New ACE Specialty Certification Aims to Build Expertise of Group Exercise Leaders

SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--With more people turning to group fitness as a fun, social way to stay physically active, American Council on Exercise (ACE) has recognized a growing need to ensure instructors deliver the safest and most effective classes possible.

“As an organization, we are committed to helping people live their most fit lives. One way we can help do that is by providing quality education to enhance the knowledge and skills of people who passionately lead and inspire others to be physically active.”

Designed to complement the foundational education received by teachers of modality-specific classes, the Group Exercise Leadership Specialty Certification provides valuable knowledge of the essentials of exercise and movement science, how to apply that science to appropriate class design, and how to use it to ensure participant safety.

While widely used 1- or 2-day instructor training programs may be effective at explaining how to deliver specific class formats, they oftentimes don’t cover enough to truly develop an understanding of the body’s response to certain movements, appropriate progressions and regressions, and motivational techniques to create engaging and safe experiences for participants.

“We understand some professionals may not choose to pursue an accredited ACE Group Fitness Instructor Certification at the start of their career, but if they’re teaching fitness classes, we want to ensure they have the tools to deliver them safely and effectively,” said ACE Chief Science Officer Dr. Cedric Bryant. “As an organization, we are committed to helping people live their most fit lives. One way we can help do that is by providing quality education to enhance the knowledge and skills of people who passionately lead and inspire others to be physically active.”

Participants of the specialty certification have two curriculum options: a live ACE workshop in select cities nationwide or a Web-based interactive presentation led by award-winning group fitness instructor Lawrence Biscontini. Both options include an online assessment participants may complete at their own convenience.

“The bottom line is that we believe in what the teachers of dance-based fitness, indoor cycling, body-sculpting, and the other various forms of pre-choreographed and equipment-based formats are doing,” Bryant said. “The camaraderie and accountability that group fitness provides play a significant role in helping us address the obesity epidemic. We just want to provide the tools to help them enrich their classes even more.”

The specialty certification was first introduced to a sold-out group at the 2012 Zumba^® Instructors Convention in August 2012 in Orlando.

Learn more about upcoming specialty certification workshops in Los Angeles, Dallas, Chicago and New York by visiting the ACE website.

About ACE

Since 1985, American Council on Exercise (ACE) has evolved from a small nonprofit dedicated to educating people about proper fitness to a 50,000-strong network of certified Personal Trainers, Group Fitness Instructors (GFI), Health Coaches and Advanced Health & Fitness Specialists (AHFS). As the largest NCCA-accredited nonprofit fitness certification organization in the world, ACE provides quality continuing education to professionals and conducts independent science-based research to protect all Americans from unsafe and ineffective products. Our goal is to inspire people to live their most fit lives through free fitness resources including workouts, nutrition information and expert advice. For more information, call [phone] or visit ACEfitness.org. AMERICAN COUNCIL ON EXERCISE, ACE and ACE logos are Registered Trademarks of the American Council on Exercise.