Beginning an activity program for health can be overwhelming

What exercises should your client be doing?
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How much?

How often?

How hard?
With proper planning, you can set up a complete activity program to help your client
reach their goals,
Planning things out will help your client stick with the program for the long term.
Below are the steps needed to set up a good solid routine:

Assess lifestyle

Before starting check with the doctor or complete a PAR-Q questionnaire (any issues you as a
trainer should be aware of)
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Equipping your client with the right clothing
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Health related fitness tests
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Set goals
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Set a timeframe for your client’s goals
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Figure out how to meet your client’s goals with an activity program
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Structure your client’s program
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Maintain your client’s program
Choosing the right fitness clothing and equipment is
important for your exercise pleasure. Here are some general
guidelines about deciding what to wear:
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Think comfort.
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Protect yourself.
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Wear the right shoes for your activity.
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Be safe.
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Be picky about your workout socks.
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Choose clothes to fit your activity.
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You can give basic guidance to your client as it is crucial to ensure your client is
comfortable and prepared
The purpose of health related fitness tests are (ACSM
guidelines):
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Educating clients
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Provide data that are helpful in the development of
activity programmes

Collecting baseline and follow data that allow for the
evaluation of progress

Motivation

Establish cardiovascular risk factors
Information obtained is used in combination with your
lifestyle assessment to design an individual,
achievable, reliable, valid activity programme.
Simple answer is those tests that are
Tests to be administered & order of
relevant to your client and that are safe
testing:
to perform in the environment in which
You work.
Testing preparation:
•
•
Ensure you are prepared (calibrate
equipment, prepare recording sheets)
Organise equipment in the order you wish to
test
•
Provide/prepare informed consent forms
•
Maintain room temperature

Blood Pressure

Resting Heart Rate

Height

Weight

Waist Circumference
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Body composition
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Skinfold
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Bioelectrical Impedance
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Underwater weighing
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Circumferences
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Hip to waist ratio
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Bod Pod
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DEXA
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BMI
Cardio-respiratory endurance test (type of
test relevant & specific to your client)
•
Step tests
•
Field Tests
•
Cycle tests
•
Treadmill tests (motorized and nonmotorized)
•
Tests can be maximal or sub-maximal
Muscular-endurance test
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Push up test
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Curl up test
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Squat test
Flexibility test
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Sit and Reach
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Goniometric measures of isolated joints
Tests should be carried every 4-6 weeks to check for improvements and allow for
changes or improvements in the activity plan!
Now you have your client’s lifestyle data and fitness data together you
can discuss and identify short and long-term goals.
Goals will help both you and the client focus on the activity programmes.
This focus will help you choose activity appropriate to you.
During this time it would also be good to answer the following questions:
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What activities do you like?
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What is your daily/weekly schedule like?
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Where could you fit activity into your day/week?
Sports Training Principles: Training to improve an performance & health obeys the
principles of training: specificity, overload, recovery, adaptation and
reversibility.
Training Principle
Definition
Frequency
The number of times that the person is exposed to the stimulus.
Intensity
Training intensity is prescribed at an appropriate percentage of the person’s functional capacity and based on the demands of the
game, in order to produce a positive training effect.
Volume
Training volume refers to the total quantity of work performed.
Overload
The biological system, or part thereof, will only adapt to a training stimulus if the prescribed training load stresses it beyond its
present capacity.
Specificity
Training is based on a needs analysis of the activity or goals and in relation to sport replicates the physiological demands of that
specific sport.
Recovery
Recovery periods within and between training sessions are prescribed in accordance with the energy systems restoration and
performance characteristics.
Individuality
The programme is designed on individual strengths and weaknesses & goals of the person.
Some people prefer to use these four principles of fitness training as they are applicable to
individuals exercising at low to moderate training levels and may be used to establish
guidelines for both cardiorespiratory and resistance training.
The FITT principle is used to guide the development of unique and bespoke fitness
plans that cater for an individual's specific needs:
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Frequency – number of times per week
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Intensity – how hard you work
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Timing – when you do it
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Type – type of exercise (cardiorespiratory or weight training)
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Perhaps the most important principle of training (that ironically doesn't have it's own letter
in the FITT principle) is rest.
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Exercising too frequently and too intensely hinders the body's ability to recover and adapt.
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As a rule of thumb, the harder you train, the more recovery you should allow for!
The decision as to the types of activities to have in your
programme will depend upon the following:

Training principles

Health & fitness of the individual
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Likes & dislikes of the individual
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Amount of free time to dedicate to the programme
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Injuries

Equipment/facilities available

Goals – a health related programme might have different types and
intensity of activities in comparison to a sports related programme.
Week
1
Sat
Sun
Mon
Day of the Week
Tues
1 x 30-minute walk
1 x 30-minute walk
Rest
1 x 30-minute walk
Wed
Thurs
Fri
1 x 30-minute interval session
Rest
1 x 30-minute walk
Additional information
Interval session
One of your 30-minute walks this week should be an interval session. Interval training is highly effective for improving fitness and is used by elite athletes. Here's how to do it:


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To warm up, walk at a comfortable pace for five minutes.
Walk fast for two minutes, then slow for two minutes. Complete this cycle five times.
Finish by walking comfortably for five minutes to cool down.
The fast bouts should be at a pace at which you can only get out the odd 'yes' or 'no', rather than hold a full-scale conversation. The slower sections should be at a pace that allows you to recover for the next
speedier bit.
2
1 x 30-minute interval
session
1 x 30-minute walk The Superman
exercise – core
stability
1 x 30-minute walk
Rest
The Superman
exercise – core
stability
Rest
1 x 30-minute interval
session
The Superman
exercise – core
stability
1 x 30-minute walk
Additional Information
Increasing pace
As your walking speed increases, don't increase the length of your stride. Instead, step more quickly and focus on the part of the stride where your leg is behind your body, as this is what powers you
forward. Use your arms to help propel you along, but keep your shoulders relaxed.Rate of perceived exertionA good way to gauge the intensity of your walks, and specifically your interval training, is to use
what is known as the rate of perceived exertion (RPE). This is a scale of one to ten, where one represents sitting on the sofa doing nothing and ten is flat-out running. For the comfortable-paced walking,
you're looking for an RPE of around four; for the harder bouts, you should be closer to seven.
3
1 x 30-minute walk
The Superman
exercise – core
stability
1 x 30-minute interval
session
The stair push up
Rest
The Superman
exercise – core
stability
1 x 30-minute walk
The stair push up
1 x 30-minute interval
session
The Superman
exercise – core
stability
Rest
1 x one-hour walk
The stair push up
The Superman
exercise – core
stability
Additional InformationYour week
Your aim this week is to add 30 minutes to one of your three steady-paced walks to make it an hour-long session. You should also increase the length of the 'fast' sections of your two interval sessions from
two minutes to three. Here's how to do it:


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Warm up with a steady-paced walk for five minutes.
Walk fast for three minutes and slow for two. Do this cycle four times in total.
Cool down with a steady-paced walk for five minutes.
Your 6 week planner could look something like this (the activities are dependent on the client!) you could also ask clients to work at
specific heart rate intensities, complete a certain number of steps and so on…..
Monitoring exercise intensity allows an individual to ensure they are working
at the appropriate level to reach their goal(s)
There are a number for ways to measure exercise intensity these include:

Heart rate monitor

Pedometer

Rating of perceived exertion
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Oxygen uptake
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Accelerometer (worn on the writ or the hip to measure activity)

GPS – new system to track physical activity/intensity
The last 2 listed do not give immediate reading on intensity so might be useful for research rather
than used in an intervention!
Intensity is a key training principle
HR maximum

Measured after maximal test

Or can be estimated from the equation:

Maximum heart rate = 220 – age
Therefore, for a 20 year old rugby player:
Maximum heart rate = 220 – age
= 220 – 20
= 200 beats per minute
Calculating the heart rate for a 20 year old player training at 75% of maximum heart rate:
Training intensity = (75/100) x (220 – age)
= 0.75 x 200
= 150 beats per minute