What's up guys, Jeff from Sort of Healthier, and today our mission is simple. We're going to get you to pass your NASM CPT exam. Many people fail this test, it's no joke, but you will not be one of them.
I will make sure of that. I've helped thousands, maybe tens of thousands pass it already, and in these newer, better videos and guides, I'm going to make sure you learn everything you need to smash that pesky NASM test into pieces. You know those concepts that seem complicated as f***? in the book? Yeah, I'm going to simplify those down to the point where a second grader could understand them.
So are you ready to learn the NASM material, pass your exam, and start working as a personal trainer? Of course you are. That's why you're here. Let's get this party started. Throughout today's video, I'll be referencing a study guide.
This guide is free to download at this link located down below in the video description. If you'd rather just follow along and not download the guide, that works perfectly well too. All I ask in exchange for this free video and guide is that you like this video and subscribe to the channel if you haven't done so already.
Both of those things really do help us over here at Sorta Healthy, and this channel is a free resource for all fitness professionals. Thank you so much for that support, everyone. I really do appreciate it.
onto the video. So first things first, I don't work for NASM. Like I just said, I've helped a ton of trainers pass their exams and I personally have taken a bunch of their courses, but I do my own thing and NASM does theirs. So moving on to steps to pass your exam. When it comes to your NASM book, this is what I think of the chapters.
Skim these chapters, take some light notes, and for these chapters, you're going to want to read them a little bit more carefully and take some more detailed notes. Some of these ones you might even want to read multiple times. Now, while going through all these different chapters, you are going to want to do the quizzes that NASM throws at you along the way.
This assumes that you'll be using the online textbook, which you should be. Next up, review this part one video and the part two video a few times each. The part two video, which of course is the fall.
follow-up video to this one that you're watching right now. that should be out in a week or two. In this part one video and this part two video, I'm going to teach you what you need to know to pass. That being said, having the knowledge isn't the only thing you need to be worried about.
You do have to practice answering different questions. Like we said, you'll be doing quizzes along the way for these different chapters. I also highly recommend the fitness pocket prep application, and I'm going to leave a link to that down below.
This is cheap. There's over a thousand questions on there, and it will definitely help you pass that final exam. So within the next few weeks, I'll also be releasing some trivia study quiz videos. These will be inexpensive and great for people who want some more practice answering NASM questions in order to prepare. In these videos, I'll personally be walking you through why some answers are correct and others are wrong, and I think that can be really helpful for learning the material.
I do want to make it clear that you don't necessarily need to do step three and four here. They are inexpensive and they will increase your odds of passing, but you should be able to skim these chapters, read these chapters, do the quizzes that go with those. and then review this part one and the part two videos a few times each, and for many of you, that will be enough. If it were me, I would take advantage of step three and step four here because both are inexpensive and they will improve your odds of passing, but do what feels best for you.
So OPT stands for Optimum Performance Training, and for better or worse, you're going to get a bunch of different OPT model questions on your final exam. Now I'm not going to lie to you guys, this first part of the review video isn't super exciting. In my opinion, the OPT model is the most tedious thing we'll cover.
Try to bear with me as best as you can though, because this will be important for the final exam. Some parts of the OPT model are worth memorizing and others aren't. I'll explain more as we go through it. So the OPT model has five different phases.
First up you have stabilization endurance, then you have strength endurance, then you have muscular development, then you have maximal strength, and then you have power. Each of these phases takes roughly four to six weeks to get through. In addition to the five different phases, you also have three different levels. You have the stabilization level, which only consists of stabilization endurance. You have the strength level, which consists of these three different strength phases after stabilization endurance.
And then you also have the power level which only has the power phase. So the first phase of the OPT model is stabilization endurance and this is all about developing proper movement patterns such as squatting, pushing, pulling, pressing, hip hinging, multi-planar movements, and you want to be correcting muscle imbalances in helping with stabilization. Because this is the first phase, it's also useful for promoting client confidence and adherence to exercise.
So other things to know for stabilization endurance, you'll be doing one to three sets for resistance training moves, core moves, balance moves, and other optional things as well, which we'll be talking about more. And you'll be doing 12 to 20 reps in the stabilization endurance phase, and that would apply to resistance training, core moves, balance exercises, etc. and you'll be doing those moves at a 50 to 70 percent intensity and that would be 50 to 70 percent intensity of someone's one rep max. So the tempo for these stabilization endurance exercises are 4-2-1-1, definitely worth memorizing and something we're going to go over in much more detail very soon.
So some other things to know as far as rest goes, zero to 90 seconds between movements, one to three sets of self myofascial release, SMR, static stretching, and those are required in the warmup and the cool down. And that's to help out with muscular imbalances. And static stretching is basically when you're just kind of holding an old school stretch like this. and I'd be holding that stretch for 30 seconds. Moving on from phase one stabilization endurance to phase two strength endurance.
So in strength endurance you're going to be doing a strength move immediately followed by a stabilization move with similar motions. Things in this phase can be progressed by increasing proprioceptive demand. This would be just making that stabilization move more challenging and of course you could increase volume, intensity, or you could take shorter breaks. So for strength endurance you're going to be doing two to four sets for core, balance, resistance training, and other things as well.
As far as reps go in strength endurance, you're going to be looking at 8 to 12 for resistance training, core, and balance exercises. And things are at a bit of a higher intensity here, 75 to 80% intensity. So again, in this strength endurance phase, we're doing a strength exercise followed immediately by a similar stability exercise. So maybe I'm going to have my client do a bench press and then follow that up immediately with a BOSU push-up, and that's why I kind of have like a BOSU over here in the corner.
So let's take a quick look at this 2-0-2 tempo, and this is something we're going to break down more later in this video, but also in the part two video as well. But basically... This stands for the first part of the movement, the second part of the movement, and the third part of the movement. So if I'm doing a bench press, I'm starting with the bar up top here.
It's two seconds on the way down, no pause at the bottom, that's why there's a zero there, and then it's two seconds pushing on the way back up. And like I said, we'll be breaking down that tempo stuff a lot more very soon. Other things to know about strength endurance, zero to 60 seconds of rest in this phase. Like in all phases, there is still static stretching and self myofascial release in the cool down. There is active stretching in the warm-up though and that's basically where you're holding a stretch for one to two seconds and then you're going to let go and you're going to do five to ten reps of that.
We already kind of broke this down but I do want to drill this into your heads. If you have a client bench pressing and then doing a Bosu push-up right after, what phase of training are they most likely in? The answer of course is strength endurance.
Again, strength move followed by a similar stability move. Moving on to phase three of the OPT model, muscular development. So in this phase, you'll be doing three to six sets of resistance training and two to four exercises for core imbalance.
As far as reps go, you'll be doing six to 12 for the resistance training exercises and then eight to 12 for core imbalance exercises. And this should still be at 75 to 80% intensity. The tempo is the same as it was in the previous phase, 202. And there is active stretching in the warmup, which again, we just broke that down.
One to two second hold, and you're going to be doing five to ten reps of that. Other things to know about this muscular development phase, zero to three minutes rest for resistance training. Some of the exercises are a little bit more intense, so you might need a longer rest period. Zero to 60 seconds rest for core, balance, plyos, blah blah blah.
Again, not quite the same level of intensity as some of the resistance training movements. Other things to know about muscular development. First off, I just want to say the phase is what it sounds like.
It is about muscular development, so that's not written down here, but it's definitely true. 12 to 20 reps is allowed for muscular development if more muscular endurance is desired. And rest up to three minutes, like we already said, and that is because that's how long it takes to recover close to 100% of ATP, and that's something we'll be talking about a lot more very soon.
Moving on to phase number four, maximal strength, which is the last of the three different strength phases. This is an optional phase of the OPT model, and that's just because some clients are going to care. much more about strength than others.
This is an advanced form of training and only recommended for experienced lifters and exercisers who have worked their way up to this phase of the model. So some other things to know about this maximal strength phase, you're going to be doing 4-6 sets for resistance training moves and 2-4 for core imbalance. As far as reps go, you're just doing 1-5 for resistance training and you'll be doing that at an 85-100% intensity of 1 rep max. and you'll be doing 8 to 12 for core imbalance.
You don't have to worry about fancy tempos in this maximal strength phase. Things are as explosive or as fast as possible with good form and that should make sense because when you're going all the way up to 100% intensity, again 85 to 100% intensity in this phase, you can't be going down extra slow. You just have to be moving as quickly as you can with good form.
So rest in this phase is going to be two to four minutes for resistance training and zero to 60 seconds for core imbalance things. And again, it's all the way up to four minutes because these moves are just a lot more intense. Greater than six sets of resistance training is okay for advanced clients. Now we're moving on to the last phase of the OPT model, which is power.
Okay, so in this power training phase, you're going to be supersetting a strength-focused move, which we just talked about. Those strength focus moves in the previous phase, those are going to be heavy, one to five reps. So you're super setting that move with a power focus move, and those moves are lighter, going to be eight to ten reps there. The goal in this phase is to improve a client's strength and their explosive speed and force. So some other things you should know in the power training phase, when it comes to sets, you're looking at three to five. And when it comes to reps, you're going to be doing one to five for those strength focus moves.
and then 8 to 10 for the power focus moves and as you can see the power focus moves are at a much lower percent of your one rep max and yeah they're just more explosive and fast just like in the previous phase when you're working really intensely you want to just move as explosive or fast as possible with good form so we don't have to worry about fancy tempos in this one so some other things to know in this power training phase as far as rest goes you're looking at one to two minutes between pairs and three to five minutes between circuits. So in power training we have dynamic stretching in the warm-up and dynamic stretching would be something like bodyweight squats, prisoner squats, frankenstein's, leg swings, again kind of more explosive movements which does make sense for the phase. So if I have a client doing heavy squats followed by explosive jump squats, what phase are they most likely in?
The answer there is power training. Basically, anytime you see the word explosive, you should immediately suspect that you are in phase five power. Also, there's tons of medicine ball exercises in phase five as well.
If there's a medicine ball being thrown, it's almost certainly in the power phase. So guys, that's a quick overview of the OPT model. We are going to go into more detail on a bunch of those things coming up, but again, make sure you know all five phases.
One is stabilization endurance, two is strength endurance, three is muscular development, four is maximal strength, and five is power. definitely memorize all of those. And as far as numbers to memorize in this OPT model, if we're looking at muscular development here, for example, you should know that you're looking for 6 to 12 reps for resistance training.
You should know that 75 to 80% intensity is what you're looking at. You should know this 2-0-2 tempo. Again, those are things that you should either memorize them or at the very least know them well enough to answer a multiple multiple choice question correctly.
One good thing about the OPT model is that there are a lot of patterns and that actually makes it quite a bit easier to not have to memorize everything. If you just kind of understand how it all works, you can answer multiple choice questions correctly more often than not. So all warmups for phases include SMR, self myofascial release, and that's why you see this foam roller right over here.
You're looking at one to three body parts to do that SMR on. And when it comes to foam rolling or self myofascial release, you're going to be holding 30 seconds on tender spots. So if I'm foam rolling my hamstrings and if I find a tender spot, I'm going to be kind of holding the foam roller on that tender spot for 30 seconds. All warmups include stretching. In that first phase, you're looking at static stretching.
In the three different strength phases, you're looking at active stretching. And then in that power phase, you're looking at dynamic stretching. The cooldowns are the same.
And the optional moves, speed, agility, quickness drills, talking more about those very soon, plyometrics, core, etc. They all follow a predictable path. Let's get into that one a little bit.
So we're looking at core progression here first. And in that first phase, stabilization endurance, there should be little to no movement of the spine with the core moves that you're doing. So you're looking at things like the plank or bridge. For the next three phases, the three different strength phases, we're looking for movement of the spine and essentially crunches, cable rotations, things like that would be examples of different core moves you'd be doing with people.
Then we're looking at phase five power and the core moves here should improve the rate of force production or power, which makes sense. And we're looking at med ball kind of rotations, throws like that. And again, these moves are far more explosive and they help you produce more force or power. Next up we'll talk about balance and it follows a very similar progression to what we just talked about with the core.
So in this first phase stabilization endurance, tandem stance, which is like kind of like one leg in front of the other. Single leg balance, single leg, chop plus lift. In this phase typically one leg is connected to the ground and it's really not moving too much.
Sometimes both legs are connected to the ground. So these are just much less advanced than what's coming up soon. In the strength phases, the balance moves involve a little more movement in the stabilizing leg. You can see that here in the single leg squat, this leg is moving a little bit. And then for the balance moves in the power phase, they're pretty much all hopping or jumping moves, which again, you're going to see that kind of continue forwards here.
So now we're looking at the proprioceptively challenging scale. Now, of course, the floor isn't all that tough to balance on. Balance beam is a little bit tough.
tougher, half foam roll is tougher than that, so on and so forth, with the Bosu ball being potentially the toughest. So this is worth looking at, this slide here specifically, kind of trying to either memorize this order or at the very least just know it well enough to answer a multiple choice question correctly. Also while we're talking about balance things, bilateral stable, this means I have both feet on the ground and I'm on a stable surface, that is easier than unilateral stable, so kind of one leg up in the air like this lady's doing right here, but she's still on the ground, which is a little bit easier than bilateral unstable, which is kind of what this dude's doing right here. He's on like a wobble board or something.
And then if he were on one leg on an unstable surface, that would be the toughest. So this is something to memorize right here. This one should honestly just be common sense.
Still good to see it kind of all outlined here though. And by the way, guys, for these progressions, core progressions, balance progressions, So on and so forth, coming up to plyometric progression next. I don't necessarily expect you to memorize these, but you should have a good idea of what types of exercises are done in each specific phase. That way you can answer multiple choice questions correctly.
So when it comes to plyometrics or jumping exercises in the stabilization endurance phase, phase number one, you're going to be doing squat jumps with a three to five second hold. what you're going to notice is that pretty much all of the plyometric or jumping moves in stabilization endurance, you're either going to have a three to five second hold at the end, or it's going to say something like box jump with stabilization. So if you're looking at a squat jump or a power step up, and power step up is a little bit misleading because it's not in the power phase.
It's actually in these strength phases right here. But these types of movements help build strength. And yeah.
that's why they're in the strength phases right here. Then you have things like ice skaters and depth jump, and those would go in the power phase. And these ones are all about just building as much explosive power as possible.
So these are... maximal or near maximal jumps. If we're looking at speed agility and quickness progression it's very similar to all the other ones. As you get further into the OPT model horizontal inertia, unpredictability, and difficulty increases.
So we already talked a little bit about stretching progression in the individual phases themselves but good to go over a little bit here too. So phase one stabilization endurance you're gonna be doing corrective or static stretching 30 second holds there. and one to three sets where those stretches are needed. So in the next three phases, strength, endurance, muscular development, maximal strength, the three strength phases, we're doing active isolated stretching, one to two second holds there, we're gonna be doing five to 10 reps. So bada bing, bada boom, five to 10 reps of that.
Then in the power phase, which is our last phase, of course, we're doing functional or dynamic stretching, 10 to 15 reps, three to 10 exercises, things like leg swings, arm circles would be kind of what you're looking at there. And I have these listed because it's a little bit less obvious. So like we said before, you're going to be doing some foam rolling with all clients in every phase.
However, there are some clients who you'd want to avoid doing foam rolling with, and those would be clients who have cancer, osteoporosis, maybe they had a recent surgery, a bleeding disorder, uncontrolled hypertension, open wounds. There's other things too. So just be aware of this.
These are the main ones that I see. questions kind of being asked about. So again, no foam rolling with people who have these things going on.
Otherwise, SMR, self myofascial release or foam rolling in every phase. All right, so the moral of the story here is that memorizing all the parts of the OPT model, it's probably not necessary. Memorize some of the key bits we went over. Again, like the 4-2-1-1 tempo, super important. Memorize that.
Review the tables listed. 21-14 is an example. And again, that's pretty much just going over everything that we already went over in these slides, but it's good to kind of see it in the book too. Learn the patterns and be ready to answer multiple choice questions.
You don't have to memorize everything, just some of the key bits that we went over. I also see questions pop up on this OPT options. So the OPT model for body fat reduction, you might be skipping phases four and five, because again, if someone is really focused on just losing weight or you know, reducing their body fat. Phases one, two, and three get the job done. They might not care that much about four maximal strength or five power.
Then you have the OPT model for increasing lean mass. You would do phase one initially, and then after that, you'd be kind of skipping phase one. You'd be cycling between phases two, three, and four. Then the OPT model for sports performance. So if I'm working with an athlete, I'd be doing phase one, again, working on that stability and all that good stuff.
Phase two and phase five because power is super important to work on with athletes. So next up we have the acronym FIT-E VP. P and that stands for frequency, intensity, time, type, enjoyment, volume, and progression.
This is one to either memorize or know these at least well enough to answer a multiple choice question. You'll probably get a question about this. So again, frequency, intensity, time.
type, enjoyment, volume, progression, and basically anytime you're prescribing a client an exercise program, this acronym should describe how you, the program creator, should view things. All of these different variables matter. On a related note, we have general aerobic activity recommendations.
So people should get 150 minutes of moderate intensity cardio five days a week. And the other option here would be 75 minutes of vigorous intensity cardio three days a week. You can also mix and match between these two options.
Moving on to periodization, and periodization is a systematic planning of physical training. The OPT model is an example of periodization. The aim is to reach the best possible performance for a specific time frame or event.
And you achieve this by changing up exercise variables when appropriate. So when looking at a periodized plan, we have three things to consider. We have microcycles, we have mesocycles.
and we have the entire plan which is a macro cycle. So a micro cycle is the smallest one, that is a week-long block of training. A mesocycle is roughly a month long, so any of the OPT phases which are four to six weeks long, those would count as mesocycles.
And then the macro cycle is your entire block of training, and usually those are about a year long. So linear periodization is the most basic form of periodization, and that is a traditional method of program design. that aims to gradually increase the intensity of the training load while simultaneously decreasing volume over a set period of time. So basically as you go through your plan you're increasing the weight or the intensity but of course as you increase weight or intensity the amount of reps you can do of that intensity goes downwards.
And again going back to the OPT model, for the most part this is an example of linear periodization. as the weight or intensity goes up, the rep count for the most part is going down. There's also undulating periodization, and that is a programming scheme also known as non-linear periodization, and that uses changes in volume, intensity, and exercise selection to provide loading differences on a daily or weekly basis. And this is pretty much what it sounds like.
Instead of the intensity kind of going up at a nice gradual rate, it's kind of going more like a wave, right? So sometimes the exercises and workouts are really intense, and other times... They're not so intense and you're kind of changing things up a little bit more randomly than you would be in linear periodization.
And you can do that on a daily or weekly basis. For whatever reason, NASM is always very interested in overtraining, which is actually very rare in the real world. Most people are not doing nearly enough training. They're nowhere near overtraining. That being said, oftentimes they're going to hit you with an overtraining question.
So overtraining is excessive frequency, volume, or intensity of training resulting in the reduction of performance. which is also caused by a lack of proper rest and recovery. So if you get a question about a client who's working out a ton and they're dealing with some issues because of that, yeah, the correct answer is probably overtraining. Next up, we'll be talking about energy systems, and they are not a top priority. but there's a good chance that you're going to have a few questions about the different energy systems and how the body produces ATP.
So ATP is adenosine triphosphate and ATP molecules provide the body with energy. So if you get asked a question like what is the main fuel source for the body, the answer is most likely ATP. Now we're going to move on to the chart on the next page.
So essentially your body has a few different ways of creating ATP, adenosine triphosphate, and the first of which is the creatine phosphate system which activates pretty much immediately, so 0 to 10 seconds, and you can see that with this red line right here. So if I'm doing something very short or intense like a 40-yard dash or a heavy set of squats, I'm primarily using this creatine phosphate system. And this is why creatine works as a supplement. It slightly increases your body's creatine stores, which does give you a small edge for short and intense activities. So the first system here is anaerobic, meaning it does not require oxygen to create ATP.
The next system is anaerobic glycolysis, and it lasts from about 10 to 60 seconds. And you can see this one just kind of outlined with this yellow line right here. So if you're doing an intense exercise that lasts from 10 to 60 seconds, which a lot of different weight training exercises would fall into that range, you're going to be primarily using this system anaerobic glycolysis. And because we said anaerobic this system here also does not require oxygen to create ATP in the body.
And basically this system uses glucose to create ATP and you can see that right down here where it says glycolytic. Yeah that means glucose. So glucose for this yellow line right here.
And the last system we have here is aerobic glycolysis. And since I said aerobic not aerobic. anaerobic, this system does actually require oxygen to create ATP.
This one kicks on a little bit later than the previous one. Again, this one's usually jumping in around 60 seconds. And these are just estimates here, guys. These ranges can vary a little bit. But yeah, typically, aerobic glycolysis is happening around 60 seconds, and it's going longer.
So yeah, if you're doing longer-term exercise, of course, this one is going to take over ATP production. compared to these other two. So in this pathway, carbs or fats are burned for energy production, ATP production, and that occurs in the mitochondria or the powerhouse of the cell.
The aerobic system that we just described has other components like the Krebs cycle and the electronic transport chain. They can power the body for long periods of time. Think things like endurance events. No time frames for each system.
Yeah, so I don't think you need to memorize everything we just went over by any means. That being said, if you get a question about the creatine phosphate system it's good to know that zero to ten seconds that is the main system that is powering the body you by no means need to be an expert on all this stuff but you will likely get a question or two about it coming up next we have smart goals and you're almost certainly going to get a question or two about smart goals on the big test so a person's goals should be specific it's not enough to say i want to lose weight you should have a specific amount of weight you want to lose if you want the highest likelihood of achieving that goal. Client's goal should be measurable.
So again, if we go back to that weight loss example, that is easy to measure if we are actually moving towards that goal. You can just have the client weigh in weekly or every once in a while, and then you're going to know, am I actually losing weight or am I not? Client's goal should be attainable.
It should be challenging, but not extreme. it should push them out of their normal existing routine a little bit. So R stands for realistic. Sometimes you'll also see it listed as relevant, but when you're working with a client, you have to think about is their goal realistic or not?
Is it realistic that a client is going to be able to lose 20 pounds in a handful of months if they have a full-time job, kids, work, etc.? they may have to kind of take their time with it a little bit more. T stands for timely, and you do want goals to be time bound.
You do want to set like a little bit of a deadline on goals, and that just makes people more likely to work to achieve those goals. Process and outcome goals are also really important. A process goal is shorter term. Completing a single session or making it to the gym are examples of process goals.
An outcome goal represents a longer-term change, such as an increase in strength or a significant amount of weight loss. This is typically the client's long-term goal or end result, and typically you're going to be completing a good handful or really a bunch of different process goals to eventually get to your outcome goal. Next up, we're going to be talking about active listening. Active listening is huge to NASM, and again, we're talking about active listening, not passive listening. So some components of active listening are asking questions, reflecting, summarizing, affirming, and asking permission.
So when it comes to asking questions, NASM is big on open-ended questions with a positive vibe. So asking your client something like, do you like to work out? Wouldn't be too good because you could answer that with yes or no, making it a closed-ended question. An open-ended question with a positive vibe would be something like, what is your favorite... part of working out.
So reflecting is basically when you repeat something back to a client to show that you understood them. So if a client tells you they want to run a 5k in six months, you might say something like, I understand you want to run a 5k in six months. Let's figure out the best game plan to get you there.
Next up we have summarizing, and this is the same as reflecting, but now you're reflecting multiple pieces of information to show understanding. So the same thing we just did with that whole 5k thing. but you'd be reflecting multiple pieces of information back at your client. We also have affirmations, which show appreciation for clients and their strengths. Compliments use I, but affirmations don't and put more focus on the client.
So if I say to my client, Mike, you're looking really good bench pressing lately, and your strength has gone up a ton, that would be an example of an affirmation. Next up, we have asking for permission. And basically some examples of this would be, do you want to try assisted stretching? And again, that's you asking a client that... Or does that lunge variation look like something you'd be willing to try?
And this is definitely not a bad thing to do if you're unsure if something is a good fit for your client. So next up, we have some cognitive strategies, and these are intended to change the way someone thinks about exercise or activity. And here we're looking at positive self-talk, psyching up, and mental imagery. So positive self-talk is a form of encouraging and motivating internal, internal being the key word here.
Dialogue that increases self-efficacy. So let's say a client is working out and they're saying something positive about themselves while they're doing that in their head. That would qualify there as positive self-talk and that would help to increase self-efficacy or their own ability to work out and be productive exercising.
Psyching up is pretty similar when internal dialogue is developed and used to increase excitement and motivation before exercise. And even listening to music before exercise can be an example of this. Imagery is when you have a client imagining a situation and that improves their self-efficacy, confidence, and motivation to exercise.
Basically if I'm imagining myself do a bench press with good form right before I actually go to do that bench press, the odds of me completing that bench press with good form goes up. So we have some different motivation types. You have amotivation or not being motivated at all. You have intrinsic motivation which is internally motivated which should be obvious by the in here in the beginning. and there's a sense of self-satisfaction.
You also have extrinsic motivation, and for these, there's an external reward or satisfaction for someone else. So if I'm entering a weight loss competition and the person who loses the most weight gets $500, that $500 would be extrinsic motivation. If I am exercising because exercise makes me feel good and reduces my stress, that would be internal motivation or intrinsic motivation. And this is something that's going to be relevant in this video but also really relevant in video number two. In session number one you're going to be doing these four different things.
So you're going to want to discuss your client's health concern goals, you're going to want to clarify what their fitness goals are, you're going to want to review past exercise experiences, those are your clients past exercise experiences. and you're going to want to do some fitness assessments. Moving on to the trans-theoretical model, and this one is always big for NASM, there are five stages to the trans-theoretical model, and yeah you're definitely going to get a few questions about this. So when it comes to the trans-theoretical model there are five stages that are relevant to us personal trainers. So we have pre-contemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, and maintenance.
So again the first stage of the trans-theoretical model is pre-contemplation. and this is where people are physically inactive. They're not intending on beginning an exercise program and they don't see exercise as worth their time.
So if someone is not planning on starting exercise at any point soon they are in pre-contemplation. After pre-contemplation we move to contemplation, which yeah that makes sense and this is for people who are inactive but thinking about becoming more active in the next six months. Again, contemplation, inactive, but thinking about becoming more active in the next six months.
These people are still weighing the pros and cons of exercise, but they're starting to consider the benefits. Next up, we have preparation, and people in this stage are doing some physical activity and preparing to adopt a more consistent activity program. These people are only doing things like sporadic walking, but they're ready to adopt a more active lifestyle.
So if I'm just doing some light walking once in a to sign up for personal training, I'm in that preparation stage. After preparation, we move to the action stage. So people in the action stage are engaging in regular physical activities, so they're consistent, but they haven't been doing it for six months yet.
And then after action, we move down to maintenance. So people in this maintenance stage have consistently been working out for longer than six months. You should be able to identify where a person is within this model.
So if I'm exercising consistently, but I've only been doing that for three months, I would be in this action stage because it's less than six months. If I'm not even thinking about exercising or becoming more active at all, I would be in this pre-contemplation stage. There's also a bonus stage called termination. but it doesn't really apply to us because you should do some form of exercise for your entire life. Moving right along to pre-participation and these are things that you'd want to be doing with a client before beginning an exercise program.
So you have the PARQ plus and this is a subjective yes or no questionnaire that is used to determine whether it's safe or not for a client to begin an exercise program. So it's good to know that the PARQ plus is subjective meaning that it is the client's opinion as to whether or not they have a problem and of course yes or no. questions, also good to know. The health history questionnaire is next.
It's similar to the PAR-Q, but it's not yes or no questions. It gets you more detailed information on your client, things like what medications they're taking, family history, etc. are covered. There are also medical release forms and these are from a physician and they go over limitations a client may have. So we talked about this a little bit already, subjective assessments would be things that reflect what an individual feels, so these are a little bit more opinion-based, PAR-Q, health history questionnaire.
rate of perceived exertion, that we'll talk about more later. Then you also have objective things, and these are quantified through data collection. So you have blood pressure, heart rate, things like that, where again it's not somebody's opinion, it is literally data that you have collected.
Next up we're moving to planes of motion and movement and absolutely you will get some questions about planes of motion and movement on the big test. So before going over planes of motion and movement, let's just go over some basic anatomical terms that you should know for the big test. So I'm going to read all of these over with you first, and then I'm going to show you what each one looks like.
First up we have superior, or towards the head of the body. Then we have inferior, and that's away from the head or lower. Then we have anterior, and that's the front side of the body.
We have posterior, that's the back side of the body. We have medial, and that's towards the midline of the body. We have lateral and that is away from the midline of the body.
We have proximal and that is nearest to the trunk or the point of origin. And we have distal and that is farthest from the trunk or the point of origin. Alright so first up we have superior or towards the head of the body.
Basically the higher something is up on your body the more superior it is. So my neck is superior relative to my torso or my trunk because it is higher up or towards the head of my body. Inferior is the exact opposite, so the lower something is on my body the more inferior it is.
Essentially my shoulder is inferior relative to my head because again it's lower down. Anterior is the front side of my body, so this is the anterior part of my body, my front side. And posterior of course is the exact opposite, that is the entire back side of my body.
So medial would be towards the midline of the body, so if we pretend like there's a line going down the center of my body like that. The closer anything is to that line, the more medial it is. So my nose is medial relative to my ear because again it's closer to that midline of the body.
And of course lateral is the exact opposite. So my elbow is lateral relative to my sternum for instance. Again it is further away from the midline of the body.
Proximal is nearest to the trunk or the point of origin, kind of similar to medial. So basically the more proximal something is the closer it is to the center of my body. So we could say that my shoulder is proximal relative to my elbow because again it is closer to the center part of my body. Distal is farthest from the trunk or the point of origin so it's the exact opposite of proximal like we just said.
So my hand is distal relative to my elbow because again it's further away from the point of origin or the center of my body. Watch everything I just showed you a few times and make sure you understand all of that. So you definitely need to know there's three planes of motion and movement.
You have the transverse plane, the frontal plane, and the sagittal plane. The transverse plane divides the body into top and bottom halves so you can see top half here, bottom half here, and the transverse plane, this window plane looking thing, dividing this guy into top and bottom halves. The frontal plane as the name would imply ply divides the body into front and back halves. So this dude is being cut in half.
And again, front half, back half behind this window pane right here. And then the sagittal plane divides the body into right and left halves, which you can see right here. So next up, we're talking about movements that occur in the sagittal plane. And like we just said, the sagittal plane is the one that divides the body into right and left halves. And there's a relatively easy way to remember which movements occur in that sagittal plane, again that divides the body into right and left halves, but first I do need to teach you the movements themselves.
So I'm going to read these guys off first and I'm going to show you what each one looks like. First up we have flexion and that is a decrease in the joint angle. We also have extension and that is increasing the joint angle.
We have dorsiflexion and that is moving the top of the foot towards the shin. only applies to the ankle. And then we have plantar flexion and this is moving the sole of the foot down towards the ground and this only applies to the foot and the ankle. So essentially as I'm doing this bicep curl type motion you can see the joint angle here at my elbow is decreasing.
So this joint angle is going down as I'm doing that motion and again this is elbow flexion because as I'm doing this motion right here again joint angle going down flexion. So extension would be the exact opposite as I'm going like this. And this joint angle is increasing.
Again, that's now extension because this joint angle is getting bigger. So going from this position to this position, extension. So again, anytime you see a joint angle decreasing like this, and it doesn't have to happen at the elbow, any joint in the body, you're dealing with flexion. Anytime the joint angle is increasing, that is extension.
Now when it comes to dorsiflexion, essentially pretend that this part of my hand is my heel and these are my toes. I'm trying to keep my heel. plant it to the ground and then raise my toes up in the air.
That is dorsiflexion. And planter flexion would be the exact opposite. So if I'm just trying to keep my heel here and plant my toes down into the ground kind of like a calf raise, that is planter flexion. Probably going to have to watch this over a few times but all of these are definitely worth understanding and potentially memorizing. So how do you remember that things like flexion and extension happen in the sagittal plane?
I have a trick for you. Going back to this picture and looking at the sagittal plane, again it cuts this guy into left and right halves and we can kind of see that this plane or pane, really a window pane, whatever you want to call it, it comes out in front of him and it goes behind him. If we think about the movements that occur in the sagittal plane, we're thinking about like flexion and extension, they either go up or down or they go forwards or backwards behind the body.
So any exercise that goes up or down or forwards or backwards behind the body, that is going to happen in the sagittal plane. This picture here also shows. Those that movements in the sagittal plane, typically they have some forwards or backwards stuff going on. So bicep curls, tricep push downs. lunges moving forwards or backwards, squats.
Again, these are all things happening in the sagittal plane. So now we're talking about movements in the frontal plane, and like we just said not too long ago, the frontal plane cuts the body into front and back halves. So in the frontal plane, you have adduction, and this is movement toward the midline.
We'll go over all these in a second. You have abduction, and that is movement away from the midline of the body. You also have elevation and depression of the scapula. We don't really need to know these.
all that well. Something that might be worth looking up on your own time but not super important for the test. We also have inversion and eversion of the foot happening in this frontal plane.
This isn't something that we need to talk about too much right now. We will cover it a little bit more in the part two video though. As far as adduction and abduction go, essentially abduction, so the second one here, abduction, is moving your arm away from the midline.
So if I'm kind of lifting my arm up and out to the side like that, kind of like a lateral raise motion. Again, that is abduction away from the midline. Now, adduction is movement towards the midline.
So if there's a midline of my body here, I'm adding my arm back to my body. And that's how you're going to remember this. Adding my arm back to my body. That is adduction.
You could do the same thing with your leg. If I had my leg out to the side and then I brought it back to my body, that would be adduction because I'd be adding my leg back to my body. So now we're looking at the frontal plane. And again, it cuts this guy into front and back halves.
we can kind of see this thing kind of moving out towards the right and the left of this person's body here. So if we look at that, we can kind of determine that the movements actually follow this plane as well. So this plane is moving to the right and the left, so the movements in the frontal plane are also going to move to the side or the right and left of the body. So whenever you see frontal plane, think about movements. moving to the side of the body.
And then we can see this here, movements in the frontal plane to the right and left side of the body. Last up, we're talking about the transverse plane, and this cuts the body into top and bottom halves. The transverse plane is probably the weirdest one.
Again, the transverse plane cutting the body into top and bottom halves, and everything in the transverse plane has some element of rotation. So movements in the transverse plane. Rotation.
When the torso or a limb moves around its vertical axis, we'll go over all of these more very soon. We have pronation, and that's rotating the forearm or foot to a palm side or foot side down position. We have supination, which is rotating the forearm or foot to a palm side or foot side up position.
We have horizontal abduction, which is moving the upper arm away from the midline of the body when it is elevated to 90 degrees. We also have horizontal adduction, which is moving the upper arm towards the midline of the body when it's elevated to 90 degrees. All right, so rotation could be a ton of different things.
If I'm doing a torso rotation move with like a cable or something like that, That would be an example of rotation. Pronation is this, rotating my hand to a palm side down position. So again, that motion right there is pronation. And then supination is the exact opposite.
So if I'm going like this, and the best way to remember supination is cup of soup. I'm rotating my palms up, and I can hold a cup of soup here for supination. Remember that.
Horizontal adduction is essentially me kind of moving like this, whether I'm throwing a punch. If I'm doing it on both sides, it's a fly motion. So...
A fly motion is horizontal adduction. And think about it this way. If it has adduction in there, I'm adding my arm back to the body or bringing my arm towards that midline. Again, the midline dividing my body into kind of halves here.
And then horizontal abduction is the exact opposite motion. So I'm bringing my arms away from the midline of the body and it could be like a reverse fly type motion. And like we see here with movements of the transverse plane, you kind of see this weird rotation you guy. yeah, if it has a rotational aspect to it, that movement is taking place in the transverse plane. So it's possible that you'll get a question or two where you'll be shown an exercise and you'll have to identify what movement is taking place.
You will also have to identify what plane of motion the movement is occurring in. So if you're doing some curls, squats, pull-ups, or rows, those are happening in the sagittal plane because again, they're either going forwards backwards, or up and down. Frontal plane exercises would be things like a lateral band walk, so that band walk side to side, or a lateral raise.
And again, they're going to the right or the left of the body. And then some transverse plane exercise examples. Again, these all have a rotational component to them. So a torso rotation, wood chops, Russian twist, just look for that rotational component.
And finally, in this part one video, we are getting to exercise regressions, progressions, and form. You'll definitely be asked a few questions about a client doing an exercise and maybe they're screwing their form up in one way or another and you are going to have to correct it. Just like all the other questions on the test, these are multiple choice, so typically you're going to be able to figure it out, but sometimes NASM will throw some tricky ones at you. Let's look at the lunge.
Let's say I have a client lunging, but they're wobbly. How should I regress the exercise? Should I A, allow the client to support themselves against the wall, B, decrease the number of reps that the client is doing, C, have the client do a backflip, or D, make sure you like the video. A lot of good answers here.
I don't know. What do you guys think? The correct answer is A, allow the client to support themselves against the wall.
If a client is lunging and they're wobbly, B makes some sense as well. And NASM is usually going to throw two answers at you that both kind of make sense. A actually solves the problem though.
So A is the better answer. And there's usually going to be one answer that doesn't make a whole lot of sense. The backflip one. I don't know guys.
D also makes a lot of sense. Make sure you like the video. Let's say I have a beginner client lunging, they're doing great, and I need to make the exercise harder.
How should I progress the exercise? Should I A, have the client do jumping lunges, B, tell the client to perform the movement faster, C, subscribe to the channel, or D, give the client light dumbbells to hold onto while doing the exercise? So if I'm trying to progress an exercise like the lunge or make it harder, jumping lunges would definitely do that, but it wouldn't be the first thing that I would go to. So not necessarily the best answer there.
B, tell the client to perform the movement faster. Yeah, that's typically not the best thing to do either. C, subscribe to the channel.
Now that's a good one right there. Make sure you subscribe. D, give the client light dumbbells to hold on to while doing the exercise.
Yeah, that would be one of the first things that you would try when progressing a movement. Let's say I have a client who's squatting and leaning too far forward. Choose the best cueing advice to give this client.
Should I A, tell the client their squat is a mess? B. Tell the client to shift the weight back onto the ball of their foot, heels, and hips.
C. Hand the client light weights for increased stability. Or D. Stop the squat immediately and don't have the client do them anymore. So the best answer here is B.
Tell the client to shift the weight back onto the ball of their foot, heels, and hips. So A is very negative and mean sounding, which is always going to be wrong according to NASM. And yeah. they're pretty much right about that. If a client's form is off or if they're unstable, yeah, you wouldn't really want to add weight to that.
So C isn't a good answer. And then D is just a little bit excessive and a little bit negative. They wouldn't necessarily have to stop squatting immediately and not do it anymore. So yeah.
B, definitely the answer to go with here. Let's take that same client who's squatting and leaning too far forward. Now tell me what muscles are likely overactive in which are underactive. Overactive and underactive muscles are something we'll be diving into a lot more in the part two video, but let's get into it a little bit right now as well. So for A, the overactive muscles would be the hip flexors and the underactive would be the TFL.
For B, the overactive would be the glutes, the underactive would be the hamstrings. For C, the overactive would be the hip flexors, the underactive would be the glutes. And then for D, the overactive would be the glutes and the underactive would be the adductors.
Again, we're going to get a lot more into this in the part two video, but I want you guys to start thinking about this right now. So the best answer here would be C, the overactive muscles would be the hip flexors and the underactive muscles would be the glutes. And again, this is if we're talking about a client who's squatting and leaning too far forward, not that this person here necessarily is. If someone is squatting and leaning too far forward, you can bank on the glutes being underactive. In fact, in most situations with NASM, the glutes or butt muscles will be underactive.
The hip flexors being overactive also makes sense. Throwing the front side of the body and them being too tight will pull you forwards in a way that's not so good. Next up, let's talk about agonists and antagonists.
An agonist is the prime mover or muscle that does most of the work during a specific exercise. An antagonist is the muscle that opposes the agonist. The easiest example of this is the biceps and triceps.
When I'm doing a biceps curl, the biceps are the agonist, meaning they're doing most of the work. The opposing muscle group, the triceps, would be the antagonist. So I'm going to grab this pen here and do some curls, and the main muscle doing most of the work in this motion right here is the biceps, and that would make the biceps the agonist, and the muscle on the opposite side that is opposing, that would be the triceps.
So again, agonist for this motion right here, biceps, they're doing most of the work. Antagonist, triceps, they're on the opposite side of the body, which is going to be typical, and they oppose the action that we're doing. So if I'm doing a leg extension, what muscle group is the agonist and what muscle group is the antagonist? So the agonist in a leg extension would be the quadricep muscles. Again, those are the ones that are actually kicking those legs up there.
And the antagonist muscles, which are on the opposite side of the leg, Those would be the hamstring muscles because they are on the opposite side and they do the opposite motion. Let's look at a slightly more involved example. What is the agonist or prime mover of the exercise being shown, which is a Romanian deadlift or an RDL?
And what is the... antagonist muscle. So would the agonist be the hamstrings and the antagonist be the glutes, the agonist be gastrocnemius, and the antagonist be tibialis anterior, the agonist be the hip flexors, and the antagonist be the TFL, or the agonist be the hamstrings and the antagonist be the quads. So remember the agonist is the muscle that is primarily responsible for doing the movement and the antagonist is typically going to be on the opposite side of the body and it's going to perform the opposite action. So in this case D would be the best answer in a Romanian deadlift.
the hamstrings are doing most of the work. And the muscle group that does the opposite action and is on the opposite side of the leg, well that's the quadriceps. So if you look at A, the agonist here is correct, the hamstrings are doing most of the work, but the glutes would not be an antagonist, they're actually helping the hamstrings do this movement. If we look at B, the gastrocnemius and tibialis anterior, these two muscles are actually antagonist and agonist to one another.
but they just don't have all that much to do with the Romanian deadlift. And in this case, answer C is just wrong. I don't think we need to go into more detail on that one. You also have synergists, which assist prime movers or agonists with movements.
So when I'm doing a bench press or a push-up, the prime mover there, or the muscle that's responsible for doing most of the work, is pec major. So the pec muscles are doing most of the work for a bench press or a push-up. That being said, deltoids, the triceps, you have a bunch of other muscles that are still helping out there, and those would be considered synergists.
There is a thing called synergistic dominance, and that is when a synergist compensates for an underactive agonist. So let's say I have a client doing a glute bridge like we see right here, and for whatever reason this client can't feel that bridge in their glutes. Most likely what's going on is they have underactive glute muscles, which oftentimes we're going to see in these NASM conditions, and they're probably going to end up feeling this a lot more in their hamstrings or one of the other surrounding muscle groups.
groups. And again, that would be synergistic dominance because the hamstrings would be taking over for the glutes when they're not supposed to. You also have a forced couple relationship, and this is two or more muscles working together to create movement around a joint.
And the glute bridge would be a good example of this too. Again, the glutes and the hamstrings are both working together. to do hip extension at the hip joint. You also have stabilizers and these are muscles that stabilize movement around a joint.
Your rotator cuff muscles when bench pressing would be an example here. They're not really contributing too much to the actual strength aspect of the move but they are helping to keep everything stable. Reciprocal inhibition is related to everything we just talked about.
The relaxation of muscles on one side of a joint to accommodate the contraction on the other side. We'll just keep going back to the biceps and triceps example because it's easy to show you guys. But again, if I'm doing a bicep curl, the biceps would be the agonist or the prime mover, the muscle doing the majority of the work. And then the muscles on the opposite side, the triceps, would be reciprocally inhibited. They can't really do much because they're being lengthened or stretched as I'm contracting the biceps.
You also have autogenic inhibition, and this more has to do with foam rolling and things like that. This is the ability of a muscle to relax when it experiences a stretch or increased tension. Just a reminder, when you're foam rolling a muscle group with NASM, you're going to want to hold tight spots for 30 seconds and that's going to cause autogenic inhibition to happen.
We also have relative flexibility, so when the body moves, joints and soft tissues will move along the path of least resistance. We also have altered reciprocal inhibition. When an agonist is too tight this causes decreased neural drive to the antagonist. So basically if an agonist is too tight it can cause problems on the opposite side of the body. So again biceps too tight, this would essentially not allow me to extend my arm all the way, and that would cause some tricep issues or decreased neural drive.
So we have Golgi tendon organs and muscle spindles. You're probably going to get a question or two about these guys, and they're both very similar. So for the Golgi tendon organs, they are located at the point where the muscle and tendon meet. The GTO, Golgi tendon organ, is sensitive to change in muscle tension and the speed of tension change.
The muscle spindles are sensory organs that lie parallel to muscle fiber. They detect muscle length and speed or rate at which a muscle is stretching. So they both essentially do the same thing. Muscle spindles are actually in the muscle itself and they lie parallel to the muscle fibers. That is key to know because you could get a multiple choice question that kind of gives you the location and then you have to determine which of these two things is the correct answer.
So the GTOs are located at the point where the muscle and tendon meet, this musculotendinous junction. And again, that is not within the muscle itself. So that is in the muscle. a separate area outside of the muscle.
And again they both pretty much do the same thing. They detect change in muscle tension and the speed of that tension change. Moving on to muscle contraction types, and this is something we've broken down a bit in this video already, but we're going to expand upon it a little bit more now and of course we'll get into it more in the part two video as well.
So first up we have static or isometric contractions. These contractions occur when there is no change in muscle length. So this dude doing a plank right here.
He's not moving. He's. Just hanging out there, holding that move, that makes it an isometric contraction.
No change in muscle length. A concentric contraction is when a muscle shortens, and an eccentric contraction is when a muscle lengthens. So let's break down concentric, eccentric, and isometric by looking at the bench press. And let's go back to phase one of the OPT model, stabilization endurance. You can see this 4-2.
one-one tempo. Let's get into more detail on that. So the eccentric portion of the bench press would be the downward portion right here.
So I'd be going four seconds on the way down and you know it's eccentric because the prime mover, my pec major, is lengthening. So again prime mover or agonist pec major lengthening for four seconds on the way down. So I'm going to pause for two seconds here at the bottom of the bench press with the bar right over my chest and that's going to be the isometric portion of this lift and then I'm going to push that bar up. That's going to take one second.
That's the concentric portion of the lift because as I'm pushing that bar up in one second, again, my pec major, the agonist, is actually shortening. You can kind of see that contraction happening. I'm actually going to hold up here for one second isometrically too, and that would be the 4-2-1-1 tempo. So again, four seconds on the way down, pec major stretching out, two second pause on the bottom here. That's going to be the isometric portion.
Pushing up in one second, that's the concentric portion where the prime mover or agonist is shortening, and then I'm going to pause for a second at the top of the bench press, and then I'm going to repeat the process again. And that's how that 4-2-1-1 tempo works. And now we're just going to be going over some random stuff that you should know for your big exam. So we have Davis's Law, and it states that soft tissue models along imposed demands.
This explains how a muscle will lengthen or shorten in response to stretch or load, and... you become your lifestyle. So if I sit on my butt all day, my butt muscles are going to become underactive.
And again, that's because I'm sitting on my butt all day. Wolf's law is similar, but it applies to bone. And this is why weight training actually helps to build bone mass. Because again, as you strengthen your muscles and you strengthen your bone, you do build bone mass. We also have local core muscles, and these generally attach on or near the vertebrae.
They're important for stabilizing the vertebrae and limiting strain on the spine. transverse abdominis, that is the big one here. So if you get a question about local core muscles or bracing or anything like that, transverse abdominis is probably the right answer.
You also have global core muscles and these are more superficial. Superficial meaning they're kind of on the outside. So your transverse abdominis is deep and then your rectus abdominis, which is the six-pack muscle or the muscle you develop by crunching, that's on the outside.
So that's the muscle you see. Anyways, these global core muscles They're more involved when it comes to moving the trunk. So again, if I'm doing a sit-up or I'm crunching or doing something like that, the global core muscles are the ones that are doing that.
The local core muscles are more for stability, bracing, stuff like that. So just keep all that in mind. So there's three layers that surround muscle tissue. The epimysium is the outermost layer.
Then you have the perimysium, and that's the middle layer, and that's the sheath of connective tissue that surrounds a bundle of muscle fibers. Then you have the innermost layer, the endomycium, and that surrounds individual muscle fibers within skeletal muscles. Also good to know that ligaments, like your ACL for instance, attach bone to bone, and that tendons attach muscle to bone. probably going to get a question about that.
And guys, if you feel like your knowledge base is a little bit lacking when it comes to basic anatomy, which you should know some basic anatomy if you're becoming a personal trainer, and if you're going to take this test, I do have three videos to help out with that. I have one that goes over basic bone anatomy, one that goes over basic upper body muscle anatomy, and the same thing for lower body muscle anatomy. Consider watching all of these once or twice before taking that big test.
So there are three stages of learning. You have cognitive learning, and that's really when you're like, just learning something. So you're still very much in the learning phase.
You have associative, which is where you're starting to understand something, that things are starting to click a little bit in your head. And then you have the autonomous stage. And that's when something is learned and it becomes automatic.
For instance, most of you watching right now, if I told you to do a... push-up, you could just do one. You wouldn't have to think about it or the form. You know how to do one properly and that's because you've probably done tons of them throughout your life. That is not going to be true for many of your clients that haven't done any type of physical activity, so good to just have a general idea of what these things are.
We're going to talk a lot more about the speed, agility, and quickness drills in the part two video. We talked about them a little bit That being said, speed, agility, and quickness all have different definitions and you should know the differences between them. So speed is just moving quickly in one direction.
So if I'm doing a sprint like a 40-yard dash for instance, that is speed. Agility is the ability to change direction and maintain speed, balance, and coordination. So if I'm running fast in one direction and then I have to switch directions really quick, that's gonna be agility.
So quickness is more about reacting to a stimulus and that could happen in multiple planes of motion. Ladder drills would be a good example of something where quickness comes into play. So one thing I've seen popping up on NASM tests lately are training for youths or kids slash adolescents and training in older adults as well. So when it comes to adolescents, teens, or kids, 60 minutes three or more days of the week or three days per week if vigorous and basically that's what they should be shooting for exercise wise. And what they're doing should emphasize balance, skill, and movement control.
And if they're going to do resistance training, which in a perfect world they would be, two to three days a week is what you're looking for. When it comes to weight training, one to two sets of eight to ten exercises for eight to twelve reps per exercise, 40 to 70 intensity that's what you're looking for. And then when it comes to increasing the difficulty over time or progressive overload, you're going to focus on increasing reps first and then weight later. And then when it comes to aerobic training or cardio, volume should not exceed 10% per period of adaptation.
So adolescents have a lower tolerance to environmental extremes. Heat and humidity in particular can be a problem, and you don't want them exercising in very high temperatures. hot human conditions for more than 30 minutes.
They also have lower glycolytic enzymes compared to adults, and sometimes that can make them not as good at intense tasks like sprinting. Moving on to training for older adults. So you're looking at three to five days per week of moderate intensity activities, or three days per week of vigorous intensity activities. And as far as cardio goes, the intensity would be 45 to 80 percent of VO2 peak. Probably not worth memorizing, but hey, you never know, you could get it in a multiple choice question.
you're going to have lower initial weights and slower progression and that more so applies to resistance training. Speaking of resistance training you're looking at one to three sets of 8-20 reps at a 40-80% intensity. Again, probably not worth memorizing, but good to have a general idea of where older adults are because this kind of thing can pop up on the test in one form or another.
I feel like this is just common sense, progression for older adults should be slow, well monitored, and based on postural control. Quick note on the Valsalva maneuver, this is something you should be avoiding with all clients, especially the elderly. It's a breathing technique that involves forcefully exhaling air against a closed airway.
This is something that some lifters will know. unknowingly or unknowingly do, but it can raise blood pressure and cause other problems. So for all populations, as far as we're concerned, the Valsalva maneuver is bad. So guys, referring back to this page, make sure you're doing step one and step two.
The second video in this series will be out very soon. If you're finding it tough to learn the material, step 3 and 4 can be very useful as well. I didn't mention this in the beginning, but the NASM exam is 120 multiple choice questions, and they can and will pull questions from all of their different chapters.
Of course, some concepts appear far more often and are tougher to learn. That's why these videos should really help you out. You do need a 70% or higher to pass the big tests, but if you keep doing these things, reading chapters, taking the NASM quizzes, watching these review videos, and then possibly using the last two options for more review, you should be able to get considerably better than a 70. If you guys have any questions, leave me a comment down below.
I will respond to you. Also, don't forget to like this video and subscribe to the channel if you haven't done so already. That support is what allows us to keep making free content like this for all of you. Make sure to pop over to part two. There's a lot more studying to do.
We've got to pass this stupid test. Love you guys. Thanks for watching. And until next time, stay sort of healthy.