Advance your career with confidence

Gain specialized knowledge in sports performance training, including strength, agility, nutrition and conditioning, to help athletes perform their best.

Empower athletes to reach peak performance

Equip yourself with advanced techniques in programming, assessments, and sports-specific strategies to elevate athlete performance.

Stand out from the competition

Earn a respected credential that showcases your expertise, setting you apart in the growing field of sports performance training.

Become a Sports Performance Specialist

 
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Designed for professionals like you, seeking to make a greater impact.

While anyone can purchase and complete this program, it was designed with the following professionals in mind:

How it works

To become an ACE Sports Performance Specialist, you must complete the full curriculum and pass all quizzes with a score of 70% or higher. No prerequisites required. You'll receive a certificate, and your credential will never expire or need renewal.

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What you'll learn

Discover a science-based approach to training competitive athletes, combining assessments, functional programming, power and agility progressions, and sport-specific strategies in strength and nutrition. The ACE Sports Performance Specialist Program equips you with the skills to design tailored training plans while addressing the unique needs of competitive athletes. Through practical techniques and expert insights, you'll learn how to elevate athletic performance and integrate these new skills to grow your business.

ACE Sports Performance Specialist instructing an athlete through a training workout in the gym

Competitive athletes are very goal-focused. It is important to understand that the foundation of your relationship with clients will be based on a performance goals' the athlete wants to perform at his or her peak in competition. The Essentials of Sports Performance course will teach you movements, fundamentals and training methods to help athletes reach their specific performance goals. This course will teach you the ins and outs of training competitive athletes for success.

You will learn:

  • To understand scope of practice
  • To understand and apply functional movements in sports
  • To assess athletic movements and apply to programming
  • How to progress an athlete's programming
  • How to train athletes in a group setting
  • The basics of starting your own business

Recorded Video
Online Quiz

Agility is defined as the ability to change direction quickly with ease. In sport, agility is important both physically and mentally. In this module, ACE Exercise Physiologist Jacque Crockford will discuss the importance of the mind-body connection and how it applies to physical agility, review supporting research and introduce drills that can be implemented for a variety of ages and skill levels. Whether you are coaching youth, Olympic hopefuls or geriatric clients, mental agility training can positively impact both physical and mental performance.

You will learn:

  • How to define mental and physical agility
  • How exercise improves mental agility
  • Conditioning drills designed to improve mind-body agility
  • The Essentials of Sports Performance

Recorded Video
Online Quiz

In this module, industry innovator Peter Twist will guide you through strength and conditioning techniques to train the major muscle groups necessary to develop for competitive athletic success, including:

Sport Core

Learn to understand and apply the principles of stability and rotary power into your training design. Create a center for movement and force transfer by developing the core using whole body, closed-kinetic chain stability and rotary power.

You will learn:

  • Twist Sport Conditioning training paradigm, including Sport Core exercises using the BOSU Balance Trainer™, Medicine Balls, Slastix™, free weights and stability balls
  • Training programs for youth athletes, adult recreationalists and elite adult athletes using innovative Sport Core exercises
  • Basic knowledge and understanding of science and practical application related to implementation of Sport Core exercises

Sport Strength — Chest & Back

The Linked Strength system for chest and back trains the body to become more skillful and develop intelligent strength to meet the demands of everyday life and sports. Learn to foster strength among your clients so they can transfer force from the legs through the core to the upper body. Discover how to integrate push-pull exercises that incorporate balance and movement for truly effective results.

You will learn:

  • How to implement the Twist Conditioning paradigm into training programs, including Sport Strength — Chest & Back exercises that foster true athleticism in clients
  • To build training programs for youth athletes, adult recreationalists and elite adult athletes using innovative Sport Strength — Chest & Back exercises
  • Basic knowledge and understanding of science and practical application related to implementing the Twist Conditioning paradigm and Sport Strength — Chest & Back exercises

Sport Strength — Legs & Shoulders

Success in sport movement requires the ability to transfer force from legs through the core to the upper body seamlessly. Learn to incorporate movement and balance into training programs to achieve smarter bodies and stronger legs and shoulders.

You will learn:

  • How to implement the Twist Conditioning paradigm into training programs, including Sport Strength — Legs & Shoulders exercises that foster true athleticism in clients
  • To build training programs for youth athletes, adult recreationalists and elite adult athletes using innovative Sport Strength — Legs & Shoulders exercises
  • Basic knowledge and understanding of science and practical application related to implementing the Twist Conditioning paradigm and Sport Strength — Legs & Shoulders exercises

PDF
Recorded Video
Online Quiz

Helping your clients reach their health and weight loss goals requires more than fitness instruction alone. Nutrition is a crucial part of an overall health and fitness plan, but the field of nutrition is broad and rapidly expanding, with new knowledge being published regularly. Amidst this changing environment, you have an important role to play in educating your clients and guiding them to make informed decisions about what to consume, while staying within your scope of practice. This course will help you build a foundation in nutrition and weight loss, including how diet impacts physical activity and performance, so you can advise clients on their nutritional choices and help them live healthier lives.

Taught by Dr. Laura Kruskall, the Director of Nutrition Sciences at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, this course is intended for health and fitness professionals who want to learn the basics of sound nutrition and weight management. The course will also define the acceptable scope of giving nutritional advice for health and fitness professionals, and when clients should be referred to a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RDN).

You will learn:

  • The basic rules of nutrition, including Dietary Guidelines for Americans and the USDA MyPlate tool
  • Step-by-step nutritional guidance that you can share with clients
  • The various energy systems that power the body and the basics of digestion
  • To identify symptoms of various eating disorders
  • Where to find credible nutrition information that can be shared with clients

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Online Quiz

Approved Providers

Approved by the following organizations for continuing education hours:

1.5 CEUs
1.9 CEUs
7.0 CEUs
25.0 CECs

Meet the experts

The ACE Sports Performance Specialist Program features expert instructors, including:

UNLV Nutrition Sciences Associate Professor and ACSM and Academy of Nutrition Dietic Fellow.

International Functioning Training Expert and former strength and conditioning coach for the NHL.

ACE Director, Product Development and ACE Certified Personal Trainer and Health Coach.

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Get the latest on career-boosting continuing education options like specialist programs, workshops and free webinars designed to help you build your expertise and stand out from the crowd.

Thanks you for signing up! You are on your way to enjoying career-boosting continuing education designed to help you build your expertise and stand out from the crowd.

Aspiring ACE Specialist studying online with laptop and notebook, excited to grow her health and fitness career

Reviews

Denise

Much of the course, the exercises, and information presented is based on functional anatomy and exercise physiology, but falls short on developing athletic abilities and skill qualities for sport demands. In some cases, concepts based in motor learning (mind-body, for example) are misapplied. Some information is very old and outdated (periodization). Some training exercises are based on an individual's training business (Twist, 2009), which is inconsistent with current best practices.

Drezden (ACE Professional)

Gregory

Robert (ACE Professional)

Sanjay (ACE Professional)

Alicia

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