Assessing the body’s readiness for exercise and training

1. Assessing the body’s readiness for exercise and training

2. Health screening • An essential part of the fitness testing and training process for both sport and general exercise • Always advisable, before embarking on a new exercise regime, that you get checked out by a GP. • Some form of initial assessment also allows progress to be monitored. • Health and fitness professionals are also able to monitor subjects’ physiological response to physical activity and therefore recommend specific effort levels based on heart rate, which can then be monitored during exercise.

3. Monitoring heart rate during exercise

4. Typical health screening measurements • Body mass index (BMI) • Blood pressure • Resting heart rate • Cholesterol levels • Glucose & iron levels • Hydration • flexibility

5. Heart rate When screening heart rate it is important to remember that various factors can affect it: • Stress, • Illness • Time of day • Caffeine • Food • Alcohol • Altitude • Temperature • Cardiac drift

6. Manually taking heart rate • Usually taken at wrist (radial) or neck (carotid) artery • Use index and middle finger (not thumb) • Get figure for 60 secs • Normal resting rate ranges between 40 – 100 • Avge for adult male is 72

7. Blood pressure • Usually taken with sphygmomanometer • Patient at rest, left arm, elbow level with heart • Cuff attached, pressure raised to 180mm of mercury (mm hg) • Stethoscope placed over brachial artery in the cubital fossa • Pressure released at rate of approx 2mm per sec • Systolic and diastolic recorded • Normal blood pressure for men and women 120 /80 • Common for BP to increase in stressful conditions • High blood pressure should be referred to GP

8. Health and safety Basic checks before a testing session: • Check equipment is working properly • Check safety equipment such as first aid kits • Allow for adequate warm up

9. Health and safety • Maximal endurance testing of elderly and special populations should only be undertaken after medical clearance has been given. • Medical assistance should be close at hand, and adequate resuscitation equipment should be available nearby. • Any person older than 35, particularly if overweight, or with a history of high blood pressure and heart disease, should consult a GP before undertaking any vigorous testing. • All participants who are not accustomed to exercise should complete a physical readiness questionnaire and be adequately health screened.

10. The testing process • Identify what is to be measured. • Select a suitable test. • Collect data. • Analyse data. • Make decisions about an exercise or fitness programme. • Implement the programme

11. Using the results/data As well as using test results/data to create an appropriate training/exercise programme, you can also: • Predict future performance/fitness levels • Indicate weaknesses • Measure improvement • Enable you to assess the success of training • Motivate the person

12. Make sure the test selected is valid and appropriate to the person being tested • Specific – designed to assess a participant’s fitness for the activity/purpose. • Valid – it tests what it is supposed to test. • Reliable – can the test be run in the same way again to achieve consistency. • Objective – produce a consistent result irrespective of the tester.

13. When conducting the test • Each test should measure one factor only • Keep the test simple – no technical competence required • participant should understand what is required, what is being measured and why it is being measured. • Test procedure should be strictly standardised to ensure consistency

14. Test reliability may be impeded by • Physical state (amount of sleep) of participant prior to rest • Participant’s emotional state/level of motivation • Accuracy of measurements (times, distances, etc) • Temperature, noise and humidity • Time of day and caffeine intake • Other people present • The skill of the tester