NASM CPT Comprehensive Practice Exam (2025 Edition)
Full Answer Key with Expert Rationales
NASM CPT EXAM
1. Which statement best describes the neurophysiological effect that occurs from myofascial
rolling?
Answer: The direct roller compression may create tissue relaxation and pain reduction in tissues
by stimulating nerve receptors.
Rationale: Myofascial rolling stimulates mechanoreceptors (such as Golgi tendon organs),
leading to decreased muscle spindle activity and temporary relaxation and pain reduction.
2. You have a client seeking weight loss. What is the most appropriate amount of rest
recommended between each repetition of an SAQ exercise?
Answer: 15 to 60 seconds
Rationale: Short rest periods maintain an elevated heart rate to promote calorie burn and
improve conditioning while allowing partial recovery for performance consistency.
3. What is the primary limiting factor for exercise in the client with PAD?
Answer: Leg pain
Rationale: Claudication, or pain due to reduced blood flow to the legs, limits exercise intensity
in peripheral artery disease (PAD) clients.
4. Stage 3 balance exercise should include what types of motion?
Answer: Hopping motions with a single-leg stance landing
Rationale: Stage 3 balance training challenges dynamic stability and neuromuscular control
through multi-planar, explosive movements.
5. What is the superior boundary of the core?
Answer: Diaphragm
Rationale: The diaphragm forms the top of the core’s cylinder, contributing to intra-abdominal
pressure and spinal stabilization.
,6. What is a safe flexibility modification that you can recommend to a client who has varicose
veins?
Answer: Gentle static stretching
Rationale: Gentle static stretches enhance circulation without increasing venous pressure or
strain on affected veins.
7. Which muscles are typically overactive when the feet turn out?
Answer: Gastrocnemius and soleus
Rationale: Overactivity of the calf muscles externally rotates the feet during movement patterns
like squats.
8. Improved performance during a plyometric jump is dependent upon which of the following?
Answer: Rapid amortization phase
Rationale: The faster the transition between eccentric and concentric phases, the more
efficiently elastic energy is used to produce power.
9. What is a regression for the box jump-up with stabilization?
Answer: Squat jump with stabilization
Rationale: Reducing the height demand maintains the plyometric challenge while lowering joint
stress for safer progression.
10. Which heart chamber receives oxygenated blood and pumps it to the body?
Answer: Left ventricle
Rationale: The left ventricle’s strong muscular wall pumps oxygen-rich blood into systemic
circulation via the aorta.
11. Proper abdominal crunches on a stability ball allows for:
Answer: Increased spinal extension due to the curvature of the ball
Rationale: The stability ball supports greater range of motion through controlled spinal
extension and flexion.
12. Which type of joint includes the sutures of the skull?
Answer: Nonsynovial
, Rationale: Nonsynovial joints, such as skull sutures, are immovable and connected by fibrous
tissue.
13. What is a normal physiologic process of aging that results in arteries that are less elastic and
pliable?
Answer: Arteriosclerosis
Rationale: Arteriosclerosis naturally stiffens arterial walls, reducing elasticity and increasing
cardiovascular strain with age.
14. What differentiates change of direction from agility?
Answer: Reaction to a signal
Rationale: Agility involves perceptual and decision-making components, requiring reaction to
external stimuli.
15. Which term describes the movement of bones, such as flexion and extension?
Answer: Osteokinematics
Rationale: Osteokinematics refers to gross bone movement around joint axes, such as flexion,
extension, abduction, and rotation.
16. In what plane of movement do shoulder horizontal adduction and abduction occur?
Answer: Transverse
Rationale: Movements parallel to the floor, such as rotational or horizontal motions, occur in the
transverse plane.
17. What is the ventilatory threshold 1 (VT1)?
Answer: The point at which the body switches to using carbohydrates to provide at least half the
fuel for exercise
Rationale: At VT1, breathing becomes more difficult as lactate begins to accumulate, signaling
a shift in energy metabolism.
18. What are the two primary actions of the muscle spindle?
Answer: Sense the change in muscle length and the speed of length change
Rationale: Muscle spindles detect stretching and activate reflexive contraction to protect the
muscle from overstretching.
Full Answer Key with Expert Rationales
NASM CPT EXAM
1. Which statement best describes the neurophysiological effect that occurs from myofascial
rolling?
Answer: The direct roller compression may create tissue relaxation and pain reduction in tissues
by stimulating nerve receptors.
Rationale: Myofascial rolling stimulates mechanoreceptors (such as Golgi tendon organs),
leading to decreased muscle spindle activity and temporary relaxation and pain reduction.
2. You have a client seeking weight loss. What is the most appropriate amount of rest
recommended between each repetition of an SAQ exercise?
Answer: 15 to 60 seconds
Rationale: Short rest periods maintain an elevated heart rate to promote calorie burn and
improve conditioning while allowing partial recovery for performance consistency.
3. What is the primary limiting factor for exercise in the client with PAD?
Answer: Leg pain
Rationale: Claudication, or pain due to reduced blood flow to the legs, limits exercise intensity
in peripheral artery disease (PAD) clients.
4. Stage 3 balance exercise should include what types of motion?
Answer: Hopping motions with a single-leg stance landing
Rationale: Stage 3 balance training challenges dynamic stability and neuromuscular control
through multi-planar, explosive movements.
5. What is the superior boundary of the core?
Answer: Diaphragm
Rationale: The diaphragm forms the top of the core’s cylinder, contributing to intra-abdominal
pressure and spinal stabilization.
,6. What is a safe flexibility modification that you can recommend to a client who has varicose
veins?
Answer: Gentle static stretching
Rationale: Gentle static stretches enhance circulation without increasing venous pressure or
strain on affected veins.
7. Which muscles are typically overactive when the feet turn out?
Answer: Gastrocnemius and soleus
Rationale: Overactivity of the calf muscles externally rotates the feet during movement patterns
like squats.
8. Improved performance during a plyometric jump is dependent upon which of the following?
Answer: Rapid amortization phase
Rationale: The faster the transition between eccentric and concentric phases, the more
efficiently elastic energy is used to produce power.
9. What is a regression for the box jump-up with stabilization?
Answer: Squat jump with stabilization
Rationale: Reducing the height demand maintains the plyometric challenge while lowering joint
stress for safer progression.
10. Which heart chamber receives oxygenated blood and pumps it to the body?
Answer: Left ventricle
Rationale: The left ventricle’s strong muscular wall pumps oxygen-rich blood into systemic
circulation via the aorta.
11. Proper abdominal crunches on a stability ball allows for:
Answer: Increased spinal extension due to the curvature of the ball
Rationale: The stability ball supports greater range of motion through controlled spinal
extension and flexion.
12. Which type of joint includes the sutures of the skull?
Answer: Nonsynovial
, Rationale: Nonsynovial joints, such as skull sutures, are immovable and connected by fibrous
tissue.
13. What is a normal physiologic process of aging that results in arteries that are less elastic and
pliable?
Answer: Arteriosclerosis
Rationale: Arteriosclerosis naturally stiffens arterial walls, reducing elasticity and increasing
cardiovascular strain with age.
14. What differentiates change of direction from agility?
Answer: Reaction to a signal
Rationale: Agility involves perceptual and decision-making components, requiring reaction to
external stimuli.
15. Which term describes the movement of bones, such as flexion and extension?
Answer: Osteokinematics
Rationale: Osteokinematics refers to gross bone movement around joint axes, such as flexion,
extension, abduction, and rotation.
16. In what plane of movement do shoulder horizontal adduction and abduction occur?
Answer: Transverse
Rationale: Movements parallel to the floor, such as rotational or horizontal motions, occur in the
transverse plane.
17. What is the ventilatory threshold 1 (VT1)?
Answer: The point at which the body switches to using carbohydrates to provide at least half the
fuel for exercise
Rationale: At VT1, breathing becomes more difficult as lactate begins to accumulate, signaling
a shift in energy metabolism.
18. What are the two primary actions of the muscle spindle?
Answer: Sense the change in muscle length and the speed of length change
Rationale: Muscle spindles detect stretching and activate reflexive contraction to protect the
muscle from overstretching.
