Case Study Assignment

Design the 1st week of your client’s resistance OR cardiovascular training program to help them achieve their goals. Please use Microsoft excel to create your program. Be sure to make it appropriate for their age, training status, and fitness level. The program should adhere to the ACSM resistance training guidelines and principles in the “Acute Training Variables” lectures. Your grade will be determined by inclusion and accuracy of the below content in addition to the organization and clarity of your program.

Choose one of the following:

1. Resistance Training

a. Resistance exercises involving external loads and/or calisthenics (may also incorporate neuromotor exercises)

i. Be specific with names of lifts and loads used (i.e. barbells, cables, machines, etc.)

ii. Identify the primary muscles used during each exercise

b. Sets

c. Reps

d. Load (% 1-RM)

e. Rest intervals between sets

f. Frequency

g. Appropriate exercise order

h. Specific instructions for off day(s) (i.e. active recovery, stretching, complete rest, etc.)

i. Goal of mesocycle: strength, hypertrophy, power, or muscular endurance

j. Vision for program: how do you plan to progress them over time to achieve their goal?

i. Brief explanation of your training approach – type directly into textbox on excel

2. Cardiorespiratory Training

a. Frequency

b. Intensity

c. Time/Duration

d. Type – workout structure

i. Continuous

ii. Intermittent

iii. Circuit (include cardio and resistance exercises w/ associated times)

iv. Interval (include times for both work periods and recovery periods)

e. Type – mode

i. Running, cycling, rowing, cross-training, etc.

f. Warm-up

g. Cool-down

h. Specific instructions for off day(s) (i.e. active recovery, stretching, complete rest, etc.)

i. Goal of mesocycle: aerobic base building; increase muscular and aerobic endurance; improve speed-endurance (tempo pace); boost aerobic capacity (VO2max), etc.

j. Vision for program: how do you plan to progress them over time to achieve their goal?

i. Brief explanation of your training approach – type directly into textbox on excel

Cases: choose one only

1. 50-year-old female who started walking regularly 3 months ago to improve her health. Her BMI is 28.5 and she has not done any exercise. Her goal is to complete a local 5k race in 6 months in under 30 min. She is walking briskly 2 days/week (17:00 min/mile avg.) for 2-3 miles/session and jogging 1 day/week (12:00 min/mile avg.) for 1 mile. Her jogging pace feels hard and she does not use a heart rate monitor. She is not doing any resistance training, but does some static stretching and foam rolling a few days per week. She hopes to improve her leg strength and improve her running form so she can continue to run longer distances after completing the 5k.

2. 28-year-old firefighter with a history of back pain. His BMI is 27 and body fat percentage is 25%. He hopes to become leaner, improve his posture, strengthen his core, and improve his lower and upper extremity muscular endurance, and enhance his aerobic fitness so that he can better tolerate the demands of his job and protect his lower back. He currently does some heavy resistance training with weight machines and barbells, but he is getting lower back flare-ups with squats and deadlifts. He is performing 2 hard steady state workouts per week on the rowing ergometer for 30 min/session. He would like to begin a sustainable exercise program that improves his fitness without sacrificing his musculoskeletal health.

3. 16-year-old elite male hockey player who dreams of playing professionally. His BMI is 22 and he wants to gain some muscle mass. He is a center forward and has excellent cardiorespiratory endurance but needs to work on his short and moderate duration sprint speed and muscular power. He also wants to improve his balance and agility on the ice, especially when skating at high speeds. He has experienced a few lower extremity muscle strains in the past, and his coaches think this may be due to having suboptimal strength. He started strength training with barbells less than a year ago, but he is experienced with calisthenics and free weights. He is currently in his off-season and feeling motivated to start training.

4. 26-year old male triathlete in the off season. He wants to be competitive in the regional sprint triathlon races (750m swim, 20k bike, 5k run) next year. He has struggled with IT band syndrome and wants to build strength, boost his VO2max, and stay injury free. He has been through a physical therapy rehab program and is ready to start training again after a few months off from running and biking. He has been swimming 2x/week for 45-min./session consisting of drills, long intervals (5-10 min.), and sprints. He has continued doing his physical therapy rehab program, which incorporates core and lower extremity calisthenics and balance training. However, he has not done upper or lower body resistance training in years.