Paper Example on Personal Fitness Assessment

Introduction

Personal fitness training is a huge responsibility that aims at aiding athletes and clients in their quest to achieve healthy exercise regimens and achieve various personal and career objectives. The personal trainer is the most important part of a private training relationship seeing as no progress can be made in achieving the clients' objectives without their input. Moreover, the progress that can be made during the training regimens can only be as remarkable as the skills, effort, and professionalism the personal trainer puts into the endeavor.

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My final project client will be my 21 years old daughter. Her intention for getting into an exercise is to build muscle with the intention of running a half marathon that is scheduled for November. Otherwise, my client is fit and her vitals, including heartbeat rate, BMI, and flexibility are stable. The objectives of my client, to build her body muscle for athletics, places a greater responsibility on me to become fit before I can embark on helping my daughter achieve her goal.

Client's Fitness Profile

Comments: Needs improvement in cardiovascular, cardiorespiratory, and muscular endurance to participate in a half marathon

Background on your Current Client (YOU)

The fitness exercise is as much for me as for my client because, in a way, I need to work towards fitness more than my daughter who is actually rather fit. I am a forty-three years old mother weighing 160 lbs. and five feet five inches tall. Calculating for Body Mass Index (BMI) from these measurements, I score 26.6, an index that shows that I am overweight and need to lose at least 11 pounds. My intention is to lose as much as 24 pounds to be comfortably in the normal weight class for a person of my height. At 73 beats per minute, my resting heart rate is just average whereas I am required to have it in excellent condition as a personal trainer. This means that I need to get it down to between 62-65 to be considered fit (Harvard Medical School, 2014).

Another medical condition that somewhat complicates my journey towards physical fitness is a recent L5 S1 fusion I recently had after some period of backbone pains. Because of these hurdles, m y running is no longer what it used to be. The extra pounds I have gained are enough testaments to my continued falling out of shape. Among others, I am currently incapable of doing single leg squats, do bends and twists, or lift more than ten pounds. When I attempt to do my squat tests, my feet roll inwards. These are the shortcomings to my fitness, which I am hoping to overcome and get back to running my previous distance of five kilometers and build muscles. In my planned exercise regime, the benefits on health will be on both my daughter and I, with the responsibility of achieving our set objectives being greater on me as the trainer.

Therefore, to achieve fitness, I will start with the leg squats, the bends and the twists, and the lifting of weights to bring my body back to pliant flexibility. These exercises will be accompanied by jogging for a few kilometers every day, and where possible, I intend to incorporate walking in the course of the day. Elmagd (2016) supports the active lifestyle method of exercising, positing that regularly partaking in physically exerting activities ensures health, restores energy, ensures fitness, and builds vitality that is vital for athletes. According to the Harvard Medicine School (2014), slipping exercises such as side leg lifts, stretches, side planks, among others into the day is more effective in the long run than just exercising during the morning or evening exercising session as many people are accustomed to doing.

The expected final results from this integrated exercise regime is that by the time November comes around an d my daughter is due to run in the half marathon she will be well prepared physically. In the near future, the expectation are on me to regain my fitness and be in the right physical frame to endure the physical rigors of a professional trainer.

Client's Fitness Profile

Comments: I need major improvements in all areas to be effective as a personal trainer.

Objective Information

This section presents the accurate list of activities in which I will need to be engaged in during the process of restoring my physical fitness and training my daughter for her marathon.

Lose at least twenty-four pounds to achieve the optimal BMI for a person of my height.

Achieve the National Academy of Sports Medicine expectation of my feet turning out, not inwards, while doing my squats.

Perform single leg squats without any difficulties or undue strains on my calves.

Bend and twist without undue strain to the spine.

Integrate passive exercises such leg lifts, stretches, and lift such small weights such as water bottles and any other weights that can be incorporated into the day's activities.

Run at least five kilometers a day and walk for twice that distance

My exercise regimen is meant to revert me to optimal physical fitness and allow me to perform my duties as a personal trainer competently. The types of exercises that I will engage in will include aerobics to improve by heart rate, the running will be for building strength and helping me develop some muscles, and flexibility, which is to mitigate my abysmal performance in squats, bends, and twists. Flexibility will also be good for my recently repaired L5 S1 (Elmagd, 2016).

For my client, endurance exercises will be the main objective of the exercises. Participating in a half marathon requires tenacity of muscle and requires close coordination between lungs, heart, and muscles. Therefore, aerobics will be mixed up with common athlete's exercise regimens to make the exercises more exciting and ensure no injuries could possibly get in the way of my daughter participating in the half marathon. To avoid injury, I will be adhering to the guidelines set by the National Academy of Sports Medicine. One area that will require extra focus in training my client will be preventing falls during the marathon. My client is highly susceptible to falls. I intend to integrate heel-to-toe walking and basic Tai Chi into her exercise regime to boost her balance.

Cardiorespiratory Assessment

Cardiorespiratory fitness is one of the most important markers of physical fitness. It denotes a good heart-lungs working relationship and allows for the pumping of oxygenated blood through the muscles (Reiner, Niermann, Jekauc & Woll, 2013). The high intensity nature of exercise and physically exerting activities such as running requires a higher volume of oxygenated blood in the arteries, which in turn requires for more oxygen to be pumped through the lungs to meet the body's demand for the same. Physically exerting activities, such as running a marathon, places more demands on the body to supply more oxygen for use in powering the muscles into activity.

My client will need cardio exercises as much as she will need endurance and muscle building exercises. I intend to incorporate the two types of exercises together during the training period by using breathing while squatting, stretching, and jogging. Modulating the client's breathing at different steps of the marathon will give her not just a better chance of completing it, but also a chance of winning it. My intended strategy is to start strong and invigorate the muscles into a medium-speed start then settle back on a consistent speed that allows the muscles to relax into the pace while not losing my client her place as a contender in the half marathon. The breathing is to follow a similar pattern; a burst of energy requiring much oxygen while she is fresh and relaxed to give her a sizeable head start, followed by regulated breathing during the course of the race. Finally, a burst of speed, starting slowly and building gradually, will power my client through the finish line. According to Elmagd (2016), this strategy is most effective in running long races because it infuses an element of speed into the run without needlessly tiring the runners. The runner's accumulated momentum in the middle of the race powers them towards the end in a natural culmination of a powerful reserve of latent energy.

Postural and Movement Assessment (Perform and List Results)

Posture affects the dispersion of energy and the amount of resistance the environment exerts on a body in motion. During running, the wind factor is as great a determinant of speed as personal abilities and preparation. According to Harvard Medical School (2014), bodily movement influences how the body expends energy and ultimately determines physical capabilities. Posture and movement should be closely monitored to ensure that a runner uses a strategy that is best suited to their posture. As my daughter's personal trainer, I have the advantage of knowing her for twenty one years, a harvest of insight that will make it easier for me to coach her, now as my client, on how she should run to maximize energy and oxygen effectiveness and minimize on wastage and air resistance.

Performance Assessments

The one supreme requirement for exercise is that it should broaden our understanding of our bodies and increase our awareness of our bodies' capabilities (Reiner et al., 2013). In this case, I am interested in discovering my body's limit in terms of rigorous exercise as well as the amount of weight that I can maintain with a strict exercise regime. For my client, the aim is to get her strong enough, physically and cardiorespiratory, by her November half marathon.

Personally, one of my most important performance assessments will be on lowing weight to achieve a normal BMI, lowering my heart rate to normal ranges, and doing all the squats, twists, bends, and other movements comfortably.

Assessments are important because they allow us to measure the progress and gauge the possibility of achieving our objective within the set time.

Reference

Elmagd, M. A. (2016). Benefits, need, and importance of daily exercise. International Journal of Physical Education, Sports, and Health, 3(5), 22-27

Reiner, M., Niermann, C., Jekauc, D. & Woll, A. (2013). Long-term health benefits of physical activity - a systematic review of longitudinal studies. BMC Public Health, 13(813), 1-9

Harvard Medical School (2014). Healthy mind, healthy body: Benefits of exercise. Boston: The Longwood Seminars, Harvard University Press