Exercise Prescription

Course aim

To further develop students’ knowledge and skills in prescribing and programming exercise for the broader community for future professional practice, including apparently healthy individuals of all ages.

Course content

Knowledge and application of widely used pre-exercise screening tools and procedures to help to determine risk status; Assess and analyse health-related fitness tests, including maximal and/or submaximal tests of aerobic fitness, and tests of muscular (strength, endurance and flexibility) fitness; Evaluate validity and reliability of commonly used fitness tests, as well as the criteria used to terminate such tests; Describe intensity, duration, frequency, and type of exercise for health-related benefits in apparently healthy and low-risk individuals; Discuss relationships between exercise heart rate, work rate and rating of perceived exertion; Develop 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; Describe and explain different components of, and appropriate exercises to be included in, an exercise program; Describe different stages of an exercise program; Discuss signs of excessive exercise strain, which may lead to a change in, or cessation of, exercise; Discuss current theories relating to aerobic and muscular fitness training; Apply 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 describe the limitations of such measures; Discuss appropriate work-rest intervals for circuit and interval training programs for aerobic and muscular fitness conditioning; Design and deliver an exercise prescription, at a professional standard, to a group of peers.

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

Group presentation, Practical examination, Quiz, Test

Fees

EFTSL*: 0.125
Commonwealth Supported program (Band 1)
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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
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* 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.