A pre-exercise health appraisal or screening, is a series of questions asked to determine the current health condition prior to beginning an exercise program. These questions include your emergency contact information, current fitness levels and any illnesses and/or injuries you have sustained. The purpose of this questionnaire is not to make you feel out of shape when you enter the gym, but rather to enable the fitness professionals to design a workout routine that is right for you. While the process varies somewhat from person to person, you will most likely fill out a medical history questionnaire, undergo a physical examination and health screening and be asked questions about your personal exercise goals.
Medical Examination
Before starting any exercise program after a period of inactivity, it is important that you visit your doctor to determine whether you're healthy enough for exercise. For people with certain conditions like high blood pressure or cardiovascular disease, aerobic exercise can place too great a strain on the heart and lungs. At the health appraisal, you will be asked questions about your current exercise level, and you will have your heart rate and blood pressure checked to ensure that you are healthy enough to participate in aerobic exercise.
Pre-Participation Screening
While the fitness appraisal will ensure that you’re healthy enough for exercise, you will also be asked questions about your goals with the exercise program. This will enable the staff of your gym to design an exercise program appropriate to your health condition while helping you reach your desired goals. You may be required to perform some exercises under the guidance of the fitness professional to determine your starting weights and the number of repetitions to enable you to get a good workout without pushing your muscles and joints too far, too fast.
The Lifestyle and History Questionnaire
In addition to a medical screening to determine whether you’re healthy enough to begin an exercise regimen, you may undergo a complete physical that will determine your family history, your lifestyle habits like smoking or drinking alcohol, any history of obesity in your family and your cholesterol levels. This differs from the medical examination in that your doctor will ask you questions to identify anything in your lifestyle that could affect your exercise program. You will be asked about your current activity level and your body mass index. All of these factors play into the intensity and type of exercise program you will undertake. These questions help the fitness professionals design an exercise program that is intense enough to improve your health without overdoing it.
Your Personal Goals
It is important that you have specific goals in mind when beginning an exercise program so that your regimen can be tailored to meeting those goals. The questions asked during this portion of your assessment are used to determine what you hope to achieve from your new exercise program, because your training can differ greatly if you're trying to build muscle mass or cardiovascular health. Your goals can help to determine the type of exercises you focus on while trying to improve your overall health. For instance, if your goal is to become healthy enough to run a marathon, you will probably do more aerobic exercise than someone who simply wants to lose that spare tire around the belly.
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