Assessment and Client Screening
Assessment and Client Screening covers the front end of practice: deciding whether a client is safe to train, gathering intake and body-composition data that are actually usable, and estimating energy needs with defensible equations.
Screening and risk
- Use PAR-Q+ alongside a health-history form covering medications, supplements, allergies, injuries, pregnancy, and disordered-eating red flags.
- Screen for low energy availability and RED-S: persistent fatigue, recurrent injury, menstrual dysfunction, and weight concerns all warrant referral.
- Apply ACSM-style risk classification; clients with signs or symptoms of cardiovascular disease, or known disease, need medical clearance before vigorous exercise.
Dietary assessment
- A 24-hour recall is fast but unrepresentative and prone to recall bias.
- Food-frequency questionnaires capture habitual patterns but quantify portions poorly.
- Three- to seven-day food records improve validity; weighed records are the most precise and the most burdensome.
- Combine methods, include both training and rest days, and review records with the client rather than scoring them silently.
Body composition and energy needs
- BMI misclassifies muscular athletes. Skinfolds depend on technician skill; bioelectrical impedance shifts with hydration; DXA gives regional data but is affected by hydration and positioning.
- Mifflin–St Jeor RMR: men (10 × kg) + (6.25 × cm) − (5 × age) + 5; women subtract 161. Multiply by an activity factor of roughly 1.2–1.9.
Worked example
A 30-year-old woman, 60 kg and 165 cm: RMR = 600 + 1031 − 150 − 161 = 1320 kcal. With a moderate activity factor of 1.55, estimated maintenance is about 2046 kcal/day.
Traps that cost marks
- Labelling a lean, muscular athlete "overweight" from BMI alone.
- Treating one 24-hour recall as habitual intake.
- Forgetting that dehydration makes impedance read body fat low.