UPDATE: Use the code PTPNOVEMBER to receive between 35% and 50% (depending on the program) off the International Personal Trainer Academy MVP Study System. This deal ends on November 13th, 2024. Get the trial for any of their study systems here.
In this review, Iโll be guiding all you future Personal Trainers through what you will get and what you can expect to gain from the International Personal Trainer Academy premium study material packages.
Don’t forget to watch the video at the top of the page if you prefer to hear a review and see the program in use.
This review will focus specifically on the top-tier MVP packages, which are all-inclusive programs of up-to-date study materials.
I will break down each package component and give you an in-depth look at how to use it most effectively and the expected outcomes.
If youโre here, youโve probably more or less decided to go for one of my top recommended certifications.
If not, I suggest you take the quiz. It will help you determine which personal trainer certification suits you and your career aspirations.
Also, check out personal training certifications, free study guides, or the same premium materials from the International Personal Trainer Academy I will discuss here.
If you have any questions, donโt hesitate to leave me a comment here (Iโll respond within 24 hours).
After reading the review, if you think that the IPTA is something you might like to give a try, I have a special discount for my readers here at PTPioneer.
Use the code PTPNOVEMBER to receive between 35% and 50% (depending on the program) off the IPTA MVP Study System. This deal ends on November 13th, 2024.
Also, if you would like to check out more reviews of the International Personal Trainer Academy, you can check out their trust pilot review page here to read additional user opinions.
With that said, letโs get right into it, but first, a little introduction to the world of the International Personal Trainer Academy.
What is the International Personal Trainer Academy?
The International Personal Trainer Academy is a premium resource base for up-to-date third-party study support materials for the top accredited certifications in the fitness industry.
The material is curated and provided by a dedicated team of experts in the fitness industry. The International Personal Trainer Academy team all have academic and in-the-field backgrounds in fitness, all with top credentials, degrees, and qualifications.
With a wealth of knowledge from the certification level all the way to the university level, you can bet theyโll have you covered.
Here at PT Pioneer, Iโve helped guide numerous people, just like you, trying to find their feet with PT certification. I always recommend the International Personal Trainer Academy materials, and the results astoundingly speak for themselves.
Almost all students Iโve directed to the International Personal Trainer Academy come out on top, with only a handful failing, reportedly because they did not use the full contents of the study programs.
And thatโs exactly why Iโm doing this review. So you can not only take advantage of the MVP study package, but you can also use it correctly for maximum benefit.
Before we delve into the MVP Package, let’s briefly touch on all of the products on offer.
The packages offered come in a subscription model and a lifetime purchase option. The primary form of studying is with the subscription model.
The subscription model has three variations, which are the Rookie, All-Star, and MVP options (subscription and lifetime).
Each has a varying amount of material included starting with the Rookie Package, which comes with the complete study guide, then the All-star, which contains the study guide, flashcards, and practice tests, and finally, the MVP Package, which is an all-inclusive and comes with a 99% pass guarantee.
The IPTA also allows you to purchase stand-alone materials and customize your experience.
Below, you can see the individual materials options available. I strongly advise going for the full MVP package (ACE CPT in this case) with either the lifetime or MVP subscription.
This article will focus on the MVP packages, so buckle up as we dive in.
International Personal Trainer Academy Packages:
The MVP packages have included:
- The Interactive Study Guide
- Exam Simulator
- Flashcard System
- Exam Pass Guarantee
- Exam Confidence Algo
- Audio Study Guide
- Performance Reporting
- Motivating Study Streaks
- Study Gamification
- Weak Point Training
- Tailored Study Plans
- Magic Mnemonics
- Essential Cheat Sheet
- Exam Date Tracker
You can see on the official website the ACE CPT Subscription starts at $49 per month, the All-Star Program comes in at $69 per month, and the base price of the MVP subscription is $99, with a current sale going on to bring that down to $69.
Keep in mind that with my discount code PTPNOVEMBER, you can bring this down a bit more.
Use the code PTPNOVEMBER to receive between 35% and 50% (depending on the program) off the International Personal Trainer AcademyMVP Study System. This deal ends on November 13th, 2024.
When it comes to the MVP packages, keep in mind that there is the MVP monthly subscription, which renews every month on the purchase day, and the Lifetime option. You can see below that the lifetime option has the same materials contained as the MVP subscription.
The lifetime study package is going to be for someone that aims to take a little over 5 months, which is not uncommon with these programs, especially if you happen to be completely new to the world of fitness and exercise science.
The study packages have a great variation in offerings, and I would personally go with the MVP packages if I was new to fitness and wanted the best deal possible.
Keep in mind, the exam pass guarantee is only available with the MVP programs, so this alone may make it worth it. If you fail your exam, you get 100% of your money back.
I will break down these study materials and tell you my thoughts on each of them using the ACE CPT as the primary study system.
Study Plans and Exam Date Tracker
The first thing you should do once you become a member with the International Personal Trainer Academy is selecting the projected date of your exam, like I did in the picture above.
I chose a date for my exam that is just 45 days out, which is quicker than the average, but this was just to test out all of the systems. The average study time to expect is more along the lines of 3 – 4 months, with variations based on your time available and total experience going into the program. It is not uncommon to take 8 months with a busier schedule or unfamiliarity in the exercise science field.
The Exam date tracker will set the tone for how much you will be needing to study, and allow you to choose the perfect study plan, or blueprint. This helps organize your day to day and week to week studying.
The study plan helps you structure your learning and study commitments based on how much knowledge you have in the field of exercise science and how much time you have remaining before your final deadline. You are also able to choose between 4 options that vary from 1 month to 8 months for the majority of programs, and up to 12 months for intensive programs like the NSCA CSCS.
As an idea, if you had very little fitness knowledge and had about 6 months until you had to take the test, your study plan would consist of fewer weekly hours on average over the half-year stretch.
With the study plan, you are able to interact with the learning system and check off the materials as you go through them. This results in points given and progress made with your Study Plan.
The study plan directs you on how to space out your studies and advises you on using different materials for the different study phases and knowledge demands, making you aware of key areas to emphasize and how to manage your time.
I suggest placing your focus on the materials that work well together. For example, the study guide is very effective with the mnemonics and is also rounded off quite nicely with the audio guide.
The order of the ACE CPT study plan above is great, as it has you start with reading the chapter in the textbook, then answering and reviewing the interactive study guide, then listening to the audio guide, followed by taking the chapter quiz, mastering the flashcards, and finally memorizing the mnemonics to further nail down the larger concepts of the chapter.
If you find that your studying is going quicker than expected or taking much longer than expected, you can easily adjust your studies to a study plant that takes less time or more time, all with one click.
Your progress carries over to the other study plan timeframes, so I can go from my pre-selected 8 Month plan to the 4 month plan or sooner, if I desire.
As I talked about before, the majority of folks who did not pass their exam after using the MVP study programs, also did not utilize all of the study materials, starting with the study plans and exam date tracker.
You know what they say, โIf you fail to plan, you plan to fail.โ
The Study Guide
This is the meat of any study program. The study guide is what is used to condense the massive textbook into a more easily digestible reading material.
One of the biggest challenges in learning and passing a final exam is the intricate specificity of the study material, key concepts, and terminology as it will appear in the final. The study guide is the bread-and-butter study material for anyone studying for personal training certification.
You need to have more of a grasp of how something works and why instead of just what it is.
It will be near impossible to fail the certification exam if you go through the study guide presented in this material, it really shows that the 99% pass rate is telling the truth.
In the study guide, you will easily find your bearings and learn what to study for the most effective use of your time.
The study guide is the primary study resource, and from the menu on the left you can select it and dive right in.
The study guide page gives you access to all of the questions for the primary content within each chapter of the textbook, and you can go between chapters very easily. Clicking on the previous chapter will load it up immediately.
The questions contain long detailed answers and tables to detail the important information. Some added color would be good throughout the guides, but all of the information and the use of tables, bolding, and lists helps the reader follow along and stay focused on the content.
Within the study guide page is a feature allowing you to listen to the audio guide. This is found in the bottom right of the screenshot in the above picture.
The audio guide is an audio version of the study guide, with some added details and the mnemonic devices added in, this helps create a well-rounded program allowing you to utilize three of the big features all within this eas-to-use study guide page.
In addition to finding the audio guide within the page, you can also highlight and make notes within the study guide. This is the equivalent of being able to write and highlight in your own textbook. This is a very handy feature that I utilize in my physical textbooks, and would definitely utilize in the online study system.
The study guide is also the only study material consistent with ALL tiers of ALL certification packages offered by Trainer Academy. That goes to show how essential it is.
Flashcard system
The International Personal Trainer Academy All-star and MVP packages have decks of chapter/domain-specific spaced repetition flash cards. The team over at the Trainer Academy called these intelligent flashcards, and now I know why. Not only do these cards cover key concepts and terminology found throughout the textbook, but They also help you memorize these extremely well. Let me break down spaced repetition learning really fast.
After you have flipped over the flash card after thinking about the answer, you are given three options in order to rate yourself on how well you know that card. The options in order for “Do you know the information” are going to be “No”, “Kinda”, and “Yes”. If you don’t know the card at all, you will select “No”, and it will be studied with the information as quick as you can get back to it. Information where you select “Yes” will be put on the back burner, but will totally return for a refresher, but there are other things you do not know yet that should take priority.
To optimize your learning sessions, the smart algorithm will learn the cards you know well, the cards you sort of know, and the the cards you do poorly on. This will save you dozens of hours of study time compared to regular flashcards. You optimize your study sessions by focusing on your difficult cards and skipping your easy cards.
Here’s an example of a card on the application showing the answer and the ability to choose whether you knew the information or not.
After flipping over the card, you need to rate how well you answered the card in your head. You would click on “No” if you did not recognize the information and were unable to think of the definition/flashcard info. If the card were extremely easy for you, you would click on “Yes”. And for information where you somewhat knew what it was talking about, you would select “Kinda”, and this information, while it is important to learn, the flashcards with a “No” will still take a slight priority over these “Kinda” responses.
The International Personal Trainer Academy has created these flashcards by taking the most important footnotes from each textbook for their personal training certification study materials. In this case, for ACE, they have hundreds of cards across the domains of knowledge.
The idea behind them is to take all the footnotes, important names, terms, or descriptions and put them into a flashcard format for easy reference.
Footnotes, for those of you who donโt know, are the little fact boxes that appear on the sides of pages that explain key concepts within the main text in smaller bite-sized info chunks.
The flashcards are designed to anchor your memory and foundational knowledge of key concepts. What they donโt do is give you a full breadth and depth of what it is that you are learning. You wouldn’t need a textbook if that were the case.
For example, each one of the 16 chapters of the ACE CPT textbook has a deck of flashcards. The first half of the ACE CPT flashcard system consists of the following:
Once you purchase your study package, you will receive a link to the Intelligent Flashcards. Here you will have access to all card decks, separated into their respective chapters.
When it comes to flashcards, I rank them pretty highly as useful study materials. Not quite as high as practice tests or study guides, but definitely around the next most important spot.
Try to develop a habit of actively learning from the textbook and then using the cards as a way to revise those concepts instead of just relying on the flashcards.
That’s because proper exercise science systems lean heavily on understanding things rather than just regurgitating from memory.
Youโre dealing with the physical well-being of real people, so it ultimately becomes about more than just remembering facts.
Flashcards will only help with memory, not the full breadth and scope of the exam content.
The International Personal Trainer Academy holds all of these flashcards and the information from the intelligent flashcard system all within their own learning system.
Practice Tests
Taking a specific look at the ACE CPT MVP package, it has almost 800 questions all curated from former tests and from study materials to help you learn everything needed to pass the ACE certification exam.
The Test options through the International Personal Trainer Academy study portal are vast, allowing you to break down content based on the domains of knowledge and chapters, when these are available for the purchased certification. The big certifications all break it down in this format.
You can make your custom tests to emulate the certification exam number of questions and time limit, or completely customize the tests to only go over what you know you need help with.
Let’s say I wanted to test over the first four chapters, as that is what I have most recently gone over. With the International Personal Trainer Academy testing system, I can choose the exact chapters and then choose my test mode and number of questions, for which I selected 30 questions in tutor mode to show the options below.
This is going to ensure I am getting tested over these four chapters, and nothing more. This is great for focused practice test sessions.
If you instead prefer to go with a an exam that will have the same exact time limit and number of questions as the official one, then the Timed mode for testing should be used. Typically this will be toward the end of your study plan when you want to see how you will do on your official exam.
The test questions emulate test questions you will see on the official ACE CPT certification exam. This learning process is geared towards helping you not just know what to expect in the exam, but on a fundamental level, it also helps calm the nerves and provides the required psychological boost you will need when meeting a challenge such as an exam stress.
The testing features on the International Personal Trainer Academy allow for other options when you are testing, such as the ability to add to your flashcard study, mark something for future review, or report an issue with the question to the support team. Many question also have the option to receive a Hint, and also contain explanations for the answers.
Above is an example of a test question in the middle of an exam simulation. This test is the timed practice test. I like how they have the review later option so you can save questions you want to skip over and return to.
As you go through the tests, each of the questions’ results are saved and this goes into your overall point count for the study program. We will talk about how progress shows up within another section so you can see how this all adds up to create a well-rounded program.
At the end of each practice test, you are also able to go over all of the questions. This is extremely helpful for returning to the chapters you did poorly in to strengthen that study section.
After completing a practice quiz or practice test, you can go to the review section, where it will show your incorrect answers and the correct answers for each question. This is extremely valuable and will increase the chances of passing the real exam tenfold.
You can retake these tests as much as you want in both Tutor mode and Test mode, but if you miss the question after getting it right in a previous test, it will remove points from your total. This is important to consider, as you always want to stay focused when taking tests over past matrial.
With enough practice testing, you’ll get the hang of it so much so that the final exam will be an absolute breeze.
The two primary options for testing while in tutor mode will be by differentiating questions based on the domain or chapter they are in, and this is available in the majority of programs, but make sure to test it out with the trial for the program you would like to choose.
In the case of the ACE CPT study program that I personally used for the example pictures, you can see there are questions for each of the 16 chapters and questions for all 4 domains of knowledge.
To top it off, you can base the tests off of all of the questions you have yet to see or all of the questions you have gotten incorrect in the past.
There are a great amount of testing options within the study programs, and this is key when it comes to really mastering the information in these certification exams.
The practice tests are definitely one of my top-rated materials out of the bunch. They represent and prepare you for the ultimate goal, the exam, and do so brilliantly.
Remember to treat the timed practice tests as end-game material, emulating the real certification exam. However, I also value them as essential material in the package; they are practically useless without having covered the necessary ground in foundational knowledge.
The study blueprint, study guide, and audio guides are your allies in this case, along with the flashcards as a bonus.
Many of my students agree that it would be awesome to have more tests and have the test run on the International Personal Trainer Academy platform rather than an external link, as is the case with flashcards.
Mnemonics
The International Personal Trainer Academy MVP study packages arenโt all straight-laced and to the point as you think; there is also a bit of fun to be had with them.
This comes in the form of the nifty study mnemonics and the fun, color, and humor they bring to your study experience.
Some of you might wonder, โWhat are mnemonicsโ or โIs that first โMโ silent?โ.
Well, Iโll answer your last question first and say yes, that is a silent โM.โ
Now a mnemonic is a method of memory commitment that uses catchy phrases or associations to anchor a fundamental concept.
In this case, the IPTA mnemonics will expand important lists or acronyms into a catchy sequence of events with a memorable character.
Here is one of the examples of a mnemonic that the International Personal Trainer Academy uses to help memorize the three Anatomical Planes which are used when discussing movements:
What you need to memorize:
- Sagittal
- Frontal
- Transverse
Magic Mnemonic
- Samurais
- Fought
- Tribes
This is a good example because it’s catchy and memorable and because it is so thematically compatible with the concept it anchors. This level of mnemonic brilliance is rare to achieve.
A lot of people learn really well with these types of visuals, as it allows them to have a picture in their head to remind them of the important concepts. The International Personal Trainer Academy has around 30 Mnemonic devices for the ACE CPT, and they going over the most important details and the material that can more easily be used in these short descriptive formats.
You can probably imagine that there are loads of lists, abbreviations, and acronyms to wrap your head around with exercise science. You would be correct.
The mnemonics will help you nail these down in a fun and immersive way. After all, having fun provides the greatest environment for practical learning and skills development, something you will use as a trainer in the field anyways.
The mnemonics use a rich combination of fantastical scenarios and famous pop culture icons such as celebrities and comic book heroes.
The colorful pictures are also really fun to look at and have been shown to give students a chuckle or two while reading through.
The best way to take advantage of the mnemonics is to use them in conjunction with the study guide and audio guides. That’s because many of the same concepts are present across these materials.
The audio guide, particularly, includes the mnemonics relevant to its many chapters as they come up naturally within the text and study guide. The mnemonics themselves come with a โfill in the blanksโ page that allows you to engage your memory and reinforce what youโve learned.
The key concepts in the cheat sheet are similar to what you would find in the flashcards or mnemonics, just in a more condensed way.
Cheatsheet
As the name suggests, it is a single sheet of all the essential key terms and concepts. The most important ones are highlighted.
Consider this an index or glossary, but instead of just an alphabetized or numbered list of stuff in a book, this is a precision-focused list of only the things you need to know.
Imagine having that at the back of every book in high school. A list of the things you must remember amidst a cluster of sometimes useless information.
All knowledge in the textbook material is useful, so don’t get me wrong; however, when it comes to exams, some concepts are more crucial to memorize.
Audio Study Guide
Continuing on with the study guide is the audio study guide for your PT final exam. This audio guide coincides with the assignment questions and answers contained in the written study guide, but also adds to some of the points throughout, as well as adding in the mnemonic devices.
Based on what the International Personal Trainer Academy recommends and from student experience, the best way to use this audio guide is by completing the written study guide and the relevant revision. The audio guide is found within the study guide pages for each chapter, so you can also listen to it while studying and answering on your own.
The study guide is meant to embed all that you have gained from manually focusing your effort in the written guide, making a commitment to memory all the easier.
The mnemonics are also included in the studio component of the study package with hilarious consequences if I do say so myself. This adds to the ease of learning, in my opinion. As is said, it’s easy to remember things we enjoy.
Like the assignments, I suggest you do the mnemonics sheet before using the audio component. That way, when you get to this section, you reinforce what you already know well enough.
The audio itself is recorded in a crisp, audible quality with a friendly and teaching conversational tone. I think this is a great way to help immerse students into a positive learning environment.
Performance
Perhaps the most useful feature within the International Personal Trainer Academy Learning System is the ability to easily track your performance across the flashcards, chapters and domains, as well as the tracking of points across the entirety of the course.
The progress points, which can be seen on the home page when signing in and the bottom left of the picture above, show your performance when it comes to completing the course.
It is important to track these numbers as you are going through the program, as this allows you to know how close you are to completing the program, but also whether or not you qualify for the Exam Pass Guarantee, as you will need a total of 8,000 points to be able to claim the guarantee, but if you complete the program to that level, you likely will have passed anyways.
Back to the performance statistics, we see that you can choose to sort the performance of the test and flashcards based on the chapters or domains.
When it comes to the practice tests, you can see the number of correct answers, the number of incorrect answers, and the untested questions. This is great and let’s you know where you stand in the entirety of the program’s questions.
For the flashcard performance, you can see the total number of flashcards and the amount you answered “Yes”, “Kinda”, “No”, and the unused number.
Exam Pass Guarantee
One of the big things with the MVP packages is the exam pass guarantee you are assured of by using this material.
This entitles you to all of your money back, as well as the certification exam retake fee paid back to you for the associated organization’s official exam.
In the case of the ACE CPT, this results in your money back for your MVP subscription or MVP lifetime package, plus $249, which is what ACE will charge you for the retake.
In life, nothing is certain, so never assume that simply by checking out the contents of the package, you will automatically pass.
This guide assists active studying and is not a way to hold your hand through the final exam.
You have to apply yourself and pay close attention to the guidance provided by the blueprint and study guide.
Having a solid game plan is the key ingredient because, as I mentioned, the very few students I refer to the International Personal Trainer Academy fail to do so because they haven’t been fully attentive to the protocol laid out by the International Personal Trainer Academy.
The International Personal Trainer Academy aims to help you study smart instead of hard, but at the end of the day, you still need to study.
A good personal trainer certification will often have a challenging exam. Check out my full review here to understand what it takes and what you should expect.
But to give you a quick summary, ACE, for example, currently has a near 70% pass rate for all test takers, which means the odds are in your favor, but not in a strong way.
However, by using the International Personal Trainer Academy MVP package, your odds shot up tremendously.
You will also drastically decrease your study time by up to 50% while boosting your chances. You can check out some of the reviews by students whoโve used this study site for their success.
All in all, this is probably the best solution for someone looking to maximize their chances of getting certified the first time around and cut down their study time.
If you do happen to fail, even with the International Personal Trainer Academy package, your retest is a solid guarantee, as you will be going in with a lot more focus and knowledge of what to do right on a second attempt.
The stats for passing mean that from a mere 70% in the case of ACE, you go way up to a 99% probability of passing.
The pass rate with this study program is high, so few students ever get to use this exam pass guarantee, making for satisfied customers with a great backup insurance that they will be compensated if they do not pass.
Final Words
IPTA receives my seal of approval and I rate them a 5/5 as a study service. The MVP study program offers all a learner could ask for when it comes to study options and on top of that you can choose to subscribe or buy the lifetime option.
The International Personal Trainer Academy receives a 5/5 from me when considering all of the things pointed our within this article. Be sure to listen to my video review, as it will sum it up and give an even closer look into the program being used.
So there you have it, folks, a full in-depth breakdown of the Trainer Academy MVP all-inclusive study package.
This program is ideal for independent learners and people who need a bit of guidance at the same time to help break down the massive textbooks from the certifying organizations.
If you are looking for facebook groups and study groups or do not like the always onlineand connected format, then this may not be ideal for you.
I focused primarily on the MVP package, which includes all possible material formats that Trainer Academy offers.
I also used the ACE package as the case study. The other packages come with the same suite of materials.
Be sure to check out the Trainer Academy website for more relevant information about the various packages and materials on offer.
If you have any doubt at all to the value of the study packages, give it a shot with the free trial offered on Trainer Academy. You have nothing to lose with this.
As I mentioned, the International Personal Trainer Academy offers a variety of packages and guided study materials for other certifications.
These include:
- NSCA CSCS
- NASM CPT
- ACE CPT
- NSCA CSCS
- NASM PES
- NASM CES ( study guide only)
- ISSA CPT
- ISSA Nutritionist
- NSCA CPT
- NCSF CPT
- ACSM CPT
The International Personal Trainer Academy is currently deep in development for more awesome materials for you to use.
So what do I think of Trainer Academy? Well, as youโve figured out, I love them. I recommend all my students to TA for their study guide.
If you have any questions about IPTA or other guided study resources, I can advise you on; please drop a comment in the section below.
Happy studying.
Hi Tyler!
I have gone through all the Academy Elite materials for the ACE PT exam but I definitely need more help and focus. My exam is January 21. I am considering the MVP program from Trainer Academy but my gut is telling me it might be gimmicky and that they are likely using the right language to get around loopholes about their pass rates (I currently work in marketing, so I guess I’m wired that way). Do you have any insight into this?
Hey Courtney, Trainer Academy has a solid track record, and even if you fail the exam, you get all of your money back with their money-back guarantee. I would say it is worth trying their premium study materials.
Hi Tyler,
I just started studying for my NASM CPT and Iโm very interested in investing in the MVP package and would prefer to use your discount link but it only leads to the regular price of the program without a discount.
Hey Jessica, this should be fixed now. Hope it works.
Tyler, nice website with clear, concise info. I’m a businessman& cancer survivor, 60, train consistently & have most of my life. Haven’t taken a course since college but I’m a pretty quick study. I’m interested in getting a cert (likely NASM unless I learn something to direct me otherwise) & I would appreciate your advise, more specifically re NASM (what to buy), Trainer Academy (what to buy, & are they better than Fitness Mentors, etc) & why should I invest in a 3rd party program (is it because the materials from cert orgs like NASM are inadequate?). Trying to make a decision on 1) Is NASM my best option – I may carve out a serious over-40 crowd of clients; 2) What is everything I need to buy to get it done; & 3) Do you really recommend 16 weeks for me having no ExSci background? Thanks in advance – I really appreciate it! Steve
First of all, yes the National Academy of sports medicine is a fantastic personal trainer certification. I would suggest just going with the self-study program from NASM. It depends, how are you when you typically study on your own? If you have no trouble studying out of a book on your own and are really good at taking tests, I would not worry about it. Trainer Academy is definitely a great option for a third-party study material. The students I’d Point their Direction have a very high pass rate. I think that’s 16 weeks is definitely enough time and is a good pace for studying for any of the top personal training certifications.
Thank you for your amazing review and information! Iโm thinking of doing the MVP bundle but was wondering if there an option for just taking the test with NASM to become certified or would I have to purchase the lowest certification bundle?
The only thing you need to have in order to use the trainer Academy study bundles is the primary textbook for whichever certification you are choosing to study for. Since you are studying for the National Academy of sports medicine, that is what you will need. To be honest, the lowest certification bundle or the self-study bundle is actually cheaper than the certification exam alone. So, there is no reason not to get the self-study bundle as it comes with the textbook.
I am just starting my studies for my ACT CPT cert. I am going through the ACE Elite online Course, reading everything and watching all videos presented in the course and taking the online quizzes in the course as I progress. My plan was to go through the course as outlined, and then go back to Appendix B to see what specifically to study for the exam. I then planned to take a practice test from ACE (one of 2 in my package) as a baseline to see what I needed work on. I have no exercise science background, so I am not sure if I should be making flash cards and studying for every section in the online course, or if I should go through the course and THEN make flash cards and study things from Appendix B (the Exam Content Outline). Right now,I am doing all the assigned reading, taking notes, rereading my notes and taking quizzes as I go. But, I do not know if that is enough or I should be doing additional studying if another kind as I go through the Elite online course (which requires a lot of reading, some videos and quizzes).
Also, budget is super tight with COVID-19 and my having lost my income from my in-hone daycare (which I had to close). Will using the free study guide and flashcards from you, plus studying sections from the ACE exam content outline be enough to pass? I am currently on week 2 in their online course in the becoming a personal trainer section. I just slogged though physical activity section and all the complex stuff about hormones and vt1 and vt2, acute benefits and chronic benefits but still have to get through lesson 4 on cardiovascular, respiratory, lymphatic and respiratory systems and have no idea how much I am expected to know in detail. Client Communication and Rapport, Client assessment, program design, special populations, injury prevention and legal and practice tests take me through week 16 and I am reading, note taking and quizzing with online course 6 days a week.
No clue on if I need to be doing more or doing it differently! Help?!
It sounds like you were doing everything just fine Nicole. Keep up on the same path that you are on because consistency is the most important thing. Go through the chapters, make your own flashcards, take as many practice tests as you can. If you cannot afford the premium study materials right now, you can still pass it on your own with enough determination. Keep it up.
Hello!
Thank you for the detailed review. This has definitely cleared up many questions I had regarding the Trainer Academy program. I am interested in registering for the MVP package but I am unable to use the discount that you mentioned. Is there a coupon code that I can enter in order to avail the discount?
Kind regards,
Varun
Thanks for your kind reviews on this review. Yes, you can use a code that is only good for their MVP packages but it will get you 50% off which I think is the biggest discount that they currently have running. The code is PTP50.
Hi there, 2 questions for you:
1) are the chapter notes more in-depth than the study guide notes you’re recommending?
2) I have a kine degree and a CPT degree, which package would you recommend? (are prices in USD?)
I’m not really sure what you mean by the chapter notes compared to the study guide notes. If you have a kinesiology ยฐ they have a great fast-tracked 4 or 8 week program for you to follow along with to easily get you certified since you are not starting from scratch.
Hi there Tyler! Really appreciate the meticulous work you do. So I am taking the mid-term online via NASM and having a really hard time remembering some of the anatomy/muscle names, the overworked/underworked/concentric/eccentric etc. So I appreciate this review! I can’t believe I have to buy additional stuff to take this exam above what I am paying for for NASM but not sure if I can keep studying at this current rate (efficiently) and be ready for the exam. Anyhow, all this to say I clicked on your 50% off link to NASM via Trainer Academy but they don’t have NASM materials available to purchase. Do you know what’s going on or if they will have this available soon? I need to get the material from either what you provide (the free study guide and such) or from other sites soon since I’m half-way through the NASM course and don’t want to leave my studying last minute.
Hello, yes I do know that they are currently revamping their study materials. They should be back around Valentine’s Day at the end of the week. I will have them shoot you over an email when they are complete.
Thanks so much Tyler!
I am currently studying for Nasm CPT exam and it is extremely hard for me to focus or retain all the info from the book. I’ve been considering buying the MVP Package from trainer academy for help but I’m hesitant because I can’t find many reviews about it. Do they know what is on the exam and that’s how they make their outlines? Please help
Hey Lexi,
I highly recommend Trainer Academy if you are having trouble memorizing the information from the National Academy of sports medicine. They do a fantastic job of breaking down the material and telling you exactly what you need to study to have the highest percent chance of passing their exam. They can’t tell you the exact questions and answers that you will find on your particular exam because they vary greatly. They do however have a fantastic success rate and exam pass rate because they point to the most important topics to focus on as opposed to memorizing the whole entire textbook.
I just enrolled in the MVP program and I would like to ask a few questions, but I can’t find the phone number. Will you email the phone number please.
Hey Danny,
I do not work for Trainer Academy. I suggest you head over to their site and contact them about their personal training certification study materials and they will be able to help you.
Iโm ready to purchase a program.
?? ACSM-CPTย ย or the NSCA-CSCS ??
My sonโs in his senior year taking
Exercise Sci. 480 at Salisbury Univ in Maryland.
Do you agree that CSCS
might be a less stressful exam b/c
CPT must cover a much broader
amount of knowledge ?
Hey Flor,
Yes, the certified strength and conditioning coach certification is definitely one of the harder certifications in the industry no doubt about it. That being said, it is also the most recognizable and is kind of the gold standard for personal training certifications. I definitely recommend it especially if he is a college senior or graduate And wants to work with strength and conditioning clients or performance-based clients.
Hey! Iโm a full time dad of 7. I have two jobs, so it hard for me to get a good study in. I really have to pass this test. It hard for me to study. Any advice or material that can help with my lack of time?
Hey Frantzy,
I suggest that you check out the team over at Trainer Academy. I’m assuming that you already read this full review on this page about them but they will definitely help you pass your personal training certification of choice. There study guides will show you exactly what you need to study.