New Detailed Content Outline (DCO) · CSCS Accelerator Community

New Detailed Content Outline (DCO)

Back in the summer of 2025, the CSCS exam got a major update. This may be old news to some of you but I thought I'd share it because it isn’t just a minor tweak. It’s a shift in what the NSCA believes entry-level competence actually looks like.

The exam is now less about memorization and more about application.Fewer trivia questions. More “what would you do with this athlete, in this context?” This is GREAT for coaches with an exercise science background and plenty of in the trenches experience. It's difficult for the textbook jockeys who want the letters without the sweat, or the coaches without a formal exercise science background.

Some big themes I’m seeing in the new DCO:

Nutrition questions dropped, but the remaining ones are more applied and performance-focused
Exercise technique matters, but program design and decision-making matter more
Coaches are expected to explain why they do things, not just spot bad lifts
Research literacy is now a real requirement
Mental health and athlete well-being are being addressed
Data collection is secondary to data implementation

The bottom line is that the exam is moving away from “can you recall this?” and toward “can you actually coach?”

Curious how others see it—does this better reflect the real job of a strength coach, or does it raise the bar too high for entry-level candidates?

Here is a link to the CSCS handbook in case you want to read the DCO for yourself.

I had no idea the DCO had changed!

I knew this already through other means (social media, NSCA emails)

I had no idea what a DCO was until now.

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