The Show Up Fitness Podcast

How to pass NASM-CPT 7th Edition 2025/26 SUF-CPT guarantee to pass NASM in 30-days

• Chris Hitchko, CEO Show Up Fitness • Season 3 • Episode 274

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Most new trainers don’t fail because they’re lazy—they fail because they were set up to memorize, not to coach. We sit down with Cori, a dedicated runner navigating NASM overwhelm, and turn tangled chapters into clear, usable coaching. You’ll hear how to translate planes of motion into exercises you can demo immediately, how to spot agonists and antagonists without guessing, and how to use synergists and stabilizers to make your cues land.

We walk through the OPT model the way hiring managers want to hear it: Phase 1 builds control and competency, Phase 2 pairs stable with less stable for smarter supersets, Phase 3 drives muscle, Phase 4 loads heavy for strength, and Phase 5 blends power and strength with purpose. You’ll get a no-fluff take on energy systems and fiber types—anchored to duration and intensity—so exam questions become quick wins. Then we make assessments useful: identify what “arms fall” and “knees cave” really mean, apply the red-versus-green muscle lists, and choose fixes that actually change movement. Foam roll and stretch what’s tight, strengthen what’s sleepy, and cue breathing and bracing so reps look and feel better.

Safety and screening matter, so we hit the essentials: PAR-Q, hypertension basics, the SA node, and knowing when to refer out. More importantly, we show how hands-on learning, live feedback, and mentorship build confidence faster than any textbook—because clients won’t ask about amortization, they’ll ask for results. If you’ve been grinding through chapters and still feel stuck, this conversation gives you a study map, coaching language, and a training method you can use tomorrow.

If this helped you see the path more clearly, follow the show, share it with a trainer friend, and leave a quick review—it helps more future coaches find their footing.

Want to become a SUCCESSFUL personal trainer? SUF-CPT is the FASTEST growing personal training certification in the world!

Want to ask us a question? Email info@showupfitness.com with the subject line PODCAST QUESTION to get your question answered live on the show!

Website: https://www.showupfitness.com/
Become a Successful Personal Trainer Book Vol. 2 (Amazon): https://a.co/d/1aoRnqA
NASM / ACE / ISSA study guide: https://www.showupfitness.com

SPEAKER_01:

So I feel for you because you're not able to turn your passion for fitness into a career because you're stuck. But the the real frustration comes from you weren't set up for success in the beginning. You need hands-on work, you need mentors, you need people who can say, you know, Corey, why the hell were you doing that exercise? That's a stupid fucking exercise. And you go, Oh, great, thank you. And then you change it and the client goes, Wow, that was great. And then you're like, wow, that made total sense. Thank you so much. That's the environment you need. Welcome to the Show Up Fitness Podcast, where great personal trainers are made. We are changing the fitness industry one qualified trainer at a time with our in-person and online personal training certification. If you want to become an elite personal trainer, head on over to showupfitness.com. Also make sure to check out my book, How to Become a Successful Personal Trainer. Don't forget to subscribe, rate, and review. Have a great day and keep showing up. How do everybody? Welcome back to the Show Up Fitness podcast. Today we have Miss Corey from Oregon helping you pass NASA. How are we doing?

SPEAKER_00:

Great.

SPEAKER_01:

How are you? Doing lovely. Now the National Academy of Spectacular Marketing got another one, but that is okay. That is what we do. We help people pass. So why don't you tell them the story, how you got involved and your struggles, how you came across show up, and then we're gonna do a little tutoring today.

SPEAKER_00:

Sounds great. I um first came across NASM at my gym. All of the trainers there boasted about the gym promoted it, and I wanted to be a group fitness trainer and just get into training to help people. And so I signed up for NASM. I did the nice huge giant nutrition package and everything. And I got about five months solid studying, doing nothing else into the book, and realized that I was getting nowhere because I was learning, but I was forgetting as I was learning. And so I actually, after like five months, kind of gave up. I decided I was gonna try it again, but there's no way in heck I could read the book and learn all of this. And then I was also terrified of if I did fudge through it by just taking all the tests, fudging my way and getting it, then I would show it up at the gym to meet a client and not know what I was doing because there's I just wasn't understanding it all. And so I was searching all these podcasts and everything, and that's when I came across show up and just listening to a couple of the podcasts, I learned more. And now I've had the guide for one week and I know more than I had the whole time. And that was 2024 when I bought NASM.

SPEAKER_01:

We're not as scary as my crazy persona on YouTube comes out, but that's our number one thing is to help you pass this. And then and very common I have people reach out and they say, you know, I'm just not a book reader. And it's like, well, no shit. We are personal trainers. This is a kinesthetic career, and you need to be able to confidently take people through workouts safely, program for them, assess them, get them out of pain, build your business. And that is actually one thing you can definitely learn from NASA. They are a great business company, so you can see how the mind goes through. It's like, well, I'm gonna invest into this. Why not get the biggest package? Because I want to be the best there is. It's kind of the same with your clients, and that's something you can definitely implement when you have that sales presentation and take some pieces from companies who are doing well. And it's not to say that NASA's a shitty company, it's just they're really, really good at getting people to get certified because that's what the industry says is normal. You get a textbook cert, you go out there and you gain unsupervised experience, which is why so many trainers unfortunately quit. And so, what we're trying to do is get more trainers to be confident, to let them know that there is a method, and that method is going to help them make their life so much easier because the stress is gonna be off your back, but then you're smart. So then you realize that okay, I need hands-on learning, I need more. And so that's what we're here for. And so we're really excited to help you with this today. Now, you did say that you're a little frustrated because you were listening to some of the podcast, you're like, Holy shit, these people answer the questions so damn fast. And I wanted to clarify that for time's sake, when we do these, I definitely edit them. So, whereas like a couple ago, you may have heard Paul, and he's just boom, boom, boom, boom. But it's like I ask a question, okay, Paul, what is the definition of sagittal? And he's probably going, um, oh shit, oh man, uh uh, bunch of word fillers and people don't want to hear that. So it's no offense to Paul or anyone, but we know we're gonna take out some of that just to make it flow a lot easier. So let's start right there with the the basics and let's see how you do with your planes of motion. What are some exercises that you could name? And let's go through the planes of motion.

SPEAKER_00:

So, like in the sagittal front and back split, and so you could do like a squat, you could do a lateral front raise.

SPEAKER_01:

There you go.

SPEAKER_00:

Front raise anything that's forward or backwards, a lunch, a lunge.

SPEAKER_01:

You said something before the call that this is all kind of new to you, the weightlifting terminology, because you're more of a runner. And I like to tell people when in doubt, just go with sagittal. We're running, sprinting, jumping, lunging. When you look at the core movement patterns, most of them are going to be sagittal. That's gonna be jumping, lunging, squatting, hinging. That's the sagittal plane of motion. The technical definition is an imaginary line bisecting the body into right and left halves. That can be kind of confusing, but it just allows for flexion and extension. And as we have people who help others pass NASAM quickly, we have these calls, and there's a great instructor that talks about going through the metal detector in an airport. So, what can you do in that metal detector? You can you can squat down, you can stand up, you can go front and back. That's what allows for sagittal movements. And then we have frontal. And what are some frontal exercises?

SPEAKER_00:

Um, frontal would be bandwalk. Uh, the bandwalk. Um, you could do uh the arm raises uh to the side, lateral raises, good. Yeah, lateral. That's what I was gonna say, but jumping jab, anything that uh, like you had said before, like your nose is touched to the wall, anything that you could move to the sides up and down on the side.

unknown:

Great.

SPEAKER_01:

Then you have a lap pulldowns, pull-ups, and so forth. That would be your frontal plane of motion. The reason I very quickly say the definition is because that's probably going to be a question. They're gonna say, which of the following planes of motion is going to bisect the body? And they always say bisect the body into anterior and posterior halves. So that would be the technical definition of frontal. And then we come to the last one, which is transverse. What are some exercises we would do in the transverse plane?

SPEAKER_00:

Uh, you could do a bend over row, an RDL.

SPEAKER_01:

So what are you doing when you do an RDL? Are you going front and back?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, you are going front and back. Well, plane of motion is anything that's a rotation.

SPEAKER_01:

Good, good. So when you go front and back, like the RDL or hinge, that's going to be sagittal.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, sagittal.

SPEAKER_01:

So rotation would be when your arms are going through the horizon, like a chest fly or a reverse fly. Common exercise would also be like a Russian twist. Where they come up with these names, I don't know. Was it in Russia? I don't know, but you're going back and forth, your elbows would be touching the sides. There's rotation involved there. It's just the definition, again, an imaginary line bisecting the body to superior and inferior halves, allowing for rotation. And they could even throw a question in there. Another name for the frontal plane of motion is called the coronal plane of motion. So that's just like a the more you know, you may see maybe three or four exercises, but I like to start there because then we get into orientation. You said words like lateral. So if you're reading a question on the exam and it says lateral or medial or distal or proximal, and you're like, oh crap, I don't know what that is. That's when we're gonna get that confusion and we're gonna get some ants, those automatic negative thoughts. I'm not good enough. But that's not the case. Just remember, calm down. What would the belt buckle trainer do? You're gonna pass this. I guarantee it. We've helped over 5,000 people pass this. And especially when we do a call like this, it's just it's gonna help build your confidence because you can listen to this in the future and you're gonna be like, oh my God, I hate my voice. Everyone says that, but you'll be able to listen. Oh, I know, and you're gonna be okay, you know what? I'm I'm getting better, and that's the most important thing. Am I improving? It's okay if we don't know it from the beginning. I can only imagine the frustration you had reading the first five chapters, spending five months where that self-doubt is just really going to increase. And we want to calm that down because ultimately we're doing this to help people, and you're gonna have people in front of you, and they're not gonna be quizzing you on, okay, Corey, is it the sagittal plane of motion? Is it the frontal plane of motion? But you need to know, as I say, you need to know Spanish to speak English to your clients. And the Spanish aspect is the orientation, that's just how our body moves. So word you may see would be like distal. Could you tell me what distal means? So distal would be the furthest away.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, yeah, the furthest away, yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

And we use that in anatomical orientation. So we have the muscle in the anterior superior part I'm pointing to right now. What is this muscle right here?

SPEAKER_00:

Pectoral major.

unknown:

Good.

SPEAKER_01:

And where it originates is where it doesn't move. So this bone, my chest bone, you know the name of it, it's your sternum. So that is where the pectoral major originates, and it's going to insert into your humerus. Your humerus is your upper bone, and the distal part is where it inserts. So when you hear something like proximal, it's just making reference to the closest point of origin. Distal is the furthest away. So if we look at our gastrochnemius, do you know where that is?

SPEAKER_00:

Calf, superficial calf muscle.

SPEAKER_01:

It's that beautiful butt-looking muscle on your calf, which we will group into one. But when people say calf, they're actually talking about the gastroc and the soleus. The soleus is deeper than the gastroc. But the unique thing about the gastroc is it's bi-articulate. Do you know what bi-articulate means?

SPEAKER_00:

Bi means two.

SPEAKER_01:

And articulation means it crosses two joints. So it crosses the knee joint and it also crosses the ankle joint. Gastrochnemius is going to be the posterior muscle of the calf. It originates on the femur that crosses that knee joint and distally it goes into the calcaneus. They're not going to ask you about bony articulations like that, but it's important because you now know where that muscle is. And is that muscle overactive or underactive? Overactive. Good, as is the soleus. Now on the front side, we have the large bone, which is called your tibia. And we have an underactive muscle right there. What is that name of the muscle?

SPEAKER_00:

Anterior tibialis.

unknown:

Good.

SPEAKER_01:

So that's how we're just slowly breaking it down. So if your client were to be performing an exercise and that knee collapse, the gastrocnemius would be overactive. The anterior tibialis would be underactive. And what do we do to overactive muscles?

SPEAKER_00:

Foam roll and stretch.

SPEAKER_01:

How long are we doing it for?

SPEAKER_00:

30 seconds. Yep.

SPEAKER_01:

And they're not going to ask you, is it 20, 25, 30? It's going to be five seconds, 30 seconds, one minute, or two minutes. And then you would know that it's anywhere from 20 to 40 seconds. We foam roll and then we stretch and then we strengthen the weakened muscle. And there's a unique tempo that we do for phase one of the OPT model. And what is that tempo to strengthen?

SPEAKER_00:

Four, two, one, one.

SPEAKER_01:

Great. What does four mean?

SPEAKER_00:

Ecentric time going down. Yep.

SPEAKER_01:

And that's the muscle lengthening. I think the easiest example is when you're doing a bicep curl. When you bring the dumbbell to your chest, that is the concentric, the muscle shortens, and that's when we produce the most force. When we lower it down, that's actually where we're the strongest. And it's called the negative. They could ask you a question which phase of a lift are you the strongest? And that would be the eccentric. And the eccentric is really important for beginners because we want to strengthen ligaments and tendons. And by going at a slow and controlled pace, you're going to allow for more stress, which is a good thing. Now, we don't have to necessarily do a 4, 2, 1, 1. And I'm kind of against that per se, because what I see trainers doing in real life is they count out the four seconds. And there's nothing more annoying than a trainer counting out every freaking second. So your clients could say to you, Why am I hiring a rep counter? That's not what we are. I like to get involved, but we can say things like, you know, take a big deep breath in, control, brace your core, and slowly lower the bar down or the dumbbell, whatever it may be. So the four is making reference to eccentric. The two is a pause. What does the pause correlate when it comes to a muscle contraction?

SPEAKER_00:

An isometric hold.

unknown:

Great.

SPEAKER_01:

And that would be like a plank, or as Nassim says, a prone isoab, a wall sit. That would be the isometric contraction portion. And then we come back up, which would be the one concentric, and then we pause again for the isometric. Now, when we get into strength and conditioning and you have what's called the stretch shortening cycle, the middle phase is called amortization. You could see a question like that. Your client is performing a back squat and the middle portion is called isometric. When they do a jump, it's not called isometric. What does that refer to as? And then you try to find the answer for amortization. Let's take a look at some other exercises. I want you just to name any exercise that you do in your boot camp style classes.

SPEAKER_00:

Squat to press.

unknown:

Great.

SPEAKER_01:

And that's a stabilization exercise that NASA will have you do. Make sure to do it on a stability ball because if you don't, you go to jail. You do your stability ball squat curl press. The lowering of the body, so the glutes coming closer to the ground. Is that the eccentric or concentric?

SPEAKER_00:

Eccentric.

SPEAKER_01:

If I were to have my client pause, play a little red light, green light, I say, okay, red light, and they pause. What is that?

SPEAKER_00:

Isometric hold.

SPEAKER_01:

Great. And then when they come up, that's typically when we want to breathe out. So you take a breath in when you go down for four, pause for two, up for one. And that is how you implement the four, two, one, one in that regard. Now, when you're pressing overhead, what is the main muscle group working at the shoulder?

SPEAKER_00:

Would it be the deltoid?

SPEAKER_01:

Very good. And I love what you're doing right now. Cheat. When you're on the exam, cheat. Use your body. Put your arm above your head. And what is hard? And your deltoid is hard. So that is what we would call the agonist during an overhead press. But then we have synergistic muscles that help out. So at the elbow, we have extension. And when we extend the elbow, what is the main muscle working there? Tricep. Great. And then when we look at the stabilizers, that's a term that Nassim likes to use. So we're stabilizing the glenohumeral joint. What muscles are stabilizing the glenohumeral joint? It's an acronym, SITS, S-I-T-S, which is the rotator cuff. Any upper body exercise, the stabilizers will be your SITS for the lower body. What will be the stabilizing muscle group?

SPEAKER_00:

Hip flexor.

SPEAKER_01:

Nope. That's going to be your antagonist during a squat, which is the opposite of the main mover. So the stabilizers for lower body would be, you got it, you got it. It's okay. You may have heard a trainer before I said it earlier, brace your core. And when they say brace your core, think of you're doing a squat and you're about to go down the eccentric. Pretend like you're going to take a big deep breath and you're going underwater. By doing that, you're going to create what's called intra-abdominal pressure and your transverse abdominis, which is your core muscles, are going to be engaged. So for the lower body stabilizers, there will always be your TVA and NASAM terminology. The antagonist is the opposite. So just think of the opposite exercise. So if I press my hands overhead, which is a military press, that's going to be your deltoid. What's the opposite exercise?

SPEAKER_00:

An opposite would be a pull.

SPEAKER_01:

Pulling down. And so what muscle pulls down?

SPEAKER_00:

Your lats. Great.

SPEAKER_01:

And that would be the antagonist for a military press. So we have the agonist, which is the main mover. If we think of like Romeo and Juliet, the antagonist, the opposite, the bad. I think it was like Tibolt, whoever that guy was, he was the bad guy in that one. It's the opposite of the main character. So the agonist is the main character, the main muscle involved. The antagonist is the opposite. So the lats are the antagonist. But then when we do a lap pull down, the lats are the agonist. And then the synergist at the elbow because a flexion would be what? When you pull down, you have flexion and very good. That would be your biceps. Technically, it'd be your biceps brachii, but they're not going to quiz you on those little things like that or how to spell. And I was doing anatomy 20 plus years ago in college. We got docked if you didn't spell it properly. And that was a whole nother headache, but you don't have to worry about this. It's going to be a multiple choice, four questions. And for the most part, one is an outlier. So just delete that. You're going to be given two. So when in doubt, just go with the gut and just choose the one that you believe it the answer is. And that's why I encourage people when they take the test is to really take a big deep breath. That's a parasympathetic response. Calm your system down, read the question, and then see if you can answer it before you read the answers. Because if you can answer it, your client is performing a pull-up. What is the agonist during a pull-up? And if you think for a second, you go, I'm pulling down. Oh, I remember on the podcast, Chris said agonist is the main mover. He was talking about fucking Romeo and Juliet. Oh, it's the lats. There you go. Now you go find Latsis Mistorsi as the agonist. So for that exercise, the antagonist would be what? The deltoid. Very good. So during a lat pull down, the antagonist would be your deltoids. Very good. Okay. Now let's look at planes of motion. So when I'm doing a military press or overhead press, when I'm doing a pull up or a lat pull down, what plane of motion is that? Frontal. Very good. Very yeah, you're right.

SPEAKER_00:

Correct.

SPEAKER_01:

Frontal. There you go. Frontal plane of motion. Nicely done. Name a couple other exercises. Just any exercise. Lunge.

unknown:

Great.

SPEAKER_01:

So a lunge would be a unilateral pattern. So it's one leg working at one time. So at the knee, when I do a lunge, what is the main mover of that exercise? Oblique. Nope. So you okay. I like that because you're saying oblique because you're thinking of the VMO, which is your vastest oblique muscle, which is part of what muscle group?

SPEAKER_00:

Is it the hip flexor?

SPEAKER_01:

No, so the quad. There you go. Good. The four quad muscles. Now the hip flexor works at the hip, and that's going to bring your leg up during a leg raise. And that would be your psoas major or hip flexor. That would be the agonist at the hip. So when you're coming up on a lunge at the hip, though, it's not your flexors, it's the opposite group. What is the opposite group?

SPEAKER_00:

Uh hamstring.

SPEAKER_01:

Hamstrings would be the opposite group at the knee. So when we're sitting down right now, when we stand up, the main muscle group at the hip, what is that muscle group?

SPEAKER_00:

The glute.

SPEAKER_01:

Very good. So when I do a lunge at the knee, the agonist is my quads due to extension. The agonist at the hip are the glutes due to extension. The opposite of the glutes are the hip flexors, as you just said. And then the synergist is going to be the hamstrings, according to NASA, because you have a synergistic action at the knee, which would be your posterior muscle group. There's three muscles there, of which we have the semimembranosus and semitendinosus, which are medial. So if you were to put your hand behind your knee, you'll feel some guitar strings. And if I grope it like this, where my middle finger is feeling the medial part, there's two guitar strings. Those are tendons. Can you tell me what a tendon is?

SPEAKER_00:

Is it the bone to bone?

SPEAKER_01:

So think of bone to bone as a ligament, such as your anterior cruciate ligament, your ACL, that's connecting bone to bone. The most famous tendon would be your Achilles tendon, which is going to be that gastrochin soleus, as we said earlier, which goes into a bone, which is your calcaneus, that is a tendon. So those guitar strings that we're feeling on the posterior side, those are tendons, the semimembranosis and semitendinosis, which NASA would classify as underactive. Or on the lateral side, if you put your hand over there, you'll feel one guitar string. That's your biceps femoris. Some people say femoris, femoris, tomato, tomato. Is that muscle typically overactive or underactive? Overactive. Very good. So if I'm doing a squat and I'm doing my 20 repetitions, five anteriorly, five laterally on both sides, five posteriorly, and you notice the feet come out. That's called external rotation. The muscle we will be looking for, which would be overactive, would be the biceps femoris. You're shaking your head, you're getting it. It's coming little by little.

SPEAKER_00:

I'm thinking when you're saying that's what's hard. It's like putting that process together, you know, because like when you're talking about it, I can see it all. But then when I like have to actually like spit it out of my mouth, it's like foreign.

SPEAKER_01:

I love that because that's the learning process. Where if you think about before Corey, who was just reading a book, you're trying to comprehend what you're reading, which is another language, and then you don't have anyone to quiz you on the aftermath. Where it should be learn, you see it, and then you do it, and then you teach people. That's how learning works for everyone. We're kinesthetic learners within kinesiology and as trainers, and so it's perfectly okay and normal if it's hard to conceptualize this stuff. A book doesn't teach you that. But what you're learning right now by being able to talk about it, you're registering and you're going to be able to answer it a lot more thoroughly on the exam. Yes, it's more challenging, but what do they tell you? If it's harder, it's supposed to be. So just keep on doing as you are. You're doing a great job. We looked at the lunge there, sagittal exercise. We hit the agonist, synergist, and stabilizers. Remember, stabilizers for the lower body will always be your TVA. You did a really good job with orientation right there. So that's going to be anterior, posterior. Some other terms you may see, like contralateral, which is going to be the opposite side of the joint moving. So when I move my right arm out in the frontal plane, which is called abduction, if my left leg were to come up into flexion, that would be referred to as contralateral. As you would see with like a bird dog, my right arm will come out, my left leg would go back. So it's just the opposite side of the body. But when it comes to orientation, that's all you really need to know. And you did a really good job with that. Now let's get into another big portion of the exam, which is gonna be based off the OPT model. So, what could you tell me about the OPT model?

SPEAKER_00:

That there is um five stages and three phases. They are stabilization, which is the first phase, and then there's um strength and endurance, and then there's um muscle buildingslash hypertrophy, and then there's maximal power, and then there's power in the five stages. And within those five stages, there's phases. So phase one would be the endurance, and then phase two would be stages two, three, and four, and then um stage or the power phase three would be the stage five.

SPEAKER_01:

So the bottom phase, stabilization, we got to build on that. That's phase one. You stay there for a month, and this is all based off of periodization. So that block would be referred to as a mesocycle, microcycle would be the individual workouts, which I read in the back of the book, and I'm like, what the hell? These people don't know how to do periodization because that's not how periodization actually works, but that's what you got to know for the exam. Macro is big picture, so think of it as an Olympiad period every four years. So, how are you gonna train for that four-year block? We break it up into mesocycles, which can be every year and a month, and then a microcycle will be every week and/or individual workout. There's different types of periodization, linear and undulating. Just think of linear as going up. So for week one, I'm gonna do three sets of 10. Next week, I do three sets of eight. That's linear periodization. So, phase two, all you need to know is supersets. You do a stable exercise into an unstable exercise. That's it. Don't get into the acute variables, that's fine. Phase three, which is gonna be hypertrophy or muscular development, which is a terrible term, but that's just what you got to know. And that's just gonna be the main exercises you would do in the gym bench press, squats, deadlifts, hip thrust, pull-ups. You're doing those for three sets, six to 12 reps, short rest period according to NASA. Do you know what that rest period would be? Zero to 60. Good. There you go, with the little 60 at the end. Nice. Zero seconds.

SPEAKER_00:

I was thinking like tempo, like how I had it written down and everything. And then I yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

It's okay. You just said tempo. So what is the tempo for phase three?

SPEAKER_00:

Two, zero, two.

SPEAKER_01:

Nice. So two, zero, two, zero. And then we move into the strength category. So that's actually maximal strength, not maximal power. And then to be one to five reps, three to five minutes of rest. Again, those same movements, usually with the barbell, that can't be with a dumbbell, but your back squat, your your deadlift, and so forth, you'll be doing four to six sets, and you'll be hitting one to five reps with an intensity of 85 to 100. What that means is it's freaking heavy. And during phase five is going to be maximal power, which is going to also be a superset. You're going to have an exercise that's more explosive, like a jump, followed by a back squat. When you compare that to phase two, the first exercise would be a back squat into a TRX squat. So that's the only difference between the two. They're both supersets, which is the same muscle group back to back. One is going to be explosive, phase five. One will be stable into unstable, which would be phase two. Now, the acute variables that you need to know for phase five, you're still doing the one to five reps, which is strength. But then for the power, it's one to 10 reps and it's more velocity focused. So 10% of body weight or 30 to 45% of intensity. Now, when I lift heavy weights and I do something that is truly maximal, as I would do in phase five or four, I'm recruiting certain muscle fibers. Those are going to be your type two muscle fibers.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, that's yeah, the type two or those stronger get tired faster.

SPEAKER_01:

There you go. Nicely done. So they're actually bigger, more powerful muscles like the glutes, but they do fatigue quicker. And it's always important to understand it's a composition. It's not like your glutes are 100% type two. There's just a higher percentage. So maybe for you, you could have 55, 60% type two. I could have 52%. It's always going to change based off of your genetics, but where about on the body? Typically, if they're big movers, they're gonna be more type two. So like your Pectros major, more type two. Your latissimus dorsi, more type two. Type one are more endurance-based. And that's also why we want to do 10 plus reps for beginners, because we're allowing for movement competency, or what we say is proprioceptively enriched environment. Anytime you see that, it's always phase one, but you're allowing for these muscles to coordinate. And we call that uh neuromuscular communication. So just think of type one as slow. The little example I like to do in class, whether if it's in person in our internship or if we do a weekend seminar, we're gonna be in Dallas this weekend, we're gonna be in Orange County with our partnership of Lifetime. And I'll do little examples to help the trainers better understand certain terminology. So, what I'll do with my foot, and you can do this right now, or if you're driving, you can listen to this. Just don't do it on the freeway. But if you were to tap your foot down as fast as you can, that's gonna be dorsi flexion, which is gonna be working that anterior tibialis. And if you go as fast as you can, like we're in a race right now, you're gonna feel it burn a little bit. And that's the accumulation of lactate, which is just physiology, and that's not a bad thing. What that does now is slows down the movement. So in the beginning, that first 10 to 15 seconds when we're going really fast, that's type two recruitment. But then when we slow down, I can still do the movement, but it's not as powerful, it's not as quick. That's type one recruitment. So that's how you can really distinguish between what muscle fibers you're recruiting. If it's fast and explosive, it's type two. If it's something that's heavy, that's type two. Type one is going to be more endurance. So when we get into what's called bioenergetics, it's looking at how the body utilizes certain substrates to produce energy. And that energy is called ATP, adenosin triphosphate. You've probably heard of the word mitochondria. That's the powerhouse of the cell. That's where we're creating ATP aerobically. And that's going to be in the oxidative phase of bioenergetics. And then we have ATP PC, which is fast explosive, and then we have glycolysis. This stuff is very, very confusing. I have podcasts with professors, but for the exam, all you need to know is bioenergetics is based off of duration and intensity. And then pending on duration and intensity, you would put that into a group. So, for example, a tennis player hits a ball very hard. That's going to be explosive maximally under 10 seconds. That would be your phosphocreatin or ATP PCR. An endurance runner, you said you love to run. When you go for a five-hour run or a five-minute run, that's oxidative, which is going to be low intense but high duration. So you're doing it for a long period of time. And that would be requiring fats as the fuel utilization, whereas with PCR, it's going to be more carbs. So I know again, listen to that a few times. The biggest takeaway, what substrate would be utilized in aerobic, which would be fats, anaerobic, carbs? If we were to give you a couple athletes, like a sprinter, they're more type two, powerlifter, more type two. Things that are aerobic will be more type one. And that's all you need to know for bioenergetics.

SPEAKER_00:

Which is weird because that's I like in my head, I could see my notes, you know, and I had that written down. I couldn't have told you what the pH word was on the type two, but I knew that it there was the pH word along with the creatine, you know. So it's just like learning all the terminology.

SPEAKER_01:

There you go. So that's just your some people call it your phosphocreatin. NASA calls it your ATP PC, which is the PC is just phosphocreatin. And when we break down ATP to get nerdy for a second, we produce what's called ADP, which is adenosin diphosphate. And organically, we already have creatine in the muscle. We also have trace amounts in the liver and the blood, but we can take that creatine and via a chemical process, we can create more ATP. And that's why we have that fast explosiveness within that first 10 to seconds. Let's talk about muscles a little bit more. Let's go to the heart. The heart is cardiac tissue. Smooth is going to be your circulatory system, your veins and your arteries. And then we also have our skeletal muscle, which is the 650 plus muscles of the human body. They're not going to ask you what is the longest muscle of the human body? It's fun to know it's the Sartorius. If I were to name my dog, I would name him Sartorius because I think it's a badass name. Sartorius, come here. It's just a powerful name. They're not going to ask you on little factoids like that. You just need to know that the heart is primarily cardiac, it is cardiac tissue. Muscle is skeletal tissue. What could you tell me about the heart?

SPEAKER_00:

It is made up, the lower part are the ventricles, and the upper part is the atriums. The left side gives oxygenated blood into the body, the left ventricle, the right atrium carries in the deoxygenated blood. And then the SA node is the pacemaker of the heart, and the arteries carry blood away, and the veins carry blood too.

SPEAKER_01:

That's it. That's all you need to know. Very nicely done, right there. Now, what about blood pressure? What is hypertension?

SPEAKER_00:

140 over 90, high blood pressure.

SPEAKER_01:

That's all you need to know for that. So really good. And that's gonna kind of dig us into the next portion, which is the PARQ. What does PARQ stand for?

SPEAKER_00:

I'm not very good at this part. It's the assessment. Good. Client assessment.

unknown:

Good.

SPEAKER_01:

So PARQ stands for physical activity readiness questionnaire, of which we are screening people to see if they are at risk for coronary artery disease, CAD. So if a client were to come in and they have a contraindication, such as tachycardia, that means their resting heart rate is greater than 100, you probably want to refer out to a practitioner. If a client were to ever change medication, obviously not because of the trainer, but they tell you that during the interview process, the subject is giving you that information, that's subjective information. You need to refer that person out. If you obtain that information, such as blood pressure or grip strength or the tests that you're doing, that's objective information. And those are the two different parts of the assessment process. Now you need to know the particulars within what they they're going to test you on. So they're going to have a lot on the overhead squat assessment. So you do your par queue, it's sit down, you get your resting measurements, and then you're going to get into movement screens. And NASA is all about the overhead squat assessment. You'll probably see 15 to 20 questions on that. You put your hands above your head and you flail them around like you've never done before. And then you tell people they're dysfunctional. I don't encourage you to ever do that in real life because we're pro movement, but it's interesting to me that we have clients do things that they've never done before and then we tell them they're dysfunctional. And that's unfortunate.

SPEAKER_00:

I thought too, it was like a very complicated mover, you know, maneuver for them to have their arms up plus go down.

SPEAKER_01:

And so I get why we're doing it, but at the end of the day, it takes a lot of guts for our clients to show up and to learn from a professional. And the psychology is so important. And if you just start telling people they're not good, they're dysfunctional, it just crushes their hopes. And a lot of times it's going to happen at the end, you present that sales presentation and your clients are going to say things like, I need to think about it, or it's too expensive. That's the real life scenario. But if you're more pro movement, if you want to work on your glutes and you're a girl, we're going to go out there and we're going to hip thrust and do RDLs and squats, and I'm going to empower you. I'm going to make you feel confident. So when we sit down and talk about training with me long term, it's a positive interaction. Not your glutes are underactive and your hip flexors are overactive and all this stuff, but that's what you need to know for the exam. So our hands are above our head. On the posterior side, we're looking at what the ankle is going to do. On the anterior side, we're looking at what the knees are going to do. And so when your knees move inward in the frontal plane, that's called knee valgus. What are some of the overactive muscles for knee valgus?

SPEAKER_00:

Uh vastus, medial obliques.

SPEAKER_01:

So the VMO is always underactive.

SPEAKER_00:

I just want to use that word somehow.

SPEAKER_01:

That's okay. You got it. There you go. VMO, you got it out. Now always associate VMO as underactive. Otheractive. Other side, if we have a medial muscle, what do you think we also have?

SPEAKER_00:

Lateral muscle.

SPEAKER_01:

The vastus laterals, which is one of the four quad muscles, that is overactive. We also have the adductors being overactive, and we have the lateral gastrocnemius, which would be overactive. We foam roll, restretch, and we're going to focus on strengthening the weak ones. So when the knees go in, that's going to be your glutes, gluteus maximus and gluteus medius. And that's when we do the four, two, one, one. And the tubing exercise in the frontal plane is the one that we like to go to for that one. Now, what about when we do an overhead squat and our arms come down? What muscle is overactive there? You were just doing it. You were cheating, which I love. You're touching that muscle.

SPEAKER_00:

No, it's your lats. Great.

SPEAKER_01:

Your lats and torsi is overactive. It's pulling your arm down. So we're trying to get our arm up into flexion, sagital plane, but your arm cannot get up there because your lats are tight. So we want to foam roll that area 20 to 40 seconds. It loosens it up. And that's via a process called autogenic inhibition. So that same muscle, the muscle that you're foam rolling, is telling the nervous system to calm down. Reciprocal inhibition, altered reciprocal inhibition is what we experience right now sitting down. So my butt is not fired up, my hip flexor is. So that's altered reciprocal inhibition. Your client sits down at a desk all day. What muscle will be potentially overactive or tight or short? They use those three interchangeably. That will be your psoas major or your hip flexors. When the body takes that path of least resistance, that's when we lean forward and we kind of shoot our hips up. That's called relative flexibility because we've been sitting down all day, according to NASA. So we will have the synergistic muscles take over the hamstrings, and that's what we call synergistic dominance. They really like to hammer you on those terms. So write them down and have a flashcard for relative flexibility, autogenic inhibition, altered reciprocal inhibition, and then some of the mechanoreceptors. And anytime you see mechanoreceptors, there's three of them: there's the muscle spindles, the golgi tendons, and the joint receptors. And that's all they're really going to ask you about that. If your client was performing a hamstring stretch and they're touching their toes, the muscle spindles are what are being activated there. That's where that stretch comes in. So think of a spindle as a stretch. Think of the golgi tendon as tension on that muscle, and that's gonna be like foam rolling. That's all the vocabulary you need to know for those fancy terms right there. You did a great job recognizing the compensations, your arms coming down. Now, when you do a push or pull assessment, you're gonna notice that the shoulders elevate. What muscles would be overactive when your shoulders elevate? Your upper traps. Now, the traps are one muscle, but there's three parts there's the upper, which is always overactive. Then we have the middle and lower. So when we have that lat being overused during the overhead squat, that's overactive. How you would fix that, foam row the lats, but then we want to strengthen the muscles that are underactive, which will be your middle trapezius, lower trapezius, and your mid back. In the case that we just went over for your shoulders coming up, your upper traps are overactive, your lower traps will be underactive. And that's really the compensations that you're gonna notice for the test. They're gonna look at pushing and pulling, squatting, and then what your arms do when they fall forward. So it can be confusing because, like you were saying, you know, vastest medial big, I just wanted to say that word, but you just need to almost put it into a red category, which is overactive, and a green category, which is underactive. Anytime you see an overactive muscle, you need to go to that red list. And that's gonna be your gastrocnemius, your soleus, your vastus lateralis, psoas major, latissimus dorsi, your pectoralis major, your sternocleomastoid, your scalenes, those are always on that red list, which is overactive. We do the same thing to those all the time. We foam roll and stretch. On the green list, we have underactive, which is your anterior tibialis, your VMO, your glutes, max, mead, and min, your TVA, your mid back, which is your rhomboids, rhomboid major and minor, your middle and lower trapezius, and then your rotator cuff muscles. Those will always be underactive, and then throw in there the deep cervical muscles, which are going to be under that flexor, which is your sternocleomastoid. Don't get too hung up on anything like the origins, insertions, and the actions. Just recognize where the muscle is. If your client's doing a push-up and you notice that their head is coming forward, which muscles are underactive? So then you're looking at, okay, that green list is underactive. The red list is overactive. Via process elimination, you can cross off the ones that are overactive. If you see scalenes, if you see sternocleomastoid, if you see a muscle that's on the lower body and that's underactive, it's not for an upper body exercise. So they could put on there your anterior tibialis, but we know where that is. That's on the lower body. So really you have like one answer that's kind of left over, and that would be your deep cervical flexors. And that's what we want to strengthen with a 4, 2, 1, 1 tempo. They're going to give you some exercises that are specific to NASA. It's like when we go back to the OPT model, when it comes to the spine, if we're doing an ab exercise and the spine doesn't move, that's going to be stabilization like a plank. If the spine moves concentrically and eccentrically, that would be like a curl or a crunch. That's going to be in the strength portion, which would be phases two, three, and four. If it's explosive and powerful, we're throwing embed ball or something. That's going to be in phase five. Your basis support is changing. So those ab exercises would be in phase five. We always foam roll static stretch in phase one. For phases two, three, and four, we do what's called active isolate stretching, which is a one to two second hold. Phase five, we do dynamic. And that's really all we need to know with those ab exercises and the exercises in that terminology. What are some things that are going through your mind? You did a really, really good job. I'm really proud of you. And don't beat yourself up. You listen to this a few more times. It's going to click a lot faster. But the fact that you're able to have a conversation tells me that you are retaining it. And just keep on going through that study guide, listen to the podcast, get into the live calls that we have on Wednesday. And part of the package that you got, you're getting tutoring sessions. So you're going to get two tutoring sessions one-on-one, like this, and you're going to really fine-tune and trim off the fat. And I guarantee you you're going to pass this. So, what are some questions you have for me before we call it a day?

SPEAKER_00:

Well, like my main question would just be like, is what's the biggest part that I need to just wrap my head around? You know, because I know there's like the I know you've broken it down into like five different things. I'm just kind of really overwhelmed with it when it all comes together.

SPEAKER_01:

You did a great job. I I wouldn't lie to you because that wouldn't be good for our brand, and that would be giving you false confidence. You have the foundation, you just need to rinse and repeat it a few more times.

SPEAKER_00:

That's what I was thinking. Because like I said, I feel like when I was first starting, like I've only had it a week. And like I said, I'd not been past chapter five. So when I was listening to live calls and everything, I had no idea. I still don't even know what a cobra ball thing is. Um, and so it just, yeah, I was doing it in little sections, and then now when it's like putting it all together or actually speaking it out of my mouth, like I know what dorsal is, I know what like all these things were, but when you actually say it, it's like the and that's part of the fun.

SPEAKER_01:

You're learning a new language, and just remember anytime you see ball, that's stabilization. So if you have someone standing on one leg, that's stabilization. A single leg scaption, you could be like, What the hell is that? It's a shoulder exercise, it's gonna be in phase one, and that's why I quiz you like this is because that's exactly how the exam is gonna be. I don't know what's on the exam, I don't work for NASA, I don't have private intel. People will reach out to me like, Do you have the test? No, I don't fucking have the test. NASA probably doesn't like me, but I have a really good idea because I taught this stuff for almost 10 years at a school. Yeah, and I and I would quiz students, and the things that I would take away from the quizzing was the big blocks are what you need to know. And most people, if you go into the depths of hell and Reddit and Facebook, they'll say that they fail by one or two questions, and then I'll ask them simple stuff like planes of motion, agonist, sinner's they have no clue, they can't do what you just did earlier. So they probably missed a few really, really simple questions because they were confused because they're reading the textbook back and forth. Don't do that.

SPEAKER_00:

I I the like literally the OPT model, I never even knew that it like because that's what they at the gym. They're like, We go by the OT OPT model, like you have to learn this, and then you're gonna take a programming class because you won't learn how to program. And I'm like, 800 pages, and I can't program.

SPEAKER_01:

Your brain is fried, but that's good. You have a good hour of learning this, you let it rest. Don't overwhelm yourself. Get into the guide. The guide is your cheat sheet in the sense that it's like if you were to look at that 800 pages, the guide is the cheat sheet in the sense it's condensing it and it's helping you focus on the main topics.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, it is.

SPEAKER_01:

Just keep on going through those main meat and potato exercises. We didn't go over much on nutrition because we have other podcasts where we talk about that. You can listen with Paul. I I'm not worried about you passing this because the fact that you're able to have that genuine conversation, which you did, and sure, it wasn't as you want it to be able to flow from your mouth, but in your brain, you're you're conceptualizing it. So when you're taking the test and you read it, and then you look at the question, you're like, Oh, this is a lot easier than saying, Oh, this is what dorsal means and this is what pasaginal means. The fact that you can say that means that you understand it. So the test is a lot easier, and then what happens is great, you passed. That's when the work really begins now. Holding um a NASM certification doesn't mean you're a good trainer, it just means you pass the test, and your clients aren't going to ask you what reciprocal inhibition is, or how do you cure knee valgus? You need to be able to cue them through that. You need to be able to have conversations, and that's why we have weekend seminars and we have courses where you actually get to talk to other trainers because what that does that builds up your confidence.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, and that's what I'm super excited about is to get started on your stuff so that I actually am like learning and more hands-on because, like I said, reading, even just memorizing this, it's like I forget, you know. But if I'm actually doing it, and then I do want to come down and like do the hands-on because like I shadow up my gym every once in a while, but it's like, you know, when the times that I can go is on Friday is my day off, and it's all the old people, you know. So not saying that's bad, but you know, like I can do a chair squat and you know, like so. I'm just excited to actually like learn the stuff and like come down and hands-on. Because like I said, here it's like the kindergarten gym. You know, there's it's a good starting point.

SPEAKER_01:

And just to to clarify for those that are listening, it's it's frustration at the process because I feel, even though I'm a dick online, but really I feel for the people, the Coreys who are reading this, and then they do pass it. And then what happens? Because I have so many emails and case examples of this, they never train because they don't know what to do. They don't know how to get started. And they feel good because they passed it, but then they write up their resume and they go to a gym, and then gym goes, Oh, you need experience, come back. And you're like, Well, I can't find a job. No one's gonna hire me. When you're able to talk to a fitness professional who helps you program, so you can go to those interviews. I was just talking to a guy who went to Toronto and got hired there at one of the elite gyms, and all he had was our SUF CPT because he had the confidence to have the conversation with the hiring manager, and that's what they want. So the confidence is so important. And passing a test doesn't give you confidence. You need to actually be able to do this stuff and talk about it confidently and reach out to medical professionals and doctors, physical therapists, RDs, and build your team because that's how you're going to succeed in this industry. I see so many trainers online in the Facebook groups and Reddit frustrated because they can't get clients. Then I'll ask them, what was your baseline certification? What internships have you gone to? What seminars? Where are you learning hands-on? You don't. So I feel for you because you're not able to turn your passion for fitness into a career because you're stuck. But the the real frustration comes from you weren't set up for success in the beginning. You need hands-on work, you need mentors, you need people who can say, you know, Corey, why the hell were you doing that exercise? That's a stupid fucking exercise. And you go, Oh, great, thank you. And then you change it, and the client goes, Wow, that was great. And then you're like, Wow, that made total sense. Thank you so much. That's the environment you need.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, especially um, the back to the frustrating part is like I said, I'm a runner, I don't have a background in lifting, and my background of lifting is running, which is all the like longer reps, all those things, and uh just lots of cardio. And so to read this book and be like, okay, now you can go train is super scary. I'm just like, I'm not gonna know what I'm doing.

SPEAKER_01:

But you did the right thing, you found us, and we're gonna get you through this. You got the study guide, you have the live calls. I guarantee you you're gonna pass this, you're gonna just flow right through it, and then you can start leveling up. So, thank you for your time today. And remember, keep showing up.