Exercise Program Design and Prescription
What this domain tests
Applying the FITT-VP framework to cardiorespiratory, resistance, flexibility, and neuromotor training, and choosing safe progression for different fitness levels and goals.
Core rules and concepts
- FITT-VP: Frequency, Intensity, Time, Type, Volume, Progression.
- Aerobic: 150–300 minutes per week of moderate or 75–150 minutes of vigorous activity (or a combination) for general health; 3–5 days per week, continuous or accumulated in bouts.
- Intensity anchors: %HRR or %HRmax, RPE 11–13 (moderate) and 14–17 (vigorous), the talk test, and METs.
- Resistance: 2–3 nonconsecutive days per week; 8–10 exercises covering major muscle groups; 2–4 sets of 8–12 repetitions at roughly 60–70% 1RM for novice-to-intermediate clients; allow about 48 hours before repeating the same muscle group.
- Flexibility: 2–3 or more days per week; static stretches held 10–30 seconds (up to 60), 2–4 repetitions, to the point of tightness rather than pain.
- Progression: change one variable at a time; add roughly 5–10 minutes per week of aerobic time, or 5–10% of volume every 1–2 weeks. Begin with a 2–4 week initial conditioning stage.
- Underlying principles: specificity, overload, reversibility, individualization.
Worked example
A sedentary 55-year-old wants to "get fit." Weeks 1–2: three sessions of 15–20 minutes at 40–50% HRR (RPE 11–12), plus two days of one set of 10 repetitions across six machine exercises, and daily light stretching. At week 3, add 5 minutes per session - not intensity. By week 8, sessions reach 30 minutes at 50–65% HRR with two sets. Because only one variable changes at a time, new knee pain can be traced to a specific cause.
Traps that cost marks
Raising frequency, intensity, and duration simultaneously; prescribing only aerobic work; assigning 1RM percentages to beginners before technique is established; replacing the warm-up with static stretching; omitting the cool-down; ignoring reversibility when a client stops training.