You can set up an individual appointment or come to an open house. Simply contact Debbie Sexton at debbie@nptifitness.com or (800) 960.624 for more information.

We offer a 500 hour personal training education program that can be completed in either six months or one year. Each day our students spend half their time in the classroom learning topics such as anatomy, exercise physiology, nutrition, exercise programming, working with special populations and the business of personal training, while the other half of their day is spent in hands-on practical sessions where they learn a wide variety of exercise techniques and programming.

Personal training is no longer about being a set and repetition counter for basic exercise such as the bench press or lat pull-down, so to be successful, a personal trainer must not only be book smart but also have extensive hands-on training and expertise when it comes to designing and prescribing exercise programs and workouts. Since our curriculum is divided between both classroom and hands-on practical instruction, we're able to provide you with all the tools you need to be successful in the fitness industry.

In the classroom, you'll be exposed to a wide range of topics from anatomy, physiology and nutrition to the business side of personal training, while in the practical sessions, not only will you work out each day of class, but you'll gain invaluable experience learning how to properly analyze, instruct,design and implement workout exercises and routines.

In addition, we have extensive job placement assistance, an expansive internship program,  guest speakers, small classes, great instructors and we'll even help you prepare your resume and cover letter.

Yes. Founded in 2000, The National Personal Training Institute continues to be the best personal training education company in the nation with more than 30 campuses across the United States.

Yes. We are the only state licensed personal training education school in the State of Minnesota. We are licensed by the Minnesota Office of Higher Education.

Here at the National Personal Training Institute we are committed to helping our graduates find employment in the health and fitness industry. As a national company with an excellent reputation for providing employers with some of the best personal trainers in the country, we work hard to help our students take it to the next step.*  Our thorough job placement program includes the following:

• An extensive list of job contacts
• An expansive internship program
• Email notification of job leads
• Our guest speaker program
• Assistance with resume and cover letter writing
• A pass word protected jobs database section
• A willingness to contact employers on behalf of our students
• The local and national network of  National Personal Training Institute graduates working in the health and fitness industry

Our internship program is a great way for students to gain real world experience and to get a head start in finding a job. Participation in the internship program is not a requirement for graduation and there is no minimum number of hours per week a student must work. We do not place students in internships, rather we provide students with the contact information of a number of fitness facilities in the area so they can find their best fit. The only requirement is that the student be in good standing and in the second half of their National Personal Training Institute program.

*Every effort will be made to help graduates find suitable employment; however, the National Personal Training Institute can not promise or guarantee employment to anyone.

The total cost of the program is $6,300.00, which covers all of the following:

• Enrollment Fee
• The three required textbooks
• A membership to Gold's Gym
• Three hundred hours of classroom instruction
  
• Two hundred hours of hands-on practical instruction
• Guest speakers
• Local and national job placement assistance
• Our expansive internship program 

Click here for more information on the payment options.

Yes. There is a $75.00 enrollment fee that is part of the $6,300.00 total cost of the program. The enrollment fee holds a spot in the class of your choice and you are not officially enrolled until we receive it. The fee can be refunded as long as you let us know in writing that you can not attend before the class that you enrolled in starts. Classes fill up so you should send in your enrollment fee as soon as possible.

The end result will be very different. Other credible personal training certifications exist, such as those offered by the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA), the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) or the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM). These certifications are all respected and in fact many of our students go on to get one or more of them upon completing our program. However, all of these students said they would not have been able to pass that test unless they had first completed our program.

The primary difference with our program is in your ability to not only get a job once you are done but to have long-term success as a personal trainer. You must ask yourself a simple question. If you were looking to hire a personal trainer, who would you hire. The person who devoted the time and energy to attending a 500 hour personal training education program that consisted of both classroom and hands-on training or someone who simply opened a book and tried to pass a certification exam.

You must also ask yourself if you would be able to incorporate functional training exercises using equipment such as the stability ball, Bosu, medicine balls, dyna-discs, bands or tubing into a client's workouts. These items are widely available so you better be prepared to use them. Would you also know how to design an exercise program for a client who is six months pregnant, for one who has asthma or type II diabetes, for one who has recently had ACL reconstruction surgery or for  one who want to improve their running speed and vertical jump? You'll learn all this and more in our program.

And when you add in the other advantages of attending our school, such as our extensive job placement program, you can see that there really is no better choice then the National Personal Training Institute.

Would you hire a personal trainer who received an on-line certification? Neither willyour clients. Most on-line certifications only require you to purchase a book and take a short test. You must ask yourself how this qualifies and prepares someone to work as a personal trainer. Would you go to a doctor or a dentist with only an on-line education?

A few colleges and junior colleges do offer some type of a personal training program, which we think is great as it goes to show just how strong the profession of personal training is and how much the industry is growing. When you compare programs, however you will see that there really isn't much of a choice. All we do here at the National Personal Training Institute is prepare our students for successful careers in the health and fitness industry. This is a focus that other places don't have.

For instance, in the classroom portion you won't be wasting your time studying unrelated topics such as English or History. In the practical component of our program, you'll gain the invaluable hands-on experience you need to guide your clients through their workouts. And when you include our internship program and the fact that we work hard to help our students find jobs upon graduation, you can see how the singular focus of our program truly benefits our students.

It's also interesting to note that we often have students enroll in our program who have already earned an associates or undergraduate degree in a health and fitness related area because they were not happy with the education they received nor could they get a job they were satisfied with. 

The hands-on practical component of our curriculum is an invaluable learning experience for our students. Over the course of the program you'll learn to design and implement a wide variety of exercise programs based on real-world case scenarios, be taught new exercises and exercise techniques, study the theory behind functional training methods and understand how to incorporate these tools and techniques into your fitness programming.

Functional training is a resistance training method utilizing a wide variety of equipment such as stability balls, Bosu, medicine balls, tubing, bands, weights, dyna-discs, foam rollers and other unbalanced surfaces to condition the body's entire kinetic chain. Unlike traditional strength training exercises such as the bench press or lat pull-down that simply focus on one or two muscle groups, functional training exercises tend to mimic real-life movement patterns that incorporate the entire body, including the important core muscles of the stomach and lower back.

For instance, take an exercise such as a seated leg extension performed on a machine. Although you will strengthen your quadriceps muscles, when in real life do you actually use these muscles in this position? Not very frequently. So, instead of performing that exercise, we would teach you movements that use those muscles in real world scenarios. For example, incorporating an exercise such as a step-up onto a bench will not only strengthen the quadriceps muscle, but will work most of the other muscles in your lower body and core, while mimicking the real-world activity of climbing stairs.

Or instead of performing a bench press, why not have your client put their back on a stability ball and then do a chest press with dumbbells. They'll still get a great upper body workout, but since they are now on an unstable surface, they get an excellent workout for their core muscles as well. Not only are these types of exercises more effective, but they are more fun for both the client and the personal trainer.

And you can also have your client perform these types of exercises in their home, a place where they may not have much equipment. In this day and age, no one is going to pay a personal trainer to say do three sets of ten reps on the bench press, so you need to know how to incorporate functional training exercises into your workout design.

The practical component of the curriculum takes place at Gold's Gym.

Absolutely. One of the great things about our program is that you work out everyday you're with us, so not only will you be learning in the classroom but you'll have the opportunity to make positive physical changes as well.

We provide an extremely learning friendly environment here at the National Personal Training Institute and we do our best to help you learn the material at a comfortable pace. Our classes are small, we have great instructors, we spend ample time on each section of our curriculum and we have a great deal of review time worked into the schedule. 

Students between the ages of 18-62 have graduated from our program.

The admission requirements are as follows:

• At least 18 years of age
• High school diploma or equivalence
• Medical clearance (This form will be provided upon enrollment)

No prerequisite classes are necessary and the National Personal Training Institute does not discriminate against any applicant by race, gender, age or physical disability in accordance with federal and state guidelines.

To graduate from the program, a student must:

•  Complete all required course work, tests and assignments
• Have a cumulative average of at least 70% on all tests and assignments
• Meet the 500 hour attendance requirement

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Click here to enroll.