NSCA CSCS Practice Exam

Suspension or TRX rows are considered an upper body closed-chain movement, as the limbs remain stationary while the body moves through space. While goblet squats are also a closed-chain exercise, its primary focus is the lower body. Neutral grip lat pulldowns and pallof presses are open chain movements.

85% of one's 1RM should not be sustainable past 4 reps. While 1-2 reps are possible, training for maximum strength warrants work at one's limit. That set/rep scheme is more appropriate for strength maintenance.

One gram of dietary protein contains four calories. One gram of carbohydrate contains four as well, while one gram of fat contains nine calories.

The plane in yellow in the illustration represents the sagittal plane. The sagittal plane divides the body between left and right. When we are moving through this plane, the body moves forward and backward. Flexion and extension occur through this plane. Most running, rowing, lifting and biking movements occur through this plane.

Battle ropes, rings and an isokinetic machine have their place, but developing leg drive at low body angles is a primary concern in football. You could incorporate a sled for rehabilitation, sport-specific conditioning or single leg strength development.

The muscles depicted in the image make up your gluteus medius, a single leg stabilizer. Lateral X band walks are designed to target this muscle. Dumbbell Romanian deadlifts will engage the glutes, but they primarily target the hamstrings and gluteus maximus. Barbell push press utilizes the legs, but focuses on the prime movers (quads, hamstrings, glute max) rather than stabilizers. Single arm bent over row is primarily an upper body exercise.

Warming up can improve short-term range of motion, but flexibility will return to pre-warm up levels after exercise is complete. However, by elevating heart rate and blood flow during a warm-up, you lower muscular resistance and improve elasticity. This allows for greater dynamic range of motion in subsequent activity. Furthermore, through sport-specific movements, a good warm-up leads to faster muscle contraction/relaxation, which aids strength and power output as well as reaction time. Static stretching shows little effect on subsequent sports performance.

The athlete should be sent to the physio or athletic trainer immediately. It's important for strength coaches, head coaches, physiotherapists, and the rest of the support staff to work together. As this is a new injury, inform the athletic trainer so they can conduct a full assessment. You are in the middle of coaching a session and likely are not able to discern the extent of the injury. Any modification could further exacerbate the issue, or maybe it is not that serious. Contacting an athlete's parents before knowing the extent of an injury (except in cases of emergency) could result in unnecessary panic.

In humans, fatty acid oxidation occurs within the mitochondria. While it does take place in the cytosol in prokaryotes, we are not considering those organisms as part of strength and conditioning.

If an athlete misses the lift with the bar in front, instruct them to push the bar away and drop it. If it's unstable as they catch overhead or behind, have the athlete release the bar backward while jumping forward. Always keep a clear area around the platform, and practice safe techniques with minimal load at first.

Adjust an athlete's hand positioning so that the bar sits on the mid-to-upper thigh before starting the hip hinge. This will allow for maximum force in to the bar during triple extension if the athlete keeps the barbell as close as possible to the body. When performing a barbell hang snatch, however, the barbell sits higher along the hip crease due to increased grip width. Any lower point of contact does not constitute a hanging movement.

The resistance stage is marked by temporary adaptation and a physical ability to meet the new demands. At this point, due to the new challenge, performance reaches levels higher than homeostasis, the starting stage. The alarm stage occurs immediately following homeostasis (again, the beginning level of ability), during which the novel stressor evokes fatigue and a temporary decrease in performance. Finally, the exhaustion stage represents overtraining, or when the stress applied is too great, too long, or does not allow for adequate recovery.

The Pro-agility test, or 5-10-5, requires athletes to sprint laterally 5m in one direction, stop as quickly as possible, push off laterally and sprint 10m the opposite direction, stop and start again and sprint 5m back to the starting point. While hockey players need this skill on the ice, this off-ice test can provide valuable information on their ability to change direction. For that reason, it is regularly used in NHL combines. The other assessments test linear speed, anaerobic endurance, and explosive power, respectively.

The muscle identified in the illustration is the teres major. It helps the latissimus dorsi internally rotate and extend the shoulder.

While each athlete has different dietary preferences and tolerance, the general recommendation for endurance (60+ minute) events is carbohydrate and lean protein 2-3 hours before the start. Carbs fuel endurance performance while protein slows digestion and muscle breakdown. Fats slow digestion too much and inhibit the effects of carbs, which is the preferred source of fuel. Adding in quick-digesting carbs and electrolytes replenishes lost nutrients for extended performance.

When performing a successful plank, the entire body should be in line, head and neck included. Looking straight ahead creates an arch in the neck that pinches the spinal cord. Keep everything in neutral by contracting the glutes and stacking wrists safely underneath your shoulders.

It's the only total body explosive movement listed. All others are accessory exercises designed for control, strength and isolation work.

Free weights should be stacked along the perimeter of the facility, allowing for free, unobstructed walkways. They should be placed in a separate, safe location where athletes can perform free weight movements without added risk. All other areas increase injury risk.

When spotting a dumbbell press, it's important to keep your hands near an athlete's wrists. That way, if they begin to struggle, you can quickly divert the weight away from their face. Spotting at the elbows risks serious injury if the weights begin to fall. While weight and incline adjustments might be appropriate in some cases, they are not an immediate safety concern in this picture.

After a few tolerable warm-up reps, increase the weight up to 20% for lower body exercises. This will allow the athlete to jump significantly on their way to a single-rep max, while not overloading the body too soon. A smaller incremental increase could cause fatigue, as the athlete will need too many sets before reaching maximum. A larger incremental increase, however, risks injury as the body is not adequately prepared for the load. 10-20 lbs (5-10%) increases are appropriate for testing upper body 1RM.

Strength increases in athletes of a young training status are primarily due to improved motor learning and coordination. While eating well and having a solid support system do not hurt, they are not likely to be the primary reason for strength gains.

According to the NSCA's Guide to Sport and Exercise Nutrition, 20-24oz of fluid replacement for every pound lost during training will adequately rehydrate athletes. Anywhere from 6-24 L per pound lost is way too much fluid, and 6-12 oz would fail to reach minimum rehydration.

The drive phase of sprinting constitutes forcefully pushing off of the ground to propel forward motion. The recovery phase involves rapid cycling of the heel toward the hip and back to the ground. Both of these phases occur during maximal velocity. Acceleration and deceleration phases are separate segments of sprinting.

Recovery from the demands of an intense season is the primary goal of the post-season phase. Athletes should still maintain adequate levels of fitness for general health. During the off-season, athletes build a base with gradual increases in training duration and intensities. Pre-season programming increases intensity further, lowering duration as the season approaches. In-season training consists of maintenance with lower-intensity, short-duration sessions around practices and games.

Using a portable contact mat allows the coach to assess peak power anywhere by measuring jump height and body mass. While a Wingate anaerobic cycle test is an appropriate measure of power, variations in limb length, seat height, biomechanical efficiency and access to equipment make it unreliable in youth populations. 1RM bench tests maximum strength, and it is not appropriate for many youth populations. A treadmill VO2 max test requires expensive equipment and measures aerobic capacity.

Although every strength and conditioning professional needs a current CPR/AED certification, it's not part of a written a posted response plan. According to the NSCA, a written and posted emergency response plan should cover access to a physician or medical facility, communication with and transportation to medical facilities and the availability of on-site emergency care equipment that is quickly accessible. All personnel are to have a thorough understanding of the plan.

Wrestling requires high levels of anaerobic endurance, which stems from glycolysis. Three minutes of sustained effort is too long for the phosphagen system, yet the high-intensity nature of wrestling quickly surpasses oxygen availability for aerobic metabolism.

The branched-chain amino acids, leucine, isoleucine and valine have been shown to decrease muscle damage and contribute to growth hormone. Fish oils can fight inflammation and contribute to cognitive health. Water is good for everything, but it's not the best choice to elicit the aforementioned responses. Bacon tastes great, but it's much higher in fat than protein.

In absence of adequate thoracic extension, an athlete will need to compensate in order to raise their arms over their head. Either they will fail to achieve "elbows by the ears" without shifting into a forward head posture, or they will arch their lower back to facilitate an overhead reach. While other issues may exist - and it's important to screen further - the bilateral overhead raise isolates thoracic mobility the most out of the above options.

It is best to suggest an alternative day/time during which both yourself and the athletic trainer can be present. A strength and conditioning coach and a sports medicine staff member should always supervise the health and safety of athletes. The S&C coach should always be present in cases of high-risk conditioning, such as 90-degree weather. All other options place the athletes under unnecessary risk of grave or serious injury.

Movement through the sagittal plane occurs front to back, as does a reverse lunge. There is some movement in the frontal plane during the descent as well. Slight shifts in balance may cause displacement in the transverse plane, but it's not the intention of this exercise.

Personal trainers are not licensed and registered dietitians, so it is outside of their scope of practice to prescribe specific dietary practices. A trainer who is not qualified to do this may cause more harm than good. Personal trainers, however, are able to make general recommendations in line with national guidelines. Their training and education allows them to make exercise-related prescriptions and recommendations.