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Top FAQs per Testing Domain
Domain 1: Basic and Applied Sciences
1. What is the difference between afferent neurons and efferent neurons?
Answer:
Where the impulse begins and ends is different for each. An afferent neuron sends an impulse from a muscle to the brain or spinal cord. An efferent neuron sends an impulse from the brain or spinal cord to a muscle.
2. What is a simple way to distinguish between a muscle spindle and a golgi tendon organ (GTO)?
Answer:
GTO
Senses muscle tension
Relaxes the muscle in response
Normal reaction to avoid injury
Muscle Spindle Fibers
Senses muscle lengthening
Contracts the muscle in response
Normal reaction to avoid injury
3. Do I need to know the names of all the bones in the skeletal system?
Answer:
You do not need to memorize all of the names of the bones in the skeletal system for the exam. However it is helpful to become familiar with the bones that are identified in Figure 2.8 in the NASM Essentials of Personal Fitness Training textbook.
4. I don’t understand the planes of motion. What movements are typically associated with each of the planes?
Frontal
NOT front to back movements
Side to side movements
Exercises involving abduction and/or adduction
Example: side lunge
Sagittal
Front to back movements
Movements involving pushing and/or pulling
Movements involving flexion and/or extension at joints
Example: front lunge
Transverse
Rotational movements
Diagonal movements
Horizontal adduction and/or abduction
Example: trunk rotation
5. Is there a tip that you can give to help me understand the actions of muscles?
Answer:
Yes. There are three types of muscle activation. The actions that a muscle can produce are:
Eccentric (deceleration)
Isometric (stabilization)
Concentric (acceleration)
A muscle is considered activated when it is stimulated by the nervous system. During concentric activation, a muscle is producing an active force as it shortens (contracts). In contrast, during isometric activation, a muscle is producing a force while it is maintaining constant length. During eccentric activation, a muscle will produce an active force while it is being lengthened (elongated).
6. I still don’t understand muscle actions. Can you explain this further?
Answer:
Yes. During an exercise, a repetition is made up of three distinct phases:
Concentric phase (typically when you are lifting the weight)
Transition or peak contraction phase (mid-point)
Eccentric phase (typically when you are lowering the weight)
A common misconception is that a muscle contracts during the first half of the movement and then relaxes as you return the weight to the start position. In fact, a muscle contracts during both phases. The difference is that the muscle shortens during the concentric part and lengthens during the eccentric part.
During a squat exercise, the body descends into a squat during the eccentric phase and it is actually when the body is ascending from a squat that you have the concentric phase. During the concentric phase of a squat, the body is ascending, and the gluteus maximus is producing an active force while it is shortening. We know that agonist muscles act as prime movers and in this case, the gluteus maximus and the quadriceps are prime movers.
It is true that while performing barbell curls for example, the biceps shorten on the concentric phase, while they lengthen and stretch out on the eccentric phase.
For most exercises, the concentric phase comes first, however on exercises such as the squat and bench press, you actually descend through the eccentric half to assume the real start position.
7. Do I need to memorize the descriptive information about each muscle?
Answer:
The information about the muscular system was intended to be used as a reference and is meant to be an aid for understanding where the muscles are located on the body and what each muscle does by itself (isolated function), as well as when working with other muscles (integrated function). It is important to know the isolated function (what the muscle does when it contracts) for the exam.
When attempting to memorize muscle functions there are several things to can try.
-Focus only on the isolated function (this should help make it easier and you will be able to at least narrow it down)
-Group muscles up by complex (i.e. lower leg complex, hamstring complex, quadriceps complex). Many of the isolated functions for a complex will have a similar function.
8. Could you please explain length-tension relationships, force-velocity curve and the sliding filament theory?
Answer:
The Sliding Filament Theory
When referring to muscle, we are referring to skeletal muscle which is made up of many smaller fibers that are all wrapped together. I will not describe each individual fiber here. Just know that the sarcomere is the part of the muscle which is the most functional, or rather, the most useful to us. The sarcomere is a segment of actin and myosin filaments that together, produce a muscular contraction. One sarcomere begins at a Z line and ends at a Z line. The sliding filament theory just tells us how muscle contracts. First, a sarcomere shortens because Z lines move closer together. The Z lines move closer together because of myosin heads attaching to actin filament and pulling on the actin filament. This type of action leads to the shortening of a muscle fiber.
Length-Tension Relationships
There is a relationship between the length of a muscle and how much tension that muscle can generate. Just know that a muscle can generate the greatest tension at its resting length. You know that a muscle at rest maintains a resting length. When tension is placed on it, it will either contract or lengthen, depending on the exercise. How and how much it is either contracted or lengthened, will depend on the force that the muscle will be able to generate. If a muscle is lengthened in excess, then it will not be able to produce enough force. Same thing with contraction. A muscle will be able to contract only so much and still be able to produce a maximum amount of force, then the force generated will begin to decrease after the threshold is reached.
Force-Velocity Curve
The force generated by a muscle is a function of its velocity. This means that the force generated by a muscle depends on the total number of cross-bridges that are attached. Because it takes a specific amount of time for cross-bridges to attach, as filaments slide past one another faster and faster, force decreases due to the lower number of cross-bridges attached. Conversely, as the relative filament velocity decreases, more cross-bridges have time to attach and to generate force, and thus force increases. Muscles are strengthened based on the force placed across the muscle. Higher forces produce greater strengthening. Therefore, exercises performed with muscle activated in a way that allows them to contract at high velocities, imply that they are also contracting with low force. This is intuitively obvious as you lift a light load compared to a heavy load—the light load can be moved much more quickly. However, these rapid movements would have very small strengthening effects since the muscle forces are so low.
The velocity of muscle shortening (concentric action) depends on the load it must move. On the other hand, as the velocity of a concentric action increases, the total tension produced by the muscle decreases. When the load (force) is minimal, muscle contracts with the greatest velocity. As the force progressively increases, concentric muscle action velocity slows to zero. As the load increases further, the muscle lengthens.
9. Chapter 4 talks about the Myth of the “Fat –Burning” Zone. Can one really achieve more weight loss or fat loss by resting?
Answer:
Although the “fat burning” zone is thought of as the time when the body is at complete rest, the amount of energy used (calories burned) is minimal and thus, it is not productive for weight or fat loss.
Body fat reduction is achieved by total calories burned and not by the total amount of fat an individual burns. The percentage of calories derived from fats and carbohydrates has to do with the energy systems used at different generalized heart rate zones. Fat and glucose are the main fuel sources for exercise and they are used more efficiently when the body receives enough oxygen. In turn, waste products are produced in the form of carbon dioxide. The ratio of oxygen consumed to carbon dioxide given off gives us the respiratory quotient (RQ). Fat and carbohydrate are oxidized (burned for energy) differently in the body.
Keep in mind that RQ is only an estimate of how the body uses fuel for energy but it does not dictate the total amount of fat or calories and individual burns.
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Domain 2: Assessment
1. Do I have to memorize the formula for the Three-Minute Step Test or the Rockport Walk Test?
Answer:
You do not have to memorize the formula for this tests, but you will need to know the steps necessary to perform these tests.
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Domain 3: Exercise Technique and Training Instruction
1. How do I distinguish between a stabilization, strength, and power exercise?
Answer:
The following is information to help you categorize exercises.
Stabilization
-involve little joint motion
-involve little to no load
-very little to no movement of the spine (core exercises)
-no flexion, extension, or rotation of spine (core exercises)
-exercises are performed using slow tempos only
-exercises performed on proprioceptively enriched environments (this includes single leg exercises)
-teach optimum alignment
-help increase core strength
-designed to establish reflex joint stabilization
-improve joint stability
-improve neuromuscular efficiency
-help to increase endurance
Strength
-dynamic concentric and eccentric activities through full range of motion
-flexion & extension of spine is allowed (core exercises)
-rotation is performed at medium paced tempos only
-exercises are loaded and performed at medium paced tempos
-exercises can still be performed
Power
-includes rotational/transverse plane movements
-performed at fast/explosive tempos
-reactive stabilization is incorporated
-integrates stabilization and strength into activity specific progressions
-goal is to develop reactive neuromuscular stabilization
2. How do I properly progress an individual’s body position during a resistance exercise?
Answer:
It will depend on the exercise you want to progress from. A client that begins an exercise with two feet on a stable surface and has external resistance in each hand will need to progress from two-arms moving in unison, to an arm alternating at a time.
The list below provides a guide for progressing body position during resistance exercise:
Body Position
Progressions
two-leg, two-arm, stable
two-leg, alternating arm, stable
two-leg, single-arm, stable
staggered stance, two-arm, stable
staggered stance, alternating arm, stable
staggered stance, single-arm, stable
single-leg, two-arm, stable
single-leg, alternating arm, stable
single-leg, single-arm, stable
two-leg, two-arm, unstable
two-leg, alternating arm, unstable
two-leg, single-arm, unstable
staggered stance, two-arm, unstable
staggered stance, alternating arm, unstable
staggered stance, single-arm, unstable
single-leg, two-arm, unstable
single-leg, alternating arm, unstable
single-leg, single-arm, unstable
3. Can you explain autogenic inhibition and reciprocal inhibition?
Answer:
Autogenic Inhibition = A process that occurs when you place tension on a muscle and the GTO becomes excited and thus, activated.
Example: When a muscle is "tight", overactive, or you feel a "knot" then you typically foam roll that muscle. The act of placing pressure via a foam roll helps to stimulate the Golgi tendon organ to create autogenic inhibition which ends up releasing the "bundled up" muscle and helps to straighten it out. Think of this one as involving applied pressure to release tension in a muscle.
Reciprocal Inhibition = Think of this one as involving an agonist and a synergist to help produce a stretch. Contracting an agonist can help stretch an antagonist. This is a process of one muscle shortening (contracting), another muscle lengthening (stretching). Please note that active-isolated stretching and dynamic stretching creates reciprocal inhibition of the muscle being stretched.
Example: When the knee is extended in the active supine biceps femoris stretch, the quadriceps(agonist) is naturally contracting and this act in turn, helps to increase the length of the biceps femoris (antagonist).
Another Example: During a bicep curl, the bicep shortens and the tricep lengthens.
4. How do I know when to use a specific type of flexibility type during a phase of the OPT™ model?
Answer:
Depending on what phase of the OPT™ model you are in, you will use one of these types of stretching:
Corrective Flexibility
Phase 1
Self-myofascial release
Static stretching
Active Flexibility
Phase 2, 3, 4
Self-myofascial release
Active-isolated stretching
Functional Flexibility
Phase 5
Self-myofascial release
Dynamic stretching
7. What are the muscles of the core?
Answer:
The core is classified into three systems, a local stabilization system, a global stabilization system, and a movement system.
Local Stabilization System
Transverse abdominis
Internal oblique
Lumbar multifidus
Pelvic floor muscles
Diaphragm
Global Stabilization System
Quadratus Lumborum
Psoas major
External oblique
Portions of internal oblique
Adductor complex (see your textbook)
Movement System
Latissimus dorsi
Hip flexors
Hamstring complex
Quadriceps
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Domain 4: Program Design
1. What is vertical loading?
Answer:
Vertical loading is a resistance training system that is used by NASM and follows the OPT™ model. This system progresses a workout vertically down a template by alternating body parts from set to set. If you look at the attached template, you will see that the resistance training section includes the following exercises listed:
1. Total body exercise
2. Chest
3. Back
4. Shoulders
5. Biceps
6. Triceps
7. Legs
If time permits, have your client cool-down by having them go through the same warm up procedures.
2. Can you explain tempo?
Tempo controls the amount of time that the muscle is active or producing tension – concentrically, isometrically and/or eccentrically. Tempo is typically written in this way:
a=eccentric
b=isometric
c=concentric
Therefore, assuming the above, a 4/2/1 tempo on one repetition of bench press would be:
4 count controlled eccentric deceleration bringing the weight back down (before the push)
2 counts isometric stabilization at the bottom
1 count on the pushing (upward)
Another example: a 2/0/2 tempo on one repetition of bench press would be:
2 count controlled eccentric deceleration bringing the weight down (into position, before the push upward)
0 No counts of isometric stabilization at the bottom
2 counts concentric pushing (upward)
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Domain 5: Considerations in Nutrition
1. How much protein should one consume?
Answer:
The Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) for the general population is 0.8 grams per kilogram of body weight. Protein recommendations for athletes will be greater, depending on the type of activity.
2. Do I have to know all of the amino acids?
Answer:
Yes. You are responsible for knowing all of the amino acids.
3. How much water should one drink a day?
Answer:
Men should consume 3 liters (or about 13 cups) and women should consume 2.2 liters (or about 9 cups) of water per day.
Individuals trying to lose weight should drink an extra 8 ounces (or 1 cup) of water for every 25 pounds that they are trying to lose.
4. How much fiber should one consume per day?
Answer:
The daily recommended intake of fiber is 38 grams per day for men and 25 grams per day for women.
5. What are examples of carbohydrates?
Answer:
Sugars, starches, and celluloses (fiber).
6. What is a sugar and how can I distinguish the different types?
Answer:
A sugar is any monosaccharide or a disaccharide.
Monosaccharide
Glucose
Fructose
Galactose
Disaccharide
Sucrose
Lactose
Maltose
7. What is the glycemic index?
Answer:
The glycemic index is the rate at which food raises blood sugar and how it affects the body’s release of insulin. Foods lower on the glycemic index tend to be higher in fiber.
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Domain 6: Client Relations and Behavioral Coaching
1. What is an effective way to communicate with a client ?
Answer:
Studies have shown that a greater percentage of communication is transmitted via physiology. Thus, body language and facial expressions should match the words and tone of voice of the Certified Personal Trainer.
2. How can I help my clients set more specific goals?
Answer:
The Certified Personal Trainer can help their client set more specific goals by uncovering the true motivation for a client’s desire to train. Using a method called, “root cause analysis” can help with this.
3. What are two ways to help a client “believe in themselves”?
Answer:
-Set modest goals that are both challenging and attainable.
-Teach your clients to visualize performing well during training.
4. How do I know if my client is on the right track? How do I know when to make corrections to a program?
Answer:
According to the National Weight Control Registry, keeping records of both eating and exercise habits can help predict the success of lasting weight loss. Celebrate success and keep your client accountable by keeping records of eating and exercise habits.
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Domain 7: Professional Development, Practice, and Responsibility
1. Do I need to read the “Board of Certification Candidate Handbook” in preparation for my exam?
Answer:
Yes, it contains important information on the exam and exam questions may come from the handbook.
2. What are the research questions which are given on the exam?
Answer:
You will be given 20 research questions to answer on your exam. These research questions do not count for or against you and you will not be advised as to which questions are research questions. These are questions in a “testing” process to potentially become future exam questions. With this in mind, they may or may not be “quality” questions that will be used in the future. Be sure not to get discouraged if you come across a question that seems like it hasn’t been covered in the text or has ambiguous answers- it might be just a research question. You will have the ability to flag questions you are unsure about and return to them later. If you come across a tough one, flag it and return to it, but don’t let it start to worry you too much. These types of questions help us develop future questions that are statistically valid.
3. How many CEU’s do I need to recertify?
Answer:
You must accumulate 2.0 continuing education units (CEU’s) every two years and submit a recertification application to the NASM Board of Certification.
4. My client has not yet signed a current health history questionnaire. Can I still train this client?
Answer:
No. It is against the Code of Professional Conduct for an NASM certified member to train a client before having signed a current health history questionnaire.
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