Has anyone been certified through AFAA?

by Jenise
(CT)

Hello. I am currently studying online for personal training but I decided I need to see more of the physical aspect in person. I have herd of AFAA and was wondering if someone could tell me more about them who has either been through the program or is currently right now. Also would you recommend it?

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AFAA Certification
by: M.Hayes

Hi Jenis, Congrats on your decision to work on getting a personal training certification. I have been certified with AFAA for several years, and I think it is a good certification. I think a lot of people think it is a easy cert to get but you really have to study hard for it. AfAA has a 3 day workshop, but I think you need to study the textbook for a couple of months before the workshop. If you don't have much experience with the material, the workshop can be intense. They cover a lot in 3 days. The test is given at the end of the workshop. I know a lot of people that failed because they did not study the book before hand. I would recommend AfAA, but it really depends on where you want to work. if you have a idea of where you want to work you may want to ask what certs they look for. Personally I think NASM is the best personal training cert in the industry. I am impressed with the model that they use to train clients. The NASM exam is much harder than AFAA. Hope that helps.

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AFAA Cert Ptocess is poorly planned and executed
by: Anonymous

While I am still awaiting my results, more than a month later, I was initially disappointed by the lack of information provided about the process and location of my workshop and exam. I had to call to find out exactly which room on the state university campus the class and exam would be held in, as it was not made available to me, even after making the purchase online. I actually attend the University so I was aware of the parking situation and planned appropriately. However, there were several attendees who were not familiar with the campus and were therefore late. One person even had their car towed due to parking in the wrong location. A few tips on the venue would have been very helpful.

Upon arriving I was further disappointed to find that making just one mistake on the entire practical portion of the exam would result in failure. While I had practiced the practical portion well, with all the money and time (including a vacation day from work) I had put into this, I was very nervous and bound to make at least one mistake. On top of that we were made to wait in place, ready to take the practical exam for about 30 minutes, for a reason I am still not aware of. This just added to my nervousness.

When taking the written portion of the exam we were not provided desks. We were actually made to sit outside the workout room, on the floor to take our written exam. The fact that there was a racketball tournament going on in the gym with people all over and classes going on with music blaring through open doors made it very difficult to concentrate.

Finally, we were told we could expect our results in a month via e-mail. I figured they said that to fend off a bunch of phone calls in the beginning, because I couldn’t see how an organization could be successful with that kind of actual turn around. If it were me and my customers paid the amount of money that I did, I’d be embarrassed to tell them it will take a month for your results. However, it’s been over a month now and it’s difficult to even get an email regarding the status of my results.

Overall, I feel that the certification process for AFAA is poorly planned and poorly executed. I will not be a returning customer for further certifications or continuing education.

Has anyone been certified through AFAA?

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