NASM PES common mistakes
NASM PES · Understand the traps and how to avoid them.
Recommending a single relaxation/arousal-reduction technique (e.g., slow diaphragmatic breathing) for every athlete who reports pre-competition anxiety, without first assessing whether the athlete is over- or under-aroused.
Candidates memorize the list of arousal-regulation and psych skills but study them as a vocabulary list rather than as a decision process keyed to the athlete's actual arousal state and task demands.
What to do instead
Before selecting a technique, state the athlete's arousal level and the task's optimal zone, then match the skill (psych-up/energizing for under-arousal, calming/centering for over-arousal). Practice writing 2-3 sentence 'if arousal is X, then use Y' decision rules for each skill.
Explaining an athlete's performance decline, flat mood, and sleep disruption as a lack of motivation and prescribing motivational self-talk or goal-setting pep strategies.
Sport-psychology content is studied in isolation from monitoring data, so candidates reach for the psychological tool they remember instead of screening for accumulated training stress and recovery debt.
What to do instead
Build a habit of running a differential check first: performance drop plus sleep, HR, mood, and load indicators point to recovery/overtraining, which calls for load reduction and recovery strategies, not psych-up. Know the classic overtraining warning signs and treat psych skills as an adjunct.
Describing the amortization phase of the stretch-shortening cycle as the phase where force is produced and energy is stored for the jump, and then prescribing long ground-contact plyometrics as if a longer amortization were beneficial.
The three phases (eccentric, amortization, concentric) are memorized as names in order without attaching the function-and the consequence-to each one.
What to do instead
Anchor each phase to its function and its coaching cue: eccentric = deceleration and elastic energy storage, amortization = the brief transition where energy is lost if prolonged, concentric = force production using stored energy. Tie this directly to ground-contact time and to the plyometric progression you prescribe.
Assuming that maximizing force output always maximizes power output, and therefore choosing the heaviest load tolerated for power-oriented training blocks.
Candidates carry over the strength-training mindset ('more load = better') and do not separate the force-velocity relationship from the power-load relationship, where power peaks at moderate loads moved at high velocity.
What to do instead
Study power as force multiplied by velocity and be able to explain why power declines at both very light and very heavy loads. When writing power prescriptions, state both the load range and the intent for maximal movement velocity, and justify why a submaximal load produces greater power.
Comparing a retest result to a baseline test taken under different conditions (different warm-up, time of day, surface, footwear, or tester) and treating the difference as a real change in the athlete.
Candidates focus on the test protocol itself and treat standardization as a testing-day courtesy rather than a precondition for the measurement being interpretable at all.
What to do instead
Write out a fixed test battery protocol-warm-up, order of tests, rest between tests, equipment, surface, time of day, and tester-and note it on every score sheet. When interpreting any change, first confirm the protocol matched and flag any deviation as a confound before discussing the result.
Reporting a raw test score with no comparison (e.g., a vertical jump in inches, a 1RM in pounds) and calling the athlete 'strong' or 'weak' without normalizing to body mass or referencing normative/position-specific data.
Candidates stop at the collection step of the testing sequence and never rehearse the analysis-and-interpretation step, so they answer the 'what was the score' question but not the 'what does it mean' question.
What to do instead
Always complete the full sequence in written answers: collect, then normalize/compare, then interpret, then act. Practice converting raw scores to relative values and stating the practical implication (e.g., 'relative jump height in the low range indicates a deficit in lower-body power that should shape the power progression').
Misfiling exercises into the wrong component of the integrated training model-for example, listing a single-leg balance reach as a plyometric drill, or classifying a medicine-ball rotational throw as core stabilization.
Exercises are memorized by appearance or equipment rather than by the physiological intent of the component (stabilization vs. strength vs. power; core vs. balance vs. plyometric vs. SAQ).
What to do instead
Sort every exercise by intent first: is it teaching controlled deceleration and stabilization, producing force, or producing force quickly? Then by plane and body segment. Build a personal card set of 10 exercises per component and label each with its intent, not just its name.
Selecting exercises for a sport program based on personal preference, available equipment, or exercises seen in a popular program, with no stated movement analysis linking the exercise to the athlete's sport demands.
The needs-analysis step is treated as a preamble to skip, so candidates go straight from 'athlete plays basketball' to a list of exercises without defining the sport's dominant joints, planes, contraction types, and energy systems.
What to do instead
Force yourself to write the needs analysis first-joint-by-joint movement demands, common injury sites, work-to-rest ratios-then justify each selected exercise by naming which demand it addresses. Any exercise you cannot link back to an identified demand should be removed.
Carrying the same acute variables into every phase-applying slow, controlled tempos, high repetitions, and long rest intervals to explosive power exercises, or keeping rest intervals unchanged from a hypertrophy-style block into a maximal-strength block.
The OPT-model phase chart is memorized rote for the general fitness certification, so candidates reproduce phase names without attaching the specific sets, reps, tempo, rest, and intensity that define each phase.
What to do instead
Rebuild the phase chart from scratch in your own words, one phase at a time, and for each phase write the purpose, the load, the rep range, the tempo, the rest interval, and one example exercise. Test yourself by being handed a phase and reciting its variables without looking.
Giving supplement or fueling advice to an athlete without addressing third-party testing/batch certification, contamination risk, or whether total energy and protein needs are met from food first.
Supplement questions feel like a memorization exercise about which product does what, so candidates answer with the ergogenic name and dose and skip the safety and screening context that actually governs the recommendation.
What to do instead
Answer every supplementation scenario in a fixed order: assess whether the athlete's dietary intake already covers the need, then state the evidence-supported dose and timing, then require third-party-tested products, then note banned-substance and contamination risk and refer to a qualified sports dietitian or physician for anything beyond general guidance.