The ACE Mover Method and ABC Approach for the CPT Exam: Stages of Change, OARS and GROW

What the ACE Mover Method says, in ACE's terms

ACE's Mover Method page describes it as a philosophy: healthy lifestyle change starts with empowering clients on a personalized journey toward self-efficacy, while the professional practices empathy and trust, communication and collaboration. ACE says the method combines motivational interviewing, active listening and other behavior-change strategies, and that it's built into the ACE Personal Trainer study program.

Its starting premise answers a question that turns up in searches: in the Mover Method, who is the expert on the client? The client. ACE says a client-centered approach means believing that individuals are the foremost experts on themselves, and that open-ended questions and active listening should anchor every conversation. ACE's Certified article Revisiting MI makes the same point about motivational interviewing: the professional follows the client's lead as the expert in their own life, instead of falling back on a model where the coach tells the client what to do.

The published ACE IFT Model guide introduces the ABC steps in three lines. This guide is the full version.

The ABC Approach, step by step

ACE's article Implementing the ACE Mover Method Using the ACE ABC Approach names the three steps, and the Mover Method page describes what each is for:

Two habits make the ABC Approach easier to recognize in a question:

• The next step is often a question. When a scenario stops at "what should the trainer do next?" and the client hasn't yet said what they want or what stands in the way, the ACE-consistent answer is usually to ask, not to prescribe.
• The client sets the goal. In step C the goal comes out of collaboration. An option where the trainer simply hands the client a goal, however sensible, skips the collaboration ACE describes.

ABC Approach scenarios are among the planned ACE CPT practice questions for exactly that kind of decision.

Where behavior change appears in the ACE CPT outline

Behavior change isn't confined to one domain. The ACE Personal Trainer Exam Content Outline names it in all four:

The Domain I guide covers ACE's Readiness to Change Questionnaire, and the Domain III guide covers self-efficacy and lapses.

ACE's five stages of change and the coaching move for each

ACE uses the transtheoretical model (TTM) to match coaching to a client's readiness. The stage definitions and strategies below come from ACE's exam prep post Applying the Transtheoretical Model:

ACE Answers adds two practical points. Most people who book a session with a trainer are at least in preparation, but someone sent by a doctor or a loved one may still be in precontemplation or contemplation. And a quick check is to ask the client to rate their readiness on a scale of 1 to 10: an answer below 4 most likely means precontemplation. Transtheoretical stages are planned as ACE CPT flashcards for quick recall of these definitions.

OARS: the four motivational interviewing skills

ACE's Certified article on motivational interviewing calls OARS its four key skills, and ACE's article 5 Steps to Build Behavior Change Principles Into Your Work describes each one briefly. Passy's example lines below follow one fictional client, Jordan, who says the week was hectic but he made two of three sessions.

The distinction ACE draws between an affirmation and praise is a likely exam trap. "Great job!" is praise. An affirmation names something specific the client did, so the client sees the strength for themselves.

GROW, SMART goals and process goals

ACE's Certified article 6 Practical Steps to Incorporating Health Coaching describes the GROW model as a goal-setting framework built on open-ended questions. In ACE's words, GROW "stands for goal, reality, options and will":

1. Goal. Establish a behavior-change (or process) goal, uncover the client's "why," and gauge their stage of change. ACE's sample questions ask what the client wants to achieve and why it matters.
2. Reality. Explore the client's current situation and what may affect the goal, such as what steps they've already taken and what's happening in their life.
3. Options. Brainstorm ways to reach the goal and the stumbling blocks to expect, including what has worked before.
4. Will. Turn the options into specific action plans, with questions such as what the client will do now and how they'll move forward.

The outline expands SMART as specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-bound, and it also lists process and outcome goals. The difference matters in questions: "lose 10 pounds by June" is an outcome goal, while "walk 30 minutes on four days each week" is a process goal, a behavior the client controls. ACE's GROW description starts from exactly that kind of behavior-change goal.

Three more theories the outline names

ACE's March 2025 Certified article Beyond the Workout explains three of the models the outline lists:

• Health belief model. A person's beliefs about an illness, its prevention and its treatment shape their health decisions. ACE names four variables: perceived susceptibility, perceived seriousness, perceived benefits of changing and perceived barriers to changing. ACE says the model is most useful early, while a client is still weighing the pros and cons.
• Self-determination theory. Motivation ranges from controlled (acting because of outside pressure) to autonomous (acting because you want to). ACE suggests moving clients toward the autonomous end by respecting their choices, involving them in goal setting and program design (autonomy), offering appropriately challenging exercises with consistent positive feedback (competence), and encouraging camaraderie and social support (relatedness).
• Decisional balance. Part of the TTM: weighing the pros and cons of becoming or staying active. ACE says helping clients uncover more pros helps them progress through the stages, and ACE Answers includes a free Decisional Balance Worksheet among its forms.

The same article describes self-efficacy as circular and task-specific, with past performance as perhaps its most important source.

If you're also comparing NASM's treatment of these models, the NASM CPT behavior change guide covers NASM's version.

Two Passy practice questions on the Mover Method

These were written by Passy for practice. They are not ACE exam or practice-test items.

1. A prospective client says, "I know I should be exercising, and I'm thinking about starting sometime in the next few months, but I'm not sure I can find the time." Which stage of change best fits?

• A. Precontemplation
• B. Contemplation
• C. Preparation
• D. Action

Keyed answer: B. ACE defines contemplation as planning to start within six months while still ambivalent, which matches "the next few months" plus "not sure." Precontemplation would mean no intention to change within six months. Preparation means ready to act within 30 days, usually with small steps already taken. Action means the change has already started.

2. Partway through a first consultation, after the client has described her goal, the trainer asks, "What has made it hard to stick with exercise in the past?" Which step of ACE's ABC Approach is this?

• A. Ask open-ended questions
• B. Break down barriers
• C. Collaborate on SMART goals
• D. Affirm the client's strengths

Keyed answer: B. ACE describes step B as probing questions that uncover obstacles to the client's goals, which is what this question does. It is phrased as an open-ended question, which makes A tempting, but in the ABC Approach the A step is about learning what the client hopes to accomplish, and she has already said that. C comes later, when goals and action steps are set together. D is one of the OARS skills, not an ABC step.

Your next step with the ACE Mover Method

Try the ABC Approach on a friend: three open-ended questions about what they want, two probing questions about what gets in the way, and one SMART goal you set together. Then write one affirmation and one reflection from what they said, and check them against the OARS table. When you practice, look at why each coaching option is wrong, not just which one is right: every planned ACE CPT answer comes with an explanation, including the coaching-style distractors.