Classroom Publication

Every personal trainer has they're own contract stating their own rules, what they expect from their clients, and what their clients should expect from them. Each individual trainer can change up these contracts according to what they believe fits their training techniques effectively. But one thing that will always be the same for every trainer, is the initial assessment given when a client is just a potential client.

The initial assessment is an absolute necessity for many reasons. One reason being it gives the trainer a better sense of what that individual is capable of and how good their health really is at that time. But the main reason why an assessment is absolutely necessary is so that the trainer can learn about the clients health in a way so that the trainer does not push the boundaries of what that person can actually do. This can lead to an injury which can than lead to much more. Sometimes even resulting in a lawsuit.

Breaking down the assessment can be tricky for those who are unfamiliar to exercise and fitness. Here is a list of how every client assessment will go.

1) Blood Pressure: After the potential client has signed the contract and agreed to what the trainer has asked, they are given the assessment. The first step, just like any other doctors appointment is a blood pressure test. The blood pressure test will tell the trainer if the client has a healthy blood pressure or not. This is the first step because if the potential clients blood pressure is too high, the trainer can refuse to train them. When blood pressure is too high and mixed with too much exercise too fast it can lead to serious injury such as heart attack, stroke, or even death.

2) Weight, Height, BMI: Following the blood pressure test comes the measuring of weight, height and BMI. BMI stands for Body Mass Index and is a measure of body fat based upon a person's height and weight.

3) Sit and Reach: The sit and reach is the same exercise that your gym teacher made you do in kindergarten. It helps determine the flexibility of the potential client and gives the trainer a better understanding of how far they can push their limits.

4) Standard push-up/sit-up: The push-up and sit-up combination gives the trainer a basic understanding of how strong their clients arms and abdomen are.

5) Arm flexibility:This exercise shows how flexible the arms are. The client must bend their arm at the elbow and place it behind their head. With the other arm, they are told to bend their arm up behind their back and are to try and grab onto the opposite hand. If they can do this than they are very flexible with their arms, if not it shows the trainer what exercises to work on and to shy away from.

6) Determining body mass:The last evaluation is where the client takes measuring tape and wraps it around different areas of the body to get a better idea of how much body mass there is to work on. The areas of study are:

• * Inner thigh (each leg)
• * Abdomen
• * Bicep (each arm)
• * Chest
• * Neck (for men only)

Assessment. Check. Now get training!

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