How many cecs for ace

This article is quite similar to my report on NASM continuing education credits. Continuing education credits for personal trainers is a requirement by ACE as a means of getting re-certified in the fitness industry.

In my article, I will be discussing all of the various ways that you can receive these continuing education credits. Check out: The top fitness trainer certifications! Honestly, there are so many different ways to receive continuing education credits, which I will now discuss every single way. The only thing that matters is if ACE recognizes the provider of those credits as being reputable. This adds up to approximately 20 hours of additional certification education in the health and fitness field.

The primary ways of getting recertified I will be talking about in this article are: receiving an advanced certification , attending a local seminar, or taking an online course. And since you need to do this every two years to get recertified, it is always a good idea to have multiple options. Find out which Certification option suits your specific needs in this section. Out of all of the continuing education courses that I will talk about in this article, this is the certification exam I recommend the most.

It is not the cheapest option, but it will improve your fundamental knowledge and skills, expand your career goals, and make you a better personal trainer! By specializing in one form of training or another, you become a much more diverse personal trainer, will be able to market yourself to new clients , and will be able to make more money.

All of the best personal trainers that I have ever known to hold multiple personal training CEU as well as advanced certifications. You can check out personal trainer salaries here. When talking to these individuals, none of them regret receiving multiple certifications because they value the wide range of knowledge that they gained from them.

Because you are reading this article, I am guessing that you are already certified through ACE. Check out my article on the best personal trainer certifications! These specialized certifications focus on a very specific demographic such as elderly individuals, individuals with muscular imbalances, athletes, or overweight individuals. Being an associate professional with high-quality education providers encourages building partnerships using best practices and right industry knowledge.

If you want to check out all of the specialized certifications that I talk about on my website, head over to the advanced certification section. If you have a lot of clients that would benefit from any one of these advanced certifications, I would highly recommend getting one! One of my favorite specialized certifications is the ACE group fitness instructor certification link to site. Switching it up from one-on-one personal training to working with groups can be hugely entertaining and also increase how much money you make.

Take advantage of the flexibility of studying online at your own schedule and pace. Taking online courses as a way to complete your continuing education credits is one of the cheapest and quickest ways that you can do so. If you want to save some money, I suggest heading over to a website by the name of exerciseetc. The additional. This is true for all certifications. Seminars are a great way to learn and collaborate with other trainers. The third and final option that I will be talking about is attending a regional workshop on health and fitness to fulfill your continuing education credits for ACE.

In this case, one of the other two options that I mentioned above might be a better choice for you. The cool thing about the local seminar is that you get hands-on experience, tools, and resources most of the time. And since a lot of us are visual or kinesthetic learners, this can be very beneficial for continuing education!

There you have it! As I mentioned above, I think that the best way to go about your continuing education is to either get an advanced or specialized certification or an additional general certification from a separate certifying agency.

I highly recommend checking out the NASM certification as an additional general certification! If you are a kinesthetic learner or want some hands-on experience, you might have good luck attending a seminar. Please share this using one of the social media buttons if it was helpful for you or tell people about it! Since you need to receive continuing education credits every couple of years, try to remember the different best-continuing education programs.

Hey Tyler! Hello, I am not specifically sure on every single continuing education that the national Academy of sports medicine accepts. Here are the four easy steps to take to renew your certification. Easy peasy. Remember, you have to earn 2. Renewing your certification is a great opportunity for you to reflect on your career. This is your chance to scan your skills and certifications and see if you can grow your credentials.

How else can you set yourself apart as a personal trainer? What can you do to help even more people become the healthiest version of themselves?

Strong Education teaches personal trainers and service providers on how to adapt fitness and nutrition for children, adolescents, and adults with autism, Down Syndrome, and other disabilities through our online adaptive special needs certification course. He previously tore his rotator cuff and has had surgery to repair the injury. He completed physical therapy over the past 4 months. He is not experiencing any pain or discomfort. Physician recommendations: Cleared to exercise. Continue with exercises from physical therapy and improve shoulder mobility.

Goals: He has struggled with weight loss and desires to lose 40 pounds and improve strength in his shoulder. Assessments: Prior to developing an exercise program, the following assessments were performed. To establish baseline measurements for his weight loss goal, anthropometric assessments are performed [i. A skinfold assessment may not be appropriate since John is currently 40 lb.

In addition, a postural assessment and shoulder mobility tests i. The results of these assessments may be used to design a safe and effective, individualized exercise program for John. While assessments may be beneficial initially to create a personalized program for a client, it is important that the appropriate assessment is selected at the appropriate time.

Not all clients will need or be receptive to assessments, as they may cause some people to become discouraged and demotivated, particularly if they are severely deconditioned or have overweight or obesity. To minimize client distress, be empathetic when selecting assessments, and consider the needs and goals of the individual. Operant conditioning is a learning theory that considers how personal actions are influenced by their consequences.

Take, for example, a client who is prone to overeating behavior , which contributes to the client having obesity consequence. Consequentially, this results in the client consuming an excess of daily calories, which is a factor in the client having obesity.

So, here you learn the stimulus that triggers overeating is stress on the job. As the client begins to lose weight and recognizes that managing his or her stress decreases the desire to overeat, the stress-management behavior is rewarded, thereby the behavior increases positive reinforcement.

The most immediate source of energy at the onset of activity or upon increased intensity is the phosphagen system, which uses creatine phosphate CP to produce ATP. CP is a high-energy compound that is rapidly produced but is quickly depleted during muscular contraction; thus it is available for only a limited amount of time—usually seconds—before it is exhausted.

How quickly it is used depends on the intensity of the exercise. Activities such as plyometric exercise use the phosphagen system for ATP production. Anaerobic without oxygen glycolysis is a process that uses glycogen stored glucose for ATP production.

Glycogen is available in greater quantities and for longer periods than CP—up to 3 minutes for activities such as moderate-intensity resistance training. During endurance activities, fuel needs are met by anaerobic glycolysis prior to approaching steady-state aerobic metabolism. The aerobic system takes over during endurance activities after the anaerobic systems become depleted, and fats and carbohydrates emerge as the primary sources for ATP production.

During aerobic activity, there is an abundance of oxygen readily available to be used in the process of metabolizing carbohydrates and fat. This allows activities to be sustained for minutes or more at moderate intensity. Cycling at a moderate intensity for 30 minutes, for example, primarily uses the aerobic system for ATP production.

During physical activity, these systems may be used at any time, working together to contribute to the total energy needs of the body.

They do not work independently of each other; however, one system will dominate depending on the intensity of the activity and the demands placed on the body. Activities performed for extended periods, which typically rely on the aerobic system, can also utilize the anaerobic system.

For example, in distance running, the aerobic system is the most dominant source of ATP production. However, during periods where the runner accelerates, and the intensity increases, one of the anaerobic systems will become more prevalent in ATP production. Note: Both the phosphagen and anaerobic glycolysis systems are considered anaerobic, as they both produce energy in the absence of oxygen.

While the practice tests can be completed as many times as you would like, we do not recommend taking them repeatedly, as this may lead to memorization of correct answers, rather than a deeper understanding of the content. Instead, try the tips and strategies shared below to get the most out of your certification exam practice tests. These new recommendations are less restrictive and acknowledge that exercise is safe for most people and has many health and fitness benefits. To learn more, read the following:.

Please note: When guidelines are updated, ACE takes steps to ensure that candidates have a fair opportunity to pass an exam that is not negatively impacted by the updates. As a professional standard, all health coaches and exercise professionals should do their best to stay up-to-date on industry guidelines and standards of care. The good news is that the majority of individuals affected by the change in guidelines can be treated with lifestyle changes instead of medications.

To learn more about the role that health coaches and exercise professionals play in this shift from treatment to prevention, read the following:. This important screening document is regularly updated and revised and there are different versions depending on the clientele with whom you are working. These forms are updated on a regular basis. Visit the following website to find the most up-to-date version of each questionnaire before using it with clients:.

For the physiological assessments section, there are numerous amounts of information, from the administration of assessments and accompanying charts, tables, and equations. The key to approaching this section is to be strategic. Since there is no practical component to the exam, you are not expected to memorize the exact protocol of each assessment or all the information presented in the tables and charts.

However, understanding what information you are gathering from the assessment concerning the client is essential. Gathering this information will allow you to remain organized as you complete this section of the course. While you are not expected to memorize the chart and table information, you also do not want to disregard them.

On the other hand, memorizing all the data on the Rockport Fitness Walking test would not be the most effective use of your time. In late , the U. Department of Health and Human Services released its first update to the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans since the original document was published more than 10 years ago.

The new Guidelines highlight the value of even small, incremental bits of physical activity in warding off disease and helping individuals sleep better, feel better and more easily perform their activities of daily life.

To learn more about the updates and how they affect the work of health coaches and exercise professionals, read the following:.

Please refer to the McGill's Torso Test video. The McGill's Torso Muscular Endurance Test Battery assesses the endurance of three torso muscle groups and is comprised of the following tests:. Poor endurance of the torso muscles or an imbalance between the three muscle groups can contribute to low back pain and core instability.

The tests are performed individually and involve a static, timed, isometric contraction of the core muscles stabilizing the spine until the individual exhibits fatigue. The results are evaluated collectively in the following ratios to indicate balanced endurance among the muscle groups:. Side bridge choose one side at a time, but remember to perform the ratio calculation for both sides : Extension.

Preparation Most of the time, if someone has made the effort to meet with a fitness professional, he or she has at least reached the preparation stage. However, you may encounter someone who is still in the pre-contemplation or contemplation stage. When this happens, that person has usually been prompted to meet with you by his or her doctor or a loved one. Pre-contemplation If a person is in pre-contemplation, he or she typically does not want to be there and does not believe that exercise can have an impact on health.

In this case, it's important for you to take the appropriate steps to get the potential exerciser thinking about inactivity as a relevant issue and to start thinking about becoming more physically active. Some of the interventions used during this stage include providing information about the risks of inactivity and the benefits of activity, acknowledging that there is a lack of readiness to change and reevaluating current behaviors.

The reason why it's important to recognize individuals in this stage of change is because people in pre-contemplation aren't necessarily open to the idea of exercise. Therefore, you could potentially increase resistance to physical activity by pushing the idea that they must exercise. However, if you provide information on how exercise can benefit them and then offer your expertise as a resource, while encouraging questions or allowing them to voice their concerns, you can essentially "plant the seed" so that they may consider exercise moving them to contemplation.

A practical tool the fitness professional can use to determine if someone is in contemplation or pre-contemplation is to ask the following question: "On a scale of 1 to 10 how ready do you believe you are to make this change or adopt this healthy behavior?

Contemplation A person in the contemplation stage, however, knows the value of exercise, but for whatever reason is not regularly engaging in it. A contemplator is starting to consider the importance of becoming more physically active and has begun to recognize the implications of being inactive. He or she might have an internal dialogue that sounds like this: "I know I should exercise, but I just don't have the time, energy, etc.

This is the point where we want to encourage the potential client to introduce some type of activity into their day, even if it means starting small, like walking for 10 minutes twice a day. Successfully achieving small tasks related to exercise may get them to realize that regular physical activity can be a part of their life if they can take the appropriate steps to commit.

During this stage it is important to help clients explore options like preferences for physical activity , and provide cues to action, some basic structure and design such as how often and how long to be active , and opportunities to ask questions. Tools a fitness professional may use with someone in this stage include the evaluation of the pros and cons of making the change and removing barriers to becoming more active, such as offering a free gym trial.

Technically, everything in the manual can appear on the exam, however, we recommend spending more time focusing on the main ideas versus memorizing each step of the protocol. Know the objective or purpose of each assessment, for whom it is appropriate and any contraindications, and what the outcome reveals about the client.

We also recommend reviewing the following blog posts:. During submaximal exercise, ventilation or breathing rate parallels oxygen uptake, and there is a linear increase between intensity and ventilation. This linear increase continues until exercise approaches the lactate threshold. At this point, ventilation begins to increase in a non-linear fashion, and ventilation is no longer directly linked with oxygen demand.

This first disproportionate increase in oxygen consumption represents VT1 and occurs in response to an initial accumulation of metabolic by-products in the blood. As exercise intensity continues to increase, there is a second disproportionate increase in ventilation that is associated with increased lactate production, which coincides with acidosis.

Exercise immediately below VT2 represents the highest sustainable exercise intensity. Exercise above VT2 represents an intensity that cannot be sustained for long periods, and speech is not possible other than single words. As a certified fitness professional, it is outside of your scope of practice to design and implement nutrition plans or diets.

Your role as a fitness professional is to educate your clients on nutrition and share your knowledge of healthy choices to help them adopt more healthful behaviors. This can include showing them how to utilize tools available at www. If your client needs specific advice or a diet plan, refer them to a registered dietitian. The talk test is a method for monitoring and controlling exercise intensity, using respiration effort, and the ability to speak.

An individual, being able to speak comfortably with more than a few words indicates that he or she is likely below the first ventilatory threshold, VT1. When using the talk test, it is not required that the heart rate be measured, as the objective is to observe respiratory breathing effort and the ability to speak.

The individual is evaluated by having them recite a familiar passage or phrase like the pledge of allegiance, and then asking if they can speak. This test requires preparation and equipment and continuous monitoring of heart rate to avoid missing VT1. The intensity is gradually increased until the ability to talk continuously is compromised, and like the talk test uses a familiar passage or phrase to evaluate effort and ability to speak. In summary, the talk test method is used to measure exercise intensity but does not require the measurement of heart rate.

While the submaximal talk test for VT1 is a formal assessment where heart rate is measured at VT1 and requires the use of equipment and preparation, to administer the test. We highly recommend reviewing your Exam Content Outline Appendix B in your manual, as this is essentially the "blueprint" for the exam.

This will divide the information into multiple domains, and each domain has a set list of tasks that you will be expected to understand. Use the "knowledge of" and "skills in" sections to guide you and make sure you feel very comfortable with those sections. An excellent way to tell if you're comfortable with a topic is to try to explain it to someone else. If you feel confident that you could explain it to a client or class participant, then you're probably proficient with that topic; if you're not quite sure, then you'll probably want to review that topic.

Autogenic inhibition involves stimulation of the Golgi tendon organ GTO during a muscular contraction. The GTO is a proprioceptor responsible for sensing increases in tension during both concentric and eccentric actions.

Under GTO activation, the agonist muscle is inhibited causing the fibers to lengthen. A practical example of autogenic inhibition is observed during static stretching.

During a static stretch muscle tension temporarily increases and after holding the stretch for 7 to 10 seconds the GTO is activated. When the GTO is activated, the muscle spindle is inhibited. The muscle spindle protects us from overstretching, so if this function is inhibited we can move into a deeper stretch.

Reciprocal inhibition involves stimulation of the muscle spindle during the stretching of muscle fibers. The muscle spindle wraps around the muscle fibers in a parallel fashion and will stretch as muscle fibers stretch. When a muscle group is stretched, the muscle spindle activates causing the stretched muscle agonist to contract and the antagonist muscle group to relax.

Reciprocal inhibition is also known as the stretch reflex. A practical example of reciprocal inhibition occurs during proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation PNF. During this stretching technique, a low grade muscular contraction of the antagonist muscle in this case, the muscle group opposite of the muscle group targeted to receive the stretch is held for 6 to 15 seconds.

This low grade muscle contraction inhibits the muscle spindle activity in the agonist muscle in this case, the muscle targeted to be stretched allowing that muscle to be stretched further. The test contains math-based questions to determine if you can use basic mathematics addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division to apply what you are learning to real-life scenarios.

These questions will require calculations and memorization of some fitness formulas. However, you only need to know a few formulas for the exam, and they can all be found on this Helpful Fitness Formulas sheet.

While all of these formulas are useful to know as a fitness professional, they may not all be specific to your test. It is recommended you cross-reference the equations on the handout with what is covered in your text.

The exam program itself will have a calculator function, and you will also have access to scratch paper and a pencil. Frontal Plane Back yourself up to a wall so that your entire backside is against the wall. Pretend this wall is in your center, dividing you into anterior and posterior halves. This imaginary wall represents the frontal plane. To practice the motions that occur in this plane, you must keep your entire backside and limbs against the wall behind you.

Notice, if you try to do a biceps curl, you would have to lift your forearm off of the wall, so this indicates that flexion and extension do not occur in the frontal plane.

Sagittal Plane: Turn to one side and place your side against the wall your arm might have to be slightly in front of the body to get hip against the wall. Pretend this wall is in your center, dividing you into right and left halves.

This wall represents the sagittal plane. For this plane, you must keep your side against the wall. Movements in the sagittal plane would include biceps curls that is, flexion and extension , deadlifts, and squats. Any movement where you can keep the side of your body parallel to the wall takes place in the sagittal plane. Notice, if you try to do the motions described for the frontal plane abduction and adduction or elevation and depression or any twisting motion, you would have to lift your side off of the wall or move through the wall.

Transverse Plane This one is a little harder to imagine, but it can be represented by visualizing your body is divided into top and bottom halves and then placing your torso on top of a table and your lower extremities below the table. Movements that occur in this plane should keep the body or a specific joint parallel to the table. This would include movements like rotation of the trunk, pronation, and supination of the forearm, and circumduction of the thumb.

Many texts use varied terminology related to the metabolic markers used to describe the physiological response to cardiorespiratory exercise. In the ACE manuals, VT1 and VT2 will be used, but it is important to recognize the other commonly used terms when reviewing the literature:. Another potential source of confusion involves the term "anaerobic threshold," which has come to mean different things in various parts of the world based on the way it was used in early research on the topic.

To zoom the publication in and out, either click in the area of the page you wish to zoom in on, or use the zoom button on the toolbar, which will automatically zoom on the center of the pages you are viewing. A dropdown menu of results will appear under the search box. ACE eBooks allow for multiple page bookmarking, using different colored bookmarks for each page.

You can also reference each bookmark with a short description. We generally advise spending 3 to 4 months studying and preparing yourself to not only pass the exam but also to prepare yourself to become a health and fitness professional. We suggest spending 12 to 15 hours on every lesson, which generally equates to taking 5 to 7 days to cover the videos, reading, study companion, and quiz. You can also email the above documents to support ACEfitness. Don't miss out! Save now. Be in a class of your own.

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