If you are new to exercise or are coming back from a long period of inactivity, there are things you should do to make sure that your exercise program is effective and brings benefits, not injury or pain.
Pre-exercise screening
Pre-exercise screening is used to identify people with medical conditions that may put them at a higher risk of experiencing a health problem during physical activity. It is a filter or ‘safety net’ to help decide if the potential benefits of exercise outweigh the risks for you, and whether you require referral to a GP or allied health professional prior to undertaking physical activity. Print a copy of the adult pre-exercise screening tool and discuss it with your doctor or exercise professional.
You may need to visit your doctor before starting physical activity
If you answer ‘yes’ to some of the questions from the adult pre-exercising screening tool, see a doctor before starting physical activity. These questions include:
- Has your doctor ever told you that you have a heart condition or have you ever suffered a stroke?
- Do you ever experience unexplained pains in your chest at rest or during physical activity and exercise?
- Do you ever feel faint or have spells of dizziness during physical activity and exercise that causes you to lose balance?
- Have you had an asthma attack requiring immediate medical attention at any time over the last 12 months?
- If you have diabetes (type I or type II), have you had trouble controlling your blood glucose in the last three months?
- Do you have any diagnosed muscle, bone or joint problems that you have been told could be made worse by participating in physical activity or exercise?
- Do you have any other medical condition(s) that may make it dangerous for you to participate in physical activity or exercise?
Setting goals for physical activity
Setting goals gives you something to work towards and provides you with a way to measure how well you are doing over a period of time. When it comes to succeeding at your exercise program, setting goals and monitoring your progress will help you stay on track and get you to where you want to go.
One of the first steps is to identify why your health is important to you. Ask yourself what you want to get out of becoming more active. Think about the benefits you want to experience if you choose to be more active, as well as the barriers that are holding you back. It may be helpful to make a list of the pros and cons. Which barriers do you feel strongest about? What are the benefits that you want to experience?
Start physical activity gently
If you are currently inactive or feel your fitness level is low, it is highly recommended that you consult a health or exercise professional before commencing activity. Otherwise, start gently with a short session of an activity that you feel you can manage. Build your confidence and fitness level with a number of short sessions.
Exercise progression is unique to every person, so if you have not exercised for some time, progress slowly. Increase the length and the intensity of your exercise session gradually. Don’t push yourself straight away. Injury or discomfort can occur and this may reduce your motivation levels.
Stretching, warming up and cooling down
As the name suggests, the warm-up is designed to increase your body’s internal temperature and warm your muscles to prevent muscle strains and joint sprains. The best way is to start off at a leisurely pace, and then pick up speed. Usually a 5 to 10-minute warm-up is all you'll need, but this will vary from person to person and if the weather is cold.
Start with light aerobic exercise such as walking, cycling or rowing – you can do these easily using the exercise machines at the gym, but if you are at home, here is another five-minute warm-up suggestion – and a few dynamic stretches.
Dynamic stretching involves slow, repetitive, controlled movements through the full range of motion, performing movements you will be using in your chosen physical activity. You can start slower, and with a smaller range of motion, and increase speed and range of motion gradually.
For the last five minutes of your exercise, slow down and allow your body to cool down gradually, letting your heart rate and breathing rate come back to normal.
Stretching suggestions
Stretching should be part of your warm-up and cool-down routines. Stretching can help prepare your body and mind for exercise. Recent research suggests that including dynamic stretching in your warm up, which focuses on the muscles you are about to use, is probably best.
Wear comfortable clothes and shoes for physical activity
Make sure you have comfortable clothing, a suitable pair of shoes and water (as well as sunscreen and a hat if you are outside). Your shoes should provide good support and the best type will depend on the activity you are doing. The wrong type of shoe may cause foot pain or blisters.
Getting the technique right for your chosen physical activity
If you are trying something new, or getting back into an activity you have not done for a while, it might pay to get some coaching or expert instruction. Depending on the activity, incorrect or poor technique may lead to injury or soreness.
Where to get help
Self-assessment and reflection activities allow students to assess and evaluate their performance at any point in the course.
Why implement?
Self-directed learning
Self-assessment and reflection activities help promote self-directed learning throughout the course. Before a lesson, self-assessment and reflection help students activate prior knowledge. During a lesson, these activities help students contextualize and identify deeper connections to the content. After a lesson or activity, self-assessments and reflections give students tools to evaluate their strengths and weaknesses.
Monitoring progress
These activities help students evaluate and make judgments on their understanding and contributions while monitoring their progress. Instructors can gather evidence of student progress and identify strategies and resources to share with students that will support them in the learning process.
Strategies for high enrollment courses
Quizzes and surveys can be utilized to create self-assessments or reflections before, during, or after a lesson. Instructors can add automated answer comments under each answer to give instant feedback. Instructors can also monitor progress in SpeedGrader and by using Quiz or Survey Statistics.
Utilizing rubrics can help expedite and streamline grading for reflection activities.
Who’s using it at University of florida?
Amie Imler and Kyle Mendes, ANS3006L: Intro to Animal Sciences, Enrollment: 130
In each module, students are given a lab sheet that includes guiding questions to consider as they watch asynchronous lectures and complete readings. Lab sheets also include corresponding diagrams and fillable charts for students to track animal classifications and terms mentioned in the module materials. Students are instructed to utilize these lab sheets to self-assess and arrive to the synchronous/in-person session with questions or submit follow-up questions and/or reflections in a module survey. Synchronous and/or in-person sessions allow the instructor to review correct answers.
Lab sheets are provided as a tool to help students self-assess but are not submitted for an evaluative grade. Brief module surveys that ask students to share follow-up questions and/or reflections are graded as complete/incomplete.
References and Resources
Designing Effective Peer and Self-Assessment, CITT, University of Florida
Self-Assessment, Cornell University Center for Teaching Innovation
Image credit: UF Photo Gallery, Hannah Pietrick
Philly personal trainer Brian Maher explains why assessing your fitness is critical before delving into a training program.
Geber86/iStock.com
If you’re like most people who are inconsistent at the gym, you probably go weeks or even months at a time without working out. Even though your body and your fitness levels have changed during this time, it’s not uncommon to jump right back into an old workout routine knowing your body is assuredly different than it was during your last workout. But it’s of the utmost importance that you assess your fitness before beginning any fitness program.
Assessing your fitness may include checking your strength, endurance, flexibility, range of motion, and more. By checking these stats, you’ll be able to figure out where to start and where to go from there. Below, what you’ll get out of gauging your fitness before you attempt to get fit, plus how to do it.
• You’ll identify your starting point. You know where you want to end up and how you want to look and feel when you’ve accomplished your goal, but where are you starting from? Just saying “I’m out of shape” isn’t specific enough when determining what you need to work on. You need to zone in more: Can you run one mile or five miles? Can you do one push-up or 50 push-ups? It’s important to know this so you can gradually increase the intensity of your workouts, instead of starting with a workout that’s much too difficult to handle right now. Starting with the wrong intensity can be a waste of time, or worse, a recipe for injury.
• You’ll be aware of injuries, muscle tightness and muscle imbalances. It’s not always easy to tell when your body isn’t functioning correctly. An injury, like a torn rotator cuff, may be easily identifiable. But what if your range of motion in your right shoulder is not nearly as good as your left shoulder? A lack of range of motion or tightness may eventually lead to injury and more pain. If injured, it’s very difficult to work out with enough intensity to see the desired results you want.
Something else that may pop up while assessing your fitness is muscular imbalance. Muscular imbalance occurs when one muscle group is much stronger than its opposing muscle. For example, if you go to to the gym and work on push-ups and bench press — which work the muscles of the chest — but don’t work the upper back as much, you’re likely to have bad posture caused by muscular imbalance. Your bad posture might not affect your day-to-day gym routine right now, but it may eventually lead to a devastating injury. Muscular imbalances can affect the way you move, and over time, can cause injuries, so it’s very important to identify these issues before they cause injury.
• You’ll be able to use this information to tell how your fitness program is working later down the line. Let’s say you’ve done a fitness program for twelve weeks and you want to know if it worked or not. How do you know if it worked if you don’t know where you started? Some tests, like weight loss, will be easy to track because most people track that regularly. However, flexibility, body fat percentage, range of motion, and strength may not seem as obvious. By tracking all the areas of fitness from the start, you’ll know for sure if this program is working for you. Otherwise, you may be wasting your time with a program that’s leading to little or no results.
How to Assess Your Fitness
Of course, doing these tests is a waste of time if you don’t know how to do them properly. Some of the tests are more straightforward than others. Your cardio test might be assessing your resting heart rate, then reading your heart rate after you’ve walked for five minutes at a brisk speed. However, you may want to consult with a fitness professional to ensure you get accurate results for your assessments both before you begin and after your training program has completed.
Whether you use a fitness professional or do it yourself, make sure all the variables are controlled. Record what speed you walked while tracking your heart rate and walk the same speed for your reassessment. Make sure you didn’t have any caffeine in your system, which can affect your heart rate. An accurate assessment will help identify the right goals, help you catch injuries before they happen, and help you determine the effectiveness of your fitness program.
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Brian Maher is the owner of Philly Personal Training, a private personal training studio in the Rittenhouse Square area. He and his staff of personal trainers offer packages to busy individuals looking to make lifestyle changes by improving their overall fitness and wellness. Read all of Brian’s posts for Be Well Philly here.
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