Frequently Asked Questions

The CPTN is a member-driven organization. Our main focus is to service our members. We strive to provide the best certifications, conferences, workshops, examinations and resources for our members to be successful in the field.

Our Personal Trainer Certification is considered one of the best in Canada due to our high standards of excellence. We require that trainers achieve a high passing grade in various disciplines to move from being enthusiasts to career professionals. To remain certified and listed on our Find A Trainer page, trainers must maintain their certification status through continuing education (e.g. Conferences, Workshops and Online Courses) to keep ahead in their field.

No. The CPTN welcomes members from other agencies as well as non-certified individuals and organizations to join its Membership base. You are required to be a CPTN-CPT to be listed on our Find A Trainer page. Please read the Membership Benefits page to learn more about the benefits of becoming a Certified Personal Trainer.

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Membership Renewal is required for non-certified CPTN members to gain access to the Members Portal and to continue to obtain member rates where applicable. Expired members can renew using the Membership Renewal Form.

CPTN trainers within the 6 months overdue period will have their membership reinstated after Certification Renewal has been approved. If exceeding 6 months, please contact Education Services for personal options for reinstatement.

Note: All member accounts will be deactivated on the date of membership expiration. All CPTN certifications are invalid after the date of certification expiration. Trainers cannot claim to be certified with an expired certification.

Continuing education courses, online courses, live courses, institutional programs or organized learning experiences are taken after a degree or diploma is obtained to enhance personal or professional goals.

Proof of completion documentation in the form of transcripts, certificates or a letter of attendance for successful completion of an event or course must be obtained from the provider. Courses petitioned from transcripts must be accompanied with the course outlines.

CPTN offers 1 continuing education credit (CEC) per contact hour excluding lunch breaks.

Note: Other organizations offer Continuing Education Units (CEUs) which is a value from 0 to 1.

Petitioning is the process of having a non-approved course be reviewed for approval of continuing education credits.

CPTN does not accept the following for petitions: activities and training sessions, master classes and workouts, clinical hours, internship teaching hours, self-preparation for a test, lecturing or job preparation training courses, health and fitness books, health and fitness VHS/CD/DVD training, and courses outside the scope of health and fitness.

Note: Courses must have applied knowledge testing and providers must issue proof of completion documentation.

Yes. You can petition the course for CPTN CECs using the CEC Petitions Online Form. We recommend reviewing the Petition Form prior to taking a course so that the required information can be obtained to submit a proper petition.

We require proof of completion to be submitted using our Document Upload page or e-mail to education@cptn.com.

No. Trainers having multiple CPTN certifications are eligible to renew all certifications at the same time. Your CECs will be applied to each CPTN certification completed. Your renewal date for each CPTN certification will be set to the same expiration date as the CPTN-CPT or the most recent CPTN certification to allow for a simplified renewal process.

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The cost for becoming a CPTN-CPT varies depending on the path taken to achieve certification status. This includes prior education background, prior completion of requirements and current CPTN membership status.

Note: The cost of First Aid, CPR, practice examinations, rewrites, shipping and a 13% sales tax are excluded.

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There are various reasons that would cause an online transaction to fail:

Failures due to credit card errors:

• Your card has expired.
  • A new card might be mailed out while the old card is restricted from certain purchases.
• Your new card is not activated.
  • New credit cards require activation before first-time use.
  • New prepaid credit cards require activation before first-time use.
  • Your credit card might not be supported with our e-commerce provider.
• Your card has reached a set 24 hour withdraw limit.
  • You might have reached a set withdraw limit on the card (e.g. $300, $500, etc…).
• Your credit card requires SMS Text or Voice Call verification for numerical confirmation.
  • You would have to be the account holder, device holder or on-location to answer the call.
• Your credit card has previous outstanding charges or several pending charges to be paid.
  • Credit card companies might prevent further purchases due to unpaid credit.

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Failures due to personal user errors:

• You have skipped the 3-D Secure authentication process.
  • You are required to authenticate to prevent fraud or theft of credit cards. This is not the same information that is used at a retail terminal. However, it could be set to be the same information but we advise against that practice.
• You have entered an invalid 3-D Secure authentication PIN.
  • Your password should not be the same PIN number used at a bank terminal.
• You have submitted incorrect information.
  • You might need to authenticate with the same details on file with the bank for confirmation.
    • Your card holder name must match the name printed on the card which might not be spelled out in fullname.
  • You might have provided an incorrect CVD (3-4 digit number) located on the back of the card.
    • You just need to look at the card and enter the correct number again to confirm card in hand.
  • You might need to ensure updated address is provided to the bank e.g. Proof using electric or phone bill.
    • You have moved and have not updated the bank with the new address information.

Note: You are not billed if a transaction has been declined as no transaction has occurred.

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Failures due to user software errors:

• Your web browser cache requires purging to ensure the most current page is viewed.
  • To resolve this, please navigate to Settings menu and locate the Clear Data option.
• Your web browser requires updating to support updated digital certificates for secure transactions.
  • To resolve this, download the latest version of Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox or Internet Explorer.
• Your web browser has JavaScript blocked through anti-virus, firewall, ad-blocking applications or extensions.
  • To resolve this, please unblock our website or disable such applications or extensions for this process.

Failures due to shared filtered public wireless networks:

• Your web traffic is being filtered for unrelated e-commerce content not suitable in private commercial environments.
  • To resolve this, please use the Internet at home over residential networks where filtering can be disabled.

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Failures due to web services errors:

• Our web servers are under constant bombardment from hackers attempting to gain access to user accounts.
  • Our website begins to respond slower with our firewall accumulating banned IP addresses overtime. The server does get around to providing a response and we recommend allowing the page to load without being forced to reload.
• Our hosting providers are performing routine maintenance from 12:00 AM to 6:00 AM EDT/EST.
  • We apologize for this inconvenience. In the event of a completed transaction without being redirected to the appropriate page, please contact Education Services and we'll be able to handle this procedure over the phone.
• Our website is providing timeout errors or SMTP server not found errors.
  • We apologize for this inconvenience. Our servers might be in the process of restarting to improve response times.
• Our web server fails to load a specific page or is returning scripting error codes.
  • If the issue has not resolved itself within 10 minutes, please contact Technical Support to get the issue resolved faster. Our developer will be looking into the issue as quick as possible to ensure services return.
• Our e-mail notification messages are being mangled on public e-mail service providers.
  • Hotmail/Outlook.com webmail previews links in e-mail and invalidates all one-time access links.
  • Yahoo webmail throttles notifications for e-mail messages, e.g. password resets, purchase receipts.

Note: If the above suggestions fail to resolve the issue, please contact Education Services to attempt to process the order over the phone. This process is considered a card-in-hand transaction and requirements are reduced.

You can use personal banking mobile app or website to do an e-transfer. The following applies to all online banking:

1. You must login to online banking account and choose Interac e-Transfer.
2. You will be prompted to enter a transfer amount. Enter the required total amount.
3. You will be prompted to enter a recipient e-mail address. Enter the address info@cptn.com.
4. You will be prompted to enter a security question/answer for recipient verification for transaction.

Note: Members are advised to set the answer to their Member ID. Non-members should set answer to 99999.

5. You can now send the e-transfer e-mail notification.

Note: If a verification code was generated and cannot be changed, please contact Education Services with the code.

We do not encourage the use of small screen mobile devices for our online testing process due to several limitations.

1. Devices connected to shared public wi-fi can encounter page filtering or have intermittent connection timeouts.
2. Devices being operated with limited power and no charging cable on-hand for tests lasting more than 2 hours.
3. Devices that require constant zooming and panning and can cause disorientation and test time wasting.
4. Devices with limited CPU/RAM resources are more prone to crashes in multitasking operations.

Note: Please do not attempt to circumvent restrictions. You will be forfeiting rewrite claims for the limitations listed.

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Your membership expiration and certification renewal date are located on the Member Account information page. Certified members have the same, membership and certification renewal dates.

Note: This information is also provided on the Member Account information page from the Members Portal.

On most websites an e-mail address is used to login. However, people change their e-mail address after graduating, changing jobs or even cancelling their own hosted e-mail. This becomes problematic as a form of fixed identification.

Your CPTN Member ID serves as an unchanging form of identification with CPTN. It is used for authentication to the Members Portal, for verification to obtain member rates, continuing education progress tracking and record lookups.

Note: The CPTN Member ID is not a Personal Trainer License Number. Trainers listing it as such on platforms e.g. LinkedIn, Facebook, etc… should remove the posts to prevent personal account exploitation or fraudulent activities.

Member status allows access to our products and services at discounted rates for a fixed member fee. Membership is beneficial in the long-term in terms of cost savings to the member. Long-term members receive higher discounts.

Note: To maintain membership status if not certified, please use the Membership Renewal Online Form.

You are considered a certified trainer after completing a CPTN certification. Trainer status includes all membership benefits with the addition of being able to train clients and pursue all the benefits that certification entails.

Note: To maintain trainer status, please use the Certification Renewal Online Form. You will require a total of 7 CECs for 1-Year or 14 CECs for 2-Years with updated First Aid and CPR C/AED. Membership is included.

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No. The Art & Science of Personal Training workshop is recommended for individuals new to Personal Training, transitioning from a non-fitness field, or those who do not have an educational background in fitness or health sciences.

Note: For candidates with partial or existing background in fitness we recommend ordering The Art & Science of Personal Training: The Essentials (4^th Edition) Manual and consider taking the CPTN-CPT Program Design Tutorial.

No. First Aid and CPR certifications are not required to participate in a workshop.

Note: We will require proof of First Aid and CPR C/AED for our certification and recertification process. CPTN certificates are withheld until the requirements have been achieved. Candidate trainers cannot claim to be certified.

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If you fail the CPTN-CPT Theory Exam, we invite you to take the CPTN-CPT Theory Exam Rewrite in a minimum of 24 hours after your previous attempt or at a later date. Although we admire your determination to progress, we highly recommend that you do not attempt to rewrite the examination immediately after an unsuccessful attempt.

We recommend you review the components that you scored less than 80% in reread those chapters in The Art & Science of Personal Training: The Essentials (4^th Edition) Manual while referring to the Theory Examination Guidelines.

When you are confident in your revision, begin the CPTN-CPT Theory Exam Rewrite on the Examinations page.

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To complete the CPTN-CPT Practical Assessment you are required to achieve a grade of 75% in each of the assessment components. Depending on the area(s) in which you scored poorly, CPTN will determine the best course of action required for continuing the pursuit of the CPT distinction.

To gain CPTN CEC Provider status for a course, the course provider or instructor must complete a CEC provider form to determine if the course is eligible. Please contact Education Services to request the CEC Provider Application form.

Yes. CPTN-CPT certification is recognized nationwide. A list of jobs are available on the Job Listings page.

Yes. The CPTN offers several career opportunities for our trainers on the Members Portal page.

Educated and experienced trainers can become Practical Assessors, Course Conductors, or Conference Presenters.

You can complete the Conference Presenter Application form and e-mail with all required documents to CPTN.

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Due to the varied nature of the positions and skill sets of our certified trainers, Liability Insurance is not included with CPTN certifications. However, all CPTN certifications have been preapproved through our vetted Insurance Providers.

CPTN trainers are encouraged to submit their profiles to be listed on the Find A Trainer search page to gain exposure. We also e-mail Personal Trainer Requests to trainers from potential clients asking for help to find a suitable trainer.

Word of mouth recommendation with a supporting online presence is one of the best methods for trainers to reach new clients. We encourage new trainers to network with veterans to develop a referral base that benefits all involved.

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