NASM CPT Topic Guide
Program Design
Program design connects assessment findings with phase choice, acute variables, integrated training components, and progression.
What the exam tends to ask
Flexibility, cardiorespiratory, core, balance, plyometric, SAQ, and resistance components.
How the OPT continuum changes variables as clients move from stabilization to power.
Why progressions must follow goals, movement quality, and recovery tolerance.
Must-know concepts
Integrated session
NASM programming commonly combines warm-up, flexibility, activation, skill/conditioning, resistance, and cool-down work.
Progression
Progression is systematic; it is not simply adding load when a client can complete a workout.
Regression
Reducing complexity, load, speed, range, or instability can keep training aligned with the client's current capacity.
Practice prompts
- 01Build a one-session outline for a client in stabilization endurance.
- 02Name two variables you can regress before removing an exercise entirely.