Thread: Don't get ISSA certified

outch ya i found that out the hard way. mine was only 500 though. some gyms take it but that is like a ballys. bigger gyms that require real knowledge will tell you get a diffrent cert. they will pay you a bit more for being double certified though.

Yeah I made that mistake several months ago. It was $600 something, and I guess I thought NSCA or NASM were gonna be more than that, which is why I went with ISSA. Luckily I got a great job working for a private contracting company out of Malvern, PA. Pay won't be anything special for a while starting out, but the people are great and there's always more to learn from the veteran trainers.

they got my 600$ too, freakin worthless

ISSA is certainly a joke. I went through NASM, its pretty good for basic info. If you have a degree go with the CSCS, its great for atheltics.

NASA?

Nasm*

like i said issa is a good way to get your foot in the door. some gyms will pay your more after you get another cert for have two. also its cheap if you know your shit but want some thing in writing for insurance purposes. other than that its kind of a waste. ballys will hire you though wahoo.

^^^^^ Very true

Originally Posted by Double D

ISSA is certainly a joke. I went through NASM, its pretty good for basic info. If you have a degree go with the CSCS, its great for atheltics.

I got the CSCS 3 years ago and learned a great deal of stuff from it, but most of the stuff is outdated. I looked over a buddy's ISSA test and it was a joke. I think the CSCS gives you a lot of bargaining power, but if you want to learn general population stuff and anatomy, the NASM PES and CES programs are top notch, although they focus a little too heavily on the rehab side. At the end of the day, once you get a cert and read books that are not geared to a specific certification, you are going to form your own opinions and do things your own way, which can be both good and bad depending on what you are reading.

Originally Posted by Dale Mabry

I got the CSCS 3 years ago and learned a great deal of stuff from it, but most of the stuff is outdated. I looked over a buddy's ISSA test and it was a joke. I think the CSCS gives you a lot of bargaining power, but if you want to learn general population stuff and anatomy, the NASM PES and CES programs are top notch, although they focus a little too heavily on the rehab side. At the end of the day, once you get a cert and read books that are not geared to a specific certification, you are going to form your own opinions and do things your own way, which can be both good and bad depending on what you are reading.

Very good explanation. Far to many trainers that I hire come into the gym with a cookie cutter approach to things. And my job is to try and get their mindset from that to their own way of thinking. Can be tricky sometimes, but I certainly couldnt imagine doing anything else.

I am generally confused. ISSA is worthless, why?

I am not being facetious, I know you dont NEED a cert to be a trainer sometimes, so why is ISSA worthless? With that being said, wouldnt all of them be worthless?

I guess what I thought when I first entered this thread is that someone had a ISSA cert and was not hired because of it.

ISSA doesnt cover much, its so basic its pointless. Also very few places will hire you with it.

well it is worthless becouse alot of the bigger name gyms will not hire you as a trainer. they will hire you as a junior or assistant trainer till you get some thing they except. like i said ballys will take it but they are about a joke. smaller gyms will usualy except it as well but the pay is not great. mostly it is good for insurance purposes if you are running your own thing. perfect example lifestyle/california fitness will hire you as a junior trainer. basicaly you get like base pay thats it. once you get a cert they except they up your pay rate. starting rate is 30 plus base. if you are double certified it goes up. hope that helps a little akira.

ya there test covers a wide spectrum of things. not enough in depth info for actual real world practice. every thing is basic intro knowledge.

Does any one have a ISSA practice test? I'm just curious how easy this test really is.
I'm trying to find a job selling gym memberships, it might help to get an easy cert real quick first.

The text book contains a dozen of errors like medial deltoid and tensor fascia latae. They have idiotic rules like '2 for 2', 'machines are great for beginners', 'deadlifting is bad'. You can get certified infront of your pc. Etc, etc, etc.

@ JailHouse: just go for 'online certification' and look everything up in the text book. Don't give honoust answers though. Cite the text book.

Really.

ya bro i have it still. but really you dont need it. like witchblade said. when you go to do your practice pt sessions follow the book. i got point deducted becouse they said i didnt follow there principles. didnt follow them becouse they were stupid.

Originally Posted by Witchblade

@ JailHouse: just go for 'online certification' and look everything up in the text book. Don't give honoust answers though. Cite the text book.

Really.

Originally Posted by tomuchgear

ya bro i have it still. but really you dont need it. like witchblade said. when you go to do your practice pt sessions follow the book. i got point deducted becouse they said i didnt follow there principles. didnt follow them becouse they were stupid.

Thanks guys. I know I don't NEED it but it would be cool to have. How long did it take you guys to get the cert?

after i passed like a couple weeks at most. its a longer test but its really not hard. all you need to do is just have a basic knowledge of things. then you have two case studies, then like six essay questions. if you order it they will send you all that stuff. if not let me know i can find all my crap its around here some were. all multiple choice till the studies, and the essay questions.

Took me 4 evenings to get 85% on the seminar exam. Only read half of the book. They give 25% of the questions away in the seminar and cover almost 50%.

NSCA
ACSM
NASM

nuff said

Hmmmmm, I am getting my ISSA certification right now. Didn't like the thought of an online class and doing it on my own without hands on training but it's defintely making me learn what I need to know (basics) for running my gym. Wow, wish I would have come across this thread prior to ordering it. I paid $500.00 (it was a special they were running). I have all thebooks and tests and stuff if anyone was interested in seeing it.

I believe they were offering a certain percent off of that cert last month. If a gym will accept it then take it and build some money up until you can take one of the other good ones. Some of my trainers take the NASM or ACSM and then take the ISSA to add a level (levels are what kinds of prices they can sell at). The major thing is never stop learning, whenever you get CEU's just go to places that deal with what you work with. Its pointless for me to take a continuing ed course over something like athletes (As I dont train to many). Instead I am better off taking pathology and rehabilitation of the knee and shoulder. Search cloud 9 fitness out of st.louis, they offer really affordable CEU's and they teach you alot.

Sorry I got off on the CEU's rant, but after you finish that cert you may want to continue to improve your knowledge of fitness.

i have pretty much come to the conclusion that all certifications are BS, because they have no hands on portition of the test that challenges your knowledge and abilities.

Read lots of books and try and apply things.