What’s Next now that I’m Certified?

As some of you may know I have been studying for my Personal Trainer Certification for a while now.  I’ve actually been working on it since January and then finally enrolled in the course and began the official coursework.  With NASM (National Academy of Sports Medicine), you have 6 months to attempt your exam once you enroll.  Since I enrolled in August my official 6 month date was January of 2013.  Now, to prepare for this I actually took the Intro to Personal Training course earlier this year and then bought the official textbook and began reading that.  My goal was to be ready to take the exam before the end of year.  Working in a gym and being around other trainers also helped a lot because I was able to discuss what I was learning but also begin to put the theories into practice in my own workouts. 

Fast forward to October and I had been reading through the book over and over, it was light up like a Xmas tree with highlighter marks and had enough post-its sticking out of it to make up to pads.  After talking with a good friend I set my test date for October 31^st and began reviewing everything and taking the practice exam every couple of days to see where I was and what I needed to go over.

Well early last week I took the practice exam again and score over a 90% and began thinking.  I commented to my wife that I was thinking about rescheduling my test date since the 31^st was still 3 weeks away and my feelings were that I would drive myself crazy with stress if I waited til then.  I mentioned the same to my boss and he was convinced that I was ready, so afterwards I called and rescheduled my exam for this past Saturday.  As the day arrived I found myself with some butterflies but once I sat down at the computer and the test began and wave of calm washed over me and I went to it.  I managed to finish the 120 questions in less than 40 minutes and when I went out to the desk the proctor asked if I wanted anymore time.  I told him no because if I didn’t know the information by now then a few more minutes wouldn’t matter.  I was informed that I passed but since this is a pass/fail exam they do not give you an actual grade on it.  The proctor did tell me that I did really well and that I didn’t actually get many questions wrong. 

Even now a few days later it still really hasn’t sunken in and I often catch myself saying things like “Once I finished my cert”. But I am adjusting to it slowly. 

So what’s next?

Well, next up I will be embarking on my MMA specialization so that when training people I can design MMA type workouts to use to help people reach their goals.  After that I will be working on my Fitness Nutrition Specialist Certification so that I can get a deeper understanding of Nutrition and be able to help people more in depth with theirs. 

In the meantime I am currently working on 2 other goals.  One is the 100 mile Ruckin’ Challenge.  This is a challenge where you have 30 days to accrue 100 miles with a ruck with bricks in it.  Since I’m over 150lbs I have to carry 3 bricks in it.  At present I am over half way and look to finish the challenge next week.  The other is my 75lb weight loss goal.  I’ve actually been working on this for quite a while and would probably have reached it a while ago if I could control my nutrition on the weekends.  I definitely more disciplined now and will reach that goal and go further still. 

 
In the end it’s all about challenging yourself to achieve new goals.