Client Consultation and Assessment
What this domain really tests
Consultation and assessment questions ask you to choose what to measure, in what order, and how to interpret the result. The defensible sequence is: informed consent, then a health-history screen (PAR-Q+, medications, personal and family history, current activity), then risk classification and medical clearance, then resting measures (heart rate, blood pressure, height, weight, BMI, waist girth), then fitness testing, then interpretation and goal setting.
Concepts to own
- Health-related fitness components (cardiorespiratory endurance, muscular strength, muscular endurance, flexibility, body composition) versus skill-related components (power, speed, agility, balance, coordination, reaction time).
- Behavioral readiness: stages of change, self-efficacy, decisional balance, and SMART goal writing.
- Field tests: submaximal cycle test, one-mile walk, 1.5-mile run, YMCA bench press, one-minute push-up or partial curl-up, sit-and-reach, skinfolds, bioelectrical impedance.
- Heart-rate math: HRmax = 220 minus age; heart-rate reserve = HRmax minus resting HR.
Traps
- Applying BMI or fat norms to a muscular client and labeling them overfat; use circumference and trend data too.
- Getting testing order wrong. Resting heart rate, blood pressure, and body composition come before exercise, and the most fatiguing test comes last.
- Treating a submaximal estimate as a measured VO2max.
- Continuing a test when a client reports chest pain, dizziness, or unusual breathlessness. You stop.
Worked rule of thumb
Karvonen: target HR = ((HRmax minus resting HR) x intensity) + resting HR. A 40-year-old with a resting HR of 70 training at 70 percent: HRmax 180, reserve 110, 110 x 0.70 = 77, plus 70 = 147 beats per minute.