Acsm's Guidelines for Exercise Testing and Prescription + Certification Review + Resources for the Personal Trainer

This was the textbook for a college class that was essentially a certification prep, and the bookstore stocked the previous edition. Side-by-side comparisons with my classmates showed not only is there more material and updated guidelines that you'll need to know in the 4th edition, but that ACSM has completely revamped the way they structure the content/topics for the certification exam. So if you're going to sit for the exam, get a 4th edition if you can.As far as the content itself goes, the Resources book is thorough and has a lot of good info in it. I've not taken the exam yet, so I can't speak to how well the contents of this book or the Certification Review track to the exam itself. But we did do a "practice test" in class with questions taken from the actual exam test bank, and none of the questions were new material or unexpected (although a few were trickier than expected). The Certification Review also has a lot of key charts, guidelines and tables pulled from the textbook for easy reference, which is handy for focused studying.I'm just now starting the Exercise Prescription Guidelines, but it appears to be a fantastic reference (in fact, one of our guest lecturers, who is not only certified but works for the ACSM exam board, noted that she refers to it all the time in her practice). It also reads like some ACSM guidelines re: risk stratification and recommendations have been updated recently, so aside from its practical value as reference material, it's worth having if you're going to sit for the exam.

So I ordered the kit on a Friday. Used standard shipping. Received it by Saturday. Talk about lightning/expedited shipping!! I am so totally excited to get cracking and start studying my way to an ACSM certification. Looks intimidating but with hard work & dedication, I will be fine. Keep up the good work! Thank you, thank you, thank you....

This book has a good amount of information but It leaves you wanting for more in the nutritional side of things. I had planed to get my Personal Trainer through ACSM but after reading their book I've decided to go with another company. Just my personal preference.

Can't wait to become an ACSM Certified Personal Trainer. This is the kit you NEED & I believe is really the only one available for the ACSM test. Worth the money and can be referred back to forever.

Great value. Great read. On my way to my next cert. used NCsf before. Get at least 3 certs. Enjoy

As expected, all three of the textbooks are well-written and very helpful.

So nice to have it all in one package

Some of the worst technical writing I've seen (I was a technical writer for over 10 years). From the copy level, with grammatical and typographical errors, to paragraphs that repeat entire sentences (not in a row), to the abundance of utterly useless photographs seemingly inserted to attract people who dislike reading, to the text that describes anatomy in terms of parts that are not desrcibed, defined, or mentioned anywhere else, this book is a pain and a chore to read. It doesn't help that the beginning of the book is an extended puff piece on how amazing it is to be a personal trainer and what a growth industry fitness centers and health clubs are.This book may have the raw info needed to pass a certification exam, but I'm going to look to another organization that can produce better quality educational materials.