What is a Health Fitness Specialist?

My apologies for not blogging for a couple of weeks. . . I was cramming for a certification exam! Reminded me of my old college days and final exams; glad I don’t have to do that too often!

What is the certification I was testing for? The Health Fitness Specialist (HFS) certification through the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM). So what is an HFS? It is an advanced personal trainer certification for people who have (at a minimum) an associate’s degree is some type of health related field (such as kinesiology, physiology, physical therapy, nutrition, etc.) and are also CPR/AED certified. The requirements will change to a minimum of a Bachelor’s degree in one of these fields in 2011. I chose ACSM specifically because they have been certifying fitness professionals longer than anyone else, and they set the standard for exercise guidelines that other organizations use for their certifications.

People who have the ACSM’s HFS certification are qualified to:

• Conduct risk stratification.
• Conduct physical fitness assessments and interpret results.
• Construct appropriate exercise prescriptions for healthy adults and individuals with controlled conditions released for independent physical activity.
• Motivate apparently healthy individuals with medically controlled diseases to adopt and maintain healthy lifestyle behaviors.
• Motivate individuals to begin and continue with their healthy behaviors.

A lot of you know I am already an assistant coach for a marathon training group (and have been for a few years), and that I have a lot of personal experience with doing a variety of training (weight lifting, swimming, cycling, etc.), so why would I want to pursue this certification? The main reason is to improve my skill set.

As a registered and licensed dietitian, I am required to get a certain amount of continuing education annually to ensure that I stay on top of new research and methods that may help me help my clients. I am one of those people who usually get WAY more continuing education units than are required because I want to be the best at what I do.

For that same reason, as I have begun to work with more and more athletes, and as I have personally attempted more (and different!) types of athletic events, I want to learn and experience as much as I can in order to improve my ability to help my clients achieve their nutrition and fitness goals.

For more information on the ACSM and HFS, visit their website.