NASM is a globally recognized leader in fitness credentialing and professional development, known for its evidence-based programs and commitment to excellence. With a focus on real-world application, NASM equips you with the skills, credibility, and confidence to succeed in any fitness setting — from gyms to online platforms. Choosing NASM means choosing a career built on science, support, and success. 

 Absolutely. The NASM Certified Personal Trainer program is accredited by the National Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCCA), ensuring it meets the highest standards for quality, credibility, and professional recognition.

The NASM Certified Personal Trainer program is entirely self-paced, allowing you to learn on your schedule. Whether you're balancing work, school, or other commitments, you can progress through the course at a speed that suits your lifestyle — without sacrificing quality or support. 

Yes! The program is designed with working professionals in mind. With self-paced learning, flexible study tools, and expert support, you can earn your certification while managing a full-time job or other responsibilities. 

 The exam is administered online or in-person at an approved testing center, giving you flexibility in how you complete your certification. Both options are secure, proctored, and designed to ensure a fair and professional testing experience.

While the NASM Certified Personal Trainer (CPT) program itself does not award CEUs, it sets the foundation for earning and maintaining your certification. To keep your NASM CPT credential active, you must earn 1.9 NASM-approved CEUs every two years, including 0.1 CEUs from CPR/AED certification. NASM offers a wide range of continuing education courses — many of which are included or discounted through NASM One™ membership — to help you stay current, expand your expertise, and meet renewal requirements. 

  To be eligible for this personal training course, you must have a high school diploma or GED. Additionally, you need a Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) certification and an Automated External Defibrillator (AED) certification. You may enrol in the course before having your CPR and AED certifications; however, you must have them before you take your final exam.

Learn to distinguish your role as a personal trainer, identify common chronic health conditions, differentiate evidence-based practice from fitness fads, and define your scope as a professional. 

Fitness professionals have the option to work for a variety of employers or to work for themselves. This chapter explores industry growth and the overall career outlook for personal trainers. 

The role of psychology in fitness and wellness is extremely important. It can deal with several topics, including the way exercise participation affects someone’s mood in both the short and the long term, the effect of weight loss on self-esteem, the motivations to become physically active, and how social influences affect overall exercise behavior. 

This chapter covers clients’ expectations, assessing behavior change, structuring optimal sessions, communicating effectively, and implementing exercise adherence techniques using behavior change. 

Because all fitness professionals need an understanding of anatomy and the Human Movement System, this chapter covers the fundamentals of the Nervous, Skeletal, and Muscular Systems.

You will learn how to identify the structure and function of the cardiorespiratory system, how to categorize the function of the endocrine system, as well as the digestive system.
 

You will gain an understanding of the basics of biomechanics and motor behavior as they relate to working as a personal trainer. 

This section of the course breaks down the various energy systems within the body, providing essential insight into the ways we use food for fuel. 

Improving health and fitness means more than just exercise; it also requires a commitment to improve the way the body is fueled. Although specific diet prescription is outside a trainer's scope of practice, this chapter will provide the basics needed to support nutritional discussions with clients and make recommendations on how to support their goals through a healthy diet. 

It is important that the personal trainer understand what supplements are and how to educate clients on risks associated with various supplements. Within you will learn the necessary information to discuss supplementation with a client while remaining within your scope of practice.

After this chapter, you will be able to explain the importance of assessments, collect and summarize subjective client information, identify steps for conducting body composition assessments, and choose the correct cardiorespiratory assessments on an individual basis.
 

Posture, movement, and performance assessments are an integral part of the intake process for all clients and will assist the fitness professional in developing customized fitness programs to enhance a client’s well-being. 

After complete interpretations of assessment results, a comprehensive training program can be developed through application of specific acute variables defined in the NASM OPT™ Model.

Learn the scientific rationale for flexibility training, proper stretching exercises, stretches for beginners, and more within this chapter of the course.

Cardiorespiratory fitness reflects the ability of the cardiovascular and respiratory systems to supply oxygen-rich blood to skeletal muscles during sustained physical activity. You will learn more within the course.

A properly designed core training program can be a key component of an overall training plan used to achieve a broad range of goals. The objective of core training is the development of core stability, endurance, strength, and power. Learn more within.

The ability to maintain postural control or balance is a fundamental component of performance, injury resistance, and rehabilitation that follows an injury. Learn how to incorporate balance training within your clients’ programming.

You will learn how to explain plyometric training and its three phases, summarize the benefits of the modality, identify proper progressions, and teach proper cueing techniques.

Speed, agility, and quickness (SAQ) training is a useful and effective method of fitness training that stimulates muscular, neurological, connective tissue, and even cardiovascular fitness adaptations.
 

You will learn how to summarize resistance training principles to clients, categorize exercises for different types of goals and adaptations, and employ safe methods and resistance training variables.

Creating and modifying exercise programs for clients can be a complicated process because there are many variables to consider, including the client’s goals, their tolerance for exercise, and their unique physical abilities and medical history. The Optimum Performance Training® Model makes it simple. 

Within this chapter you will learn how to categorize different exercise modalities, describe their uses depending on different clients, and determine the correct resistance and proprioceptive uses on an individual basis.
 

This chapter covers important information and recommendations for assessing and designing exercise programs for clients with selected chronic health conditions or functional limitations.

There are 120 test questions. Of those, 20 are research questions that do not count toward or against your final score. You must pass with a scaled score of 70% or better. You will have 2 hours to complete the exam.