Edited by: Danielle Abel

Studying for the CSCS exam?

Need some CSCS practice questions to help test your knowledge? Well, you've come to the right place. 

These questions will not only help you solidify your knowledge about the NSCA CSCS Exam material, but will also help you improve your test-taking ability.

You see, the CSCS exam is difficult because they present you with 3 different answers that all sound really good, but you need to be able to differentiate between the answers to find the “best” one.

Go through these and give them your best guess, then scroll down to review the answers and explanations.

6 Practice Questions

1) Which of the following muscles is likely weak if a cross country runner displays hip drop of the right hip during midstance on the left leg? 

A. Left glute medius

B. Right glute medius 

C. Right Piriformis

2) Deficiency in which of the following minerals occurs in 3 different stages (depletion, marginal deficiency, and anemia) and results in weakness, fatigue, and irritability? 

A. Calcium

B. Iron

C. Sodium

3) What is the recommended daily protein for a strength/speed athlete?

A. 0.8-1.0 g/kg BW/day

B. 1.4-1.7 g/kg BW/day

C. 1.7-2.2 g/kg BW/day

 4) Which of the following would you expect to see in the off-season training program of an American football lineman?

A. 85-95% 1RM, 2-6 Reps

B. 67-85% 1RM, 6-12 Reps

C. 75-90% 1RM, 10-15 Reps

 5) A strength coach notices that the volleyball players she is training are taking too long to prepare for practice and are therefore missing warm-ups. She adds 1 lap of running to the warm-up for every person who is late to reduce the number of players late to practice. This is an example of what?

A. Negative Reinforcement

B. Positive Punishment

C. Negative Punishment

 6) Which of the following is characterized by stagnation or decreases in performance, decreased muscle glycogen, and mood disturbances?

A. Functional Overreaching

B. Nonfunctional Overreaching

C. Overtraining Syndrome

Hopefully, you didn't scroll down and peek! Before giving you the answers & an explanation for each, if you found these questions helpful, we actually have a 150 Question Practice Test with a detailed answer key and explanations that you might like to help you prepare for the exam; click here to check it out. 

Answer Key

1) Which of the following muscles is likely weak if a cross country runner displays hip drop of the right hip during midstance on the left leg?

A. Left glute medius 

B. Right glute medius

C. Right Piriformis

The glute medius muscle is largely responsible for keeping the hips level and preventing hip drop. While standing on the left leg, the left glute medius works to keep the right hip from dropping. If the right hip is dropping, it is likely weakness of the left glute medius muscle. The piriformis is a muscle that rotates the hip. This could be involved in a running gait pattern where the foot swings out to the side instead of remaining in the sagital plane.

2) Deficiency in which of the following occurs in 3 stages (depletion, marginal deficiency, and anemia) and results in weakness, fatigue, and irritability?

A. Calcium

B. Iron

C. Sodium

Iron deficiency ranges from depletion least severe, to anemia most severe. It is the most prevalent nutritional deficiency in the world. Iron deficiency can also decrease exercise capacity. Calcium deficiency impacts bone mineral density but typically does not include symptoms such as decreased performance. Sodium deficiency can occur during competition when sweating a lot since sodium is lost in sweat. Drinking only water and not replenishing electrolytes can lead to hyponatremia, nausea, vomiting, and headaches. This is typically more acute such as during a marathon, than iron deficiency, which comes on over time with inadequate nutrition to support training.  

3) What is the recommended daily protein for a strength/speed athlete?

A. 0.8-1.0 g/kg BW/day

B. 1.4-1.7 g/kg BW/day

C. 1.7-2.2 g/kg BW/day

It is recommended that endurance athletes consume 1.0-1.6 g/kg BW/day of protein, which is significantly higher than the RDA of 0.8 g/kg BW/day. The range of 1.4-1.7 g/ kg BW/day is recommended for strength/speed athletes. 

4) Which of the following would you expect to see in the off-season program of an American football lineman?

A. 85-95% 1RM, 2-6 Reps

B. 67-85% 1RM, 6-12 Reps

C. 75-90% 1RM, 10-15 Reps

The goal of off-season training for an American football lineman is some strength but mainly hypertrophy. The appropriate rep range for strength/hypertrophy training is 6-12 reps and anywhere from 67-85% 1RM. Heavier loads of 75-90% would be characteristic of pre-season, and power training with 85-95% 1RM would be characteristic of late pre-season to in-season training. This follows the traditional linear periodization model for training strength/power sport athletes.

5) A strength coach notices that the volleyball players she is training are taking too long to prepare for practice and missing warm-ups. She adds 1 lap of running to the warm-up for every person who is late to reduce the number of players late to practice. This is an example of what?

A. Negative Reinforcement

B. Positive Punishment

C. Negative Punishment

The coach added something the players did not want, making this "add" an addition or "positive." Because adding the laps is intended to decrease a behavior (showing up late), this is a punishment. Therefore, adding something to decrease behavior is positive punishment.

6) Which of the following is characterized by Stagnation or Decrease in Performance, decreased muscle glycogen, and mood disturbances

A. Functional Overreaching

B. Nonfunctional Overreaching

C. Overtraining Syndrome

Stagnation or decreases is the sign of weeks to months of overtraining, which puts the athlete in the nonfunctional overreaching category. They have not reached overtraining syndrome until there are many months of consistently decreased performance. Overtraining syndrome is characterized by significant sleep disturbances, decreased force production, and sickness.  

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