Giving each member a personalized and the best experience is the aim of all fitness business owners. Usually, no two members join a gym at the same level of fitness – some are just starting, not sure how it will turn out, while another category is looking to push themselves further. These two categories may be easier to separate but some other categories are not so easy to separate. Do not forget the ultimate goal is to get each of these members results. This is where our fitness assessment will help you out.
Getting the maximum results for all members involves paying attention to different key elements. A key aspect that is often left out is fitness assessment. This involves measuring the level of fitness of each member to get real-life data on their fitness journey. The result forms the baseline to start from and a motivation driver to get to the next level. Clearly seeing where you are and where you need to get to is always a good thing to have.
In-depth and very personalized assessments are provided by the best gyms in the world to be able to achieve the needs of each member. What a fitness assessment is as well as key elements needed are discussed below.
The Fitness Assessment Guide
The evaluation of the overall health and physical levels of fitness of members is known as fitness assessment. A series of detailed tests are often conducted to get the important data.
Baseline result: it lets you know where each member is physically and map how to get to where you want to get to.
Progress tracking: if the beginning of a journey is not known, it will be difficult to monitor the progress. Every little progress made in the gym is important; recognizing them is usually a good source of motivation.
Reveals the general health status of members: understanding the health status of members helps to streamline the fitness program to avoid disaster.
Determines the fitness program: all the merits above culminate in the determination of the right fitness program for each member. For example, people with certain health conditions won’t be able to do certain levels of training or be on certain diets.
Considerations Before You Assess
Different factors must be considered before conducting a fitness test, including:
Age: the age of a member determines the intensity and level of fitness programs he/she can be exposed to. The mode age bracket is 18-64 years and WHO suggested a minimum of 150 minutes of moderate-intensity fitness program throughout the week. 5-17 years are allowed to do at least 60 minutes of daily moderate to vigorous intensity routines.
History of injury: if an old injury is not accounted for in a routine program, the old injury can be aggravated and cause serious issues. All members should be asked about any old injury - a questionnaire is an easy way to do this.
Their goals: people join a gym for different reasons e.g. muscle gain and weight loss. What members seek to achieve should also be included in the questionnaire to allow you to put together the right program for them.
5 Key Elements To Balance
- Health Evaluation
Health evaluation is the beginning of any excellent fitness assessment. It is imperative to be very thorough here and openness is key. No health-related information should be kept and it is better, in some cases, to get approval from your physician before embarking on a fitness routine.
PAR-Q is a popular tool used by top fitness professionals to determine the baseline health of gym members. It helps you to decide if a member is ready for physical activity. Resting heart rate, height, and body weight are some of the key health indicators.
- Body Composition
This is the proportion of the non-fat and fat mass of the body. The fat percentage of the body helps to determine the health and fitness levels of members. A healthy body composition contains higher non-fat mass and less body fat. Body Mass Index (BMI), Calipers, and Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis (BIA) are excellent ways of testing body composition.
- Cardiovascular Endurance
The amount of oxygen and energy supplied by the lungs and heart during a period of physical exercise is assessed by cardiovascular endurance. Generally, healthier lungs and heart last longer during an aerobic fitness exercise without being tired. Sit-up and push-up tests and treadmill bike tests are popular ways of carrying out this test.
- Muscle Strength and Endurance
The parts of the body to target in a fitness program can be determined by testing the muscle strength and endurance of each member. It focuses on how long the body can hold up during exercise. While cardiovascular endurance focuses on aerobic tests, this test focuses on the strength of different muscle groups. Squats, push-ups, and planks are popular tests used by fitness instructors.
- Joint Flexibility
The flexibility of joints is a vital aspect of exercise. it zeroes in on the connective tissue and muscle in the different joints of the body. There is a grey area about how important the flexibility of joints is but it clearly plays important roles in correcting posture, preventing and relieving pain, and prevention of musculoskeletal injury. Therefore, its importance for any fitness regimen is undoubted. Stretching exercises are usually used to test flexibility although there is also a problem about how this impacts performance. The stretching can be done separately or after other types of exercises. It could also be done at non-exercise times.
Conclusion
Blanket recommendations for fitness programs do not just tend to cause interest to wane but also make results hard to come by. Fitness assessment helps to eliminate most of these problems by enabling the creation of data-driven fitness routines. All key considerations are brought into the picture to ensure each member achieves their aim of coming to the gym.
