is the National Association for Fitness a trustworthy source for a certification?

NAFC is not as widely known and they are in the process of becoming accredited. They have been around for a long time but have just recently (the last few years) really gotten organized but the quality of the training has always been good. That said they are not as widely accepted and ACE, AFFA, or NASM. I have a NAFC-CPT and I was able to work at LifeTime Fitness as they saw this cert as credible BUT I had to pass the NASM – CPT by 90 days to continue with LifeTime at a rate higher then 18%. Having taken both exams I can tell you that the NAFC was a harder exam. But, the NASM was much harder to study for. NASM is all about making money and they offer tons of extra study materials and workshops. There is this “urban myth” that the NASM is almost impossible to pass. I only purchased the basic package (book, on-line videos, one practice test, and exam). I studied like crazy for 9 weeks. It’s a ton of material. I passed just fine and only about 1/2 the material in the book was covered on the test.
With NAFC the study materials were well laid out and the study guide was representative of the exam. The level of detail on the exam was much deeper for NAFC.
So, both are great but at this time NASM will be better accepted. I think NAFC is close to being better recognized.