I'm a Certified Clinical Exercise Specialist!

On top of working like crazy, teaching classes, getting stuff ready for Christmas, and trying to find a spare moment or two to hang out with my husband (during waking hours), I've also been studying for my ACSM Certified Clinical Exercise Specialist certification. The ACSM is the American College of Sports Medicine and is like the governing body for Exercise Physiologists.

There are different levels of certification and this is one of the harder ones, with each certification needing more education & experience than the previous one in order to actually take the test.

So what exactly is a Certified Clinical Exercise Specialist for those that are interested?

From the testing website:

"The ACSM Certified Clinical Exercise Specialist (CES) is a healthcare professional certified by ACSM to deliver a variety of exercise assessment, training, rehabilitation, risk factor identification, and lifestyle management services to individuals with or at risk for cardiovascular, pulmonary, and metabolic disease(s). These services are typically delivered in cardiovascular/pulmonary rehabilitation programs, physicians’ offices or medical fitness centers. The ACSM Certified Clinical Exercise Specialist is also competent to provide exercise-related consulting for research, public health, and other clinical and non-clinical services and programs."

This book has been by my side for the past month or so

And let me tell you, it hasn't been an easy task to study for this exam! I haven't actually had to study for anything since grad school 5 years ago so it has been a real struggle to get back in study mode. On top of that, I'm the first one of my 5 coworkers to take the test so I'm kinda like the guinea pig and will be able to let them know how the test went. Unfortunately, I have no one to tell me how easy or hard the test is. The good news though is that my work is finally paying for us to take the test (pretty much the only reason I never did it before was because I didn't want to drop $300 on it) AND we're going to get raises when we pass!

Some more good news.....I took the test this morning & PASSED! Let's just say I barely squeaked it out but I passed and that's what counts. It was honestly a lot harder than I thought it was going to be and that darn review book didn't actually help much with the info that was on the exam. But, I can now add to my resume that I'm a Certified Clinical Exercise Specialist. Sounds kind of impressive, huh?

**Note--for those of you who don't know what I do for a living, I'm a full-time Clinical Exercise Physiologist with a local hospital system where I do fitness testing for all Columbus firefighters and police officers as well as smaller surrounding townships & cities. I also group train a local fire department and work health fairs & do wellness coaching for many companies & businesses throughout the city. I have both my Bachelors degree & Master's in Exercise Science. I really enjoy my job for the majority of the year except the month of December when we're EXTREMELY swamped with police officers waiting until the last minute to do their fitness test & I'm stuck working until 9 or 10 PM at night in the weeks leading up to Christmas with little time off for the holidays.