This is Caitlyn....
Caitlyn is a personal trainer and group exercise leader at YMCA. She instructs targeted group fitness classes for special population groups. A special population refers to groups of people with special and specific fitness and exercise needs and typically requires a greater level of supervision. Some of her popular classes include; yoga for women before and after childbirth, planned exercise for overweight children and adolescents, and her ‘Heartfit’ classes for heart disease and diabetes management. Some of Caitlyn’s responsibilities are; developing and documenting program plans for specific groups, including guidance from medical or allied health professionals as required, providing clear exercise instructions and demonstrations and confirming client understanding, monitoring participation and performance to identify signs of exercise intolerance, intensity, techniques, posture and safety, and modifying as required, and requesting and responding to feedback from clients.
Can you explain exercise risks and considerations in fitness?
Exercise offers many benefits, but also brings the risk of harm and injury. You need to avoid injury by performing all exercises with correct form, avoid wrenching a joint or pulling a muscle. Don’t lift weights that are too heavy for your fitness level and increase the intensity of your workouts slowly over time to allow your body to adapt and strengthen without injury. If necessary, perform modified versions of exercises to build up your strength and protect your joints. For example, if you can't do a regular push-up, try a wall push-up or knee push-up. Listen to your body. If you experience pain, stop exercising and consult your doctor. In some cases, joints and tendons may be damaged from overuse of performing too many of a single exercise. Switch up your routine and perform a variety of exercises. Support your body during exercise by maintaining a healthy diet and staying hydrated. Consulting your doctor before beginning any exercise program is also very important.
What situations would alert you to stop an exercise program?
A situation where I make a judgement that continuing the session is beyond my professional capabilities and scope of practice, could potentially comprise client health and safety. If the client has chest pain at rest or during the activity, severe breathlessness, feeling faint, dizziness and/or loss of balance, unusual fatigue or shortness of breath, Asthma aggravation or attack, significant muscle, bone or joint pain (beyond what is normally expected during exercise), or if a client is distressed in any way.
What are some of the considerations when instructing adolescents’ exercise programs compared to say, older adults?
With children; avoid repetitious high impact activities, use short bouts of moderate to high impact activities such as jumping to benefit bone growth, use a variety of exercises to incorporate different muscle and body parts, children eight and over may participate in weight training, use the child’s own body weight in exercises such as push ups, the plank or jumping over low obstacles, and incorporate dance if appropriate.
With older adults it depends on the clients’ age, physical ability, previous exercise routines, and or medical conditions. Prevention of injury is a major consideration.
With both children and older adults I have found that music, variety and having fun is important.
Do you have any advice for someone wanting to include a specific fitness group at their organisation?
Carefully target your demographics, study your members' ages, interests and ability levels to determine what’s appropriate. Select a creative name. Change up the location, perhaps indoor to outdoor or vice versa. Vary the time of day of the class, for instance after school for children or mornings or evenings for older adults. Ramp up the intensity if participants are advanced. Hire quality instructors. If appropriate, play different forms of music, maybe switch from recorded music to live music like a drummer or local band.