Sharing a roundup of my favorite reputable health and fitness certifications if you’re considering becoming a wellness professional. Check out all of the details below!

Hi friends! How are you? I hope that you’re having an amazing week so far! Mine is PACKED with client calls and podcast interviews, but I’m looking forward to a long, relaxing Easter weekend with the fam.

For today’s post, I wanted to talk a bit about health and wellness certifications, especially now that I’m working my way through two new ones: High Performance Health and Integrative Health Practitioner Level 3.

I LOVE to learn, and over the past 17 years in the wellness industry, I’ve completed quite a few health and fitness certifications. I won’t recap them all again here (they’re all on the About page!), but I definitely have some favorites.

I figured I’d share my top certification options if you’re considering expanding your knowledge in the health and wellness space, teaching fitness, or pursuing a new career.

Whether you want to coach clients, teach classes, dive into functional health, or simply deepen your own knowledge, there are so many incredible programs out there.

Best Health and Fitness Certifications

One of the biggest questions I get is: Where do I even start?

The answer really depends on your goals.

Do you want to:

Work 1:1 with clients?

Teach fitness classes?

Build an online wellness business?

Or simply learn more for yourself and your family?

I’ve broken this down into a few categories to help you find the best fit.

Health Coach / Functional Practitioner Certifications

If you want to help clients get to the root cause of health imbalances, functional lab testing is the BIGGEST gamechanger.

When you can run labs, analyze them, and recommend appropriate protocols, it’s such an incredible way to serve clients on a deeper level.

(Friendly reminder that we don’t diagnose, prescribe, cure, or treat. We’re looking for deficiencies and toxicities—and how we can support the body back into balance.)

Integrative Health Practitioner (IHP) Institute

This is by far my favorite certification.

I’ve completed Level 1 and Level 2, and I’m currently working through High Performance Health and Level 3. I’m not exaggerating when I say that IHP has completely changed my life.

It’s enabled me to help clients in a much deeper capacity, and I’ve also used the

Sharing my review (so far!) of the Integrative Health Practitioner certification and my thoughts on the program. I’m so thrilled to be partnering with Dr. Stephen Cabral on a few podcast episodes, and he also generously gifted access to my level 1 and level 2 certification programs. In this post, I’ll be sharing an update on the course and my thoughts on level one now that I’ve finished. If you’d like to join me as a study buddy, head here and use the code FITNESSISTA for $100 off Level 1 and $250 off levels 1 and 2. 

Helloooooo. Happy Monday. I hope you had a lovely weekend. We’re here enjoying our last moments with Caro before we have to say our goodbyes later today 🙁

For today’s post, I wanted to share an updated review of my experience with the Integrative Health Practitioner course and how I plan to use this certification. I recently finished level one and have started level two. I’ve loved diving into these modules and know that it will be an entirely new layer to my coaching.

There have been times when I’ve worked with a nutrition client online and wished I could suggest specific labs (it’s NOT in the scope of practice for a nutrition coach or personal trainer to do this. All you can do is refer out to an RD or doctor). I’ve added other members to my coaching team who are able to run these tests, but as my online practice continues to grow, I’ve wanted to be able to learn how to do all of this myself.

Integrative Health Practitioner Certification 

What is the IHP certification?

The Integrative Health Practitioner certification was created by Dr. Stephen Cabral. If you’re not familiar with his work, Dr. Stephen Cabral is a Board Certified Doctor of Naturopathy and founder of the EquiLife & the Integrative Health Practitioner Institute, and Author of the International Best-Selling Book, The Rain Barrel Effect. After almost 20 years and over 600,000 pages of research study completed, dozens of certifications in the natural health field, over a quarter of a million private client sessions, and a doctoral degree in Naturopathy – Dr. Cabral‘s knowledge, experience, and passion are at the top of his field.

I’ve been following him on Instagram for a couple of years and recently had him as a guest on the podcast. I’d looked at this certification