Hello All! This weekend was spent up in Spangdahlem, Germany getting my Primary Group Exercise Certification on Saturday and attending a Spin Instructor Workshop on Sunday. This post will strictly be about Saturday, and I will post the spin instructor workshop details later.
This was the room that I stayed in on base. It was really nice for military lodging! 
For those of you who don’t know about AFAA’s primary group exercise certification, it is a review of AFAA’s Basic Exercise Standards and Guidelines, exercise science and exam criteria, followed by written and practical exams. You need to this certification (or something similar to it) if you want to teach group exercise at most gyms. The reason why I took took this workshop was to be able to teach spin class at our gym.
Normally, the price of the certification workshop is $299, but I only paid $114 for the class (this was an APEX event) plus the cost of the book. You receive:
(does not include postage to addresses outside of the U.S.)
There is a practical component (~1 hour, 20 minutes) to the cert as well as a written component (100 multiple choice questions and ~1 hour). The practical component is broken down into two parts – Group demonstration (demonstrate a warm-up, cardiorespiratory training, and cool down, 8 min total AND strength and flexibility for each muscle group to include at least 2 strength moves and one flexibility move) and Individual Presentation (1-2 min of three levels of one exercise).
The whole day was spent like this:
I. Arrival and Check-In
II. Welcome, Introduction, and Testing Procedures
III. Practical Part #1—Review of Basic Anatomy, Kinesiology, Posture and Alignment
IV. Practical Part #2—The AFAA 5 Questions
V. Practical Part #3 – Warm-Up and Cardio
VI. Practical Part #4 – Strength and Flexibility
VII. Lunch Break (60 minutes)
VIII. Practical Part #5—More Strength and Flexibility
IX. Practical Part #6 — Modification and Exercises and Rehearsal for Individual Presentation
X. Theoretical Review/Questions and Answers
XI. Break
XII. Preparation for Written and Practical Examinations
XIII. Examinations: Written and Practical
XIV. Final Thank You and Good-Bye
I think that I did well on the Strength and Flexibility Practical and the Individual Presentation, but the Cardio Practical was horrible. It was utter chaos in the room. They lined us all up (20 OF US!!), and we all did our own thing for 8 minutes!! I had no clue what I was doing. I tried some marching, step touches, and the grapevine. I tried some other “moves,” but I’m pretty sure that they were my own that I tried to pass off as professional aerobics moves. I’m sure that “my moves” resembled a drunk person trying to dance complete with an unintentional trip added in for good measure. I am pretty sure that I followed the guidelines of warming up for 3 min with limbering moves, moderate and high intensity during the main part (next 4 minutes), and slowed down during the cooldown (1 minute). I was really nervous for this portion of the test because I’m not really a step aerobics type of girl! I tried my best though!!
These are pics of the individual presentations. I decided to do 3 variations of the squat. I’m presenting in the middle pic in the gray shorts!
- Beginner: Basic Squat
- Intermediate: Squat w/ Knee Lift
- Advanced: One-legged Squat
The 100 question test seemed to go well as I finished it in 45 minutes.
We shall see if I passed in 4-6 weeks. It sucks to wait that long, but I will let you all know how it went once I find out! If you have any questions about the certification, please feel free to ask me at geekturnedathlete@gmail.com. If you want to read a more detailed account of how these certs work, check this blog out.
**** Update: I passed!!! Yay!!!
I met a couple of great girls from the workshop and we decided to go to dinner at this place where you have to cook your meat on a stone. It was so cool!! We started off with some amazing bread and butta!!
Fabulous Onion Soup!
The salad would have been great if the dressing didn’t consist of mainly mayonnaise. Yuck! (I HATE mayonnaise!) Actually, the only time I will eat it is if I’m eating my mom’s potato salad, but that is it!
Raw pork and Beef with green beans wrapped in bacon and herb butter.
Served with 3 different types of fried potatoes. No one really touched these…
Dipping sauces for the meat…
Counterclockwise: Renee, Jackie, and me. It was a great ending to a nerve-racking day!!
Stay tuned for the Spin instructor class recap!! 
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I am sure you did great and passed with flying colors!!
I always wondered about that certification! Can’t wait to read the follow up post!
Girl, I was reading your explanation of the cardio practical, and it sounds a whole lot like how I described my own: I was like a new born horse hopped up on whisky and quaaludes, my arms went right, my legs went left, knees clattering together in an off beat, honky-tonk sort of way, and my rear end was down right bi-polar…but hey, we totally made up for it during the spinning workshop!!! J
haha! I hope we passed!!!!
Thanks for the rundown! I’m taking the workshop and it’s so nice to know how the day lines up.
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