NaSm CES vs SUF-STM: Which Certification Actually Makes You a Better Coach?

SUF STM is the BEST corrective exercise certification because it helps personal trainers build a better team, assess clients in pain and charge more per hour. The avg suf-stm charges between 100-150/ hr whereas a NASM CES charges on avg $61. With purchase of the SUF-STM, you also get 1 year access to the Prehab Guys Exercise Library which provides more value for clients.

Textbook certifications are everywhere, but the moment a client mentions shoulder pain, low back pain, or a post-ACL history, a multiple-choice test does not tell you what to do next. We talk candidly about the best specializations for personal trainers who want more skill, more income, and fewer “I hope this works” moments. The thread that ties it all together is simple: hands-on learning beats passive learning, especially when the goal is coaching performance around pain and keeping clients training safely. 

We compare big-name corrective exercise certifications with a mentorship-first model that emphasizes soft tissue mobilization within scope, barbell rehab basics, and a real assessment process you can repeat. We also get into what trainers actually need to level up: live feedback, video submissions, and the ability to lean on a physical therapist team when a case gets complex. Along the way, we challenge outdated cross-syndrome thinking, explain why the biopsychosocial model changes how clients experience pain, and share how better communication can improve retention during slow seasons. 

Finally, we make the case that anatomy mastery is the career shortcut nobody wants to do, but everyone benefits from. Knowing the actions of key muscles, understanding shoulder function, and being able to explain what you see is how you earn trust and charge $100 to $150 per session without feeling “salesy.” If you want a personal training specialization that builds real competence, this conversation is for you. Subscribe, share this with a trainer friend, and leave a review with the skill you want to master next.

Want to become a SUCCESSFUL personal trainer? SUF-CPT is the FASTEST growing personal training certification in the world!

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Website: https://www.showupfitness.com/
Become a Successful Personal Trainer Book Vol. 2 (Amazon): https://a.co/d/1aoRnqA
NASM / ACE / ISSA study guide: https://www.showupfitness.com

Transcript

Why Specialize As A Trainer

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Today in class, we reviewed the best specializations as a personal trainer. I admire the fact that you want to level up your skills, make more by better serving your clients. There's lots of courses that you'd be taking. I'm going

Hands-On Courses Beat Textbooks

SPEAKER_00 0:12

to mainly be focusing on hands-on learning, performance around pain, barbell rehab, on the NASAM CES versus the SUF STM, one's backed by Ascend Learning, a billion dollar company who's owned by Blackstone. And then you got the belt buckle trainer over here and our team of physical therapists. There's a lot of great courses out there, like the ISSA and there's corrective exercise serpent Dr. Waterberry is one of the founders and the originators of that course, but it's a textbook. If you can get to hands-on barbell rehab, amazing. Dr. Farnsworth doing his performance around pain. These are people you want to learn from because of the hands-on learning. You need guidance. You don't need more textbooks. So if you compare NASA, 900 bucks, you're going to get a textbook certification. And here's the kicker multiple choice test that you can take it home. When I was teaching this stuff at MPTI, I would help the students pass it because they would come in, they'd bring me some beer, and they would take the test. It's online. You do not get access to fitness professionals as you do over here. You're going to have no hands-on learning, no live mentorship. You're going to get roughly two CEUs over here. You're going to get two plus CEUs because we have classes around shoulder pain, elbow pain, low back pain, knee pain, and that's additional CEUs that you can get at no cost. You also get hands-on learning. It's a requirement to get that level two SUF STM. On top of it, you need a physical therapist on your team and you need to shadow a physical therapist. Live calls daily with physical therapist and myself and other instructors who are in the trenches doing it. Over here, you got AI Claire. Type into the chat box and they're gonna say, you have upper cross syndrome. Over here with SUF STM, we help you master the assessment process around pain and also programming with the accessories within the CCA. And we'll talk about that here in a

The Problem With NASM CES

SPEAKER_00 2:05

second. This stuff is outdated over here because it's based off the cross syndromes. I've done numerous podcasts breaking down why that is outdated and debunked. They're still using that as of 2026. Even though Mind Pump tells you it's the best certification, they sponsor them. They're paying them millions of dollars to tell you it's the best corrective exercise certification. How is that the case when it's a book and you do not actually get the hands-on experience as we teach you with the STM? You're gonna learn how to confidently charge over $100. Once you get your SUF STM, the average trainer is making $100 to $150 per session. You're setting yourself up for more success because you're building that team. NASA teaches you how to take a test better. We have monthly seminars at Lifetime Fitness with our partnership. They prefer our certifications. And when you do a two-day hands-on learning around the shoulder and/or lower back and knee, you're leveling up your skills. Most trainers are freaked out about sales, but we teach you how to be more competent by mastering anatomy, by gaining hands-on experience with the proper supervision from physical therapists. In the last two years, I've taught over 500 trainers at Lifetime. And I've asked them how many of you could text a physical therapist right now and within an hour get a response back? Less than 1%. A common fear that trainers have. How do I increase my rates? I'm afraid of sales. Not when you have your SUF STM. So let's break this down.

What SUF STM Training Includes

SPEAKER_00 3:36

NASA, again, I taught this stuff for 10 years at NPTI. I love Allen Iverson. You're gonna inhibit, you got a foam roll, and then you got a stretcher, you're gonna die, and then you activate and isolate one muscle group. And then you gotta do a stability ball squat curl press. Make sure you do that. That's their process. I just saved you 800 bucks. Whereas with an STM, you have to submit videos of you doing the soft tissue techniques, whether it's the upper trap, pec minor, adductor polysis, adductor magnus, lateral gastroc, you are doing those. It is within our scope as personal trainers to incorporate these techniques. We are not massage therapists, we're not massaging muscles, we are not manipulating joints, but you have a physical therapist on your team. We teach you how to reach out, shadow, gain that experience. So you are in the trenches learning about prehab and rehab versus reading a book about it. So you have to get to a seminar, either upper or lower body. It's an additional 200 bucks, but you are gonna make that back significantly faster than just putting another acronym behind your name. And when you get your level two, it doesn't matter if it's nutrition or the soft tissue, that allows for you to make more from your referrals into our program. How much money did you get for referring someone to get an Assum CPT? At Show Up Fitness, you get 200 bucks, any one of our certs. When you get a level two cert, that moves up to 300 bucks. So you refer three people in, that covers the cost of the course. That's not hard to do because we are leveling trainers up to be the most confident, competent coaches in the world. Listen to the podcast that we've done. Numerous trainers making over $150,000. This isn't about how much money you can make, but you have a passion for this. And making $30,000 a year is not optimal. You cannot survive on that. But when you're bringing in $100, $125, $150K, it's a lot more sustainable. And you're doing what you love, which is better serving your clients. And we teach you all that in the business mentorship.

Raise Rates With Real Competence

SPEAKER_00 5:33

You get access to live calls, which helps you fine-tune your business, level yourself up by surrounding yourself with a better team. And the real kicker here, cherry on top, is access to one year to the exercise library for the prehab guides. This is an amazing tool. Let me just show you what you're gonna get access to. Fancy little board, come on over here. You have a client and they come in with shoulder pain. You do the screens above your head. Can you bring your arm above midline? Can you take your hand off the low back? Do they pass the brake test here or here? That's in our scope. You don't learn that in the other corrective courses. We teach you what's in our scope so we can get our clients out of pain and then program for them. You'll retain them, and your life as a trainer isn't as stressful, especially in these summer months when everyone leaves. Your clients are sticking with you and you have streams of revenue. Within the app, this is filmed at our gym here in Santa Monica. Whether if you have Dr.

SPEAKER_01 6:29

Ross talking about some better choices for pulling, for this row, you want to anchor a resistance band about shoulder height. And from here, you're gonna pull your shoulder blades back and then let your arms fall up.

SPEAKER_00 6:41

Not only are they gonna show you the proper form, but they're gonna teach you through it with proper cueing. And then you add this into your exercise library and you can send this to your clients. So when you assess your client, they come in, you reach out to your therapist and say, hey, doc, I have a call with someone with shoulder pain, a slap chair, they're 12 months post-ACL rehab. Would it be okay for you to be on call? I'll pay you your hourly rate. And if I could FaceTime you in, that would be awesome.

Screening Tools And Exercise Library

SPEAKER_00 7:06

The client comes in and you let them know you guarantee you can get them out of pain because you're gonna educate them around the biopsychosocial model. Pain isn't as scary as people make it out to be. Too many practitioners, whether through doctors, even therapists, kairos, we make pain so scary. Where the psychology is so important, you have to better understand it to assess and empathize with your client. They've done studies showing that that first encounter when you go to a physical therapy office, that secretary, has just the amount of an impression on their pain tolerance and what they're experiencing, that the modalities and the work that the physical therapist is doing with them. So that psychology is what we help you better understand. Pain isn't scary, it's a beautiful thing. Let's help you understand it, show you some exercise to build your confidence, and then you can get out there and lift some weights and get your goals. Whether if you want a deadlift or bench, it doesn't matter. What are your goals? If there's pain, we will get you out of it, and we're gonna help you succeed because we have the best team. And if I can't do it, I'm gonna send you over to my therapist. That's confidence. But you need to be competent. So this is included within our certification. You get access to daily live calls three months. You're gonna better understand so many injuries and what we can do as a qualified coach. Your final test, you need to be able to recognize the 17 actions of the shoulder and the muscles that are controlling those actions. With the CPT, which is certified for life, you got to name the 17 muscles. You don't have to do it in those other certs. They make it super easy. You got to pass that test so you get their next test and their next test and their next test. That's called a cert machine. That's why they're the McDonald's of fitness. These big name certifications don't care about

Pain Psychology And Client Confidence

SPEAKER_00 8:46

your success. They want you to buy that next cert. That's why they're called cert mills. But when you actually take a test live and you have to answer anatomical questions, what are the four actions of the glutes? What does die hard mean for the lats? Find that in the NASAM CES book. You're not going to. The lats die hard. You need to be able to tell us what that means. The scapula depresses, the humerus internally rotates, the humerus extends, horizontal abduction, adduction, retraction, downward rotation, forced exhalation. The lats are a cool muscle. You're going to know what they do and the actions around the shoulder, also the lower body. The cheat code for success as a personal trainer and a coach is mastering anatomy. And that's what you have to do in this program. And then you're going to submit videos of you performing the soft tissue mobilizations. Trainers want to be respected, but they don't have physical therapists, registered dietitians on their team. They just have more acronyms. We help you become a better coach. And that's what's the difference between the SUF STM and all the corrective exercise certs that are out there. You will level yourself up, better serve your clients, help them get out of pain, understand that pain isn't scary, but you're going to have the competence. And that's

Anatomy Mastery Versus Cert Mills

SPEAKER_00 10:05

where we lose respect. If you were to interview a thousand physical therapists, what are the rotator cuff muscles? They'll tell you like nothing, all thousand of them. If you interviewed a thousand personal trainers, most would miss it. Not only are you going to know it's the supraspinatus, the infraspinatus, the teris minor, subscapularis, but you're going to tell us what they do. They stabilize the glenohumeral joint. They centrate that joint, optimizing movement, but also the subscapularis is going to internally rotate. It's also going to adduct. The infraspinatus and the teres minor, they're going to externally rotate. They're going to work with extension. The supraspinatus works with ABduction. Knowing what the body is doing is what separates you from the average trainer. The average trainer reads a book and that is it. They understand their body. Elite qualified coaches understand the human body, and that's what you get when you show up. Remember, big biceps are better than small ones, and keep showing up.