How to Pass NASM CPT in 2026 Without Reading 800 Pages (10,000+ Passed)

SUF NASM Guide: How to pass the NASM CPT exam in 2026 without reading 800 pages. In this Show Up Fitness podcast, we break down the 7 most important NASM CPT topics including the OPT model, overhead squat assessment, planes of motion, muscle imbalances, behavior change, programming, and nutrition. Show Up Fitness has helped 10,000+ trainers pass NASM, ACE, and ISSA faster with quizzes, study guides, weekly calls, and real coaching. KEEP SHOWING UP!

[Most NASM CPT prep advice pushes you toward the same mistake: read the whole textbook, take random quizzes, and hope your anxiety does not spike on test day. We take the opposite approach. We narrow your attention to the high-impact concepts the NASM personal trainer exam leans on again and again, then show you how to recognize the patterns behind the questions so you can answer faster with more confidence.

We start with the basics that buy you easy points: anatomy direction terms and planes of motion, plus simple exercise examples you can recall under pressure. From there we hit behavior change coaching and the stages of change, along with key terms like open kinetic chain versus closed kinetic chain and the roles of agonist, synergist, stabilizer, and antagonist. If you have ever felt like you “knew the material” but still missed questions, this is where the test language starts to make sense.

Then we get into the meat: assessments, subjective versus objective information, and how NASM loves to test compensations through overactive and underactive muscle groups, especially with the overhead squat assessment. We also break down the NASM OPT model and acute variables, including the numbers that matter for tempo, reps, rest, and intensity, so you can stop guessing which phase a movement belongs to and start selecting the best answer consistently.

If you want to pass the NASM CPT exam without wasting months on low-value studying, press play. Subscribe for more no-fluff coaching talk, share this with a friend who is cramming, and leave a review so more trainers can find it.]

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Transcript

Why People Fail The NASM

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Most people fail NASM because they focus too much on the 800-page textbook, and you're not looking at the seven main topics, which I'm gonna help you pass today. Bell Buckle Trainer, we've helped more than 10,000 people pass the NASM CPT. You came across yes, you have CPT too late, you can't get a refund, that's okay. My annoying ass personality, big nose, and big biceps will get you to pass this. I taught this stuff for more than 10 years at a school NPTI. It's the easiest thing to do, but to ask yourself this question: Are you a textbook trainer answering multiple choice questions, or are you more kinesthetic? The answer is the latter. You need to get out there and gain hands-on supervision, get access to qualified professionals such as myself and our team, but you need to pass this, so let me help. We're gonna get into the main topics to pass NASA as quickly as you can. This is 2026. Human movement science, behavior change, the assessment process, movement compensations with the overhead squat assessment, get your freaking bosom ball and foam rolling, have fun with that shit. And then the training energy systems and key terms. I'm gonna help you pass this, I guarantee it, because the proof is in the pudding.

Anatomy Basics And Planes Of Motion

SPEAKER_00 1:14

Let's start with the basics. Orientation. We got Mr. Skelly over here. Who we gotta know everything when it comes to anatomy. I'm not talking about origin insertion and what the actual muscles do. No, they're not gonna ask you on that stuff. They're gonna keep it very, very simple. Anterior, posterior, lateral, medial. You need to know those terms. Flashcard them. We'll talk about that here in a second. Start with the planes of motion. Miss Megan right here. I know my personality is annoying. Most of you can't handle me. The bros get it. People that have been in the gym get it. Oh my god, this book is stupid. But for those that don't like me, I don't care. That's why we bring on great people like Megan and our other instructors who will help you feel secure so you can pass this and move on to helping people. Because that's why you got into this. One time in my career, 20 years, I had one person say they got into this outside of helping people. This horny little 18-year-old wanting to do it to meet chicks. God bless his soul. But most of us want to help people. So the foundation, planes of motion, an imaginary line bisecting the body into right and left halves. You need to know that's sagittal. So, what are the exercises that are sagittal? Bicep curl. Don't pretend you aren't looking at that big boy right there. Tricep extension, there's a horseshoe. Chin ups, walking, running, sprinting, jumping, squatting, lunging, hip thrusting, all of those will be in the sagittal plane of motion when the body allows for flexion and extension. The definition of flexion is to decrease the angle at a joint 180 to 90. Extension, tricep extensions, you're increasing the angle at that joint concentrically. Frontal, you're bisecting the body into anterior and posterior halves. That's going to be frontal. And that allows for a B and a deduction, bisecting the body into anterior and posterior halves. A Bduction, a Dduction, adding to the midline. Think of a military press, a pull-up or pull down, jumping jacks, side bandwalks. Those will all be in the frontal plane of motion. Flashcard the actual definition and then write down a bunch of exercises. Review the agonist, synergist, and stabilizing muscle groups. That's going to make your life a lot easier. The last one, transverse, we're bisecting the body into superior and inferior halves, and that's going to be transverse. What that means is rotation, horizontal adduction, like a chest fly, a reverse fly, focusing on the posterior deltoid, transverse plane of motion. We are sagittal creatures. It's great to train in all planes of motion. They're going to keep it very simple, like we have here with the question within our study guide, which has helped that 10,000 people pass. What plane of motion is a chin-up in? They're going to ask you sagittal, frontal, transverse, or chronal. Another name for frontal is going to be chronal. So the right answer for a chin-up would be sagittal. Frontal is going to be a pull-up. Think of frontal, you cannot go forward. Think of sagittal is forward and back. Anytime that we're going forward and back, flexing and extending, that's going to be in the sagittal plane of motion. Master these. Super easy stuff here. It's confusing in the beginning because you're trying to write out every single flashcard. Don't do that. Within the guide, within our courses, we tell you exactly what you need to know to pass so that you can go out there and start supervising fitness professionals.

Behavior Change And Key Terms

SPEAKER_00 5:05

Let's move into the second topic. Stages of change. Here's a page taken from the guide. We're going to give you terms that you need to know, like a SWOT analysis, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. That's an easy question you may get. You're going to have stuff on human movement science, which just went over. Closed versus open. When you're doing open kinetic chain exercise, think of the most distal, distal is furthest away. That is moving. So for example, leg extension, distal portion, is moving. That's going to be an open kinetic chain exercise. Whereas closed, the most distal is not moving. When I have my hands on a bar and I pull myself up, my hands are not moving. That's a closed kinetic chain exercise. You'll probably see a question on that. And then the terminology with agonist, synergist, and stabilizer. Anytime we push, the agonist will be your chest, synergist, your triceps. Stabilizers will always be your rotator cup muscles, which are going to be your sits. You don't need to know superspinatus, infraspinatus, terrace, minor, and subscapularis. You do in real life when you network with physical therapists. R examination, you have to say them, and that's what levels trainers up. The difference between a qualified trainer and a textbook trainer, qualified trainers understand the human body. Textbook trainers understand their body. You don't want to be an average trainer. You want to turn your passion for fitness into a career. That's why I wrote the book, How to Become a Successful Personal Trainer. That's me right there, but buckle trainer. Holy shit! Principles of overload. You need to know that stuff. But you need to get through the textbook so you can apply the kinesthetic aspect. So if we're pushing, chest, triceps, rotator cuff, stabilizers. When we pull back, biceps, back main muscle, biceps, small muscle, that will be your synergist, stabilizer will be your rotator cuff. Any upper body movement, rotator cuff, stabilizing. When we do a military press, deltoids, agonist, synergist, triceps, stabilizers, rotator cuff. The opposite antagonist is just the opposite exercise you would do. So if I'm pressing up, the antagonist will be pulling down, which would be a lat, pull down. So your lats would be the antagonist for a military press. Flash card those and you're gonna be all set. The second portion where people miss a lot of questions, super easy, stages of change. So we need to know right here what the stages are. If you have no plan to exercise, pre-contemplation. Contemplation is now you're thinking about it. I want to start exercising. And then we're going to have preparation. You're working out, but you're just not doing it regularly. With action, you are doing it regularly, just not for six months. When you've been doing it regularly, you are now in the maintenance phase, six plus months of doing it regularly. You're gonna see a good amount of questions with the behavioral change, motivational interviewing, all things that we help you focus on.

Assessments And Overactive Muscle Clues

SPEAKER_00 8:04

Now, this is the meat and potatoes. You gotta know the assessments, subjective information. You are getting it from the subject. Mr. Skelly right here tells me he's a lawyer. That is subjective information. As the personal trainer, if I obtain it, that's objective. So I put the cuff on the brachial artery right here, pump that sucker up, we get a reading, and it says 120 over 80, normal blood pressure. That's an objective reading because I took it. If it was 140 over 90, that would be hypertension. The upper chambers are called the atriums, the lower chambers are called the ventricles. Your heart has atriums on the right and left side, ventricles on the right and left side. You have the S A node right there, which is the pacemaker of the heart. It's controlling the electrical impulses. You also have the AV node. Top chambers are the holding, atriums, bottom one are the pumping, those are your ventricles. That's all you really need to know for the heart stuff. I wanted to throw that in there because you will see that within the measurement stuff as well as the assessment. You'll see some questions around that. Such a cool, fancy little pin right there. Let's get back to the main stuff that you're gonna see for the assessments. You need to know everything about the overactive and underactive muscles. They're not going to make it hard. If this anatomy is new to you, if you memorize the right, which will be short or overactive or strong, memorize the weak side, weak, the underactive, the ones you want to strengthen. 4-2-1-1 tempo, memorize that. Get a tattoo right there, because that's all stabilization. You need to know those acute variables. So these are the muscles that we need to know. Gluteus maximus, bam, underactive. 4-2-1-1 tempo, that's when you're gonna strengthen it. Your mid-back, your rhomboids, as well as your middle and lower trapezius. You have the deep cervical flexors, always underactive. You need to know the VMO, vastus medialis, oblique muscle, always underactive, and the anterior tibialis, always underactive. Overactive muscles, you're gonna see that beautiful one right there, that gastrochnemius, as well as the pec major, latissimus dorsi, upper trapezius, psoas, iliopsoas muscle, always overactive. Gotta foam rolling stress show suckers for 14 years, because if you don't, your client's gonna die. Okay, 20 to 40 seconds, same difference. You will see the blanket answers. And what I mean by that is your client's performing the overhead squat assessment. Oh my god, they're gonna die. Their arms fall forward. One of the answers is gonna be lower traps. One of the answers is going to be your glutes, one will be your psoas, and then the other would be your lattissimus dorsi. So, how your brain needs to read this is upper body underactive, lower body, underactive, lower body overactive, the correct answer would be your lattissimus dorsi, upper body overactive. That's how simple it is. We've had people pass this in less than 20 minutes. If you know how they're asking the questions, because all as I read that question is overactive upper, overactive lower, underactive upper, underactive lower. The question is asking you about upper body over. That's why you would choose that answer. Know the overactive side, underactive side, and your life will be very, very easy. The test is not hard, it's the way that they ask it. And then you get test anxiety because you spent the last nine months reading a freaking book. But we are personal trainers. I'm not gonna go down that rabbit hole. I know I've already pissed you off already. With the cheat sheet, if you leave a review for the podcast, show up fitness podcast, type in anything NASA. We have tons of podcasts. Listen to my annoying voice in there, and you will pass, I guarantee it. Because I just reiterate the meat and potatoes. You will pass it, I guarantee it. Worst case scenario, you fail, ask yourself, would I have been a good competent trainer if I would have passed? And the answer is no, because that's not what we do. How do you cue someone? You need to get engaged. How do you program on the fly? If you want to get hired at the elite gyms like Lifetime and Equinox, which we have partnerships with, you need years of experience before you even get the interview. Not with the SUF CPT. You get an interview on the spot because they recognize the competence and the confidence in trainers. We're not afraid of sales, we teach that in our course. Business, people skills, the technical skills, the three most important skills, all things that I highlight in my book. And I also have a chapter dedicated just to passing NASA ISA. They're all the same. They're a book. Get through it, level yourself up with experience. That's super, super

OPT Model Phases And Acute Variables

SPEAKER_00 13:01

important. All right, let's tackle the OPT model real quick to help you understand those acute variables, which you will definitely see some questions on. So we got this stupid pyramid that you have to memorize. You have the stabilization, which is phase one, phases two, three, and four, those are all strength. And then you have five at the top, which is power. You need to be in phase one, or you're gonna die because you're unstable. You got to be there for a month, then you can move into any one of the phases in strength, two, three, or four. And then after a month, you can go to five. If you want to bounce back down to one for whatever fucking reason, you can do that. That's what you have to memorize within the OPT model. These are the acute variables. Four, two, one, one. Always going to be here. Four means eccentric, a four-second eccentric squat. I want you to actually time this two seconds isometrically, one second concentric, one second isometric. If you're supposed to be doing 12 to 20 reps, resting zero to 90 seconds. How are you, Math Stars? 12 to 20 reps for eight seconds. You have to count that out. One, two, three, four, pause. One, two, up for one, pause. One, it's not a dance. You're not a rep counter. We are personal trainers. Don't do this four, two, one, one tempo, but that's what you have to memorize for phase one. The exercise selection. Prone isoab. Your spine isn't moving, so it's gonna be in phase one. When your spine moves, like when you do a crunch or reverse crunch, it's gonna be in phases two, three, and four. When you do something that's more explosive and you throw something or jump, phase five. You need to know where the exercises go within the OPT model. Your client's doing a single leg scaption, that's a cool exercise. Where would it go in the OPT model? Phase one. You're balancing. Your client's gonna do a stabilization jump for three to five seconds. Where would it go? Phase one. Notice how my arms move back and up. Don't freaking jump like Tinkerbell. What the hell are we doing? No, you load up as a strength coach. This is stuff I teach athletic trainers and strength coaches. You load up and then you explode, you get up there as high as you can, you do some cool shit, maximal explosiveness. You need to throw your arms behind your body and then come up concentrically. You may see in phase five amortization. What that means is it's a quick recoil between eccentric and concentric. Whereas most of the lifting we're doing for two one one, this is going to be isometric. That's the difference between phase five and phase one. The acute variables, the rest, the reps, the tempo, and last one's the intensity. 50 to 70 percent. Phases two, all you need to know it's a superset. You're gonna do a bench press into a stability ball press, stupid exercise. You're gonna do a squat into a stability ball squat curl press, stupid exercise. But that's what you need to know for phase two. It's stable into unstable. You do a military press into a single leg scaption. This is actually real stuff. Look in the book. Hopefully you didn't get it, but if you do, you can see these are all real exercises. For phase three, muscular development, another funny one, which actually just hypertrophy. You're gonna be doing a 2-0-2-0 tempo. Resting zero to 60 seconds, 2026. That's why this is outdated. You wouldn't want to rest for 60 seconds. Optimize hypertrophy with maximal tension. But that's what you need to know for phase three. The intensity will be 75 to 85. I know you can't read my chicken scratch. We got so many documents that are free out there. Download those, check them out, and just memorize those range, those reps, the rest, and the intensities. Phase four, one to five reps, three to five minutes rest. Intensity will be 85 to 100%. I just call those your bro lifts, your deadlifts, your squats, bench press, heavier load, one to five reps, longer rest. Phase five, actually a decent phase because you have PAP post-activation potentiation, which is going to be something that's explosive into something heavy or heavy into explosive. So if your client's doing a jump and they do a back squat, which phase the OPT model, phase five. If your client performs a pull-up into TRX row, that's phase two. You see the difference? One's unstable. If it's closer to stabilization, it'll be phase two. If it's closer and more explosive, powerful, phase five. The things you need to know are power, one to ten reps, 30 to 45 percent or 10% of your body weight. That's what you need to know for phase five. Did I miss anything? I don't think so. You have the acute variables, just memorize them. The exam is gonna ask you questions such as Mr. Skelly, right here, is doing an overhead squat. Woo hee! He has knee valgus. Oh god, he's gonna die. What muscles are overactive? You're looking for the adductor complex. Next question is gonna ask you about stages of change. Your client hates exercising, never liked doing it, no plan on doing it in the future. Which phase? You're gonna see it's on the bottom, as we just talked about, on the one here, pre-contemplation. And then the next question is gonna ask about heart anatomy. What is the only artery of the human body that carries deoxygenated blood? All arteries go away, all veins go back. The pulmonary artery is going away, but it's carrying deoxygenated blood. The pulmonary vein is going to the heart and it's carrying oxygenated blood. They could ask you a question like that, and then they're gonna come back to the overhead squat. And your client's doing the overhead squat. Oh my god, oh my god, he has knee valgus. Oh god, I just killed Skelly, I'm sorry, buddy. What exercise would be appropriate to strengthen his weak muscles? Need valgus is characterized by internal rotation in the transverse and frontal plane. So we need to be doing bandwalks with the 4211 tempo. Huh, one, two, three, four.

unknown 19:32

Huh?

SPEAKER_00 19:33

One, two, three, four. That's the answer that you would choose. They would have a push-up on there, they're gonna have a plank, irrelevant exercises that are just gonna confuse you because you're thinking, I don't know which one it is. You just find the easiest and best answer. They're not going to confuse you. So if we're looking at, they're not going to confuse you. And what I mean by that is they're gonna ask you a question about reps, for example. They're not gonna say, is hypertrophy or muscular development? Is it six reps? Is it eight, ten, or twelve? No, they're gonna say muscular development, how many reps should you be doing? Three, eight, fifteen, or thirty, five hundred? Or sixty, seven hundred with the kids at a and six, seven. Answer would be eight. Super, super easy. What intensity is being used during the stabilization phase? They're gonna say 60%, 80%, 90, or 100. Correct answer would be 60 because it's between 50 and 70. So just master those basics and I guarantee you you will do fine.

How The Exam Tries To Trick You

SPEAKER_00 20:44

We have a vocab chart on our website. You can go to the blog. I'm not gonna list them all off to you now. My breath's already up there. I have to get fired up for this stuff because it's so stupid, but you need to pass it. Get the vocab list and just write those out. When you're in the car, you listen to my podcast. We have so many ones focusing on NASA and we also have ones from physical therapists debunking the whole entire thing because the cross syndrome is actually not even up to date, but you don't care about that. So don't listen to those ones. Once you pass it, then get into actually understanding human movement. All righty, let's get back up here, check out some other things that will help you. So we have pass all

Cheat Sheets Certification Options Closing]

SPEAKER_00 21:25

that stuff. Here is the kicker. Cheat sheet for free. Study guide. We have a discount right now for 75 bucks. That's your meat and potatoes. But if you really want to level yourself up and be like all these trainers who we teach with our partnership at Lifetime and Equinox, again, preferred certification. I was talking to a kid the other day. He said, I'm thinking about getting my NASAM or my my SUF CPT. Which one should I do? I said, What do you want to do? I want to work at Lifetime. Well, you're not gonna get hired with NASA because you need to go gain about two years of experience before they even entertain it. Oh, I don't know. Let me get you in contact with that manager over there because I know all the managers. 199. We've been to 30 of them. The head honcho prefers our CPT. So I reached out to that manager, connected them, said, Oh, if you even want to get considered here, you got to get your SUF CPT. Because we teach competency, we teach confidence. We're not afraid of sales. Sales is fun because I can help you get out of pain, lose weight. You want a big old caboose train? I got you covered. And I can do it confidently. Our certification, which is included in this NASAM bundle. So we have $500 worth of quizzes, study guides, live calls on demand, so you can just flow through this stuff. No more stress. No more thinking. Well, I went to the NASA page and I took one of the quizzes and I got a 50%. I don't know if I'm ready. Yeah, because you just spent an hour on one chapter that they're gonna ask you one freaking question on. You got a 50%. What about chapter 13, the OPT model? I got a 65, 65, that's shitty. I only care if you got a 75. You need to be getting a 90 in that chapter because you're gonna have 25 questions on the exam. So when you look at the NASA stuff, other YouTubers are telling you, oh, this is a good certification. Look at my website. No, they're teaching you about NASA. I'm teaching you how to become a successful personal trainer. I got nothing against NASAM. I love their brand. They're a great marketing company. They are the McDonald's of certifications, though. But you came across us too late. So this makes sense to you that you want to actually thrive in this career. You need to master the fundamentals. So with our qualified CPT program, we will get you to pass NASIM easy, 30 days. And then you can either A, go to one of our seminars. We have two every month, gain that hands-on learning experience. I guarantee you, two days you'll learn more than any textbook out there. Money back guarantee. That's gonna build your confidence, we'll help you with your resume. So then you can start going out there and applying and really implementing your passion for helping people change their lives. Or you can get our certification, which is our SUF CPT, which is for life. So you don't have to worry about getting stupid emails from NASA every week. You got to get recertified, recertified. Oh, get the CES. Don't get the CES, don't get the PES. More textbooks don't equal better quality coaches. If you want to be a great coach, that's where you come to us. If you want to just pass a test and go out there and anecdotally and trial and error on people, hopefully you don't hurt them. Oh my god, Scully's arm just fell off. You don't want to do that. You get this package, pass NASA that's behind you, and now you can focus on becoming qualified. Mastering the 17 muscles and shoulders, 20 of the lower body, eight core movement patterns. Can you tell me the agonist synergist? Submit your videos, program for a guy and a girl, a week's worth of those programs. You get feedback. This is good. Let's talk about this right here. Why are you choosing that exercise? I know I got older brothers. This stuff is annoying to me. I try to make it fun. Also, have to remember it's YouTube. When we go to Lifetime, I cannot tell you how many trainers come up to me and say, Do you have the belt buckle on? Oh my God, thank you. You helped me pass NASA. That was the dumbest thing ever. But it took me a couple years to gain experience before I was able to apply here. We've helped so many trainers pass this thing because you came across us too late. And I feel for you. That's why I make these free videos. Pass it and then focus on becoming qualified, and that's what we help you with. Remember, big biceps are better than small ones and keep showing up.