NCCA
Guess who's the newest NCCA approved Certification? You got it, NETA!

Within the last few months, NETA is now recognized as one of the top certification programs with their accreditation from NCCA. Good news for us!

Certifications
NETA has two certifications, Personal Trainer and Group Exercise Instructor. I'm going to concentrate on the Personal Trainer certification, but check out the website if you are interested in the Group Exercise Instructor certification as well. (It's very similar to the Personal Trainer Certification)

The Personal Trainer Certification goes after my most valued aspect of training, actually practical hands-on experience in their training! Although you do NOT have to take any workshops or buy any materials to take the exam (unlike places like NASM), I believe it's a required part of your education.

The exam materials are pretty cheap. My weak addition tallies all the books up to be a total of $80.

Reputation / Popularity
NETA is new on the scene and is not as recognized as the longer term players (ACE, ACSM, NASM, NCSF, NSCA). It's going to take some time for people to know what NETA is, especially since it changed its name from NDEITA not too long ago. It also gets a bit confused with NESTA...needless to say, the Acronym Soup is getting mixed up quite a bit!

Eligibility
In order to sit for the NETA exam, you must be 18 years of age, have a current CPR certificate, and that's it!!!

Exam
The exam is administered all over the country at various testing centers, called "Comira", which is great news! As I mentioned, there is no pre-requirements other than what's stated above to sit for the exam. You don't need to purchase or attend any NETA courses to sit for the exam.

Although I recommend at least getting the books, you can really take advantage of their weekend workshops to really learn your material well.

Workshops
NETA offers a Personal Trainer Certification Workshop for a quite reasonable cost ($349 if you register 30 days before) and is available all over the country on the weekends.

It runs Saturday to Sunday and is equivalent to 14 CEC's (for those of you who need a massive amount of CEC's quickly for recertification!)

They also recommend that you purchase the $80 in reading material and study it before you attend.

Costs
So far, they're not too bad in the cost department. Here's the breakdown:

Workshop - $349 (early registration) to $389 (walk up)
Exam Alone - $249
Books Recommended - $80
Home Study Review - $39

These all seem quite reasonable to me, especially since the workshop should be local to your area, or at worst, a one night hotel stay.

Validity
NETA's Personal Trainer Certification is valid for two years once you pass the exam.

CEC's
The CEC requirement is for 20 hours of Continuing Education before you can renew your Certification. (Cost for Renewal - $45)

NETA accepts almost all the other NCCA CEC credits too. So you could take a CEC class for ACE (and still use it to recertify with ACE) and get credit with NETA too. Pretty slick, huh?

NETA does require that 6 of your CEC's come directly from NETA, but that's less than 40% of the requirement.

Check their website to verify that your CEC's at other organizations will count, but their policy seems quite liberal. They aren't trying to milk every single dollar from their members like a few of the other certification organizations.

Renewal
Renewal isn't too difficult, you include any photocopies of your CEC classes(those that aren't from NETA), the $45 fee, and the recertification paperwork postmarked by the expiration date.

If the letter is postmarked later than the expiration date, various fees are added based on how late the letter is received. After 180 days, you can't renew and must recertify.

Summary
NETA is a new player on the NCCA block, which instantly gives it a lot of credibility that it didn't have just a few years ago. They appear to really be working hard on expanding their client base with honest pricing, fantastic learning opportunities, and other amenities.

Although walking into a gym and saying you're NETA certified may get a few quizzical looks, in time this certification will only gain in acceptance. Coupled with another certification, NETA would be a great way to augment your education and professional credentials.

Leslie Smith is a Certified Personal Trainer and owner of Fun-2B-Fit, LLC. She has published a book on "Becoming a Certified Personal Trainer" to assist aspiring trainers with their goals of becoming certified fitness professionals.



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