Certified Independent Healthclub Fitness Manager (CIHFM^TM)

Transitioning from Fitness Staff to a department manager can sometimes be difficult, even for the most seasoned trainers.  Worse yet, club managers often are unsure as to whether their choice of manager will indeed has the skills and knowledge to lead the department.  This certification was designed to allow professionals seeking to advance to the Fitness or Personal Training Department Manager position to demonstrate they have the skills necessary to perform at the highest of standards.  This certification was also designed to allow club managers to be assured that individuals certified as a CIHFM will be proficient in budget control, staff management, and personal training marketing and sales.  Some of the exam focus points (EFPs) covered by this certification are:

• How to read line item budgets

• How to plan for capital expenditure requests

• How to design an equipment maintenance schedule

• How to develop internal & external personal training marketing

• How to coach staff on excellence in sales techniques

• How to drive member retention through fitness programming

• And...more.

Essentially, this exam is designed to demonstrate that professionals successfully passing the exam have the knowledge necessary to perform the duties of a Fitness or Personal Training Manager effectively.  All individuals who successfully complete the exam by correctly answering 85% or more of the questions will be given the distinction of being a Certified Independent Healthclub Fitness Manager and can use the moniker CIHFM.

The IHCNA provides this exam at a very low financial cost because it is the Association's mission to share knowledge to increase competency and professionalism throughout the industry.  It believes that the "acquisition" of the knowledge through learning materials and experiences should be the costly part, not the documentation of what was learned.  The exam is conducted entirely online, is graded electronically, and certification documentation is sent via email.  Additionally, the IHCNA does not provide workshops or study materials for this exam as it believes professionals learn best by personally seeking out information through interacting with others.  This exam is 100 questions and has a time limit of 1 hour to complete.  Any and all materials can be used to answer questions as would be the case in real life, on-the-job problem solving.  To download a PDF of the complete EFPs for this certification, strongly suggested readings, and exam instructions, will be available soon.

Cost of Exam ................................... $35.00

Exam to be available late-July 2008.
To request notification of availability, click HERE.