Personal Trainer Basics — Proficiency Exam

15 questions · pass with 50%

1. A new client answers "yes" to a PAR-Q item about chest pain during activity. What should you do first?
Start with a light warm-up and see how they feelPause training and follow a medical-clearance path before adding intensityHave them sign a longer waiver and continue as plannedDiagnose angina and write a cardiac rehab plan
2. What is the main purpose of a liability waiver in personal training?
It replaces PAR-Q screening for healthy-looking clientsIt lets you ignore a physician's activity restrictionsIt documents that the client understands training is not medical care, but it does not replace screeningIt authorizes you to prescribe meal plans for disease
3. Which situation is within a typical trainer's scope after medical clearance?
Coaching conservative exercise progressions the clinician has not forbiddenAdjusting the client's blood-pressure medication timingTelling the client they have a herniated discDesigning a clinical cardiac rehabilitation protocol
4. A walking lunge mainly occurs in which plane of motion?
TransverseFrontalSagittalIt has no plane
5. When you say a client's "left knee," whose left do you mean?
The trainer's left as they face the clientThe client's own left sideWhichever knee looks more tiredThe mirror's left in the gym
6. A client feels sharp, radiating pain during an overhead press. What is the appropriate trainer response?
Name the injury as rotator-cuff impingement and keep pressingAdd more weight so the joint 'warms up'Ignore it if the PAR-Q was clear last yearStop the movement and refer rather than diagnosing
7. In the FITT principle, "Intensity" refers to:
How many weeks the program lastsHow hard the work is (load, effort, or pace)Only the music volume in the gymWhether the client likes the trainer
8. A beginner completed last week's plan with good form and normal soreness. A sensible progression is:
Change load, sets, exercise difficulty, and session length all at onceSkip warm-ups to save time for extra setsIncrease one FITT variable modestly while keeping the others stableForce every set to muscular failure to 'earn' progress
9. A client missed five days of training. What should you do with volume?
Double the next session so they 'catch up'Keep frequency and load conservative while rebuilding the habitSwitch them to an advanced athlete split immediatelyIgnore screening because they are already a client
10. A client cannot keep their heels down in a squat. A sensible coaching choice is:
Add a heavy barbell so they 'learn' under loadShame them for tight calves as a diagnosisShorten the range or use a box, then recast the foot cueHave them bounce out of the bottom to stretch
11. Which cue best describes a hip hinge rather than a squat?
Sit the hips straight down as low as possiblePush the hips back with softly bent kneesRound the back to touch the toes at all costsLock the knees fully and bow from the waist only
12. Before using a hands-on cue on a client's torso or limbs, you should:
Always do it — trainers have implied consentOnly ask once at the start of the yearAvoid asking so you do not 'break the flow'Get consent for that contact, every time it is not obviously welcome
13. During moderate-effort cardio, the talk test usually means the client can:
Sing loudly without pausingSpeak in short sentences with some effortOnly whisper one wordHold a long speech like a seated conversation
14. A deconditioned beginner wants to copy an advanced all-out sprint interval video. You should:
Run the exact video so they 'adapt faster'Start with easier, more sustainable work and progress intensity laterSkip screening because cardio is low risk for everyoneHave them take a performance-enhancing supplement first
15. Mid-session a client reports crushing chest pressure. The correct action is:
Lower the bike resistance and finish the planned minutesTell them it is delayed-onset muscle sorenessStop the session and treat it as a medical emergency, not a coaching cueAdd a core circuit to 'change the stimulus'

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