Fitness Assessment and Program Design
Domain 6: Fitness Assessment and Program Design
This domain tests safe, valid testing and the FITT-VP principles used to build progressive programs. Expect questions on test order, reliability versus validity, and how to progress without overloading.
Core rules
- Screening comes first: health history, current activity, symptoms, and risk factors. Standardize temperature, time of day, equipment, and instructions.
- Validity is whether a test measures what it claims; reliability is consistency. A reliable test can still be invalid.
- Test order: resting measures and body composition, then cardiorespiratory fitness, muscular strength/endurance, and flexibility. Fatigue from earlier tests can distort later results.
- FITT-VP: frequency, intensity, time, type, volume, progression. General aerobic targets are 150 min/week moderate or 75 min/week vigorous, plus 2+ days/week resistance training.
- Intensity can be set by heart-rate reserve, percentage of maximal heart rate, RPE, or talk test. The 220-age formula has substantial individual error.
- Progression should change one variable at a time, usually 5–10% per week for beginners, with recovery weeks as needed.
Worked example
A sedentary 40-year-old begins walking. Starting point: 3 days/week, 20–30 min at 40–59% heart-rate reserve, RPE 11–13. After two weeks without soreness or symptoms, add 5–10 min to one session, not all variables at once. Add two full-body resistance sessions using 8–12 reps at moderate effort. Maximal testing is unnecessary at this stage; a submaximal test and RPE are safer.
Traps
Do not treat 220-age as exact. Do not confuse reliability with validity. Do not test 1RM before establishing technique and medical clearance. Progressing frequency, intensity, and volume simultaneously raises injury risk. Also, a program is not “individualized” merely because it has a chart.