization will accept them.

Brian Clark, Founder, United Medical Education

Learn more: How to Renew Your Personal Training Certification

Enables You to Serve Clients a Fresh "Recipe" 

Aside from the athletic side of fitness training, there is the psychological side. Clients, as we know, are incredibly susceptible to mental burnout and disinterest when subjected to a rigidly monotonous regimen lacking freshness. 

This is why it is vital to regularly sprinkle in a new perspective and garnish your existing training methods with fresh approaches. This gives your clients something new and exciting to look forward to. But more than the freshness of these approaches, they need to work and deliver expected results efficiently. 

It is such innovative, fresh, but effective approaches that you learn from continued fitness education. More than keeping you abreast with the latest fitness developments, continuing education enables you to understand the client's needs and unique conditions more comprehensively and accurately than you would have with a one-off education.

Lotus Felix, CEO, Lotus Brains Studio

Continues Your Academic Progress

Irrespective of whether you decide to pursue a specialty, you must maintain your certification through continuing education. Additionally, it keeps you on track with the most recent developments in weight loss, exercise, and wellness. 

There are more ways to stay updated and continue learning, besides the lectures, seminars, and other options your certification organization will offer to gain credentials. Many courses are available from the IDEA Health & Fitness Association, both in person and online. Additionally, they hold an annual meeting called the IDEA World Convention where you can complete practically all of your necessary courses in a couple of weekends.

Cynthia Hamilton, Marketing Director, OGLF

Helps Meet More Client Needs 

There are countless ways for personal trainers to specialize their skills and connect with new clients. Recertifying helps legacy trainers ensure that they're giving the best advice possible to their clients and staying up to date on fitness trends. 

However, continuing education allows for specialization, including information that can allow trainers to provide excellent service to diverse populations. For example, it's not always safe for prenatal and post-natal women to train as a teenager would. Specialized certifications allow trainers to ensure that their clients are doing the best for their bodies and their families. 

Trainers can also get certified for particular sports, so they can help their clients excel on the field, in the pool, or on the track, making a difference for their teams and their futures.

Erny Peibst, Founder & CEO, Inside Bodybuilding

Expand Your Education

Not yet certified? Start your journey with ISSA’s Personal Training Certification course. You’ll learn the essentials of anatomy, exercise science, programming, business, and more. It’s the perfect way to kickstart your training career.