How to Pass the NASM-PES Exam: Format and Study Guide
The NASM Performance Enhancement Specialization (PES) is designed for fitness professionals and coaches who want to help athletes improve their strength, speed, agility, power, conditioning, and overall performance.
If you’re preparing for the NASM-PES exam, understanding the specialization’s content, exam format, and recommended background can help you build a focused study plan.
What is the NASM Performance Enhancement Specialization?
The NASM Performance Enhancement Specialization is an advanced program focused on athletic performance. It uses NASM’s Optimum Performance Training™ Model and introduces the Maximal Power phase to help coaches design effective programs for athletes.
The PES is an advanced specialization rather than an NCCA-accredited certification. NASM’s NCCA-accredited credentials include the NASM Certified Personal Trainer and AFAA Certified Group Fitness Instructor credentials.
The PES program applies sport science, assessments, integrated training, program design, nutrition, and sport psychology to the needs of athletes across different sports, ages, and performance levels.
What does a Performance Enhancement Specialist do?
A Performance Enhancement Specialist evaluates an athlete’s movement quality, performance needs, training history, and sport-specific demands. The specialist uses this information to develop individualized programs that may target:
- Strength
- Power
- Speed
- Agility
- Conditioning
- Flexibility
- Balance and stabilization
- Recovery
- Reduced risk of sports injuries
Performance Enhancement Specialists may also apply coaching, cueing, communication, leadership, nutrition, recovery, and mental-performance strategies to support athletic development.
Who should consider the NASM-PES?
The PES may be useful for personal trainers, strength and conditioning coaches, sports coaches, physical therapists, massage therapists, athletes, and other professionals interested in sports performance.
There are no required prerequisites for enrolling in the program. However, NASM recommends that candidates have at least one of the following:
- A NASM-CPT certification
- A bachelor’s degree in a health or fitness field
- An accredited health and fitness certification
- A license or certification in a healthcare or wellness profession
A background in fitness and exercise programming can make it easier to understand the advanced performance concepts covered in the PES coursework.
What does the NASM-PES cover?
The NASM-PES™ Exam Blueprint (2026) is organized into six sections:
- Coaching and Sport Psychology
Covers sport psychology, motivation, resilience, trust, communication, and ethical coaching strategies. - Introduction to Sport Science
Covers biomechanics, the OPT Model, and the scientific principles used to create performance-focused training programs. - Assessments, Testing, and Monitoring
Covers athlete assessments, performance testing, progress monitoring, and the use of results to guide individualized training. - Components of the Integrated Training Model
Covers flexibility, strength, power, speed, conditioning, recovery, and other components of integrated athletic training. - Program Design
Covers biomotor development, periodization, and the creation of individualized programs that support performance and injury resistance. - Nutrition and Supplementation
Covers nutrition, hydration, supplementation, and evidence-based strategies for supporting athletic performance.
What is sports performance training?
Sports performance training is designed to improve the physical and mental qualities an athlete needs for a particular activity or sport. Unlike general fitness programming, performance training considers the athlete’s position, competition schedule, movement demands, strengths, limitations, and performance goals.
A Performance Enhancement Specialist may conduct assessments and performance tests before creating a periodized training program. Programming may combine flexibility, core, balance, resistance, plyometric, speed, agility, quickness, and conditioning exercises.
The goal is to develop a complete athlete while accounting for recovery, movement quality, and the sport’s specific demands.
NASM-PES exam format
After completing the PES course, candidates take a timed online exam. Here is what to expect:
- Number of questions: 100
- Question format: Multiple choice
- Time limit: 90 minutes
- Passing score: 70%
- Attempts: Up to three
- Testing format: Online and open book
- Completion period: One year from purchase to take the exam
How to prepare for the NASM-PES exam
Start by reviewing the six course sections and identifying which concepts are already familiar to you. Even though the exam is open book, you will have less than one minute per question on average. You should understand the material well enough to apply it without having to look up every answer.
As you study:
- Connect sport-science principles to realistic athlete scenarios.
- Practice interpreting assessment and performance-testing results.
- Review how different training components work together within an integrated program.
- Study the principles of periodization and sport-specific program design.
- Learn how coaching, psychology, nutrition, hydration, and recovery affect performance.
- Use practice questions regularly to strengthen recall and identify weak areas.
- Complete a full-length mock exam to practice pacing for 100 questions in 90 minutes.
Where can a Performance Enhancement Specialist work?
Commercial gyms and private training facilities
Commercial gyms and personal training facilities may offer opportunities to work with youth, high school, college, adult recreational, and competitive athletes. A PES professional may provide individual, small-group, seasonal, or year-round performance programs.
Sports performance facilities
Sports performance facilities focus specifically on athletic development. Coaches in these settings may work with individual athletes or complete teams and may specialize in particular sports, age groups, or levels of competition.
High school and collegiate athletic programs
Strength and conditioning professionals in school and collegiate settings conduct athlete assessments, communicate with sport coaches, and design programs around each team’s competitive schedule and performance demands.
The PES can provide valuable sports-performance education, although some positions may require additional education, experience, or credentials.
Is the NASM-PES right for you?
The NASM-PES may be a good fit if you already understand foundational fitness principles and want to develop more advanced skills in athletic assessment, performance training, program design, coaching, and recovery.
It can help fitness professionals expand beyond general fitness programming and better understand the needs of athletes seeking improved performance.
Start preparing for the NASM-PES exam
Prepare for the NASM-PES exam with Pocket Prep. You’ll get 1,500 practice questions, one full-length mock exam, and detailed explanations that help you learn from every answer option.
