Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Leticia R. Jensen
EF310 Current Trends in Exercise and Fitness – Aging Well Across the Life Span
Unit 3 Assignment:
Assessing Justin
The Physical Activity Readiness Questionnaire (PAR-Q) and the Health Screening
Questionnaire (HSQ) are two forms designed to assist fitness professionals in determining the
risk level of new clientele and to determine whether they should require a consent from their
physician before creating a fitness program for them. Knowing additional information on a
client’s personal and close family history, current medications being taken, and current activity
level will all give better insight to the level of caution they will take with their client. For this
assignment, I will be using Justin’s information to fill out the PAR-Q and the HSQ forms and
determine his level of risk, level of fitness, and areas to target in order to improve his personal
fitness and health and to assist him on his path of making the football team as an offensive
I will begin with the PAR-Q, which is specifically created for persons from the ages of
fifteen to sixty-nine. Justin is thirteen years old and outside of the age bracket for this form, but
his parents have informed me that all seven questions are answered as “no.” The seven questions
Assessing Justin 2
on this form will tell me if I should require a physician’s consent, which I would not in Justin’s
case, but I would follow the recommendations to start slow and progressively increase his
training while also evaluating his improvements. I would update this form every twelve months
Next, I would fill out the Health Screening Questionnaire (HSQ) which is a more in depth
look at Justin’s family history as well as his own. Without knowing all the answers to complete
this form, I would make sure to check any medications that he was taking, check his blood
pressure, cholesterol, and family history due to the fact that everyone in his family is obese.
Based on the information from this form and without knowing more specifics, I would consider
Justin a moderate risk client because his BMI is 30 and he is currently physically inactive
(Howley, 2012, p. 22-23). I would proceed with a fitness program because his physician stated
that he would like to see Justin’s health, weight, and activity improve. I would update this form
along with fitness testing, as recommended, three months after beginning a training program
with Justin, and then twice a year after (Howley, 2012, p.29).
Once my initial assessment has been completed, I would move forward in creating a
suitable program for Justin based on two factors: recommended exercise guidelines for his age
group and cohort and his current activity level. Based on his age, the minimum activity he should
be partaking in would be a mixture of aerobic exercise three days a week, muscle and strength
training three days a week, and bone strengthening exercise three days a week, totaling an hour
every day, according to the 2008 Physical Activity Guidelines. Justin is not currently meeting the
minimum requirement as he spends most of his time with a tutor studying scholastically, playing
Assessing Justin 3
video games with his friends, and is not encouraged to play outside by his brothers or parents.
Justin has minimal physical activity at school except for occasional fitness testing and when he
was on the football team this past year he experienced very little active time on the field.
Based on Justin’s assessment and current routine, I would recommend that the initial goal
would be to meet his minimum guidelines for physical activity. Because he likes to play sports
related video games with his friends, I would challenge him to play real sports with his friends
outside or in a gym instead of on the couch. I would recommend and increase to more vigorous
activity like sprints, lunges, box jumps, squats, push-ups, sit-ups, pull-ups, jumping, and distance
running (Morris, 2001), which he can do on his own or with his friends with no extra equipment
and these activities will help to improve his football skills. This is a time replacement and will
not interfere with his study and tutoring time. I would also encourage Justin to continue cooking
healthy meals and try to get the whole family involved to improve his support system and the
health of the family. The combination of proper diet and exercise will maximize his weight loss
goals.
As Justin’s fitness level increases he should start incorporating more challenging and
sports specific training and add weights and resistance in order to meet his goal of getting on the
football team as an offensive lineman. Working out at a gym would be the most helpful to
increase his total body strength and allow for more specific training, but I would recommend that
he have guidance and oversight by a coach or fitness professional throughout his weight loss and
2008 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans Summary. (n.d.). Retrieved April 02, 2017,
from https://health.gov/paguidelines/guidelines/summary.aspx
Howley, E. T., & Thompson, D. L. (2012). Fitness Professional's Handbook (6th ed.).
Morris, S. (2011, September 23). Seven Steps for Building the Perfect High School Lineman.
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