Exercise Prescription

Course aim

The aim of this course is to develop students’ skills in prescribing and programming exercise for the broader community, including apparently healthy individuals of all ages.

Course content

Familiarisation with widely used pre-exercise screening tools and procedures to help to determine risk status; 
Assessment and analysis of health-related fitness tests, including maximal and/or submaximal tests of aerobic fitness, and tests of muscular (strength, endurance and flexibility) fitness;
Validity and reliability of commonly used fitness tests, as well as the criteria used to terminate such tests;
Intensity, duration, frequency, and type of exercise for health-related benefits in apparently healthy and low-risk individuals;
Relationships between exercise heart rate, work rate and rating of perceived exertion; 
Development of evidence-based exercise programs (including implementation, monitoring and follow-up) for apparently healthy and low-risk individuals and groups (small and large) to enhance aerobic and muscular fitness;
Different components of, and appropriate exercises to be included in, an exercise program;
Different stages of an exercise program;
Signs of excessive exercise strain, which may lead to a change in, or cessation of, exercise;
Current theories relating to aerobic and muscular fitness training;
Visual analogue scales (e.g. rating of perceived exercise) and calculations of target heart rate and VO2 (e.g. age-predicted maximal heart rate and VO2, heart rate and VO2 reserve, and target heart rate and VO2 ranges) to gauge exercise intensity, as well as the limitations of such measures;
Appropriate work-rest intervals for circuit and interval training programs for aerobic and muscular fitness conditioning;

Textbook(s)

American College of Sports Medicine 2014, ACSM's guidelines for exercise testing and prescription, 9th, Lippincott, Williams and Wilkins, Baltimore MA

Prerequisite(s)

Corequisite(s)

Nil

Teaching method

Note: These components may or may not be scheduled in every study period. Please refer to the timetable for further details.

Assessment

Exercise delivery Practical Skills test, Quiz, Student led exercise class, Test

Fees

EFTSL*: 0.125
Commonwealth Supported program (Band 1)
To determine the fee for this course as part of a Commonwealth Supported program, go to:
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Fee-paying program for domestic and international students
International students and students undertaking this course as part of a postgraduate fee paying program must refer to the relevant program home page to determine the cost for undertaking this course.

Non-award enrolment
Non-award tuition fees are set by the university. To determine the cost of this course, go to:
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Not all courses are available on all of the above bases, and students must check to ensure that they are permitted to enrol in a particular course.

* Equivalent Full Time Study Load. Please note: all EFTSL values are published and calculated at ten decimal places. Values are displayed to three decimal places for ease of interpretation.