The American Council on Exercise, or ACE, is a nonprofit organization committed to health and well-being. Over the past 25 years, ACE has become an established resource for both fitness professionals and consumers, providing free comprehensive, unbiased, scientific research impacting the fitness industry and validating itself as the country’s leading authority on fitness. Ace provides 4 different certifications: Personal Trainer, Group Fitness Instructor, Lifestyle & Weight Management Consultant, and Advanced Health & Fitness Specialist.
Certifications
ACE Certified Personal Trainer – Those that have completed this basic course will have demonstrated knowledge of risk factor screening, fitness assessment, nutrition, exercise science, exercise programming and progressions, lifestyle modification, and the professional scope of personal training.
Group Fitness Instructor – ACE is one of the only organizations I’ve found that offers certification for group exercise instruction. Those holding this credential are able to successfully develop and implement safe and effective group exercise programs.
Health Coach Certification – The American Council on Exercise’s Health Coach Certification is a re-skin, update, and replacement for the Lifestyle and Weight Management Consultant Certification. This is an NCCA accredited course, and the only one of it’s kind. Because of this, this course serves as a benchmark, setting the standard for future health coaching courses by other organizations. Health Coaches use behavior modification to promote successful lifestyle changes in their clients. If you want to sit for this exam, you must be at least 18 years old, be CPR/AED certified, and hold either a current NCCA-accredited certification (such as ACE-CPT or NASM-CPT), an associate’s degree or higher, or comparable work experience in fitness, exercise science, nutrition, health care, wellness, human resources or a related field.
Advanced Health & Fitness Specialist – According to ACE, this is the only accredited fitness certification with extensive programming for the most common diseases and disorders seen on a regular basis by fitness professionals. To be eligible for this certification, applicants must have a related degree, prior certification, and at least 300 hours of work experience designing and implementing exercise programs for both healthy and at-risk individuals.