With a versatility that ranges from competitive athletes to rehabilitation patients, and everyday people who need to improve their balance and joint stability, expertise in functional training can be applied to a wide range of clients. As a Functional Training Specialist, you’ll be able to help people move more efficiently, prevent injury, improve their balance and flexibility, build strength, and improve their overall quality of life.
Our Functional Training Specialty Certification is designed for fitness and allied health professionals who want to garner a deeper understanding of how to train the body to move more efficiently. Whether it’s improving core function to give clients an edge in athletic competition or boosting balance to help older adults play with their grandchildren without pain, functional training can help all adults improve movement efficiency.
Our team of experts developed specialty certifications based on public demand and the knowledge they believed a well-rounded specialist should possess. Requirements for each specialty certification include a blend of courses created by ACE and those developed by our educational partners.
You must complete each of the courses described below. As you move through the required curriculum, you will earn continuing education credits (CECs) for each component. CECs will be added to your MyACE account as you go, allowing you to apply them to your current recertification requirements.
Once you complete all of the courses, you will automatically be updated in our system as an ACE specialist and a specialty certification will be uploaded into your My ACE account. Our specialty certifications do not expire. Purchase price includes all materials and the specialty certification itself.
Intended for experienced fitness professionals, this three-part course covers the fundamentals of functional training and how to use functional anatomy, assessments, and motor learning principles to develop comprehensive workout programs. Learn to develop efficient musculoskeletal systems by focusing on structural strength and postural balance. Utilizes The Pain-Free Program: A Proven Method to Relieve Back, Neck, Shoulder and Joint Pain by Anthony B. Carey.
You will learn:
- Muscular causes to structural imbalances and movement impairments
- Functional anatomy and integration of the major myofascial slings and systems
- Assessments using static postural, single leg stance, and overhead squats
- Application of motor learning principles for corrective functional exercise
- Logical progressions of corrective functional exercises
Comprehensive postural assessments are essential in creating fitness programs for clients at all levels. Learn to assess posture for muscle-joint imbalances that could cause movement compensations and injury in the head, shoulders, spine, pelvis, hips, knees, ankles and feet. For information on how this course can contribute to your business, read ACE Exercise Physiologist Pete McCall’s article on How to Successfully Market & Use Postural Assessments as a Training Service.
You will learn:
- Appropriate timeframes to assess your clients’ posture
- The right angle rule to body design and alignment to plumb line
- How to conduct a postural assessment and identify muscle-joint imbalances and compensations in the head, shoulders, spine, pelvis, hips, knees, ankles and feet
- Limitations to the model
The following information and techniques for assessing static posture have been adapted from The BioMechanics Method, an educational program created by ACE subject-matter expert Justin Price, M.A. More in-depth information regarding postural assessments and corrective exercise can be obtained at www.TheBioMechanicsMethod.com.
Proper form is the key preventing injury and maximizing the effectiveness of exercises that isolate individual muscle groups. Learn specific, in-depth techniques for spotting and cueing so your clients adhere to correct form and control throughout the entire range of motion. Use strategies based on functional movement principles and a better understanding of integrated movement, multiple open- and closed-kinetic chain exercises.
You will learn:
- How to set up commonly used fitness equipment to properly fit each client
- Feedback and instructional cues to assure clients demonstrate correct form in stability, mobility and resistance-training exercises
- Safe and effective techniques for spotting clients during exercise
Learn the fundamentals of core training to help you incorporate exercises into your client sessions. Improve athletic performance, prevent lower back injury and help clients of all levels move more efficiently in their activities of daily living. Review basic anatomy and discover tips you can share to boost core strength.
You will learn:
- Teaching techniques to help clients effectively recruit the trunk musculature and control position of the lumbar spine
- How to start with basic exercises, then add equipment when clients can properly engage transverses and pelvic floor musculature
- Core muscle anatomy and fundamentals of core training
- Beneficial tips to share with clients
Flexibility is an important, yet often neglected, component of health-related fitness. Without adequate flexibility, the smooth and easy performance of everyday and recreational activities would be impossible. Sports medicine professionals, athletic trainers, coaches, and fitness trainers routinely recommend stretching in an effort to both prevent injury and enhance performance. However, according to available scientific research, there is little evidence that stretching before or after sports or exercise participation prevents injury, and some data show that stretching may actually negatively affect performance. Due to the growing recognition that all individuals should increase their levels of physical activity to improve their health and quality of life, studies on flexibility are becoming more commonplace. The purpose of this course is to provide the student with an up-to-date review of the research in the areas of stretching and injury prevention, and flexibility and performance enhancement.
You will learn:
Identify the benefits of adequate flexibility, limitations of restricted mobility, and disadvantages of hypermobility Discuss soft-tissue factors that contribute to flexibility Identify the nervous system’s role in flexibility. Discuss possible mechanisms for delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) Describe the influence of personal characteristics on flexibility Identify types of stretching that promote increased range of motion Discuss the relationship of flexibility training as a method to decrease exercise-related injury and enhance performance Identify a safe and effective program for improving overall flexibility