Best Personal Trainer Certification for Postpartum & Prenatal Focus

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Jett_05
Jett_05 Posts: 95 Member
edited August 2020 in Health and Weight Loss
I know there has been other discussions regarding the pros and cons of personal training programs but I'm curious to know what training platforms have the best prenatal and postpartum focus. I'm a massage therapist the specializes in pre & postnatal work and I'm currently enrolled in a midwifery program that will be starting next year. I would like to be able to pursue my personal trainer certification with the intention of working solely with child-bearing folks. Obviously, this will require continuing ed but I'm wondering what preliminary certification provides the best foundation for such work.

TIA!

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  • shaumom
    shaumom Posts: 1,003 Member
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    I haven't seen any, to be honest.

    But I'd say one thing you'd want to make sure and explore would be something that looks at what physiologically happens to women during pregnancy, childbirth, and nursing and how these impact recovery and movement, as many of these can make exercise of various kinds not just inadvisable, but downright dangerous, you know? Like abdominal separation, for example.
  • 4legsRbetterthan2
    4legsRbetterthan2 Posts: 19,590 MFP Moderator
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    shaumom wrote: »
    Like abdominal separation, for example.

    For sure! And pelvic floor exercises, lots of women struggle with incontinence after a baby or two.

  • Jett_05
    Jett_05 Posts: 95 Member
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    Definitely. I've done a lot of training in treating diastasis recti as a massage therapist and a big reason I want to pursue this particular niche is from my own experiences and mistakes post-baby. I jumped right into my old core work 3 days after giving birth. Big mistake.
  • SnifterPug
    SnifterPug Posts: 746 Member
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    Check out Girls Gone Strong. They do various courses.
  • Fit_Chef_NE
    Fit_Chef_NE Posts: 110 Member
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    Don't get a gimmicky certification. I have an ACE certification and it is one of only a few that are considered legitimate enough to get a job. It will take time and you will have to prove that you know the anatomy of bones and muscles and where they attach. You also need a strong understanding of the legal side of training people and what legally falls under your scope of practice. Getting a weekend certification, which is what many gimmicky certs are, will open you up to malpractice lawsuits. This is exactly why I got my certification. There is no reason to go to some special mommy class if you want to do it the right way.
  • Fit_Chef_NE
    Fit_Chef_NE Posts: 110 Member
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    It will take 3 months at minimum to take the course and study for the exam when done online. I did it in my spare time, though the last few weeks of studying was intense since I didn't have a medical background. I gave myself 6 months and it was fairly doable. Don't think this will just be some easy thing you can breeze through without study. They design the exams in the hope that you will fail it and need to pay the fee to retake it. That means you have to learn the EXACT language of the certification organization. Even with a solid grasp of the material, you will fail the exam if you don't know the exact way they want you to answer it. So it will take as much time as an elective online college class for a semester.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
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    Jett_05 wrote: »
    I know there has been other discussions regarding the pros and cons of personal training programs but I'm curious to know what training platforms have the best prenatal and postpartum focus. I'm a massage therapist the specializes in pre & postnatal work and I'm currently enrolled in a midwifery program that will be starting next year. I would like to be able to pursue my personal trainer certification with the intention of working solely with child-bearing folks. Obviously, this will require continuing ed but I'm wondering what preliminary certification provides the best foundation for such work.

    TIA!

    The top five certifications are:

    -ACE
    -NASM
    -ISSA
    -ACSM
    -NSCA

    They are all very good...but none of them are going to have a prenatal or postpartum focus. They are really designed to give you a broad, ground floor base of knowledge for training the general public in all of it's variety rather than having any specific focus...that comes later with continuing education.

    They do all have slightly different philosophies and approaches, so you might want to just research each and see which one jives best for you philosophically and maybe do some inquiries as to continuing education opportunities specific to pre and postnatal care...but you're definitely not going to find any focus like that at the basic certification level.

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