Become a Certified Program Design Specialist™
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At last, a program design certification developed for coaches who want to master their craft and become highly skilled at programming for Speed, Power, Movement, Strength and Conditioning.
Today is an exciting day for us here at the National Sports Performance Association, because this credential is the first of its kind in our industry – a certification designed by coaches, for coaches that will not only make every program you design better, but it will also give you a new depth of knowledge that will immediately result in better outcomes for your athletes.
We know that you’re not an ordinary coach – and this is not an ordinary certification. The Certified Program Design Specialist curriculum will teach you how to effectively design your own training system, successfully encompassing every component of programming that performance improvement and overall results.
Our objective is clear: to teach elite coaches how to become experts in program design. Once you understand the science and rationale behind successful programming and the methodology needed to translate that foundational understanding into practical, real world program design, you’ve set the foundation for maximizing the development of your athletes.
The method we chose to achieve that goal?
The Brand New Certified Program Design Specialist™ Certification Course:
Program Design Education for Elite Coaches.
The Certified Program Design Specialist ™ Course doesn’t just give you plug-and-play training programs. Instead, it teaches you the ‘why’ and the ‘how’ behind great program design so that you can develop your own effective programming for any athlete from any sport — whether beginner or advanced. We’ve designed the certification’s hands-on information, strategies, and tools for you to use immediately and to take your program design to the elite level.
First, we teach you the foundational concepts of Program Design. If you need to know it as a coach, we teach it in the certification.
Then, we teach you exactly how to apply this information to develop and optimize your own training programs.
You’ll learn everything from the nuts and bolts of periodization to effective exercise selection – and everything in between.
No other Program Design educational program has this combination of depth and focus. I can tell you that because if there was, I would have taken it myself.
The Certified Program Design Specialist™ Certification Is Like No Other Product Or Program You’ve Ever Seen Before.
The CPDS Certification was developed to address a growing need for coaches.
During the past decade there has been a growing trend of coaches simply borrowing other’s programs and plugging them in with their own athletes without any deeper understanding of why or how that program was designed in the first place.
So we decided to create a solution to this specific problem: how to ensure that a coach could not only know where to find information they could trust on how to design their own effective programs, but to understand the science and logic behind why each choice throughout the program design process is being made.
That’s why this Certification was developed.
We want to help coaches know that they are not just piecing together random movements in hopes of improving the performance of their athletes. Instead, they are expert practitioners of a proven system to design the right program for the athlete based on their individual needs and goals.
The Certified Program Design Specialist Certification does just that.
In short, CPDS Certified Coaches are not only able to design an effective training program, they are also able to optimize that program to sport, season, athlete or any other variables that need to be considered.
If you’re interested in becoming such a Coach, then we have something just for you…
How Does It Work?
Step 1: Take the Course
The Certified Program Design Specialist Certification course has over 5 hours of video lessons plus downloadable handouts, and one final exam.
(NOTE: A complete course description can be found at the bottom of this page.)
The course level is intermediate/advanced, and knowledge of the material it contains will prepare you to design programs at a higher level than any other Certification available today.
Step 2: Pass the Test
At the end of each core module you will take, check to complete each section to ensure that you understand the basic concepts covered in that module. Once you have completed each module, you will then be able to sit for the final exam (which is taken online) and upon successful completion you will have earned your certification.
The exam isn’t “tricky,” but it does require that you know the information if you want to pass. A passing grade is 80, and you can take the test twice (for a max total of 2 attempts). If you do not receive a passing grade after your third attempt, you will be required to go back through the module prior to taking the test again.
The exam is untimed, and consists of 75 multiple-choice and true/false questions. Allow 60 to 90 minutes to complete the exam. Ideally the exam should be taken in one sitting, however, your answers are saved if you need to come back and finish at a later time.
Step 3: Display Your Certification
Upon successful completion of the course and exam, you will receive a personalized certification badge and certificate.
The badge is designed so your accomplishment can be displayed on your website, email signature and anywhere else online that you choose.
Plus, your digital certificate is full color, printable and is suitable for framing should you wish to display your achievement at your home or facility. This will help separate you (and your athletes) from your competition.
When you enroll today, you’ll receive instant access to:
- The Program Design Specialist ™ Certification Course
- 9 Core Modules and Video Lessons
- PowerPoint Handouts and Program Design Manual
- Workout Cards Plug & Play System
- Exercise Library – Over 130 Exercises
Plus, upon successful completing of the course and all exams you will also receive:
- A badge designating you as a Certified Program Design Specialist that can be hosted on your website, email signature and anywhere else online
- A digital, printable certificate suitable for framing
- Status and recognition as a Certified Program Design Specialist™
Tuition Price: $495 $247.50
(save 50%)
- Level: Intermediate/Advanced
- Setting: Online/Virtual
- Course Length: Over 5 Hours
- Expected Completion Time: 7 Days (depends on the time you commit – take at your own pace)
Who Should Get Program Design Specialist Certified?
Any Strength Coach, Sport Coach or Fitness Professional who works with athletes or adult fitness clients would benefit greatly from becoming a Certified Program Design Specialist. By earning this Certification, you will be educated on how to effectively design scientifically and ‘real world’ sound training programs to empower your athletes to reach their potential through:
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- Understanding sound program design.
- Knowing, in-depth, the role periodization plays in effective programming.
- Having a compressive grasp of the importance of all essential programming components.
- Understanding what movements are essential cornerstones of good programs – and having a thorough exercise library to draw from.
- The ability to blend scientific principles with practical coaching applications.
With the CPDS You Will Be Able to Unlock The Power Potential In Your Athletes
You’ll have a complete understanding of not only how to design effective programs, but you’ll be an expert practitioner in how to effectively implement them for maximum benefit. And if you are hiring coaches to work under you, this Certification will provide them with the knowledge they need to become an asset to your program or business.
Course Details and Description
Course Breakdown
9 Modules Specifically Designed To Teach You How To Develop and Implement Effective Training Programs
Module 1: Introduction (9:01)
Module 2: Nuts and Bolts Behind CPDS (22:26)
Module 3: Program Components CPDS (21:05)
Module 4: Essential Movements CPDS (17:08)
Module 5: Program Design Manual & Exercise Library (1:39:22)
a: Warmup & Activation Exercises
b: Dynamic Warm-up Exercises
c: Mobility Exercises
d: Prehab Exercises
e: Explosive Exercises
f: Knee Dominant Exercises
g: Hip Dominant Exercises
h: Core/Pillar Exercises
i: Core Rotation Exercises
j: Horizontal Push Exercises
k: Horizontal Pull Exercises
l: Vertical Push Exercises
m: Vertical Pull Exercises
n: Loaded Carry Exercises
o: Sled Exercises
Module 6: Program Setup – How & Why CPDS (37:53)
Module 7: Workout Cards – Plug & Play System
Module 8: Concepts in Year-Round Programming CPDS (19:45)
Module 9: Metabolic Circuits CPDS (28:30)
What You’re About To Discover:
This Course is Set Up to Teach You, the Coach, How To Master The Craft Of Program Design
Many coaches often piece programs together, adding anything that they think might help, but they don’t have a strategy to ensure results.
This Certification will give you that strategy.
You will learn how to look at an athlete or group of athletes, and know exactly how to design a program based on the variables that are important to ensuring maximum results while also considering everything from safety to time and resources available.
In addition to learning our step-by-step system for designing programs, you’ll also learn:
- How to give athletes what they really need in their program.
- Ways to design programs for the athlete no matter their training goal.
- The key points of program design you MUST have in your system.
- What most coaches are neglecting that you can integrate to get your athletes better results.
- How to select the right exercises for each training program and the athletes using it.
- What variables you can control in the program to predict results and enhance client results.
- And Much, Much More!
In short, CPDS Certified Coaches are able to not only design world-class programs …they are able to do that while considering all the needs of their athletes and the training variables that often derail less well planned programs.
About the Instructor
Coach Robert dos Remedios has been involved in strength and conditioning for over 27 years. After completing his competitive football career at the University of California, Berkeley, he began training athletes on a full-time basis.
“Coach Dos” has a Master’s Degree in Kinesiology from California State University, Northridge, has been a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) with the NSCA since 1990, and is one of only 100 “Master Strength & Conditioning Coaches” (MSCC) in the world as recognized by CSCCa.
Coach Dos is a sought after international speaker on a variety of conditioning topics such as Program Design, Cardio-Strength Training, Olympic Weightlifting applications, Sport-speed development, Explosive training, and CHAOS™ Speed Training.
Coach Dos served as Director of Speed, Strength & Conditioning at College of the Canyons in Santa Clarita, CA, a position he had held from 1998-2015 where he created a program that is emulated all over the world.
Coach Dos is also the 2006 recipient of the National Strength and Conditioning Association‘s prestigious Collegiate Strength and Conditioning Professional of the year for 2006. This award is given to the top collegiate strength coach in the country (as voted on by his peers).
In addition to contributing to Men’s Health and Women’s Health magazines on a regular basis, Coach Dos’ first book, Men’s Health Power Training (Rodale Books) was released in July 2007 and became a world-wide best seller. His second book, Cardio Strength Training (Rodale Books) is also a best-seller.
Coach Dos is also a Nike Elite Performance Coach and Consultant and currently consults with gyms and college and professional teams all across the country.
If you want to become a Certified Program Design Specialist™, don’t wait.
Now is the time to register.
National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM) Provider
Continuing Education Credits
The National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM) approved the Certified Program Design Specialist (CPDS) for CEU’s. The CPDS course has been accredited by NASM and approved for 0.9 continuing education credits.
It’s great to be recognized by another major organization like the National Academy of Sports Medicine and have them validate the quality information our certification course provides.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: “What’s the difference between Complete Program Design and the Certified Program Design Course?”
A: CPDS goes deep into the ‘why’ and ‘how’ of successful program design. We want to make sure that you’re not simply plugging in a program that ‘looks good’ without understanding the goals and needs you’re trying to address. As a certified coach you will have a complete understanding of why you are doing what you are doing, when to do it and how to progress it. You will also be able to assess and recognize the potential issues you may run into with your athletes.
Q: “What if I don’t want the certification, just the information from the course?”
A: Simple, register for the CPDS course, and don’t take the test. I know not everyone needs the initials after their name, but some may still want the education, so you are not required to take the test at the end (you must take the test though, if you want to be certified).
Q: “How is the CPDS different than other program design courses?”
A: National Sports Performance Association is the educational partner of Athletes Acceleration – an organization that has been the leader in athletic performance development education for the past 13 years. Coaches from over 107 countries worldwide have been using our speed courses. Joining forces with one of the industry’s best coaches, Robert Dos Remedios, makes this course the best around. Coach Dos has been designing programs as a coach for over 28 years and is the most sought after Coach in the industry when it comes to program design. This Coaching Certification is what we actually use with our staff to teach them to design effective programs. It dives deep into how to design a scientifically sounds and real world effective training program.
So, pretty much to answer your question, we do athletic performance development. It has been our focus at Athletes Acceleration and the National Sports Performance Association for 12 years and Coach Dos’ focus for his entire career. We don’t dabble and put out a bunch of different random certifications that we think people will buy. We do what we do best – educate other coaches how to make their athletes better.
Q: “Why did National Sports Performance Association create a Program Design Certification?”
A: The CPDS Certification was developed to address a growing need for coaches.
During the past decade there has been a growing trend of coaches simply borrowing other’s programs and plugging them in with their own athletes without any deeper understanding of why or how that program was designed in the first place.
So we decided to create a solution to this specific problem: how to ensure that a coach could not only know where to find information they could trust on how to design their own effective programs, but to understand the science and logic behind why each choice throughout the program design process is being made.
That’s why we developed this Certification.
We want to help coaches know that they are not just piecing together random movements in hopes of improving the performance of their athletes. Instead, they are expert practitioners of a proven system to design the right program for the athlete based on their individual needs and goals.
Q: What happens if you update the information in CPDS?
A: If you join and get the CPDS, you will get free access to all future updates with the program. We won’t ask you to pay again for this course if we make updates to it. Yes, like any other coach that continues to learn better ways to do things to get the most out of our athletes, we may change the CPDS down the road. So if we do make any updates or changes to the CPDS course, we will let you know and you can go check out the new material for free.
Q: “How long does it take to finish the course and receive my certification?”
A: You are able to take this course at your own pace. This class is over 5 hours of video training, so if you are working at it full-time you could technically complete the course and take all the tests in one day (although this is not recommended). To fully understand and apply the materials, you should allow 7-14 days in order to fully grasp the material.
Q: “How will this certificate help me?”
A: It depends on who you are…
If you’re a coach – this Certification will give you the knowledge to design programs that will make all of your athletes better. Much, much better. It separates yourself and your athletes from your competition.
If you’re a fitness professional – this Certification will empower you to deliver better results to your clients. This ultimately means more clients and a better business because you will be positioned as the trusted expert in your area.
Q: “How is the CPDS Course Delivered?”
A: The Certified Program Design Specialist™ Course is a digital course and will be entirely online (nothing will be shipped to you). Once you enroll, you will be given access to all of the material in our secure members area where you will be able to start the course on your own time, at your own pace.
Q: “Do I need CEU’s to keep this certification?”
A: No. You are not required to get CEU’s to keep this credential. You earned it after you took the test. We will update this course with new material and you will have access to it for free. If you go through this course and pass the test, you have the information available to be a master of program design.
Q: “Am I guaranteed to get certified if I take the class?”
A: No. A certification that can simply be purchased isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on. That’s why our course is challenging. If we’re going to allow you to carry the CPDS Certification Credential, you better believe you’re going to have to earn it.
Q: “How difficult is the test?”
A: You’ll find that the test is “satisfyingly difficult.” By that I mean, it’s difficult enough that you need to actually know the materials, but it isn’t tricky or difficult just for the sake of being difficult. That said, to preserve the exclusivity and importance of this designation, we have made the tests challenging and the questions do pertain to our proprietary coaching methodologies, so you shouldn’t expect to be able to pass the test just because you have taken other program design courses or feel like you understand the development of effective training programs. This training is different, and the exams will reflect those differences.
Q: “Why do I need this CPDS Certification?”
A: The answer is simple. Better programs yield better results.
It doesn’t matter if you work with soccer players, baseball players, football players or any other young athletes. If they want to reach their potential, the program they’re following dramatically impacts that outcome. This Certification will give you the knowledge and skills you need to deliver the results they want.
Q: “How valuable is this certification?”
A: The certification itself is highly valuable if you need to set yourself apart from the competition. What’s far more valuable than any badge or certification, however, is the actual knowledge you’re going to receive when you take this course and pass the test. You will know how to design world-class programs regardless of athlete, season, goal or need.
Q: “What if I fail? Am I allowed to retake the test?”
A: Yes, you may take the test up to 2 times. After 2 failed attempts, you will be required to retake the class (which you can do for free; just contact us to be set up and so we can see how we can help you understand the material better).
Q: “How long do I have to complete the class and take the test once I am enrolled?”
A: You can move at your own pace! We understand that life happens, and that just because you enroll today that doesn’t mean you’ll be able to finish (or even start) the class this week. And that’s ok! Take as long as you like. We aren’t going anywhere, and neither is this certification.