Fitness Assessment and Exercise Prescription
What to know
Test order and preparation. Resting HR and BP first, then body composition, cardiorespiratory tests, muscular fitness, and flexibility last. Ask clients to avoid caffeine, alcohol, heavy meals (2–3 h), and vigorous exercise before testing.
Heart rate methods. Tanaka's 208 − (0.7 × age) is more accurate than 220 − age, which carries a standard deviation of roughly ±10–12 bpm. The heart-rate reserve (Karvonen) method is preferred: THR = [(HRmax − HRrest) × intensity] + HRrest. Moderate intensity is about 40–59% HRR (~64–76% HRmax); vigorous is 60–89% HRR (~77–95% HRmax).
FITT-VP. Aerobic: 3–5 d/wk, 30–60 min moderate, or accumulated 150 min/wk moderate / 75 min vigorous. Resistance: 2–3 d/wk, 8–10 exercises, 2–4 sets of 8–12 reps, 48 h between sessions for the same muscle group. Flexibility: 2–3 d/wk, holds of 10–30 s, 2–4 repetitions. Neuromotor training: 2–3 d/wk.
Field measures. YMCA step test, 1.5-mile run, 6-minute walk (older or deconditioned adults), push-up and partial curl-up, sit-and-reach. 1-RM testing requires a warm-up, 3–5 min rest between attempts, and a maximum reached within about four attempts; roughly 70% 1RM ≈ 10–12 reps and 80% ≈ 8 reps, but conversions are approximate and exercise-specific.
Traps
- Treating 220 − age as a precise individual value.
- Substituting %HRmax for %HRR without adjusting (they yield very different targets).
- Extending a rep-max table across exercises or populations.
Rule of thumb
Worked example: HRrest 70, age 40 → HRmax ≈ 208 − 28 = 180. A 50% HRR target = (180 − 70) × 0.50 + 70 = 125 bpm. Fifty percent of HRmax would be only 90 bpm - proof the two methods are not interchangeable.