The NASM CPT7 Study Guide emphasizes progression and regression strategies to match exercises to a client’s current ability, ensuring proper form, safety, and confidence building. When a client struggles with a push-up on a stability ball, it typically means the instability challenge is too high, making it difficult to maintain core control and upper body strength simultaneously. NASM explains that regression “reduces the complexity or intensity of an exercise to allow the client to perform the movement pattern with proper alignment and control”.
Performing a floor push-up provides a more stable surface, reduces instability demands, and allows the client to focus on proper alignment (neutral spine, controlled tempo, full range of motion). Once they master this, the trainer can gradually progress back to unstable surfaces for additional core activation.
By contrast, elevating the feet increases difficulty, plyometric push-ups add explosive demands, and switching to a medicine ball chest pass changes the exercise entirely from a stability strength movement to a power drill. Therefore, the correct regression in this scenario—aligned with NASM’s progressive training principles—is to move the client to a floor push-up before reintroducing instability.
