NASM CPT COMPREHENSIVE EXAM 2026 QUESTIONS AND
SOLUTIONS RATED A+
✔✔Movement system - ✔✔attach spine and/or pelvis to extremities. Consists of:
latissimus dorsi, hip flexors, hamstring complex, quadriceps.
✔✔Axial skeleton - ✔✔skull, rib cage, and vertebral column.
✔✔Appendicular skeleton - ✔✔upper and lower extremities, shoulder and pelvic girdles.
✔✔Skeletal system functions - ✔✔supports, protects, allows bodily movement,
produces blood, stores minerals.
✔✔Skeletal depressions - ✔✔lattened or indented portions of abone;can be muscle
attachment sites.
✔✔Skeletal Processes - ✔✔projection protruding from a bone; muscles, tendons, and
ligaments can attach.
✔✔Ligaments - ✔✔connects bone to bone; little blood supply; slow to heal.
✔✔Arthrokinematics - ✔✔joint motion.
✔✔Non-synovial joints - ✔✔nojoint cavity, connective tissue, or cartilage; little to no
movement.
✔✔Synovial joints - ✔✔held together by joint capsule and ligaments; associated with
movement.
✔✔Major motion types - ✔✔roll, slide, and spin.
✔✔Hinge joint - ✔✔elbows, ankles; sagittal plane movement.
✔✔Ball-and-socket joint - ✔✔shoulders, hips ;most mobile, all three planes of motion.
✔✔Weight-bearing exercise - ✔✔the best method of exercise to strengthen bones.
✔✔Endocrine system - ✔✔system of glands; secretes hormones to regulate bodily
function
✔✔Testosterone - ✔✔responsible for male sex traits.
✔✔Estrogen - ✔✔influences fat deposition on hips, buttocks, and thighs; responsible for
female sex traits.
,✔✔Growth hormone - ✔✔anabolic hormone; responsible for bodily growth up until
puberty.
✔✔Insulin - ✔✔regulates energy and glucose metabolism in the body.
✔✔Cardiorespiratory system - ✔✔cardiovascular and respiratory systems.
✔✔Cardiovascular system - ✔✔heart, blood, and blood vessels.
✔✔Cardiac muscle - ✔✔shorter, more tightly connected than skeletal muscle;
involuntary.
✔✔Atria - ✔✔smaller, superior chambers of the heart; receive blood from veins
✔✔Right atrium - ✔✔gathers deoxygenated blood returning to the heart.
✔✔Left atrium - ✔✔gathers oxygenated blood from the lungs.
✔✔Sinoatrial (SA) node - ✔✔located in right atrium; initiates impulse for heart rate;
"pacemaker for the heart".
✔✔Ventricles - ✔✔larger, inferior chambers of the heart; pump blood out.
✔✔Right ventricle - ✔✔pumps deoxygenated blood to lungs.
✔✔Left ventricle - ✔✔pumps oxygenated blood to the body.
✔✔Arteries - ✔✔carry blood away from the heart.
✔✔Veins - ✔✔transport blood back to the heart.
✔✔Arterioles - ✔✔mall branches of arteries; end in capillaries
✔✔Capillaries - ✔✔smallest blood vessels; site of gas, chemical, and water exchange.
✔✔Functions of blood - ✔✔1. transportation: oxygen, nutrients, hormones
2. regulation: temperature, pH
3. protection: clotting, immunity
✔✔Venules - ✔✔very small veins; connect capillaries to larger veins.
✔✔Stroke volume - ✔✔amount of blood pumped with each contraction.
, ✔✔Heart rate - ✔✔the rate at which the heart pumps; average untrained adult= 70-80
bpm.
✔✔Cardiac output - ✔✔volume of blood pumped per minute; heart rate ×stroke volume
✔✔Respiratory system - ✔✔lungs and respiratory passageways; brings in oxygen,
removes CO2.
✔✔Inspiration - ✔✔contracting inspiratory muscles to move air intolungs.
✔✔Primary inspiratory muscles - ✔✔diaphragm, external intercostals.
✔✔Secondary inspiratory muscles - ✔✔scalenes, pectoralis minor, sternocleidomastoid.
✔✔Expiration - ✔✔relaxing inspiratory muscles (passive), contracting expiratory
muscles (active) to move air out.
✔✔Expiratory muscles - ✔✔internal intercostals, abdominals.
✔✔Resting oxygen consumption (VO2) - ✔✔3.5 ml × kg-1× min-1= 1 metabolic
equivalent(MET)
✔✔Maximal oxygen consumption (VO2max) - ✔✔highest rate of oxygen transport and
utilization achieved at maximal physical exertion
✔✔Abnormal breathing patterns - ✔✔associated with stress and anxiety; may result in
headaches, fatigue, poor circulation, and/or poor sleep patterns.
✔✔Cardiorespiratory exercise increases: - ✔✔this type of exercise increases cardiac
output, breathing efficiency, oxygen transport and use, use of fats for fuel, mental
alertness, ability to relax and sleep, tolerance to stress, lean body mass, metabolic rate.
✔✔Cardiorespiratory exercise decreases: - ✔✔this type of exercise decreases resting
heart rate, cholesterol, blood pressure, and the risks of heart disease, blood clots,
depression, anxiety, obesity, and diabetes.
✔✔Bioenergetics - ✔✔study of energy in the human body.
✔✔Metabolism - ✔✔process in which nutrients are acquired, transported, used, and
disposed of by the body.
✔✔Aerobic - ✔✔requires oxygen.
SOLUTIONS RATED A+
✔✔Movement system - ✔✔attach spine and/or pelvis to extremities. Consists of:
latissimus dorsi, hip flexors, hamstring complex, quadriceps.
✔✔Axial skeleton - ✔✔skull, rib cage, and vertebral column.
✔✔Appendicular skeleton - ✔✔upper and lower extremities, shoulder and pelvic girdles.
✔✔Skeletal system functions - ✔✔supports, protects, allows bodily movement,
produces blood, stores minerals.
✔✔Skeletal depressions - ✔✔lattened or indented portions of abone;can be muscle
attachment sites.
✔✔Skeletal Processes - ✔✔projection protruding from a bone; muscles, tendons, and
ligaments can attach.
✔✔Ligaments - ✔✔connects bone to bone; little blood supply; slow to heal.
✔✔Arthrokinematics - ✔✔joint motion.
✔✔Non-synovial joints - ✔✔nojoint cavity, connective tissue, or cartilage; little to no
movement.
✔✔Synovial joints - ✔✔held together by joint capsule and ligaments; associated with
movement.
✔✔Major motion types - ✔✔roll, slide, and spin.
✔✔Hinge joint - ✔✔elbows, ankles; sagittal plane movement.
✔✔Ball-and-socket joint - ✔✔shoulders, hips ;most mobile, all three planes of motion.
✔✔Weight-bearing exercise - ✔✔the best method of exercise to strengthen bones.
✔✔Endocrine system - ✔✔system of glands; secretes hormones to regulate bodily
function
✔✔Testosterone - ✔✔responsible for male sex traits.
✔✔Estrogen - ✔✔influences fat deposition on hips, buttocks, and thighs; responsible for
female sex traits.
,✔✔Growth hormone - ✔✔anabolic hormone; responsible for bodily growth up until
puberty.
✔✔Insulin - ✔✔regulates energy and glucose metabolism in the body.
✔✔Cardiorespiratory system - ✔✔cardiovascular and respiratory systems.
✔✔Cardiovascular system - ✔✔heart, blood, and blood vessels.
✔✔Cardiac muscle - ✔✔shorter, more tightly connected than skeletal muscle;
involuntary.
✔✔Atria - ✔✔smaller, superior chambers of the heart; receive blood from veins
✔✔Right atrium - ✔✔gathers deoxygenated blood returning to the heart.
✔✔Left atrium - ✔✔gathers oxygenated blood from the lungs.
✔✔Sinoatrial (SA) node - ✔✔located in right atrium; initiates impulse for heart rate;
"pacemaker for the heart".
✔✔Ventricles - ✔✔larger, inferior chambers of the heart; pump blood out.
✔✔Right ventricle - ✔✔pumps deoxygenated blood to lungs.
✔✔Left ventricle - ✔✔pumps oxygenated blood to the body.
✔✔Arteries - ✔✔carry blood away from the heart.
✔✔Veins - ✔✔transport blood back to the heart.
✔✔Arterioles - ✔✔mall branches of arteries; end in capillaries
✔✔Capillaries - ✔✔smallest blood vessels; site of gas, chemical, and water exchange.
✔✔Functions of blood - ✔✔1. transportation: oxygen, nutrients, hormones
2. regulation: temperature, pH
3. protection: clotting, immunity
✔✔Venules - ✔✔very small veins; connect capillaries to larger veins.
✔✔Stroke volume - ✔✔amount of blood pumped with each contraction.
, ✔✔Heart rate - ✔✔the rate at which the heart pumps; average untrained adult= 70-80
bpm.
✔✔Cardiac output - ✔✔volume of blood pumped per minute; heart rate ×stroke volume
✔✔Respiratory system - ✔✔lungs and respiratory passageways; brings in oxygen,
removes CO2.
✔✔Inspiration - ✔✔contracting inspiratory muscles to move air intolungs.
✔✔Primary inspiratory muscles - ✔✔diaphragm, external intercostals.
✔✔Secondary inspiratory muscles - ✔✔scalenes, pectoralis minor, sternocleidomastoid.
✔✔Expiration - ✔✔relaxing inspiratory muscles (passive), contracting expiratory
muscles (active) to move air out.
✔✔Expiratory muscles - ✔✔internal intercostals, abdominals.
✔✔Resting oxygen consumption (VO2) - ✔✔3.5 ml × kg-1× min-1= 1 metabolic
equivalent(MET)
✔✔Maximal oxygen consumption (VO2max) - ✔✔highest rate of oxygen transport and
utilization achieved at maximal physical exertion
✔✔Abnormal breathing patterns - ✔✔associated with stress and anxiety; may result in
headaches, fatigue, poor circulation, and/or poor sleep patterns.
✔✔Cardiorespiratory exercise increases: - ✔✔this type of exercise increases cardiac
output, breathing efficiency, oxygen transport and use, use of fats for fuel, mental
alertness, ability to relax and sleep, tolerance to stress, lean body mass, metabolic rate.
✔✔Cardiorespiratory exercise decreases: - ✔✔this type of exercise decreases resting
heart rate, cholesterol, blood pressure, and the risks of heart disease, blood clots,
depression, anxiety, obesity, and diabetes.
✔✔Bioenergetics - ✔✔study of energy in the human body.
✔✔Metabolism - ✔✔process in which nutrients are acquired, transported, used, and
disposed of by the body.
✔✔Aerobic - ✔✔requires oxygen.
