What is a "Fully Accredited" Certified Personal Trainer (CPT) Certification?

The Brookbush Institute explains what it means for a Certified Personal Trainer (CPT) certification to be "accredited".

NEW YORK, April 19, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- What "accredited certification" should mean does not match how the term is being used in the fitness industry. For CPT certifications, "accredited" has nothing to do with quality.

The increase in the number of Certified Personal Trainer (CPT) certification programs with 3rd party approval or accreditation is part of a continued effort to set higher standards for education in sports medicine and exercise science. In particular, the fitness industry has made a larger effort to demonstrate that personal training and fitness professional education programs are progressing toward evidence-based practice. "Policing" the quality of educational materials, and ensuring that content is evidence-based, is the type of job that is accomplished via an accreditor or approval from a peer-review process. Unfortunately, to say that most "accreditation initiatives" related to CPT certifications are failing the fitness industry is a bit of an understatement. Most accreditation initiatives have resulted in little more than confusion, and maybe a little collusion. So, in this article, we discuss what "accreditation" and "3rd party approval" should mean.

Brookbush Institute:  What is a Fully Accredited Personal Trainer Certification?

What "fully accredited" should mean:

1. Advocate on behalf of the learner
2. Ensure the learning objectives and curriculum are in alignment with post-secondary education or professional needs
3. Ensure content accuracy (evidence-based), quality, and completeness (comprehensively covers relevant topics) via a review by a group of experts in the subject matter taught (3rd party objective peer-review)
4. Ensure instructional design and delivery meets evidence-based teaching standards.
5. Promote evaluation procedures (student assessments) that enhance learning, are matched to learning objectives, and assess successful completion of learning objectives.

"Accredited does not mean high quality, it just means something was reviewed. Unfortunately, the standard in the fitness industry is accredited CPT certifications that include a reviewed exam, but the bulk of the certification itself has NOT been reviewed"

The Proud and Very Few: As far as we know, the Brookbush Institute is 1 of only 2 personal training certifications in the industry that have been approved following a comprehensive, systematic review, by a panel of 3rd party, subject matter experts (peer-review), and whose learning objectives have been matched to the post-secondary education curriculum and/or professionals skills and competencies. You can see the Brookbush Institute's

National Registration and college credit recommendation here – American Council of Education

Brookbush Institute

3 Certifications, 160+ Courses, and so much more.

• "Like the Netflix of courses and certifications for fitness, performance, physical rehabilitation, and sports medicine professionals." 

Brookbush Institute:  What is a Fully Accredited Personal Trainer Certification?

CONTACT: [email protected]

SOURCE Brookbush Institute