CSCS
study guide
Every chapter of the course summarized, with each section linked to its lesson.
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This free CSCS study guide summarizes all 24 chapters of Achievable's CSCS course: what each covers, the points to remember, and its 66 sections in order. Read each chapter after you study it, or work through the whole guide before exam day.
Each section links to its full lesson in Achievable, with the review quizzes and full-length practice exams.
Chapter 1: Structure and function of body systems
3 sections
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- Skeleton and joints: The skeleton has 206 bones and supports, protects, stores minerals, and forms blood cells, while joints connect bones to allow movement and flexibility.
- Muscle contraction: Motor units contract by the all-or-nothing principle, force depends on cross-bridges and recruitment, and proprioceptors sense stretch or tension to affect contraction.
- Cardiorespiratory function: The heart’s two pumps move blood through pulmonary and systemic circulation, and respiration exchanges O₂ and CO₂ in the alveoli with pressure changes driving breathing.
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Chapter 2: Biomechanics of resistance exercise
2 sections
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- Muscle roles: Origin is the proximal attachment and insertion is the distal attachment, while agonists, antagonists, synergists, and stabilizers each have distinct roles in movement and posture.
- Lever mechanics: Bones act as levers, joints as fulcrums, and torque equals force × moment arm, with most human joints as third-class levers and mechanical disadvantage requiring greater muscle force.
- Strength applications: Strength is maximal force production and power is force × velocity, with free weights, machines, and joint biomechanics affecting torque, resistance, stability, and injury risk.
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Chapter 3: Bioenergetics of exercise and training
2 sections
- Energy system basics: Bioenergetics converts macronutrients into usable energy, with catabolism releasing energy and anabolism requiring it, while ATP hydrolysis powers muscle contraction and must be continually resynthesized during exercise.
- Three energy systems: The phosphagen system rapidly regenerates ATP with creatine phosphate for maximal efforts up to ~10 seconds, glycolysis uses carbohydrates for fast ATP production, and the oxidative system uses carbohydrates, fats, and minimally proteins for prolonged, lower-intensity activity.
- Exercise application: Lactate threshold, OBLA, and EPOC reflect how intensity and duration affect performance, recovery, and substrate use, with glycogen repletion taking 24 hours with 5-7 g/kg carbs and up to 48 hours after prolonged/high-intensity exercise.
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Chapter 4: Endocrine responses to resistance exercise
3 sections
- GAS and recovery: General adaptation syndrome has three stages: alarm, resistance, exhaustion, and adaptation requires stress plus adequate recovery.
- Hormones and receptors: Hormones are chemical messengers from endocrine glands that travel via bloodstream to target tissues, and their effects depend on specific receptors and hormone category.
- Exercise responses: Greater exercise volume/intensity, shorter rest, and larger muscle mass increase hormonal response, while chronic training improves hormone sensitivity and reduces catabolic effects.
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Chapter 5: Adaptations to anaerobic training
4 sections
- Energy system use: High-intensity, intermittent exercise relies on phosphagen (ATP-PCr) and glycolytic systems, and training should match sport-specific energy system demands.
- Neural and tissue adaptations: Anaerobic training increases motor unit recruitment, rate of force development, and selective recruitment of high-threshold (fast-twitch) motor units while promoting hypertrophy, fiber transitions, connective tissue strengthening, and bone growth.
- Hormonal and cardiovascular responses: Anaerobic training acutely increases testosterone, GH, IGF-1, heart rate, stroke volume, and blood pressure, while chronically improving cardiac efficiency, resting heart rate, and ventilatory function.
- Performance and recovery: Anaerobic exercise improves strength, power, local muscular endurance, body composition, and motor performance, but excessive training stress can cause overtraining, and detraining gradually reduces these adaptations.
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Chapter 6: Adaptations to aerobic endurance training
3 sections
- Acute responses: During aerobic exercise, Q = stroke volume × heart rate, VO₂ depends on cardiac output and a-vO₂ difference, systolic BP rises, and vasodilation sends up to 90% Q to muscles.
- Chronic adaptations: Aerobic endurance training increases maximal cardiac output, stroke volume, VO2max, capillary and mitochondrial density, Type I fiber efficiency, and bone mineral density while muscular strength and anaerobic power remain unchanged.
- Other factors: Altitude, hyperoxic breathing, smoking, blood doping, genetics, age, sex, overtraining syndrome, and detraining all alter aerobic performance, recovery, VO₂max, and heart rate responses.
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Chapter 7: Age and sex differences in resistance exercise
3 sections
- Youth maturation: Chronological age ≠ biological maturity, so resistance training should match individual maturation, use conservative progression at PHV, and rely on technique because most gains are neural.
- Female adaptations: Females benefit from resistance training, show pubertal sex differences in body composition and strength, and need programs that address the female athlete triad and ACL injury risk.
- Older adult training: Older adults lose muscle mass, bone density, and power with age, but resistance training can improve strength, balance, and function with screening, gradual progression, and safety precautions.
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Chapter 8: Psychology of athletic preparation and performance
4 sections
- Sport psychology role: Sport psychology enables consistent expression of physical potential by targeting motivation, attention, and arousal in competition’s social comparison and ego risk.
- Ideal performance state: Effective performance requires managing mental and physical energy, and arousal, anxiety, and stress shape whether emotions support control or impair performance.
- Performance theories: Drive theory, inverted-u theory, individual zones of optimal functioning, catastrophe theory, and reversal theory explain how arousal and anxiety affect performance differently by task and athlete.
- Motivation and techniques: Goal setting, attentional styles, relaxation techniques, imagery, self-efficacy, self-talk, practice schedule, observational learning, instruction styles, and feedback all support learning and performance.
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Chapter 9: Sports nutrition
4 sections
- Nutrition importance: Nutrition provides essential nutrients for health, growth, muscle repair, and energy, while reducing injury risk and illness and supporting training adaptations.
- Professional guidance: Sports dietitians are registered, specialized in sports nutrition, and a CSSD can create personalized meal plans, translate research, and assess dietary habits, energy balance, hydration, supplementation, weight, and immune health.
- Macronutrient guidelines: MyPlate gives balanced meal guidance, while protein, carbohydrates, and fats support performance through specific intake targets, glycogen storage, fiber effects, and limits on saturated fat and trans fats.
- Micronutrients and fluids: Vitamins and minerals support metabolism, bone health, and oxygen transport, and athletes need more fluids because >2% body weight loss from sweat impairs performance.
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Chapter 10: Nutrition strategies for maximizing performance
3 sections
- Precompetition and event fueling: Precompetition nutrition should hydrate, maximize blood glucose/glycogen, and reduce hunger, while carbohydrate loading increases muscle/liver glycogen and delays fatigue in endurance events.
- During and after exercise: During-event nutrition is critical for events >45 min, and postcompetition nutrition should rehydrate, replenish glycogen, and repair muscle with carbohydrates and protein.
- Body composition and risks: Adjusting body composition depends on calorie balance, sport-specific protein needs, and careful weight management, while eating disorders require recognition, referral, and support.
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Chapter 11: Performance-enhancing substances and methods
3 sections
- Drug and supplement distinction: Drugs require FDA approval for safety and effectiveness, while dietary supplements do not and are minimally regulated unless a health risk is identified.
- Hormone and doping rules: WADA, USADA, and sport-specific leagues maintain prohibited lists, and substances such as anabolic steroids, EPO, HGH, insulin, and beta-blockers carry specific performance and health risks.
- Supplements and stimulants: Dietary supplements may contain contamination, so third-party tested products are preferred, and compounds such as creatine, caffeine, beta-alanine, sodium bicarbonate, and ephedrine have specific ergogenic effects and side effects.
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Chapter 12: Principles of test selection and administration
- Reasons for testing: Assess athletic talent, establish baselines, track progress toward goals, and align individual goals with team objectives while distinguishing innate from trainable abilities.
- Testing terminology: A test assesses ability in a specific area, field tests are outside the lab with minimal equipment, and validity and reliability show whether results measure and repeat correctly.
- Test selection: Select tests for metabolic energy system specificity and biomechanical movement pattern specificity, ensure safety and trained testers, and place fatiguing tests last or on separate days.
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Achievable CSCS
The NSCA Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) exam prepares you for a wide variety of jobs in athletics and sports training. Achievable is the best and most effective strength and conditioning certification prep on the market and the only CSCS exam prep course that uses memory science technology to ensure you pass on the first try. Includes everything you need: easy-to-understand online textbook, 670+ review questions, and 3+ full-length practice exams.
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670+ chapter quizzes
3+ practice exams
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Chapter 13: Administration, scoring, and interpretation of selected tests
3 sections
- Performance measures: Maximum muscular strength, anaerobic power, anaerobic capacity, local muscular endurance, aerobic capacity, agility, speed, flexibility, balance and stability, body composition, and anthropometry are each defined by a specific performance quality and tested with matching field or lift protocols.
- Testing standards: Standardize environment and procedures, control stimulants, hydration, pre-test meal, and warm-up, and use proper technique, incremental loading, spotters, safety equipment, precise course setup, timing, or population-specific equations as required.
- Interpretation of scores: Mean, median, mode, range, standard deviation, percentile rank, inferential statistics, and magnitude statistics summarize and compare results, and an athletic profile should use sport-specific, valid, reliable tests to track strengths, weaknesses, and progress.
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Chapter 14: Warm-up and flexibility training
3 sections
- Warm-up purpose: Warm-up prepares body and mind for activity, reduces injury risk, increases muscle/core temperature, blood flow, and neural function, and improves strength, power, reaction time, and psychological readiness.
- Warm-up structure: General warm-up uses low-intensity activity, specific warm-up uses activity-specific movements and dynamic stretching, and RAMP means Raise, Activate and mobilize, then Potentiate.
- Flexibility training: Flexibility is ROM at a joint, optimal ROM is sport- and position-specific, and static, dynamic, and PNF stretching follow specific timing, control, and warm-up rules for safe gains.
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Chapter 15: Exercise technique for free weight and machine training
7 sections
- Handgrips and stance: Common grips include pronated (overhand) and supinated (underhand), with neutral grip, alternated, hook, and shoulder-width, wide, or narrow positions also used.
- Stable positioning: Standing exercise stance uses feet slightly wider than hip-width with heels and balls of feet on floor, and seated/supine positions use five-point body contact to maintain spinal stability and balance.
- Breathing and motion: Exhale through the sticking point, inhale during the eccentric phase, and use the Valsalva maneuver briefly for heavy lifts because it increases intra-abdominal pressure.
- ROM, belts, and spotting: Full ROM is ideal, partial ROM is used for limitations or technique needs, weight belts are recommended for heavy, lower back-stressing lifts, and spotting must prioritize safety and clear communication.
- Exercise technique: The exercises use controlled movement and specific body positions, including rows, curls, presses, squats, deadlift variations, machine work, push press and push jerk, and power clean and power snatch.
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Chapter 16: Exercise technique for alternative modes and nontraditional implement training
2 sections
- General guidelines: Stable body position and alignment are crucial for safety; brace core, exhale on concentric, inhale on eccentric for light/moderate loads, and use Valsalva maneuver only for maximal lifts.
- Bodyweight and core: Bodyweight training uses the body as resistance to build relative strength and body control, while core stability aids force transfer and injury prevention.
- Resistance methods: Machines target specific muscles with less stabilizer activation, free weights improve strength and power transfer, and nontraditional implements such as tires, logs, kettlebells, sleds, and stones add variety and instability.
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Chapter 17: Program design for resistance training
3 sections
- Needs analysis: Exercise selection begins with sport demands and athlete assessment, then uses training status, movement patterns, season, technique, equipment, and muscle balance to match SAID.
- Programming order: Training frequency, exercise order, and load assignments depend on status and goal, with power before core, inverse load-rep relationships, 1RM testing, and progressive load increases.
- Volume and rest: Volume-load and rest periods are set by training goal and athlete status, with multiple sets favoring strength and trained individuals and rest shortest for muscular endurance.
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Chapter 18: Program design and technique for plyometric training
3 sections
- Plyometric mechanics: Plyometric exercise uses pre-stretch and the stretch-shortening cycle (SSC) to increase power via elastic properties of muscles/tendons and stretch reflex.
- Program design rules: Plyometric program design uses mode, intensity, frequency, recovery, volume, program length, and progression, with 1-3 sessions/week, 48-72 hours recovery, and gradual progression in intensity and volume.
- Technique and drills: Proper landing mechanics keep knees over toes and shoulders over knees, while drills range from low-intensity vertical jumps to high-intensity depth jumps, with box height, experience, and body weight guiding safe selection.
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Chapter 19: Program design and technique for speed and agility training
3 sections
- Sprinting basics: Speed is high movement velocities, change of direction is explosive movement changes usually pre-planned, and agility is movement changes in response to a stimulus.
- Technique and agility: Sprinting depends on acceleration and maximal velocity, while agility and change of direction require eccentric strength, short ground contact times, and perceptual-cognitive skills.
- Program design: Use micro, meso, and macrocycles with block-based progression to develop speed and agility, and monitor ground contact, stride measures, exit velocity, and decision-making time.
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Chapter 20: Program design and technique for aerobic endurance training
2 sections
- Performance determinants: Maximal aerobic capacity (), lactate threshold, and exercise economy are key determinants, and high is necessary but not sufficient for top performance.
- Training variables: Exercise mode, frequency, intensity, duration, and progression are the aerobic training program design variables, and training intensity is the main driver of adaptation.
- Program application: LSD, pace/tempo, interval, HIIT, and fartlek training are used across training seasons, while cross-training, detraining, tapering, resistance training, and altitude each affect endurance training outcomes.
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Chapter 21: Periodization
2 sections
- Annual phases: Periodization divides the training year into preparatory, first transition, competition, and second transition phases, and each phase varies in intensity (%1RM) and volume (sets/reps).
- Training concepts: Training program fundamentals manage adaptation and recovery, while the periodization hierarchy includes multiyear plan, annual plan, macrocycle, mesocycle, microcycle, training day, and training session.
- Preparatory focus: The preparatory period has no competitions, uses low-to-moderate intensity with high volume in the general preparatory phase, and progresses to 50-75% of 1RM with 3-6 sets and 8-20 reps.
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Chapter 22: Rehabilitation and reconditioning
- Sports medicine team: A multidisciplinary group focuses on athlete health, with the team physician, athletic trainer, physical therapist, strength & conditioning coach, exercise physiologist, nutritionist, and psychologist sharing roles.
- Injury and healing: Macrotrauma is an acute, single event, while microtrauma is chronic, repetitive stress caused by training errors, poor biomechanics, or misalignment; rehab should avoid overstressing tissue and progress only after criteria are met.
- Exercise progression: Rehabilitation uses evidence-based, individualized protocols that match healing phase and injury, progress from protection to sport-specific loading, and reduce risk by emphasizing previous injury, neuromuscular control, and single-leg strength.
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Chapter 23: Facility design, layout, and organization
- New facility phases: New facility design has four phases: predesign, design, construction, preoperation, and each phase addresses planning, safety, budgeting, and operational readiness.
- Modifying existing facilities: Apply the same principles as new design, and steps include committee formation, needs analysis, operational planning, equipment arrangement, feasibility/needs analysis, remodel, finalize design, hire/retain staff, and assign duties.
- Design and upkeep: Facility design should match athlete needs, safety, and space requirements, and regular maintenance, cleaning, and space calculations guide equipment arrangement and operational readiness.
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Chapter 24: Facility policies, procedures, and legal issues
- Policies and purpose: Policies are facility rules reflecting program goals/objectives, procedures are steps for implementing policies, and the mission statement should be concise, clear, and inspiring.
- Staff and legal duties: The strength and conditioning performance team is multidisciplinary, the director oversees the program, and staff must meet certification, supervision, informed consent, screening, record keeping, and insurance requirements.
- Safety and operations: Facility rules, emergency action plans, workout sheets, equipment safety, discipline, and banned-substance policies support safe access, supervision, communication, and response.
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CSCS certification at a glance
- Questions
- 220 multiple-choice questions
- Time
- 4 hours
- Passing score
- 70 / 100
- Exam fee
- $340 (NSCA members); $475 (non-members)
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