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Chapter Goals:
- Be able to define and then list the steps of an evidence based practice.
- Use the concept of evidence based practice to program exercise.
- Discuss the personalized implementation and progression strategies for programming exercises for your clients.
- Know the key considerations we have when doing maintenance for the programs.
- Find the main considerations for recovering from your training sessions.
- Design programs of muscular and cardiovascular training that are personalized and based on evidence for your clients that range anywhere from physically inactive to highly active individuals, and use the research and programming tools from every phase of the ACE IFT Model.
Introduction
All aspects of programming for exercise should be based on a combination of client attributes, goals, and preferences, the personal trainers level of experience and expertise, and the latest findings in research in the health and fitness industry.
This approach to exercise programming is what we call the evidence based approach.
Evidence-based practices align with the client’s specific goals and make it a client-centered approach to optimal decision making concerning the design of exercise programs.
Evidence-based Practice
The first interactions between the trainer and client focus on the trainer primarily learning more about the client. The trainer works to gather personal attribute related data about their clients like their age, history of their health, status with chronic diseases, and their goals that deal with exercise training.
The baseline assessments also give important information regarding the client and answer many of those aforementioned stats.
Trainers also work to identify the personal preferences that the clients have and make sure that they will be fulfilling those throughout their program.
The evidence based practice will comprise five steps to ensure we use the best information possible. The steps will be:
- Formulate a question
- Search for health and fitness research evidence that will best answer this question.
- Scrutinize the quality of the research found
- Incorporate the research evidence within the program you are designing
- Evaluate the exercise program outcomes and periodically reevaluate the evidence you found
The basic concepts for interpreting the scientific research that we may find will include searching for biases, reading through the research articles, evaluating said articles for the truth, and then looking for consensus to be made in the community.
ACE IFT Model Cardiorespiratory Training Programming
Chapter 8 covered the foundations for this training style, and this chapter will expand on these in this section.
Base Training Guidelines
Focus on moderate-intensity cardiorespiratory exercise with an RPE of 3 or 4, and there needs to be a focus on the client enjoying the exercise.
Keep intensities lower than the talk test threshold, below VT1.
Increase the duration and frequency of the bouts of exercise.
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Progress to Fitness Training when the client can complete 20 minutes minimum of cardio exercise lower than the talk test.
Fitness Training Guidelines
Progress the cardio duration and frequency based on the goals and the time available for the client.
Integrate vigorous intensity exercise intervals of an RPE of 5 or 6 with segments performed at intensities lower than, at, or above VT1 and just lower than VT2.
Performance Training Guidelines
Progress the moderate and vigorous Cardio Exercise
Program a good amount of volume for the achievement of the goals
Integrate max or near max intensity intervals of an RPE of 7 to 10 and these are done at or above the VT2 to increase the speed, performance, and aerobic capacity.
Periodized training plans may be used to incorporate the right amount of time below VT1 and VT2.
The talk test is the easiest method for monitoring your clients’ exercise intensity while in the base training phase. The client will be below the ventilatory threshold when they can simultaneously talk and perform exercises comfortably. This also means that the client would point out they are working at an RPE of 3 – 4 when using the 10 scale.
Training should feature zone 1 mostly, and then depending on how physically active they were before the start of the program, and it should be continued for 2 – 6 weeks. Once comfortable here and able to perform steady state exercise for 20 minutes or more in zone 1, then the client moves to fitness training.
This fitness training phase will vary the goals greatly due to the dependence on the client’s goals and not building up that essential base from before. So, this stage is seen as a lot more creative and fun regarding the design.
If done, Intervals should be brief, and a 1:3 work to rest ratio should be utilized.
The client can see when they are working well at the below ventilatory threshold two mark.
Performance training is essentially the culmination of training for individuals working on cardio. This is the last phase of the training, and it is where the people who want to compete and have goals in sports and events will mostly train.
This will have the work being very high intensity in this stage. In this stage and the previous fitness phase, we may see the use of high-intensity interval training.
ACE IFT Model Muscular Training Programming
We discussed muscular training thoroughly throughout chapters 9 and 10 and set the foundation for that training modality. This chapter will focus on the guidelines and a little more detail for applying the ACE IFT Model in this section.
Functional Training Guidelines
Focus on establishing and reestablishing stability in posture and the mobility of the kinetic chain.
Exercise Programs should improve muscular endurance, flexibility, core function, and static and dynamic balance.
Progress exercise volume and challenge as function improves.
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Movement Training Guidelines
Focus on developing good movement patterns without compromising posture and stability of joints.
Programs must include exercises for all five primary movement patterns in various planes of motion.
Integrate functional training exercises to help clients keep and improve postural stability and kinetic chain mobility.
Load/Speed Training Guidelines
Focus on applying external loads to movements to increase force production to meet the client’s desired goals.
Integrate the five main movement patterns through an exercise that loads them in various planes of motion and combinations of those planes.
Integrate exercises for functional training that enhance the stability of posture and the mobility of the kinetic chain to support increased workloads.
The programs must focus on adequate loads of resistance so clients can reach their muscular strength, endurance, and hypertrophy goals.
Clients with goals relating to athletic performance must integrate exercises and drills to build speed, strength, quickness, and power.
Functional training is akin to Base training, but in this case, it is for building the foundation for future resistance or muscular training. The focus will be on the postural stability and the mobility of the kinetic chain through the use of exercise programs that improve the function of joints with improved muscular endurance, flexibility, core function, and static and dynamic balance.
The focus will mainly be on using body weight style training or small weighted resistance focusing on moves to support the spine. Deviations in posture and things will be addressed here also.
One focus for the purpose of muscular training, in general, is to perform the activities of daily living more efficiently.
There are many progressions and guidelines to note for the use of flexibility and balance training, which will be utilized and started in this functional training phase.
Movement training is the second phase of the muscular training modality, and here the focus will be on using the 5 main movement patterns and perfecting them. This stage is, again, like the cardiorespiratory training phase 2 where it will be not so much about that foundation but instead more focused and narrowed down to suit the client’s goals.
One thing that may be a tad different with muscular training is that the foundation phase is something that will mostly follow throughout all three phases of muscular training, just with newer progressions.
The one rep max tests will be important to know and implement for the clients to precisely determine the needed sets, reps, and weights to do for their goals.
Load/Speed training is the final phase of muscular training and the clients that make it will have an increased need for fore and/or speed production. These are for the more advanced clients to progress on, and some fitness enthusiasts and people doing events and competitions in sports will likely end up here.
Some of the prerequisites for the advanced stage of muscular training are:
- A foundation of strength and joint integrity
- The adequate levels of static and dynamic balance
- Effective functioning of the core
- Anaerobic efficiency
- Athleticism
- No contraindications
- No medical concerns that may affect the client’s ability to balance or perform motor skills
Plyometrics are among the modalities that will make it into this stage of training, and this is essentially the use of high power movements with the body, like jumping. This training style is very taxing on the body, akin to the likes of sprinting.
Clients should take precautions when performing plyometrics and not do too much when they are starting off, as this is an easy training style to end up with an injury.
Periodization
Periodization is the planned progression of exercise that is used to intentionally vary the training stimuli, especially in terms of volume and intensity. These plans will help to vary and change up the possible monotony that can come with muscular training.
These periodized plans will come in the segments of macrocycles, mesocycles, and microcycles.
A macrocycle is usually a time from 6 – 12 months of training.
Mesocycles will make up the macrocycles and be a time of around 3 months.
And then, the microcycles will make up the mesocycles, which will take 2 – 4 weeks.
We can also break the periodization up into different schemes, like linear or undulating periodization.
Linear periodization will be a more consistent and predictable pattern that increases the volume or intensity of a line.
Undulating periodization will be more random and have many different training styles within the microcycles.
Program Maintenance
One underappreciated part of exercise training is that continuous progressions and improvements will be unrealistic training outcomes. We see this as tough always to do for many reasons like work, travel, vacations, illnesses, and many other things.
There is a lot of research into the effects of detraining and overtraining to help with this.
Detraining essentially says that in the time it took you to make whatever gains you made, you will lose those in a time period twice as long as that.
Recovery is an important part of the exercise, as we cannot simply work it out to no end. We must take the appropriate time to recover and ensure we can perform again.
The amount of recovery needed will vary, with more needed when beginning a program and less being needed when you have been active for a long time. It is important to play with this time and ensure you feel recovered going into the next sessions. Passive recovery is another thing that can be utilized for us.
It is important to look out for overtraining, as this can cause people not to want to exercise and instead stall their progress.
Tyler Read
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