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- EuropeActive's Foundations for Exercise Professionals
EuropeActive’s Foundations for Exercise Professionals provides core knowledge and industry standards to help exercise professionals serve their clients. Endorsed by EuropeActive, the continent’s leading standard-setting organisation in fitness and health, this text is an authoritative guide for current and future exercise professionals and training providers in Europe.
The book uses scientific foundations to cover concepts and hands-on skills that promote best practices in exercise instruction and training. The content applies to all levels of the European Qualifications Framework (EQF) and associated job titles—the only resource to do so—and matches the core information for EQF levels 3 and 4. Thus, this instructional guide ensures smooth movement and work transfers among employers, educational institutions and countries in Europe.
Written by renowned experts in exercise and sport sciences and framed in the European Register of Exercise Professionals’ Code of Ethical Practice for exercise professionals, the text offers several practical features for readers:
- Easy-to-apply instruction accompanied by 88 full-colour photos and 68 illustrations offer an ideal visual learning experience.
- Complete descriptions and images detail proper form for common free-weight and machine-resistance training exercises.
- Explanations and recommendations are included for the most popular cardiorespiratory exercise equipment.
- Official nutrition recommendations prepare professionals to address clients’ concerns.
- The complete Code of Ethical Practice serves as a guide for all exercise professionals in Europe.
EuropeActive’s Foundations for Exercise Professionals begins by covering the bones, joints, muscles and cardiovascular system to ensure a proper understanding of the body’s movement and physiology. Readers then learn the components of exercise theory and prescription, including energy systems; body composition; resistance, aerobic and flexibility training; warm-up and cool-down; and the principle of progression. The book helps professionals become role models in the industry with information on managing lifestyle through physical activity, health, nutrition, hydration and safety. After gaining foundational knowledge, readers will look closer at the role of the exercise professional, starting with building rapport, motivating, screening and assessing clients. The final chapters discuss the basic aspects of training: exercise technique using weight machines, free weights and cardiorespiratory equipment.
Both aspiring and qualified exercise professionals should keep abreast of foundational information about all areas of the health and fitness sector in order to properly serve the industry and their clients. EuropeActive’s Foundations for Exercise Professionals is an ideal reference for promoting physical activity, making lifestyles healthier and guiding clients toward their fitness goals.
Chapter 1. Bones and Joints
Marco Branco and Rita Santos-Rocha
Major Bones and Joints
Types of Bones and Joints
Structure and Function of the Skeleton
Structure and Function of the Spine
Movements at the Three Main Spinal Curves
Stability and Movement Within Each Type of Joint
Conclusion
Chapter 2. Muscles
Anders Nedergaard
Skeletal Muscle Biology
Smooth Muscle
Cardiac Muscle
Conclusion
Chapter 3. Muscle Action
Daniel Robbins and Edzard Zeinstra
Types of Muscle Actions
Neuromuscular Physiology
Muscles and Movement
Muscles and Force Generation
Conclusion
Chapter 4. Heart, Lungs and Circulation
Andrea Ermolao and Marco Bergamin
Mechanics of Breathing
Heart and Cardiovascular System
Blood Pressure and the Effects of Exercise
Short and Long Term Effects of Exercise on the Heart, Lungs and Circulatory System
Conclusion
Chapter 5. Energy Systems
Rodrigo Fernandez-Gonzalo, José Antonio de Paz, and Fernando Naclerio
Three Energy Systems That Produce ATP
Oxygen Uptake, VO2max and Excess of Oxygen Uptake
Effects of Intensity and Duration on Energy System and Fuel Interaction During Physical Activity
Conclusion
Chapter 6. Components and Principles of Fitness
Eliseo Iglesias-Soler and Mark Chapman
Physical Fitness and Health-Related Fitness
Relationship Among Physical Activity and Exercise, Health Related Fitness and Health
Conclusion
Chapter 7. Resistance Training
Fernando Naclerio and Jeremy Moody
Muscle Action and Type of Contraction
Muscular Strength and Repetition Maximum Continuum
Overload Principle Applied to Muscular Strength
Common Resistance Training Methods and Systems
Muscle-Group Split Routines
Conclusion
Chapter 8. Aerobic Training
Jonathan Esteve-Lanao, Roberto Cejuela Anta, and Claudia Cardona González Physiological and Health-Related Changes From Aerobic Training
Benefits of Aerobic Training
Continuous and Interval Aerobic Training
Types of Activities in Endurance Training
Overload Principle Applied to Aerobic Training
Application of All Training Principles to Aerobic Training
Methods of Intensity Monitoring
Exercise Session Structure
Cardiorespiratory Training Systems
Periodisation and Training Load Quantification
Conclusion
Chapter 9. Flexibility Training
Jagdeep Singh Matharoo
Range-of-Motion Continuum
Physiological and Health-Related Changes From Stretching
Types of Flexibility Exercises
Methods for Training Flexibility
Stretch Reflex, Desensitisation and Lengthening of Muscle Tissue (Muscle Creep)
FITTA Principle Applied to Stretching
Factors Affecting Potential Range of Motion
Conclusion
Chapter 10. Body Composition
Elvis A. Carnero and Manuel A. Giráldez García
Hierarchical Organisation for the Study of Body Composition
Body-Composition Measurement
BIA and Anthropometry
Factors Affecting Body Composition
Conclusion
Chapter 11. Warm-Up and Cool-Down
Bettina Karsten and Xurxo Dopico
Definition of Warm-Up and Cool-Down
Types of Warm-Ups
Physiological Effects
Duration and Intensity Recommendations
Conclusion
Chapter 12. Progression
Ian Jeffreys
Homeostasis in the Body
General Adaptation Syndrome
Conclusion
Chapter 13. Promoting Physical Activity and Health
Steven Mann and Alfonso Jimenez
Hypertension
Dyslipidemia
Impaired Fasting Glucose
Obesity
Barriers and Motivators for Physical Activity and Exercise
Conclusion
Chapter 14. Basic Nutrition and Hydration Guidelines
Robert Cooper and Judith Allgrove
Macronutrients
Energy Expenditure
Body Composition
Dehydration and Physical Activity
Hydration Strategies
Official Nutrition Recommendations
Conclusion
Chapter 15. Safe and Effective Exercise
Rita Santos-Rocha and Nuno Pimenta
Exercise as Mechanical and Metabolic Stimuli
Risks Associated With Exercise
Preliminary Health Screening and Risk Assessment
Conclusion
Chapter 16. Body Awareness and Exercise Technique
Vera Simões and Rita Santos Rocha
Being a Role Model in Exercise Performance and Technique
Correcting Posture and Body Alignment, Range of Motion, Control, Timing and Form
Conclusion
Chapter 17. Building Rapport and Customer Care
Thomas Rieger
Understanding Intimacy as a Key Requirement
Dimensions of Rapport
Methods of Building Rapport
Conclusion
Chapter 18. Motivating the Exerciser
Jeremy Moody and Jack Davies
Motives to Exercise
Behavioural Strategies to Enhance Exercise and Health Behaviour Change
Transtheoretical Model
Conclusion
Chapter 19. Screening and Assessing
Jeremy Moody and Ryan Stevens
Evaluation of Fitness Components
Screening and Assessing for Medical History
Psychological Aspects of Fitness
Conclusion
Chapter 20. Resistance Exercise Using Machines
Roger Earle
Terms and Definitions
Breathing
Practical Guidelines for Teaching Resistance Training Exercises Using Machines
Technique Guidelines
Additional Machine Exercises
Conclusion
Chapter 21. Resistance Exercise Using Free Weights
Roger Earle
Terms and Definitions
Breathing
Safe and Effective Spotting Techniques
Practical Guidelines for Teaching Resistance Training Exercises Using Free Weights
Technique Guidelines
Additional Free-Weight Exercises
Conclusion
Chapter 22. Cardiorespiratory Exercise
Henk Jan Thoes and Riccardo Marini
Treadmill
Rower
Stepper
Upright Bike
Recumbent Bike
Cross-Trainer
Linear-Stride Cross-Trainer
Variable-Stride Cross-Trainer
Lateral-Movement Cross-Trainer
Upper-Body Ergometer
Conclusion
About EuropeActive
The European Register of Exercise Professionals (EREPS) uses the EuropeActive standards to ensure that exercise professionals are qualified to offer safe and effective fitness programmes to their clients all across Europe. EREPS provides consumers, employers and partners in medical professions with confidence so that registered trainers are competent and work to support its Code of Ethical Practice, which defines the rights and principles of exercise professionals. Referencing the EuropeActive standards to each trainer and being registered mean that they have met the minimum standards of good practice and that they are committed to raising the standards of their skills and professional status through a process of lifelong learning.
EREPS is regulated by the EuropeActive Standards Council using the official European Qualifications Framework, which describes the knowledge, skills and competencies exercise professionals need to achieve for registration.
About the Editors
Thomas Rieger is the chairman of the standards council of EuropeActive. He holds a doctoral degree in social sciences with a specialization in sport science (German PhD equivalent) from the University of Tübingen and a master’s degree in public health. In 2007, he was appointed as a professor of sport management at the Business and Information Technology School (BiTS) in Iserlohn, Germany. At BiTS, he is the vice dean of the bachelor’s programme of sport and event management and the MSc programme of international sport and event management. Previously, Dr. Rieger served as the visiting professor at the Real Madrid Graduate School and the European University Cyprus in Nicosia. Before entering academia in 2006, he gained more than six years of experience in the fitness industry, especially in the fields of fitness marketing and quality management.
Fernando Naclerio is the principal lecturer in strength training and sport nutrition and the MSc programme leader of strength and conditioning at the Centre for Sports Science and Human Performance at the University of Greenwich, UK. He is a strength and conditioning coach (CSCS-NSCA) and a certified international society sport nutritionist (CISSN). Dr. Naclerio has more than 30 years of experience as a coach, consultant and academic in many countries in Europe and South America. He has published five books, multiple book chapters and more than 100 scientific papers on training and sport nutrition. Dr. Naclerio’s research is currently focused on the effects of resistance training and nutrition strategies on performance, injury prevention and muscle structure as well as morphology in children, adolescents and older adults.
Alfonso Jiménez, PhD, CSCS, NSCA-CPT, FLF, is a professor of exercise and health and the faculty dean of the health, exercise and sport sciences department at European University of Madrid (Spain) and a member of the scientific advisory board of UKActive Research Institute. Dr. Jiménez holds a visiting professorial appointment at Victoria University in Melbourne, Australia, as the international research associate. He is the chair of the Fitness Australia/ISEAL research programme and scientific advisory committee at the University of Greenwich in London. During the time that he was head of school and deputy dean at Victoria University, Dr. Jiménezz served as a professor and head of the Centre for Sports Sciences and Human Performance at the University of Greenwich. From 2009 to 2012, Professor Jiménez was the chairman of the standards council of EuropeActive, which at the time was called the European Health & Fitness Association. He was awarded honorary membership in recognition of his outstanding service. Dr. Jiménez’s background before entering academia centred on the fitness industry in management, research and sales.
Jeremy Moody is the MSc programme director for strength and conditioning at Cardiff Metropolitan University in Wales, UK, and a frequent national and international speaker in the fields of strength and conditioning and elite sport performance management. Dr. Moody’s experience extends across many able-bodied and disabled sports, and he has worked with many successful athletes at the Commonwealth, European, World, Olympic and Paralympic levels of competition as well as with many youth and developing athletes. Previously, he was the performance director for Great Britain Wheelchair Rugby and the Welsh Judo Association, a senior performance manager for UK Athletics and a regional lead strength and conditioning coach for the English Institute of Sport.
Goal setting, motivational types, and behavioral strategies to encourage fitness
As highlighted in the previous section, knowing the client is key to maximising motivation when it comes to exercise. This section aims to progress this forward by outlining key behavioural strategies that could be used to enhance motivation towards exercising.
Behavioural Strategies to Enhance Exercise and Health Behaviour Change
As highlighted in the previous section, knowing the client is key to maximising motivation when it comes to exercise. This section aims to progress this forward by outlining key behavioural strategies that could be used to enhance motivation towards exercising. Four strategies will be discussed in all - goal setting, social support, self-monitoring and reinforcement - with examples of each given along the way.
Goal Setting
If you were to ask all people who exercise why they do so, they would all give you an answer specific to them as individuals. Whether it's to lose a bit of weight, prepare for an upcoming competition or beat a personal best in the squat rack, these are all forms of goal setting. So, people will already have end goals in mind, but are these goals achievable? Are they realistic? Are they motivational, or are they in fact the problem? Herein lies the importance of setting specific goals when it comes to motivating the exerciser (Coppack, Kristensen and Karageorghis 2012).
Key sport psychology literature (Weinberg and Gould 2007) recognises that there are three types of goals a person can set: outcome goals, performance goals and process goals. As the name suggests, outcome goals focus on the outcome or result of an event (completing a marathon, winning a boxing fight, losing 5 kg in weight) and heavily rely on external factors (opposition, form coming into an event, general lifestyle choices). Second, performance goals focus on the performance of an action, regardless of the outcome of an event (a runner may not win a marathon but may still set a new personal best in that event). Finally, there are process goals, which focus on specific actions that make up the overall performance (a triple jumper may set a process goal to increase his hop distance, somebody wanting to lose weight may set a process goal to run farther in 20 minutes than she has before).
This breakdown of goal setting has been simplified further with the use of tools such as the goal-setting staircase (see figure 18.1), which takes the three types of goal setting and divides them into long-term goals (outcome) and short-term goals (performance and process). The idea is that a long-term goal is achieved by successfully completing a range of short-term goals that lead up to it. When planning their goals, exercisers work backward down the staircase from their long-term goal to where they are today. Studies have shown that working backward from the end goal to the current position allows for greater specificity within each short-term goal (Weina, Chenglin, Liu and Watson 2012).
In terms of enhancing behavioural change, an effective goal-setting process is key. Quantifying a person's reason to exercise into a range of long-term and short-term goals can help her see what she needs to do in the short term to enable the long term to happen. Likewise, if a person's motivation levels are low when it comes to achieving a short-term goal, the reminder of why he is doing it (outcome goal) can have the same effect (Wilson and Brookfield 2009).
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Goal-setting staircase.
Social Support
What people see and experience in their social settings often influence why they choose to exercise. Whether it's what they see and read in the media or what their colleagues do and think, many external influences can affect the motivation to exercise. Second to goal setting, social support is recognised as the next key factor when it comes to exercise motivation. Wills and Shinar (2000) proposed that the amount and type of support people receive is key to their motivation. The authors state that there are five types of social support: instrumental support, emotional support, informational support, companionship support and validation.
Instrumental support is support that offers practical help so people can achieve their goals. This can come from a range of sources, including a workplace having onsite facilities for exercise (work gym or swimming pool), a car park offering free parking for the gym or gym goers supporting each other while exercising.
Emotional support is most effective in helping to boost a person's self-confidence or to reduce any anxieties that someone new to exercising may be feeling. In its simplest (and most effective) form, it involves friends, family and exercise professionals offering verbal support to the exerciser, whether that support is encouragement to finish the last set of exercises or a shoulder to cry on if the person feels things are getting a little overwhelming. Simple cues and support can be the difference between a person carrying on with training or giving up altogether.
Informational support is just that, providing someone with information in order to help her exercise experience. This can come from all manner of resources, from online forums and websites to staff working at the gym. This information may be intimidating to some, especially novice exercisers, due to the jargon that can come with it, and many people tend to seek information from friends and family who are more experienced than they are when it comes to exercising.
Companionship support relates to the people who partake in exercise with the exerciser. Having a gym buddy or a running mate has been shown to dissociate the exerciser from negative feelings such as boredom and pain. Typically, the companion comes in the form of friends and family; however, companionship support can also come from exercising as a group or in a class.
Support through validation is a reflective process where the exerciser compares himself and his worries against the social norm. This helps people to gauge their progress against where others are ahead of and behind them. Validation often gives people a needed confidence boost and lets them know that others have been in their shoes before and have successfully achieved their behavioural change.
Social support can be very useful when it comes to motivating an exerciser, and there is great scope in which to do so. As mentioned in the previous section, the key to this is knowing each individual and what works for her. Research by Swanson, Colwell and Yushan (2008) showed that factors such as experience and exercise level can have an impact on the social support a person requires.
Self-Monitoring
Self-monitoring is a process that allows exercisers to take control of what they are doing. More suited to someone who naturally has higher levels of motivation to begin with (Young, Medic and Strakes 2009), self-monitoring is most commonly done by maintaining a training journal or log. Within the journal, an exerciser would log each training session, noting key elements such as sets and reps or times and distances. This enables the exerciser to keep track of progress over a long time.
The training journal can be used in a number of ways when it comes to motivating the exerciser. First, if the exerciser is experiencing a lull in her training and is finding things hard going, just a simple recap of what she's done previously and how much she's improved can be enough to stimulate her training. Second, enabling the exerciser to take control of his own progress helps instil self-confidence that what he is doing is right (Hindle and Carpenter 2011). This level of control enables exercisers to push themselves because they can see physical evidence of their progress.
A noteworthy point associated with self-monitoring is that people tend to leave any negatives associated with their exercise out of their journals (e.g., failed reps or missed timing goals). This helps to highlight that self-monitoring is not for everyone because for it to have its full effect, the exerciser must be honest and fill it in correctly, including both positives and negatives that occur. With this in mind, this tool for behavioural change is best suited to more experienced exercisers. Because they are more accustomed to the demands of exercise, this added responsibility isn't as daunting as it might be to people who are embarking on their first experience of exercise.
Reinforcement
This is a tool that can be used to influence motivation among exercisers of all levels and experiences. However, it must be used correctly because it can steer a person away from wanting to exercise just as easily as it can gain someone's interest. Another noteworthy point is that individual differences matter here, too; what may work as reinforcement for one person might have the opposite effect on someone else.
According to Skinner's (1953) stimulus - response theory, if someone receives reinforcement about what she is doing (good or bad), then chances are this will affect whether or not she repeats the behaviour in the future. Within the context of exercise, if somebody receives praise that his physique is improving due to exercise, then this will help to motivate him to exercise again in the future. There are two key elements of reinforcement, positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement, and it is generally accepted that positive and negative reinforcement help increase exercise adherence. There are also two adverse forms of reinforcement, punishment and extinction, which tend to discourage people from repeating an action, in this case exercising. Each aspect of reinforcement will now be discussed, with industry-specific examples given. To close this section, we will look at feedback and how different types of feedback can affect a person's motivation levels in very different ways.
Positive Reinforcement
As the name suggests, positive reinforcement is reinforcement that makes a person feel good about herself. It's an enjoyable experience that gives the person a feeling of self-worth and a confidence boost. There are two types of positive reinforcement: intrinsic reinforcement and extrinsic reinforcement (Weinberg and Gould 2007). Intrinsic reinforcement is praise or reward from within. It can be the satisfaction of completing a tough workout, feeling good about physical improvements to your appearance or just the general good feeling that is associated with becoming fitter and healthier. People who are new to exercise or who are low in motivation often neglect intrinsic reinforcement because they tend to have negative views about themselves (McAuley and Tammen 1989). Over time and continued exercise, intrinsic feelings have been shown to increase (Gallagher and Updegraff 2011), and as a person becomes more knowledgeable about things such as the difficulty of the workout he has just completed, he then allows himself to feel intrinsically positive, which in turn increases levels of intrinsic reinforcement.
Extrinsic reinforcement, on the other hand, comes from external sources. In its most basic form, it includes verbal praise from family and friends about how well somebody is doing in her new exercise regime or how well she looks for doing so. It can also come from peers within an exercise group or gym who notice an increase in a person's ability to complete an exercise or task. Exercise professionals are another key form of extrinsic reinforcement, and what they say tends to pack a bigger punch because the person in question feels good that the praise that his ability has increased or his physique has improved is coming from experts. Other forms of extrinsic reinforcement are taking advantage of offers that a gym may promote (reduced rates after committing to an exercise plan for so long, free merchandise for reaching certain training goals), having to purchase new clothes due to weight loss or seeing improvements by noticing an improved physique in the mirror.
Negative Reinforcement
The term negative reinforcement may seem to be a bad thing to people not in the know, but this couldn't be further from the truth. Negative reinforcement is a process exercisers may go through that reminds them why they are committing to an exercise regime and to the process of behavioural change. The best example of negative reinforcement is when a person feels bad for missing a workout or for eating something unhealthy. The feeling of guilt reminds the person why he is committing to changing his behaviour and makes it more likely that the negative experience will be avoided in the future. Another example of negative reinforcement would be pain or discomfort someone may feel due to a bad behaviour she is trying to change. If someone suffers from back pain (negative reinforcement) due to being overweight (bad behaviour), then this would help to reinforce that her behaviour change to exercise is the correct choice.
To get the most out of positive and negative reinforcement, its best for it to take place as soon after the event as possible (Weinberg, Garland, Bruya and Jackson 1990). This allows the person to associate the reinforcement with the feelings he currently has.
Punishment
When we think of punishment, we think of the bad consequences that come because of the behaviour that took place before it (e.g., a student being told off by the teacher for breaking the rules in class). Whereas negative reinforcement tries to remove any negative consequences (e.g., back pain for being overweight), punishment has the opposite effect in adding to the negative. If the person trying to lose weight had increased feelings of pain in her back due to exercise, then this would act as a reinforcement not to exercise.
Extinction
People who are new to exercise quickly experience its positive effects and benefits. However, when they become more established exercisers, these changes happen less frequently, and people can then become demoralised and feelings of doubt start to build as to why they are exercising. This in turn could cause them to stop exercising altogether. The most common example of this is people who are trying to lose weight. When they begin, they lose greater amounts of body weight and in turn feel positive about themselves. But when the weight loss slows down, chances are they will decrease the amount they exercise because they are not seeing the same results as when they started.
Role of Feedback
People react to feedback in their own way. What one person feels is a negative comment might be just the push another person needs to get motivated to exercise. The key to this again is getting to know the individual. An exercise professional may tell someone that he looks slimmer; however, if that person's reason for exercising is to increase the size of his physique, he could take this comment as a negative, which in turn could decrease the amount he exercises. Another example of this would be telling somebody new to exercising that other gym members squat far much more weight than she can. One person may take this as a negative and become intimidated while in the gym and thus stop exercising, whereas another person could use this as motivation to train harder and increase the amount she exercises in order to achieve similar results in the gym.
Although basic, these examples show how easy it is to motivate or demotivate somebody to exercise just by what you say. It could be the difference in helping someone or preventing someone from making that behavioural change, and the key lies with getting to know what makes a person tick - that is, getting to know the individual.
Learn more about EuropeActive's Foundations for Exercise Professionals.
Learn which muscles govern movement in the body
The skeletal muscles can be divided into three groups (figure 2.5): 1. Muscles governing movement of the upper extremities. 2. Muscles governing moment of the trunk and spine (including breathing musculature). 3. Muscles governing movement of the lower extremities.
Skeletal Muscle Groups and Function
The skeletal muscles can be divided into three groups (figure 2.5):
- Muscles governing movement of the upper extremities
- Muscles governing moment of the trunk and spine (including breathing musculature)
- Muscles governing movement of the lower extremities
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Muscles of the human body: (a) front and (b) back view.
Muscles of the Upper Extremity
The muscles of the upper extremity comprise the muscles around the shoulder or pectoral girdle as well as the muscles of the glenohumeral (shoulder) joint and of the elbow and wrist. These muscles are active in all pressing and pulling movements of the upper body:
- Shoulder or pectoral girdle
- Trapezius
- Rhomboideus
- Latissimus dorsi
- Pectorals
- Deltoids
- Biceps
- Brachialis
- Triceps
Muscles of the Spine and Trunk
The muscles of the spine and trunk produce movement of the spine and hips and contribute to ventilation. This covers extension, flexion, lateral flexion, reduction and rotation along the full length of the spine. Additionally, the diaphragm is the principal ventilation muscle, but muscles between the ribs can expand the thorax for heavy or deep breathing and the transversus abdominis muscles assist in establishing thoracic pressure during Valsalva manoeuvres. Valsalva manoeuvres are initiated reflexively, when external moments are applied to the torso. They consist of simultaneous contraction of the transversus and the obliques and sometimes the diaphragm, similar to a forced exhalation but against closed airways. Together these muscle actions increase intrathoracic and intra-abdominal pressure, stiffening the trunk and thereby reducing shear forces across the spine (Hill and Butler 1991).
Functionally, the muscles in the trunk are often divided into the inner unit and the outer unit. The inner unit includes the muscles that do not produce macroscopic movement but instead stabilise the vertebrae and sacroiliac joint during movement, whereas the outer unit produces the movements of the spine and hip. The inner unit consists of tonic muscles such as the transversus abdominis, the posterior fibres of the obliquus internus abdominis, the diaphragm, the pelvic floor muscles, the multifidus and the lumbar portions of the longissimus and iliocostalis (part of the erector spinae). These muscle co-contract in virtually all standing or sitting movements and most lying movements prior to other muscles firing in order to provide spinal rigidity, ensuring efficient force transfer. The outer unit consists of the obliquus externus, obliquus internus, erector spinae, latissimus dorsi, gluteal muscles, quadratus lumborum, adductors and hamstrings. Following are phasic muscles that can produce movement with great power and ROM, fulfilling tasks of vastly different mechanical and metabolic requirements:
- Rectus abdominis
- Obliques (internal and external)
- Transversus abdominis
- Erector spinae
- Quadratus lumborum
Muscles of the Lower Extremity
The muscles of the lower extremity comprise the muscles around the hip, pelvis, knees and ankles. Together these muscles perform all movements in the movement chains of the lower body:
- Gluteal muscles
- Quadriceps
- Hamstrings
- Adductors
- Psoas complex (hip flexors)
- Triceps surae (calf muscles)
Learn more about EuropeActive's Foundations for Exercise Professionals.
Rep and load variations for specific goals in resistance training program
Resistance training methods refer to the strategy used for organising training sessions. Methods should be selected by the strength zone and goals of the workout.
Common Resistance Training Methods and Systems
Resistance training methods refer to the strategy used for organising training sessions. Methods should be selected by the strength zone and goals of the workout. The following sections describe the most common resistance training methods for general fitness proposed in fitness centres and gyms.
Basic Set
This strategy requires the resistance training practitioner to perform all sets of an exercise before continuing to the next. In addition, it is necessary to rest between every set, exercise and even before the following exercise where practical (depending on the requirements of the session and the selection strategy). This method can be used for any resistance training zone but is especially effective for novice practitioners who have to learn the correct technique of the exercise (Naclerio 2005).
Resistance Training Systems
Participants can use several loading patterns or systems in order to obtain the most favourable outcomes from each resistance training session. The most common loading patterns for resistance training are the pyramid and its variations (traditional and reverse pyramids, double pyramid, skewed and flat pyramids), stable load, and stable repetitions.
The pyramid is one of the most popular loading patterns. Its structure, illustrated in figure 7.7, shows that the load increases progressively to a maximum while the number of reps decreases proportionately (traditional). In the reverse form, the load decreases and the reps increase. The physiological effects of this procedure result from the progressive activation or recruitment of available motor units (Bompa and Haff 2009). Regardless of the load used, both systems seem to be appropriate for hypertrophy. The traditional form could be more appropriate to emphasise the capacity to tolerate the repetition of maximum effort, while the reverse form seems more suitable for improving maximal strength.
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Traditional and reverse pyramids.
The double pyramid (figure 7.8) consists of two pyramids, one inverted on top of the other. The number of repetitions decreases from the bottom up and then increases again in the second pyramid. Due to a high volume of sets, this pattern is more suitable for muscle hypertrophy rather than endurance.
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Double pyramid.
The skewed pyramid (figure 7.9) is proposed as an improved variant of the double pyramid. The load constantly increases throughout the exercise except during the last set, when it decreases. This decrease is meant to add variation and improve motivation. Similar to the double pyramid, fatigue may affect performance and therefore hypertrophy and muscle endurance are the most appropriate outcomes of this strategy.
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Skewed pyramid.
The flat pyramid, as represented in figure 7.10, is one of the best patterns for improving strength. In traditional pyramids, the load often varies from 70% to 100%. Load variations of such magnitude can span across three resistance training zones, from hypertrophy to maximal, but in the case of highly trained athletes whose goal is to increase maximum strength, it would be advisable to keep the load in the higher range of 85% to 100% 1RM (Bompa and Haff 2009). However, this strategy is flexible and can be adapted to use a load appropriate to the session or resistance training zone. This strategy has also been called the stable-load pattern (Naclerio 2005).
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Flat pyramid.
Another possible option is to arrange the structure of the training session to use a repetition-stable pattern. This system works well for those who want to use the RM continuum strategy because the number of repetitions stays stable while the load can change as fatigue increases throughout the sets.
Learn more about EuropeActive's Foundations for Exercise Professionals.
Goal setting, motivational types, and behavioral strategies to encourage fitness
As highlighted in the previous section, knowing the client is key to maximising motivation when it comes to exercise. This section aims to progress this forward by outlining key behavioural strategies that could be used to enhance motivation towards exercising.
Behavioural Strategies to Enhance Exercise and Health Behaviour Change
As highlighted in the previous section, knowing the client is key to maximising motivation when it comes to exercise. This section aims to progress this forward by outlining key behavioural strategies that could be used to enhance motivation towards exercising. Four strategies will be discussed in all - goal setting, social support, self-monitoring and reinforcement - with examples of each given along the way.
Goal Setting
If you were to ask all people who exercise why they do so, they would all give you an answer specific to them as individuals. Whether it's to lose a bit of weight, prepare for an upcoming competition or beat a personal best in the squat rack, these are all forms of goal setting. So, people will already have end goals in mind, but are these goals achievable? Are they realistic? Are they motivational, or are they in fact the problem? Herein lies the importance of setting specific goals when it comes to motivating the exerciser (Coppack, Kristensen and Karageorghis 2012).
Key sport psychology literature (Weinberg and Gould 2007) recognises that there are three types of goals a person can set: outcome goals, performance goals and process goals. As the name suggests, outcome goals focus on the outcome or result of an event (completing a marathon, winning a boxing fight, losing 5 kg in weight) and heavily rely on external factors (opposition, form coming into an event, general lifestyle choices). Second, performance goals focus on the performance of an action, regardless of the outcome of an event (a runner may not win a marathon but may still set a new personal best in that event). Finally, there are process goals, which focus on specific actions that make up the overall performance (a triple jumper may set a process goal to increase his hop distance, somebody wanting to lose weight may set a process goal to run farther in 20 minutes than she has before).
This breakdown of goal setting has been simplified further with the use of tools such as the goal-setting staircase (see figure 18.1), which takes the three types of goal setting and divides them into long-term goals (outcome) and short-term goals (performance and process). The idea is that a long-term goal is achieved by successfully completing a range of short-term goals that lead up to it. When planning their goals, exercisers work backward down the staircase from their long-term goal to where they are today. Studies have shown that working backward from the end goal to the current position allows for greater specificity within each short-term goal (Weina, Chenglin, Liu and Watson 2012).
In terms of enhancing behavioural change, an effective goal-setting process is key. Quantifying a person's reason to exercise into a range of long-term and short-term goals can help her see what she needs to do in the short term to enable the long term to happen. Likewise, if a person's motivation levels are low when it comes to achieving a short-term goal, the reminder of why he is doing it (outcome goal) can have the same effect (Wilson and Brookfield 2009).
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Goal-setting staircase.
Social Support
What people see and experience in their social settings often influence why they choose to exercise. Whether it's what they see and read in the media or what their colleagues do and think, many external influences can affect the motivation to exercise. Second to goal setting, social support is recognised as the next key factor when it comes to exercise motivation. Wills and Shinar (2000) proposed that the amount and type of support people receive is key to their motivation. The authors state that there are five types of social support: instrumental support, emotional support, informational support, companionship support and validation.
Instrumental support is support that offers practical help so people can achieve their goals. This can come from a range of sources, including a workplace having onsite facilities for exercise (work gym or swimming pool), a car park offering free parking for the gym or gym goers supporting each other while exercising.
Emotional support is most effective in helping to boost a person's self-confidence or to reduce any anxieties that someone new to exercising may be feeling. In its simplest (and most effective) form, it involves friends, family and exercise professionals offering verbal support to the exerciser, whether that support is encouragement to finish the last set of exercises or a shoulder to cry on if the person feels things are getting a little overwhelming. Simple cues and support can be the difference between a person carrying on with training or giving up altogether.
Informational support is just that, providing someone with information in order to help her exercise experience. This can come from all manner of resources, from online forums and websites to staff working at the gym. This information may be intimidating to some, especially novice exercisers, due to the jargon that can come with it, and many people tend to seek information from friends and family who are more experienced than they are when it comes to exercising.
Companionship support relates to the people who partake in exercise with the exerciser. Having a gym buddy or a running mate has been shown to dissociate the exerciser from negative feelings such as boredom and pain. Typically, the companion comes in the form of friends and family; however, companionship support can also come from exercising as a group or in a class.
Support through validation is a reflective process where the exerciser compares himself and his worries against the social norm. This helps people to gauge their progress against where others are ahead of and behind them. Validation often gives people a needed confidence boost and lets them know that others have been in their shoes before and have successfully achieved their behavioural change.
Social support can be very useful when it comes to motivating an exerciser, and there is great scope in which to do so. As mentioned in the previous section, the key to this is knowing each individual and what works for her. Research by Swanson, Colwell and Yushan (2008) showed that factors such as experience and exercise level can have an impact on the social support a person requires.
Self-Monitoring
Self-monitoring is a process that allows exercisers to take control of what they are doing. More suited to someone who naturally has higher levels of motivation to begin with (Young, Medic and Strakes 2009), self-monitoring is most commonly done by maintaining a training journal or log. Within the journal, an exerciser would log each training session, noting key elements such as sets and reps or times and distances. This enables the exerciser to keep track of progress over a long time.
The training journal can be used in a number of ways when it comes to motivating the exerciser. First, if the exerciser is experiencing a lull in her training and is finding things hard going, just a simple recap of what she's done previously and how much she's improved can be enough to stimulate her training. Second, enabling the exerciser to take control of his own progress helps instil self-confidence that what he is doing is right (Hindle and Carpenter 2011). This level of control enables exercisers to push themselves because they can see physical evidence of their progress.
A noteworthy point associated with self-monitoring is that people tend to leave any negatives associated with their exercise out of their journals (e.g., failed reps or missed timing goals). This helps to highlight that self-monitoring is not for everyone because for it to have its full effect, the exerciser must be honest and fill it in correctly, including both positives and negatives that occur. With this in mind, this tool for behavioural change is best suited to more experienced exercisers. Because they are more accustomed to the demands of exercise, this added responsibility isn't as daunting as it might be to people who are embarking on their first experience of exercise.
Reinforcement
This is a tool that can be used to influence motivation among exercisers of all levels and experiences. However, it must be used correctly because it can steer a person away from wanting to exercise just as easily as it can gain someone's interest. Another noteworthy point is that individual differences matter here, too; what may work as reinforcement for one person might have the opposite effect on someone else.
According to Skinner's (1953) stimulus - response theory, if someone receives reinforcement about what she is doing (good or bad), then chances are this will affect whether or not she repeats the behaviour in the future. Within the context of exercise, if somebody receives praise that his physique is improving due to exercise, then this will help to motivate him to exercise again in the future. There are two key elements of reinforcement, positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement, and it is generally accepted that positive and negative reinforcement help increase exercise adherence. There are also two adverse forms of reinforcement, punishment and extinction, which tend to discourage people from repeating an action, in this case exercising. Each aspect of reinforcement will now be discussed, with industry-specific examples given. To close this section, we will look at feedback and how different types of feedback can affect a person's motivation levels in very different ways.
Positive Reinforcement
As the name suggests, positive reinforcement is reinforcement that makes a person feel good about herself. It's an enjoyable experience that gives the person a feeling of self-worth and a confidence boost. There are two types of positive reinforcement: intrinsic reinforcement and extrinsic reinforcement (Weinberg and Gould 2007). Intrinsic reinforcement is praise or reward from within. It can be the satisfaction of completing a tough workout, feeling good about physical improvements to your appearance or just the general good feeling that is associated with becoming fitter and healthier. People who are new to exercise or who are low in motivation often neglect intrinsic reinforcement because they tend to have negative views about themselves (McAuley and Tammen 1989). Over time and continued exercise, intrinsic feelings have been shown to increase (Gallagher and Updegraff 2011), and as a person becomes more knowledgeable about things such as the difficulty of the workout he has just completed, he then allows himself to feel intrinsically positive, which in turn increases levels of intrinsic reinforcement.
Extrinsic reinforcement, on the other hand, comes from external sources. In its most basic form, it includes verbal praise from family and friends about how well somebody is doing in her new exercise regime or how well she looks for doing so. It can also come from peers within an exercise group or gym who notice an increase in a person's ability to complete an exercise or task. Exercise professionals are another key form of extrinsic reinforcement, and what they say tends to pack a bigger punch because the person in question feels good that the praise that his ability has increased or his physique has improved is coming from experts. Other forms of extrinsic reinforcement are taking advantage of offers that a gym may promote (reduced rates after committing to an exercise plan for so long, free merchandise for reaching certain training goals), having to purchase new clothes due to weight loss or seeing improvements by noticing an improved physique in the mirror.
Negative Reinforcement
The term negative reinforcement may seem to be a bad thing to people not in the know, but this couldn't be further from the truth. Negative reinforcement is a process exercisers may go through that reminds them why they are committing to an exercise regime and to the process of behavioural change. The best example of negative reinforcement is when a person feels bad for missing a workout or for eating something unhealthy. The feeling of guilt reminds the person why he is committing to changing his behaviour and makes it more likely that the negative experience will be avoided in the future. Another example of negative reinforcement would be pain or discomfort someone may feel due to a bad behaviour she is trying to change. If someone suffers from back pain (negative reinforcement) due to being overweight (bad behaviour), then this would help to reinforce that her behaviour change to exercise is the correct choice.
To get the most out of positive and negative reinforcement, its best for it to take place as soon after the event as possible (Weinberg, Garland, Bruya and Jackson 1990). This allows the person to associate the reinforcement with the feelings he currently has.
Punishment
When we think of punishment, we think of the bad consequences that come because of the behaviour that took place before it (e.g., a student being told off by the teacher for breaking the rules in class). Whereas negative reinforcement tries to remove any negative consequences (e.g., back pain for being overweight), punishment has the opposite effect in adding to the negative. If the person trying to lose weight had increased feelings of pain in her back due to exercise, then this would act as a reinforcement not to exercise.
Extinction
People who are new to exercise quickly experience its positive effects and benefits. However, when they become more established exercisers, these changes happen less frequently, and people can then become demoralised and feelings of doubt start to build as to why they are exercising. This in turn could cause them to stop exercising altogether. The most common example of this is people who are trying to lose weight. When they begin, they lose greater amounts of body weight and in turn feel positive about themselves. But when the weight loss slows down, chances are they will decrease the amount they exercise because they are not seeing the same results as when they started.
Role of Feedback
People react to feedback in their own way. What one person feels is a negative comment might be just the push another person needs to get motivated to exercise. The key to this again is getting to know the individual. An exercise professional may tell someone that he looks slimmer; however, if that person's reason for exercising is to increase the size of his physique, he could take this comment as a negative, which in turn could decrease the amount he exercises. Another example of this would be telling somebody new to exercising that other gym members squat far much more weight than she can. One person may take this as a negative and become intimidated while in the gym and thus stop exercising, whereas another person could use this as motivation to train harder and increase the amount she exercises in order to achieve similar results in the gym.
Although basic, these examples show how easy it is to motivate or demotivate somebody to exercise just by what you say. It could be the difference in helping someone or preventing someone from making that behavioural change, and the key lies with getting to know what makes a person tick - that is, getting to know the individual.
Learn more about EuropeActive's Foundations for Exercise Professionals.
Learn which muscles govern movement in the body
The skeletal muscles can be divided into three groups (figure 2.5): 1. Muscles governing movement of the upper extremities. 2. Muscles governing moment of the trunk and spine (including breathing musculature). 3. Muscles governing movement of the lower extremities.
Skeletal Muscle Groups and Function
The skeletal muscles can be divided into three groups (figure 2.5):
- Muscles governing movement of the upper extremities
- Muscles governing moment of the trunk and spine (including breathing musculature)
- Muscles governing movement of the lower extremities
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Muscles of the human body: (a) front and (b) back view.
Muscles of the Upper Extremity
The muscles of the upper extremity comprise the muscles around the shoulder or pectoral girdle as well as the muscles of the glenohumeral (shoulder) joint and of the elbow and wrist. These muscles are active in all pressing and pulling movements of the upper body:
- Shoulder or pectoral girdle
- Trapezius
- Rhomboideus
- Latissimus dorsi
- Pectorals
- Deltoids
- Biceps
- Brachialis
- Triceps
Muscles of the Spine and Trunk
The muscles of the spine and trunk produce movement of the spine and hips and contribute to ventilation. This covers extension, flexion, lateral flexion, reduction and rotation along the full length of the spine. Additionally, the diaphragm is the principal ventilation muscle, but muscles between the ribs can expand the thorax for heavy or deep breathing and the transversus abdominis muscles assist in establishing thoracic pressure during Valsalva manoeuvres. Valsalva manoeuvres are initiated reflexively, when external moments are applied to the torso. They consist of simultaneous contraction of the transversus and the obliques and sometimes the diaphragm, similar to a forced exhalation but against closed airways. Together these muscle actions increase intrathoracic and intra-abdominal pressure, stiffening the trunk and thereby reducing shear forces across the spine (Hill and Butler 1991).
Functionally, the muscles in the trunk are often divided into the inner unit and the outer unit. The inner unit includes the muscles that do not produce macroscopic movement but instead stabilise the vertebrae and sacroiliac joint during movement, whereas the outer unit produces the movements of the spine and hip. The inner unit consists of tonic muscles such as the transversus abdominis, the posterior fibres of the obliquus internus abdominis, the diaphragm, the pelvic floor muscles, the multifidus and the lumbar portions of the longissimus and iliocostalis (part of the erector spinae). These muscle co-contract in virtually all standing or sitting movements and most lying movements prior to other muscles firing in order to provide spinal rigidity, ensuring efficient force transfer. The outer unit consists of the obliquus externus, obliquus internus, erector spinae, latissimus dorsi, gluteal muscles, quadratus lumborum, adductors and hamstrings. Following are phasic muscles that can produce movement with great power and ROM, fulfilling tasks of vastly different mechanical and metabolic requirements:
- Rectus abdominis
- Obliques (internal and external)
- Transversus abdominis
- Erector spinae
- Quadratus lumborum
Muscles of the Lower Extremity
The muscles of the lower extremity comprise the muscles around the hip, pelvis, knees and ankles. Together these muscles perform all movements in the movement chains of the lower body:
- Gluteal muscles
- Quadriceps
- Hamstrings
- Adductors
- Psoas complex (hip flexors)
- Triceps surae (calf muscles)
Learn more about EuropeActive's Foundations for Exercise Professionals.
Rep and load variations for specific goals in resistance training program
Resistance training methods refer to the strategy used for organising training sessions. Methods should be selected by the strength zone and goals of the workout.
Common Resistance Training Methods and Systems
Resistance training methods refer to the strategy used for organising training sessions. Methods should be selected by the strength zone and goals of the workout. The following sections describe the most common resistance training methods for general fitness proposed in fitness centres and gyms.
Basic Set
This strategy requires the resistance training practitioner to perform all sets of an exercise before continuing to the next. In addition, it is necessary to rest between every set, exercise and even before the following exercise where practical (depending on the requirements of the session and the selection strategy). This method can be used for any resistance training zone but is especially effective for novice practitioners who have to learn the correct technique of the exercise (Naclerio 2005).
Resistance Training Systems
Participants can use several loading patterns or systems in order to obtain the most favourable outcomes from each resistance training session. The most common loading patterns for resistance training are the pyramid and its variations (traditional and reverse pyramids, double pyramid, skewed and flat pyramids), stable load, and stable repetitions.
The pyramid is one of the most popular loading patterns. Its structure, illustrated in figure 7.7, shows that the load increases progressively to a maximum while the number of reps decreases proportionately (traditional). In the reverse form, the load decreases and the reps increase. The physiological effects of this procedure result from the progressive activation or recruitment of available motor units (Bompa and Haff 2009). Regardless of the load used, both systems seem to be appropriate for hypertrophy. The traditional form could be more appropriate to emphasise the capacity to tolerate the repetition of maximum effort, while the reverse form seems more suitable for improving maximal strength.
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Traditional and reverse pyramids.
The double pyramid (figure 7.8) consists of two pyramids, one inverted on top of the other. The number of repetitions decreases from the bottom up and then increases again in the second pyramid. Due to a high volume of sets, this pattern is more suitable for muscle hypertrophy rather than endurance.
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Double pyramid.
The skewed pyramid (figure 7.9) is proposed as an improved variant of the double pyramid. The load constantly increases throughout the exercise except during the last set, when it decreases. This decrease is meant to add variation and improve motivation. Similar to the double pyramid, fatigue may affect performance and therefore hypertrophy and muscle endurance are the most appropriate outcomes of this strategy.
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Skewed pyramid.
The flat pyramid, as represented in figure 7.10, is one of the best patterns for improving strength. In traditional pyramids, the load often varies from 70% to 100%. Load variations of such magnitude can span across three resistance training zones, from hypertrophy to maximal, but in the case of highly trained athletes whose goal is to increase maximum strength, it would be advisable to keep the load in the higher range of 85% to 100% 1RM (Bompa and Haff 2009). However, this strategy is flexible and can be adapted to use a load appropriate to the session or resistance training zone. This strategy has also been called the stable-load pattern (Naclerio 2005).
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Flat pyramid.
Another possible option is to arrange the structure of the training session to use a repetition-stable pattern. This system works well for those who want to use the RM continuum strategy because the number of repetitions stays stable while the load can change as fatigue increases throughout the sets.
Learn more about EuropeActive's Foundations for Exercise Professionals.
Goal setting, motivational types, and behavioral strategies to encourage fitness
As highlighted in the previous section, knowing the client is key to maximising motivation when it comes to exercise. This section aims to progress this forward by outlining key behavioural strategies that could be used to enhance motivation towards exercising.
Behavioural Strategies to Enhance Exercise and Health Behaviour Change
As highlighted in the previous section, knowing the client is key to maximising motivation when it comes to exercise. This section aims to progress this forward by outlining key behavioural strategies that could be used to enhance motivation towards exercising. Four strategies will be discussed in all - goal setting, social support, self-monitoring and reinforcement - with examples of each given along the way.
Goal Setting
If you were to ask all people who exercise why they do so, they would all give you an answer specific to them as individuals. Whether it's to lose a bit of weight, prepare for an upcoming competition or beat a personal best in the squat rack, these are all forms of goal setting. So, people will already have end goals in mind, but are these goals achievable? Are they realistic? Are they motivational, or are they in fact the problem? Herein lies the importance of setting specific goals when it comes to motivating the exerciser (Coppack, Kristensen and Karageorghis 2012).
Key sport psychology literature (Weinberg and Gould 2007) recognises that there are three types of goals a person can set: outcome goals, performance goals and process goals. As the name suggests, outcome goals focus on the outcome or result of an event (completing a marathon, winning a boxing fight, losing 5 kg in weight) and heavily rely on external factors (opposition, form coming into an event, general lifestyle choices). Second, performance goals focus on the performance of an action, regardless of the outcome of an event (a runner may not win a marathon but may still set a new personal best in that event). Finally, there are process goals, which focus on specific actions that make up the overall performance (a triple jumper may set a process goal to increase his hop distance, somebody wanting to lose weight may set a process goal to run farther in 20 minutes than she has before).
This breakdown of goal setting has been simplified further with the use of tools such as the goal-setting staircase (see figure 18.1), which takes the three types of goal setting and divides them into long-term goals (outcome) and short-term goals (performance and process). The idea is that a long-term goal is achieved by successfully completing a range of short-term goals that lead up to it. When planning their goals, exercisers work backward down the staircase from their long-term goal to where they are today. Studies have shown that working backward from the end goal to the current position allows for greater specificity within each short-term goal (Weina, Chenglin, Liu and Watson 2012).
In terms of enhancing behavioural change, an effective goal-setting process is key. Quantifying a person's reason to exercise into a range of long-term and short-term goals can help her see what she needs to do in the short term to enable the long term to happen. Likewise, if a person's motivation levels are low when it comes to achieving a short-term goal, the reminder of why he is doing it (outcome goal) can have the same effect (Wilson and Brookfield 2009).
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Goal-setting staircase.
Social Support
What people see and experience in their social settings often influence why they choose to exercise. Whether it's what they see and read in the media or what their colleagues do and think, many external influences can affect the motivation to exercise. Second to goal setting, social support is recognised as the next key factor when it comes to exercise motivation. Wills and Shinar (2000) proposed that the amount and type of support people receive is key to their motivation. The authors state that there are five types of social support: instrumental support, emotional support, informational support, companionship support and validation.
Instrumental support is support that offers practical help so people can achieve their goals. This can come from a range of sources, including a workplace having onsite facilities for exercise (work gym or swimming pool), a car park offering free parking for the gym or gym goers supporting each other while exercising.
Emotional support is most effective in helping to boost a person's self-confidence or to reduce any anxieties that someone new to exercising may be feeling. In its simplest (and most effective) form, it involves friends, family and exercise professionals offering verbal support to the exerciser, whether that support is encouragement to finish the last set of exercises or a shoulder to cry on if the person feels things are getting a little overwhelming. Simple cues and support can be the difference between a person carrying on with training or giving up altogether.
Informational support is just that, providing someone with information in order to help her exercise experience. This can come from all manner of resources, from online forums and websites to staff working at the gym. This information may be intimidating to some, especially novice exercisers, due to the jargon that can come with it, and many people tend to seek information from friends and family who are more experienced than they are when it comes to exercising.
Companionship support relates to the people who partake in exercise with the exerciser. Having a gym buddy or a running mate has been shown to dissociate the exerciser from negative feelings such as boredom and pain. Typically, the companion comes in the form of friends and family; however, companionship support can also come from exercising as a group or in a class.
Support through validation is a reflective process where the exerciser compares himself and his worries against the social norm. This helps people to gauge their progress against where others are ahead of and behind them. Validation often gives people a needed confidence boost and lets them know that others have been in their shoes before and have successfully achieved their behavioural change.
Social support can be very useful when it comes to motivating an exerciser, and there is great scope in which to do so. As mentioned in the previous section, the key to this is knowing each individual and what works for her. Research by Swanson, Colwell and Yushan (2008) showed that factors such as experience and exercise level can have an impact on the social support a person requires.
Self-Monitoring
Self-monitoring is a process that allows exercisers to take control of what they are doing. More suited to someone who naturally has higher levels of motivation to begin with (Young, Medic and Strakes 2009), self-monitoring is most commonly done by maintaining a training journal or log. Within the journal, an exerciser would log each training session, noting key elements such as sets and reps or times and distances. This enables the exerciser to keep track of progress over a long time.
The training journal can be used in a number of ways when it comes to motivating the exerciser. First, if the exerciser is experiencing a lull in her training and is finding things hard going, just a simple recap of what she's done previously and how much she's improved can be enough to stimulate her training. Second, enabling the exerciser to take control of his own progress helps instil self-confidence that what he is doing is right (Hindle and Carpenter 2011). This level of control enables exercisers to push themselves because they can see physical evidence of their progress.
A noteworthy point associated with self-monitoring is that people tend to leave any negatives associated with their exercise out of their journals (e.g., failed reps or missed timing goals). This helps to highlight that self-monitoring is not for everyone because for it to have its full effect, the exerciser must be honest and fill it in correctly, including both positives and negatives that occur. With this in mind, this tool for behavioural change is best suited to more experienced exercisers. Because they are more accustomed to the demands of exercise, this added responsibility isn't as daunting as it might be to people who are embarking on their first experience of exercise.
Reinforcement
This is a tool that can be used to influence motivation among exercisers of all levels and experiences. However, it must be used correctly because it can steer a person away from wanting to exercise just as easily as it can gain someone's interest. Another noteworthy point is that individual differences matter here, too; what may work as reinforcement for one person might have the opposite effect on someone else.
According to Skinner's (1953) stimulus - response theory, if someone receives reinforcement about what she is doing (good or bad), then chances are this will affect whether or not she repeats the behaviour in the future. Within the context of exercise, if somebody receives praise that his physique is improving due to exercise, then this will help to motivate him to exercise again in the future. There are two key elements of reinforcement, positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement, and it is generally accepted that positive and negative reinforcement help increase exercise adherence. There are also two adverse forms of reinforcement, punishment and extinction, which tend to discourage people from repeating an action, in this case exercising. Each aspect of reinforcement will now be discussed, with industry-specific examples given. To close this section, we will look at feedback and how different types of feedback can affect a person's motivation levels in very different ways.
Positive Reinforcement
As the name suggests, positive reinforcement is reinforcement that makes a person feel good about herself. It's an enjoyable experience that gives the person a feeling of self-worth and a confidence boost. There are two types of positive reinforcement: intrinsic reinforcement and extrinsic reinforcement (Weinberg and Gould 2007). Intrinsic reinforcement is praise or reward from within. It can be the satisfaction of completing a tough workout, feeling good about physical improvements to your appearance or just the general good feeling that is associated with becoming fitter and healthier. People who are new to exercise or who are low in motivation often neglect intrinsic reinforcement because they tend to have negative views about themselves (McAuley and Tammen 1989). Over time and continued exercise, intrinsic feelings have been shown to increase (Gallagher and Updegraff 2011), and as a person becomes more knowledgeable about things such as the difficulty of the workout he has just completed, he then allows himself to feel intrinsically positive, which in turn increases levels of intrinsic reinforcement.
Extrinsic reinforcement, on the other hand, comes from external sources. In its most basic form, it includes verbal praise from family and friends about how well somebody is doing in her new exercise regime or how well she looks for doing so. It can also come from peers within an exercise group or gym who notice an increase in a person's ability to complete an exercise or task. Exercise professionals are another key form of extrinsic reinforcement, and what they say tends to pack a bigger punch because the person in question feels good that the praise that his ability has increased or his physique has improved is coming from experts. Other forms of extrinsic reinforcement are taking advantage of offers that a gym may promote (reduced rates after committing to an exercise plan for so long, free merchandise for reaching certain training goals), having to purchase new clothes due to weight loss or seeing improvements by noticing an improved physique in the mirror.
Negative Reinforcement
The term negative reinforcement may seem to be a bad thing to people not in the know, but this couldn't be further from the truth. Negative reinforcement is a process exercisers may go through that reminds them why they are committing to an exercise regime and to the process of behavioural change. The best example of negative reinforcement is when a person feels bad for missing a workout or for eating something unhealthy. The feeling of guilt reminds the person why he is committing to changing his behaviour and makes it more likely that the negative experience will be avoided in the future. Another example of negative reinforcement would be pain or discomfort someone may feel due to a bad behaviour she is trying to change. If someone suffers from back pain (negative reinforcement) due to being overweight (bad behaviour), then this would help to reinforce that her behaviour change to exercise is the correct choice.
To get the most out of positive and negative reinforcement, its best for it to take place as soon after the event as possible (Weinberg, Garland, Bruya and Jackson 1990). This allows the person to associate the reinforcement with the feelings he currently has.
Punishment
When we think of punishment, we think of the bad consequences that come because of the behaviour that took place before it (e.g., a student being told off by the teacher for breaking the rules in class). Whereas negative reinforcement tries to remove any negative consequences (e.g., back pain for being overweight), punishment has the opposite effect in adding to the negative. If the person trying to lose weight had increased feelings of pain in her back due to exercise, then this would act as a reinforcement not to exercise.
Extinction
People who are new to exercise quickly experience its positive effects and benefits. However, when they become more established exercisers, these changes happen less frequently, and people can then become demoralised and feelings of doubt start to build as to why they are exercising. This in turn could cause them to stop exercising altogether. The most common example of this is people who are trying to lose weight. When they begin, they lose greater amounts of body weight and in turn feel positive about themselves. But when the weight loss slows down, chances are they will decrease the amount they exercise because they are not seeing the same results as when they started.
Role of Feedback
People react to feedback in their own way. What one person feels is a negative comment might be just the push another person needs to get motivated to exercise. The key to this again is getting to know the individual. An exercise professional may tell someone that he looks slimmer; however, if that person's reason for exercising is to increase the size of his physique, he could take this comment as a negative, which in turn could decrease the amount he exercises. Another example of this would be telling somebody new to exercising that other gym members squat far much more weight than she can. One person may take this as a negative and become intimidated while in the gym and thus stop exercising, whereas another person could use this as motivation to train harder and increase the amount she exercises in order to achieve similar results in the gym.
Although basic, these examples show how easy it is to motivate or demotivate somebody to exercise just by what you say. It could be the difference in helping someone or preventing someone from making that behavioural change, and the key lies with getting to know what makes a person tick - that is, getting to know the individual.
Learn more about EuropeActive's Foundations for Exercise Professionals.
Learn which muscles govern movement in the body
The skeletal muscles can be divided into three groups (figure 2.5): 1. Muscles governing movement of the upper extremities. 2. Muscles governing moment of the trunk and spine (including breathing musculature). 3. Muscles governing movement of the lower extremities.
Skeletal Muscle Groups and Function
The skeletal muscles can be divided into three groups (figure 2.5):
- Muscles governing movement of the upper extremities
- Muscles governing moment of the trunk and spine (including breathing musculature)
- Muscles governing movement of the lower extremities
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Muscles of the human body: (a) front and (b) back view.
Muscles of the Upper Extremity
The muscles of the upper extremity comprise the muscles around the shoulder or pectoral girdle as well as the muscles of the glenohumeral (shoulder) joint and of the elbow and wrist. These muscles are active in all pressing and pulling movements of the upper body:
- Shoulder or pectoral girdle
- Trapezius
- Rhomboideus
- Latissimus dorsi
- Pectorals
- Deltoids
- Biceps
- Brachialis
- Triceps
Muscles of the Spine and Trunk
The muscles of the spine and trunk produce movement of the spine and hips and contribute to ventilation. This covers extension, flexion, lateral flexion, reduction and rotation along the full length of the spine. Additionally, the diaphragm is the principal ventilation muscle, but muscles between the ribs can expand the thorax for heavy or deep breathing and the transversus abdominis muscles assist in establishing thoracic pressure during Valsalva manoeuvres. Valsalva manoeuvres are initiated reflexively, when external moments are applied to the torso. They consist of simultaneous contraction of the transversus and the obliques and sometimes the diaphragm, similar to a forced exhalation but against closed airways. Together these muscle actions increase intrathoracic and intra-abdominal pressure, stiffening the trunk and thereby reducing shear forces across the spine (Hill and Butler 1991).
Functionally, the muscles in the trunk are often divided into the inner unit and the outer unit. The inner unit includes the muscles that do not produce macroscopic movement but instead stabilise the vertebrae and sacroiliac joint during movement, whereas the outer unit produces the movements of the spine and hip. The inner unit consists of tonic muscles such as the transversus abdominis, the posterior fibres of the obliquus internus abdominis, the diaphragm, the pelvic floor muscles, the multifidus and the lumbar portions of the longissimus and iliocostalis (part of the erector spinae). These muscle co-contract in virtually all standing or sitting movements and most lying movements prior to other muscles firing in order to provide spinal rigidity, ensuring efficient force transfer. The outer unit consists of the obliquus externus, obliquus internus, erector spinae, latissimus dorsi, gluteal muscles, quadratus lumborum, adductors and hamstrings. Following are phasic muscles that can produce movement with great power and ROM, fulfilling tasks of vastly different mechanical and metabolic requirements:
- Rectus abdominis
- Obliques (internal and external)
- Transversus abdominis
- Erector spinae
- Quadratus lumborum
Muscles of the Lower Extremity
The muscles of the lower extremity comprise the muscles around the hip, pelvis, knees and ankles. Together these muscles perform all movements in the movement chains of the lower body:
- Gluteal muscles
- Quadriceps
- Hamstrings
- Adductors
- Psoas complex (hip flexors)
- Triceps surae (calf muscles)
Learn more about EuropeActive's Foundations for Exercise Professionals.
Rep and load variations for specific goals in resistance training program
Resistance training methods refer to the strategy used for organising training sessions. Methods should be selected by the strength zone and goals of the workout.
Common Resistance Training Methods and Systems
Resistance training methods refer to the strategy used for organising training sessions. Methods should be selected by the strength zone and goals of the workout. The following sections describe the most common resistance training methods for general fitness proposed in fitness centres and gyms.
Basic Set
This strategy requires the resistance training practitioner to perform all sets of an exercise before continuing to the next. In addition, it is necessary to rest between every set, exercise and even before the following exercise where practical (depending on the requirements of the session and the selection strategy). This method can be used for any resistance training zone but is especially effective for novice practitioners who have to learn the correct technique of the exercise (Naclerio 2005).
Resistance Training Systems
Participants can use several loading patterns or systems in order to obtain the most favourable outcomes from each resistance training session. The most common loading patterns for resistance training are the pyramid and its variations (traditional and reverse pyramids, double pyramid, skewed and flat pyramids), stable load, and stable repetitions.
The pyramid is one of the most popular loading patterns. Its structure, illustrated in figure 7.7, shows that the load increases progressively to a maximum while the number of reps decreases proportionately (traditional). In the reverse form, the load decreases and the reps increase. The physiological effects of this procedure result from the progressive activation or recruitment of available motor units (Bompa and Haff 2009). Regardless of the load used, both systems seem to be appropriate for hypertrophy. The traditional form could be more appropriate to emphasise the capacity to tolerate the repetition of maximum effort, while the reverse form seems more suitable for improving maximal strength.
http://www.humankinetics.com/AcuCustom/Sitename/DAM/133/E5640_486071_ebook_Main.jpg
Traditional and reverse pyramids.
The double pyramid (figure 7.8) consists of two pyramids, one inverted on top of the other. The number of repetitions decreases from the bottom up and then increases again in the second pyramid. Due to a high volume of sets, this pattern is more suitable for muscle hypertrophy rather than endurance.
http://www.humankinetics.com/AcuCustom/Sitename/DAM/133/E5640_486073_ebook_Main.jpg
Double pyramid.
The skewed pyramid (figure 7.9) is proposed as an improved variant of the double pyramid. The load constantly increases throughout the exercise except during the last set, when it decreases. This decrease is meant to add variation and improve motivation. Similar to the double pyramid, fatigue may affect performance and therefore hypertrophy and muscle endurance are the most appropriate outcomes of this strategy.
http://www.humankinetics.com/AcuCustom/Sitename/DAM/133/E5640_486074_ebook_Main.jpg
Skewed pyramid.
The flat pyramid, as represented in figure 7.10, is one of the best patterns for improving strength. In traditional pyramids, the load often varies from 70% to 100%. Load variations of such magnitude can span across three resistance training zones, from hypertrophy to maximal, but in the case of highly trained athletes whose goal is to increase maximum strength, it would be advisable to keep the load in the higher range of 85% to 100% 1RM (Bompa and Haff 2009). However, this strategy is flexible and can be adapted to use a load appropriate to the session or resistance training zone. This strategy has also been called the stable-load pattern (Naclerio 2005).
http://www.humankinetics.com/AcuCustom/Sitename/DAM/133/E5640_486157_ebook_Main.jpg
Flat pyramid.
Another possible option is to arrange the structure of the training session to use a repetition-stable pattern. This system works well for those who want to use the RM continuum strategy because the number of repetitions stays stable while the load can change as fatigue increases throughout the sets.
Learn more about EuropeActive's Foundations for Exercise Professionals.
Goal setting, motivational types, and behavioral strategies to encourage fitness
As highlighted in the previous section, knowing the client is key to maximising motivation when it comes to exercise. This section aims to progress this forward by outlining key behavioural strategies that could be used to enhance motivation towards exercising.
Behavioural Strategies to Enhance Exercise and Health Behaviour Change
As highlighted in the previous section, knowing the client is key to maximising motivation when it comes to exercise. This section aims to progress this forward by outlining key behavioural strategies that could be used to enhance motivation towards exercising. Four strategies will be discussed in all - goal setting, social support, self-monitoring and reinforcement - with examples of each given along the way.
Goal Setting
If you were to ask all people who exercise why they do so, they would all give you an answer specific to them as individuals. Whether it's to lose a bit of weight, prepare for an upcoming competition or beat a personal best in the squat rack, these are all forms of goal setting. So, people will already have end goals in mind, but are these goals achievable? Are they realistic? Are they motivational, or are they in fact the problem? Herein lies the importance of setting specific goals when it comes to motivating the exerciser (Coppack, Kristensen and Karageorghis 2012).
Key sport psychology literature (Weinberg and Gould 2007) recognises that there are three types of goals a person can set: outcome goals, performance goals and process goals. As the name suggests, outcome goals focus on the outcome or result of an event (completing a marathon, winning a boxing fight, losing 5 kg in weight) and heavily rely on external factors (opposition, form coming into an event, general lifestyle choices). Second, performance goals focus on the performance of an action, regardless of the outcome of an event (a runner may not win a marathon but may still set a new personal best in that event). Finally, there are process goals, which focus on specific actions that make up the overall performance (a triple jumper may set a process goal to increase his hop distance, somebody wanting to lose weight may set a process goal to run farther in 20 minutes than she has before).
This breakdown of goal setting has been simplified further with the use of tools such as the goal-setting staircase (see figure 18.1), which takes the three types of goal setting and divides them into long-term goals (outcome) and short-term goals (performance and process). The idea is that a long-term goal is achieved by successfully completing a range of short-term goals that lead up to it. When planning their goals, exercisers work backward down the staircase from their long-term goal to where they are today. Studies have shown that working backward from the end goal to the current position allows for greater specificity within each short-term goal (Weina, Chenglin, Liu and Watson 2012).
In terms of enhancing behavioural change, an effective goal-setting process is key. Quantifying a person's reason to exercise into a range of long-term and short-term goals can help her see what she needs to do in the short term to enable the long term to happen. Likewise, if a person's motivation levels are low when it comes to achieving a short-term goal, the reminder of why he is doing it (outcome goal) can have the same effect (Wilson and Brookfield 2009).
http://www.humankinetics.com/AcuCustom/Sitename/DAM/133/E5640_486137_ebook_Main.jpg
Goal-setting staircase.
Social Support
What people see and experience in their social settings often influence why they choose to exercise. Whether it's what they see and read in the media or what their colleagues do and think, many external influences can affect the motivation to exercise. Second to goal setting, social support is recognised as the next key factor when it comes to exercise motivation. Wills and Shinar (2000) proposed that the amount and type of support people receive is key to their motivation. The authors state that there are five types of social support: instrumental support, emotional support, informational support, companionship support and validation.
Instrumental support is support that offers practical help so people can achieve their goals. This can come from a range of sources, including a workplace having onsite facilities for exercise (work gym or swimming pool), a car park offering free parking for the gym or gym goers supporting each other while exercising.
Emotional support is most effective in helping to boost a person's self-confidence or to reduce any anxieties that someone new to exercising may be feeling. In its simplest (and most effective) form, it involves friends, family and exercise professionals offering verbal support to the exerciser, whether that support is encouragement to finish the last set of exercises or a shoulder to cry on if the person feels things are getting a little overwhelming. Simple cues and support can be the difference between a person carrying on with training or giving up altogether.
Informational support is just that, providing someone with information in order to help her exercise experience. This can come from all manner of resources, from online forums and websites to staff working at the gym. This information may be intimidating to some, especially novice exercisers, due to the jargon that can come with it, and many people tend to seek information from friends and family who are more experienced than they are when it comes to exercising.
Companionship support relates to the people who partake in exercise with the exerciser. Having a gym buddy or a running mate has been shown to dissociate the exerciser from negative feelings such as boredom and pain. Typically, the companion comes in the form of friends and family; however, companionship support can also come from exercising as a group or in a class.
Support through validation is a reflective process where the exerciser compares himself and his worries against the social norm. This helps people to gauge their progress against where others are ahead of and behind them. Validation often gives people a needed confidence boost and lets them know that others have been in their shoes before and have successfully achieved their behavioural change.
Social support can be very useful when it comes to motivating an exerciser, and there is great scope in which to do so. As mentioned in the previous section, the key to this is knowing each individual and what works for her. Research by Swanson, Colwell and Yushan (2008) showed that factors such as experience and exercise level can have an impact on the social support a person requires.
Self-Monitoring
Self-monitoring is a process that allows exercisers to take control of what they are doing. More suited to someone who naturally has higher levels of motivation to begin with (Young, Medic and Strakes 2009), self-monitoring is most commonly done by maintaining a training journal or log. Within the journal, an exerciser would log each training session, noting key elements such as sets and reps or times and distances. This enables the exerciser to keep track of progress over a long time.
The training journal can be used in a number of ways when it comes to motivating the exerciser. First, if the exerciser is experiencing a lull in her training and is finding things hard going, just a simple recap of what she's done previously and how much she's improved can be enough to stimulate her training. Second, enabling the exerciser to take control of his own progress helps instil self-confidence that what he is doing is right (Hindle and Carpenter 2011). This level of control enables exercisers to push themselves because they can see physical evidence of their progress.
A noteworthy point associated with self-monitoring is that people tend to leave any negatives associated with their exercise out of their journals (e.g., failed reps or missed timing goals). This helps to highlight that self-monitoring is not for everyone because for it to have its full effect, the exerciser must be honest and fill it in correctly, including both positives and negatives that occur. With this in mind, this tool for behavioural change is best suited to more experienced exercisers. Because they are more accustomed to the demands of exercise, this added responsibility isn't as daunting as it might be to people who are embarking on their first experience of exercise.
Reinforcement
This is a tool that can be used to influence motivation among exercisers of all levels and experiences. However, it must be used correctly because it can steer a person away from wanting to exercise just as easily as it can gain someone's interest. Another noteworthy point is that individual differences matter here, too; what may work as reinforcement for one person might have the opposite effect on someone else.
According to Skinner's (1953) stimulus - response theory, if someone receives reinforcement about what she is doing (good or bad), then chances are this will affect whether or not she repeats the behaviour in the future. Within the context of exercise, if somebody receives praise that his physique is improving due to exercise, then this will help to motivate him to exercise again in the future. There are two key elements of reinforcement, positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement, and it is generally accepted that positive and negative reinforcement help increase exercise adherence. There are also two adverse forms of reinforcement, punishment and extinction, which tend to discourage people from repeating an action, in this case exercising. Each aspect of reinforcement will now be discussed, with industry-specific examples given. To close this section, we will look at feedback and how different types of feedback can affect a person's motivation levels in very different ways.
Positive Reinforcement
As the name suggests, positive reinforcement is reinforcement that makes a person feel good about herself. It's an enjoyable experience that gives the person a feeling of self-worth and a confidence boost. There are two types of positive reinforcement: intrinsic reinforcement and extrinsic reinforcement (Weinberg and Gould 2007). Intrinsic reinforcement is praise or reward from within. It can be the satisfaction of completing a tough workout, feeling good about physical improvements to your appearance or just the general good feeling that is associated with becoming fitter and healthier. People who are new to exercise or who are low in motivation often neglect intrinsic reinforcement because they tend to have negative views about themselves (McAuley and Tammen 1989). Over time and continued exercise, intrinsic feelings have been shown to increase (Gallagher and Updegraff 2011), and as a person becomes more knowledgeable about things such as the difficulty of the workout he has just completed, he then allows himself to feel intrinsically positive, which in turn increases levels of intrinsic reinforcement.
Extrinsic reinforcement, on the other hand, comes from external sources. In its most basic form, it includes verbal praise from family and friends about how well somebody is doing in her new exercise regime or how well she looks for doing so. It can also come from peers within an exercise group or gym who notice an increase in a person's ability to complete an exercise or task. Exercise professionals are another key form of extrinsic reinforcement, and what they say tends to pack a bigger punch because the person in question feels good that the praise that his ability has increased or his physique has improved is coming from experts. Other forms of extrinsic reinforcement are taking advantage of offers that a gym may promote (reduced rates after committing to an exercise plan for so long, free merchandise for reaching certain training goals), having to purchase new clothes due to weight loss or seeing improvements by noticing an improved physique in the mirror.
Negative Reinforcement
The term negative reinforcement may seem to be a bad thing to people not in the know, but this couldn't be further from the truth. Negative reinforcement is a process exercisers may go through that reminds them why they are committing to an exercise regime and to the process of behavioural change. The best example of negative reinforcement is when a person feels bad for missing a workout or for eating something unhealthy. The feeling of guilt reminds the person why he is committing to changing his behaviour and makes it more likely that the negative experience will be avoided in the future. Another example of negative reinforcement would be pain or discomfort someone may feel due to a bad behaviour she is trying to change. If someone suffers from back pain (negative reinforcement) due to being overweight (bad behaviour), then this would help to reinforce that her behaviour change to exercise is the correct choice.
To get the most out of positive and negative reinforcement, its best for it to take place as soon after the event as possible (Weinberg, Garland, Bruya and Jackson 1990). This allows the person to associate the reinforcement with the feelings he currently has.
Punishment
When we think of punishment, we think of the bad consequences that come because of the behaviour that took place before it (e.g., a student being told off by the teacher for breaking the rules in class). Whereas negative reinforcement tries to remove any negative consequences (e.g., back pain for being overweight), punishment has the opposite effect in adding to the negative. If the person trying to lose weight had increased feelings of pain in her back due to exercise, then this would act as a reinforcement not to exercise.
Extinction
People who are new to exercise quickly experience its positive effects and benefits. However, when they become more established exercisers, these changes happen less frequently, and people can then become demoralised and feelings of doubt start to build as to why they are exercising. This in turn could cause them to stop exercising altogether. The most common example of this is people who are trying to lose weight. When they begin, they lose greater amounts of body weight and in turn feel positive about themselves. But when the weight loss slows down, chances are they will decrease the amount they exercise because they are not seeing the same results as when they started.
Role of Feedback
People react to feedback in their own way. What one person feels is a negative comment might be just the push another person needs to get motivated to exercise. The key to this again is getting to know the individual. An exercise professional may tell someone that he looks slimmer; however, if that person's reason for exercising is to increase the size of his physique, he could take this comment as a negative, which in turn could decrease the amount he exercises. Another example of this would be telling somebody new to exercising that other gym members squat far much more weight than she can. One person may take this as a negative and become intimidated while in the gym and thus stop exercising, whereas another person could use this as motivation to train harder and increase the amount she exercises in order to achieve similar results in the gym.
Although basic, these examples show how easy it is to motivate or demotivate somebody to exercise just by what you say. It could be the difference in helping someone or preventing someone from making that behavioural change, and the key lies with getting to know what makes a person tick - that is, getting to know the individual.
Learn more about EuropeActive's Foundations for Exercise Professionals.
Learn which muscles govern movement in the body
The skeletal muscles can be divided into three groups (figure 2.5): 1. Muscles governing movement of the upper extremities. 2. Muscles governing moment of the trunk and spine (including breathing musculature). 3. Muscles governing movement of the lower extremities.
Skeletal Muscle Groups and Function
The skeletal muscles can be divided into three groups (figure 2.5):
- Muscles governing movement of the upper extremities
- Muscles governing moment of the trunk and spine (including breathing musculature)
- Muscles governing movement of the lower extremities
http://www.humankinetics.com/AcuCustom/Sitename/DAM/133/E5640_486010_ebook_Main.jpg
Muscles of the human body: (a) front and (b) back view.
Muscles of the Upper Extremity
The muscles of the upper extremity comprise the muscles around the shoulder or pectoral girdle as well as the muscles of the glenohumeral (shoulder) joint and of the elbow and wrist. These muscles are active in all pressing and pulling movements of the upper body:
- Shoulder or pectoral girdle
- Trapezius
- Rhomboideus
- Latissimus dorsi
- Pectorals
- Deltoids
- Biceps
- Brachialis
- Triceps
Muscles of the Spine and Trunk
The muscles of the spine and trunk produce movement of the spine and hips and contribute to ventilation. This covers extension, flexion, lateral flexion, reduction and rotation along the full length of the spine. Additionally, the diaphragm is the principal ventilation muscle, but muscles between the ribs can expand the thorax for heavy or deep breathing and the transversus abdominis muscles assist in establishing thoracic pressure during Valsalva manoeuvres. Valsalva manoeuvres are initiated reflexively, when external moments are applied to the torso. They consist of simultaneous contraction of the transversus and the obliques and sometimes the diaphragm, similar to a forced exhalation but against closed airways. Together these muscle actions increase intrathoracic and intra-abdominal pressure, stiffening the trunk and thereby reducing shear forces across the spine (Hill and Butler 1991).
Functionally, the muscles in the trunk are often divided into the inner unit and the outer unit. The inner unit includes the muscles that do not produce macroscopic movement but instead stabilise the vertebrae and sacroiliac joint during movement, whereas the outer unit produces the movements of the spine and hip. The inner unit consists of tonic muscles such as the transversus abdominis, the posterior fibres of the obliquus internus abdominis, the diaphragm, the pelvic floor muscles, the multifidus and the lumbar portions of the longissimus and iliocostalis (part of the erector spinae). These muscle co-contract in virtually all standing or sitting movements and most lying movements prior to other muscles firing in order to provide spinal rigidity, ensuring efficient force transfer. The outer unit consists of the obliquus externus, obliquus internus, erector spinae, latissimus dorsi, gluteal muscles, quadratus lumborum, adductors and hamstrings. Following are phasic muscles that can produce movement with great power and ROM, fulfilling tasks of vastly different mechanical and metabolic requirements:
- Rectus abdominis
- Obliques (internal and external)
- Transversus abdominis
- Erector spinae
- Quadratus lumborum
Muscles of the Lower Extremity
The muscles of the lower extremity comprise the muscles around the hip, pelvis, knees and ankles. Together these muscles perform all movements in the movement chains of the lower body:
- Gluteal muscles
- Quadriceps
- Hamstrings
- Adductors
- Psoas complex (hip flexors)
- Triceps surae (calf muscles)
Learn more about EuropeActive's Foundations for Exercise Professionals.
Rep and load variations for specific goals in resistance training program
Resistance training methods refer to the strategy used for organising training sessions. Methods should be selected by the strength zone and goals of the workout.
Common Resistance Training Methods and Systems
Resistance training methods refer to the strategy used for organising training sessions. Methods should be selected by the strength zone and goals of the workout. The following sections describe the most common resistance training methods for general fitness proposed in fitness centres and gyms.
Basic Set
This strategy requires the resistance training practitioner to perform all sets of an exercise before continuing to the next. In addition, it is necessary to rest between every set, exercise and even before the following exercise where practical (depending on the requirements of the session and the selection strategy). This method can be used for any resistance training zone but is especially effective for novice practitioners who have to learn the correct technique of the exercise (Naclerio 2005).
Resistance Training Systems
Participants can use several loading patterns or systems in order to obtain the most favourable outcomes from each resistance training session. The most common loading patterns for resistance training are the pyramid and its variations (traditional and reverse pyramids, double pyramid, skewed and flat pyramids), stable load, and stable repetitions.
The pyramid is one of the most popular loading patterns. Its structure, illustrated in figure 7.7, shows that the load increases progressively to a maximum while the number of reps decreases proportionately (traditional). In the reverse form, the load decreases and the reps increase. The physiological effects of this procedure result from the progressive activation or recruitment of available motor units (Bompa and Haff 2009). Regardless of the load used, both systems seem to be appropriate for hypertrophy. The traditional form could be more appropriate to emphasise the capacity to tolerate the repetition of maximum effort, while the reverse form seems more suitable for improving maximal strength.
http://www.humankinetics.com/AcuCustom/Sitename/DAM/133/E5640_486071_ebook_Main.jpg
Traditional and reverse pyramids.
The double pyramid (figure 7.8) consists of two pyramids, one inverted on top of the other. The number of repetitions decreases from the bottom up and then increases again in the second pyramid. Due to a high volume of sets, this pattern is more suitable for muscle hypertrophy rather than endurance.
http://www.humankinetics.com/AcuCustom/Sitename/DAM/133/E5640_486073_ebook_Main.jpg
Double pyramid.
The skewed pyramid (figure 7.9) is proposed as an improved variant of the double pyramid. The load constantly increases throughout the exercise except during the last set, when it decreases. This decrease is meant to add variation and improve motivation. Similar to the double pyramid, fatigue may affect performance and therefore hypertrophy and muscle endurance are the most appropriate outcomes of this strategy.
http://www.humankinetics.com/AcuCustom/Sitename/DAM/133/E5640_486074_ebook_Main.jpg
Skewed pyramid.
The flat pyramid, as represented in figure 7.10, is one of the best patterns for improving strength. In traditional pyramids, the load often varies from 70% to 100%. Load variations of such magnitude can span across three resistance training zones, from hypertrophy to maximal, but in the case of highly trained athletes whose goal is to increase maximum strength, it would be advisable to keep the load in the higher range of 85% to 100% 1RM (Bompa and Haff 2009). However, this strategy is flexible and can be adapted to use a load appropriate to the session or resistance training zone. This strategy has also been called the stable-load pattern (Naclerio 2005).
http://www.humankinetics.com/AcuCustom/Sitename/DAM/133/E5640_486157_ebook_Main.jpg
Flat pyramid.
Another possible option is to arrange the structure of the training session to use a repetition-stable pattern. This system works well for those who want to use the RM continuum strategy because the number of repetitions stays stable while the load can change as fatigue increases throughout the sets.
Learn more about EuropeActive's Foundations for Exercise Professionals.
Goal setting, motivational types, and behavioral strategies to encourage fitness
As highlighted in the previous section, knowing the client is key to maximising motivation when it comes to exercise. This section aims to progress this forward by outlining key behavioural strategies that could be used to enhance motivation towards exercising.
Behavioural Strategies to Enhance Exercise and Health Behaviour Change
As highlighted in the previous section, knowing the client is key to maximising motivation when it comes to exercise. This section aims to progress this forward by outlining key behavioural strategies that could be used to enhance motivation towards exercising. Four strategies will be discussed in all - goal setting, social support, self-monitoring and reinforcement - with examples of each given along the way.
Goal Setting
If you were to ask all people who exercise why they do so, they would all give you an answer specific to them as individuals. Whether it's to lose a bit of weight, prepare for an upcoming competition or beat a personal best in the squat rack, these are all forms of goal setting. So, people will already have end goals in mind, but are these goals achievable? Are they realistic? Are they motivational, or are they in fact the problem? Herein lies the importance of setting specific goals when it comes to motivating the exerciser (Coppack, Kristensen and Karageorghis 2012).
Key sport psychology literature (Weinberg and Gould 2007) recognises that there are three types of goals a person can set: outcome goals, performance goals and process goals. As the name suggests, outcome goals focus on the outcome or result of an event (completing a marathon, winning a boxing fight, losing 5 kg in weight) and heavily rely on external factors (opposition, form coming into an event, general lifestyle choices). Second, performance goals focus on the performance of an action, regardless of the outcome of an event (a runner may not win a marathon but may still set a new personal best in that event). Finally, there are process goals, which focus on specific actions that make up the overall performance (a triple jumper may set a process goal to increase his hop distance, somebody wanting to lose weight may set a process goal to run farther in 20 minutes than she has before).
This breakdown of goal setting has been simplified further with the use of tools such as the goal-setting staircase (see figure 18.1), which takes the three types of goal setting and divides them into long-term goals (outcome) and short-term goals (performance and process). The idea is that a long-term goal is achieved by successfully completing a range of short-term goals that lead up to it. When planning their goals, exercisers work backward down the staircase from their long-term goal to where they are today. Studies have shown that working backward from the end goal to the current position allows for greater specificity within each short-term goal (Weina, Chenglin, Liu and Watson 2012).
In terms of enhancing behavioural change, an effective goal-setting process is key. Quantifying a person's reason to exercise into a range of long-term and short-term goals can help her see what she needs to do in the short term to enable the long term to happen. Likewise, if a person's motivation levels are low when it comes to achieving a short-term goal, the reminder of why he is doing it (outcome goal) can have the same effect (Wilson and Brookfield 2009).
http://www.humankinetics.com/AcuCustom/Sitename/DAM/133/E5640_486137_ebook_Main.jpg
Goal-setting staircase.
Social Support
What people see and experience in their social settings often influence why they choose to exercise. Whether it's what they see and read in the media or what their colleagues do and think, many external influences can affect the motivation to exercise. Second to goal setting, social support is recognised as the next key factor when it comes to exercise motivation. Wills and Shinar (2000) proposed that the amount and type of support people receive is key to their motivation. The authors state that there are five types of social support: instrumental support, emotional support, informational support, companionship support and validation.
Instrumental support is support that offers practical help so people can achieve their goals. This can come from a range of sources, including a workplace having onsite facilities for exercise (work gym or swimming pool), a car park offering free parking for the gym or gym goers supporting each other while exercising.
Emotional support is most effective in helping to boost a person's self-confidence or to reduce any anxieties that someone new to exercising may be feeling. In its simplest (and most effective) form, it involves friends, family and exercise professionals offering verbal support to the exerciser, whether that support is encouragement to finish the last set of exercises or a shoulder to cry on if the person feels things are getting a little overwhelming. Simple cues and support can be the difference between a person carrying on with training or giving up altogether.
Informational support is just that, providing someone with information in order to help her exercise experience. This can come from all manner of resources, from online forums and websites to staff working at the gym. This information may be intimidating to some, especially novice exercisers, due to the jargon that can come with it, and many people tend to seek information from friends and family who are more experienced than they are when it comes to exercising.
Companionship support relates to the people who partake in exercise with the exerciser. Having a gym buddy or a running mate has been shown to dissociate the exerciser from negative feelings such as boredom and pain. Typically, the companion comes in the form of friends and family; however, companionship support can also come from exercising as a group or in a class.
Support through validation is a reflective process where the exerciser compares himself and his worries against the social norm. This helps people to gauge their progress against where others are ahead of and behind them. Validation often gives people a needed confidence boost and lets them know that others have been in their shoes before and have successfully achieved their behavioural change.
Social support can be very useful when it comes to motivating an exerciser, and there is great scope in which to do so. As mentioned in the previous section, the key to this is knowing each individual and what works for her. Research by Swanson, Colwell and Yushan (2008) showed that factors such as experience and exercise level can have an impact on the social support a person requires.
Self-Monitoring
Self-monitoring is a process that allows exercisers to take control of what they are doing. More suited to someone who naturally has higher levels of motivation to begin with (Young, Medic and Strakes 2009), self-monitoring is most commonly done by maintaining a training journal or log. Within the journal, an exerciser would log each training session, noting key elements such as sets and reps or times and distances. This enables the exerciser to keep track of progress over a long time.
The training journal can be used in a number of ways when it comes to motivating the exerciser. First, if the exerciser is experiencing a lull in her training and is finding things hard going, just a simple recap of what she's done previously and how much she's improved can be enough to stimulate her training. Second, enabling the exerciser to take control of his own progress helps instil self-confidence that what he is doing is right (Hindle and Carpenter 2011). This level of control enables exercisers to push themselves because they can see physical evidence of their progress.
A noteworthy point associated with self-monitoring is that people tend to leave any negatives associated with their exercise out of their journals (e.g., failed reps or missed timing goals). This helps to highlight that self-monitoring is not for everyone because for it to have its full effect, the exerciser must be honest and fill it in correctly, including both positives and negatives that occur. With this in mind, this tool for behavioural change is best suited to more experienced exercisers. Because they are more accustomed to the demands of exercise, this added responsibility isn't as daunting as it might be to people who are embarking on their first experience of exercise.
Reinforcement
This is a tool that can be used to influence motivation among exercisers of all levels and experiences. However, it must be used correctly because it can steer a person away from wanting to exercise just as easily as it can gain someone's interest. Another noteworthy point is that individual differences matter here, too; what may work as reinforcement for one person might have the opposite effect on someone else.
According to Skinner's (1953) stimulus - response theory, if someone receives reinforcement about what she is doing (good or bad), then chances are this will affect whether or not she repeats the behaviour in the future. Within the context of exercise, if somebody receives praise that his physique is improving due to exercise, then this will help to motivate him to exercise again in the future. There are two key elements of reinforcement, positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement, and it is generally accepted that positive and negative reinforcement help increase exercise adherence. There are also two adverse forms of reinforcement, punishment and extinction, which tend to discourage people from repeating an action, in this case exercising. Each aspect of reinforcement will now be discussed, with industry-specific examples given. To close this section, we will look at feedback and how different types of feedback can affect a person's motivation levels in very different ways.
Positive Reinforcement
As the name suggests, positive reinforcement is reinforcement that makes a person feel good about herself. It's an enjoyable experience that gives the person a feeling of self-worth and a confidence boost. There are two types of positive reinforcement: intrinsic reinforcement and extrinsic reinforcement (Weinberg and Gould 2007). Intrinsic reinforcement is praise or reward from within. It can be the satisfaction of completing a tough workout, feeling good about physical improvements to your appearance or just the general good feeling that is associated with becoming fitter and healthier. People who are new to exercise or who are low in motivation often neglect intrinsic reinforcement because they tend to have negative views about themselves (McAuley and Tammen 1989). Over time and continued exercise, intrinsic feelings have been shown to increase (Gallagher and Updegraff 2011), and as a person becomes more knowledgeable about things such as the difficulty of the workout he has just completed, he then allows himself to feel intrinsically positive, which in turn increases levels of intrinsic reinforcement.
Extrinsic reinforcement, on the other hand, comes from external sources. In its most basic form, it includes verbal praise from family and friends about how well somebody is doing in her new exercise regime or how well she looks for doing so. It can also come from peers within an exercise group or gym who notice an increase in a person's ability to complete an exercise or task. Exercise professionals are another key form of extrinsic reinforcement, and what they say tends to pack a bigger punch because the person in question feels good that the praise that his ability has increased or his physique has improved is coming from experts. Other forms of extrinsic reinforcement are taking advantage of offers that a gym may promote (reduced rates after committing to an exercise plan for so long, free merchandise for reaching certain training goals), having to purchase new clothes due to weight loss or seeing improvements by noticing an improved physique in the mirror.
Negative Reinforcement
The term negative reinforcement may seem to be a bad thing to people not in the know, but this couldn't be further from the truth. Negative reinforcement is a process exercisers may go through that reminds them why they are committing to an exercise regime and to the process of behavioural change. The best example of negative reinforcement is when a person feels bad for missing a workout or for eating something unhealthy. The feeling of guilt reminds the person why he is committing to changing his behaviour and makes it more likely that the negative experience will be avoided in the future. Another example of negative reinforcement would be pain or discomfort someone may feel due to a bad behaviour she is trying to change. If someone suffers from back pain (negative reinforcement) due to being overweight (bad behaviour), then this would help to reinforce that her behaviour change to exercise is the correct choice.
To get the most out of positive and negative reinforcement, its best for it to take place as soon after the event as possible (Weinberg, Garland, Bruya and Jackson 1990). This allows the person to associate the reinforcement with the feelings he currently has.
Punishment
When we think of punishment, we think of the bad consequences that come because of the behaviour that took place before it (e.g., a student being told off by the teacher for breaking the rules in class). Whereas negative reinforcement tries to remove any negative consequences (e.g., back pain for being overweight), punishment has the opposite effect in adding to the negative. If the person trying to lose weight had increased feelings of pain in her back due to exercise, then this would act as a reinforcement not to exercise.
Extinction
People who are new to exercise quickly experience its positive effects and benefits. However, when they become more established exercisers, these changes happen less frequently, and people can then become demoralised and feelings of doubt start to build as to why they are exercising. This in turn could cause them to stop exercising altogether. The most common example of this is people who are trying to lose weight. When they begin, they lose greater amounts of body weight and in turn feel positive about themselves. But when the weight loss slows down, chances are they will decrease the amount they exercise because they are not seeing the same results as when they started.
Role of Feedback
People react to feedback in their own way. What one person feels is a negative comment might be just the push another person needs to get motivated to exercise. The key to this again is getting to know the individual. An exercise professional may tell someone that he looks slimmer; however, if that person's reason for exercising is to increase the size of his physique, he could take this comment as a negative, which in turn could decrease the amount he exercises. Another example of this would be telling somebody new to exercising that other gym members squat far much more weight than she can. One person may take this as a negative and become intimidated while in the gym and thus stop exercising, whereas another person could use this as motivation to train harder and increase the amount she exercises in order to achieve similar results in the gym.
Although basic, these examples show how easy it is to motivate or demotivate somebody to exercise just by what you say. It could be the difference in helping someone or preventing someone from making that behavioural change, and the key lies with getting to know what makes a person tick - that is, getting to know the individual.
Learn more about EuropeActive's Foundations for Exercise Professionals.
Learn which muscles govern movement in the body
The skeletal muscles can be divided into three groups (figure 2.5): 1. Muscles governing movement of the upper extremities. 2. Muscles governing moment of the trunk and spine (including breathing musculature). 3. Muscles governing movement of the lower extremities.
Skeletal Muscle Groups and Function
The skeletal muscles can be divided into three groups (figure 2.5):
- Muscles governing movement of the upper extremities
- Muscles governing moment of the trunk and spine (including breathing musculature)
- Muscles governing movement of the lower extremities
http://www.humankinetics.com/AcuCustom/Sitename/DAM/133/E5640_486010_ebook_Main.jpg
Muscles of the human body: (a) front and (b) back view.
Muscles of the Upper Extremity
The muscles of the upper extremity comprise the muscles around the shoulder or pectoral girdle as well as the muscles of the glenohumeral (shoulder) joint and of the elbow and wrist. These muscles are active in all pressing and pulling movements of the upper body:
- Shoulder or pectoral girdle
- Trapezius
- Rhomboideus
- Latissimus dorsi
- Pectorals
- Deltoids
- Biceps
- Brachialis
- Triceps
Muscles of the Spine and Trunk
The muscles of the spine and trunk produce movement of the spine and hips and contribute to ventilation. This covers extension, flexion, lateral flexion, reduction and rotation along the full length of the spine. Additionally, the diaphragm is the principal ventilation muscle, but muscles between the ribs can expand the thorax for heavy or deep breathing and the transversus abdominis muscles assist in establishing thoracic pressure during Valsalva manoeuvres. Valsalva manoeuvres are initiated reflexively, when external moments are applied to the torso. They consist of simultaneous contraction of the transversus and the obliques and sometimes the diaphragm, similar to a forced exhalation but against closed airways. Together these muscle actions increase intrathoracic and intra-abdominal pressure, stiffening the trunk and thereby reducing shear forces across the spine (Hill and Butler 1991).
Functionally, the muscles in the trunk are often divided into the inner unit and the outer unit. The inner unit includes the muscles that do not produce macroscopic movement but instead stabilise the vertebrae and sacroiliac joint during movement, whereas the outer unit produces the movements of the spine and hip. The inner unit consists of tonic muscles such as the transversus abdominis, the posterior fibres of the obliquus internus abdominis, the diaphragm, the pelvic floor muscles, the multifidus and the lumbar portions of the longissimus and iliocostalis (part of the erector spinae). These muscle co-contract in virtually all standing or sitting movements and most lying movements prior to other muscles firing in order to provide spinal rigidity, ensuring efficient force transfer. The outer unit consists of the obliquus externus, obliquus internus, erector spinae, latissimus dorsi, gluteal muscles, quadratus lumborum, adductors and hamstrings. Following are phasic muscles that can produce movement with great power and ROM, fulfilling tasks of vastly different mechanical and metabolic requirements:
- Rectus abdominis
- Obliques (internal and external)
- Transversus abdominis
- Erector spinae
- Quadratus lumborum
Muscles of the Lower Extremity
The muscles of the lower extremity comprise the muscles around the hip, pelvis, knees and ankles. Together these muscles perform all movements in the movement chains of the lower body:
- Gluteal muscles
- Quadriceps
- Hamstrings
- Adductors
- Psoas complex (hip flexors)
- Triceps surae (calf muscles)
Learn more about EuropeActive's Foundations for Exercise Professionals.
Rep and load variations for specific goals in resistance training program
Resistance training methods refer to the strategy used for organising training sessions. Methods should be selected by the strength zone and goals of the workout.
Common Resistance Training Methods and Systems
Resistance training methods refer to the strategy used for organising training sessions. Methods should be selected by the strength zone and goals of the workout. The following sections describe the most common resistance training methods for general fitness proposed in fitness centres and gyms.
Basic Set
This strategy requires the resistance training practitioner to perform all sets of an exercise before continuing to the next. In addition, it is necessary to rest between every set, exercise and even before the following exercise where practical (depending on the requirements of the session and the selection strategy). This method can be used for any resistance training zone but is especially effective for novice practitioners who have to learn the correct technique of the exercise (Naclerio 2005).
Resistance Training Systems
Participants can use several loading patterns or systems in order to obtain the most favourable outcomes from each resistance training session. The most common loading patterns for resistance training are the pyramid and its variations (traditional and reverse pyramids, double pyramid, skewed and flat pyramids), stable load, and stable repetitions.
The pyramid is one of the most popular loading patterns. Its structure, illustrated in figure 7.7, shows that the load increases progressively to a maximum while the number of reps decreases proportionately (traditional). In the reverse form, the load decreases and the reps increase. The physiological effects of this procedure result from the progressive activation or recruitment of available motor units (Bompa and Haff 2009). Regardless of the load used, both systems seem to be appropriate for hypertrophy. The traditional form could be more appropriate to emphasise the capacity to tolerate the repetition of maximum effort, while the reverse form seems more suitable for improving maximal strength.
http://www.humankinetics.com/AcuCustom/Sitename/DAM/133/E5640_486071_ebook_Main.jpg
Traditional and reverse pyramids.
The double pyramid (figure 7.8) consists of two pyramids, one inverted on top of the other. The number of repetitions decreases from the bottom up and then increases again in the second pyramid. Due to a high volume of sets, this pattern is more suitable for muscle hypertrophy rather than endurance.
http://www.humankinetics.com/AcuCustom/Sitename/DAM/133/E5640_486073_ebook_Main.jpg
Double pyramid.
The skewed pyramid (figure 7.9) is proposed as an improved variant of the double pyramid. The load constantly increases throughout the exercise except during the last set, when it decreases. This decrease is meant to add variation and improve motivation. Similar to the double pyramid, fatigue may affect performance and therefore hypertrophy and muscle endurance are the most appropriate outcomes of this strategy.
http://www.humankinetics.com/AcuCustom/Sitename/DAM/133/E5640_486074_ebook_Main.jpg
Skewed pyramid.
The flat pyramid, as represented in figure 7.10, is one of the best patterns for improving strength. In traditional pyramids, the load often varies from 70% to 100%. Load variations of such magnitude can span across three resistance training zones, from hypertrophy to maximal, but in the case of highly trained athletes whose goal is to increase maximum strength, it would be advisable to keep the load in the higher range of 85% to 100% 1RM (Bompa and Haff 2009). However, this strategy is flexible and can be adapted to use a load appropriate to the session or resistance training zone. This strategy has also been called the stable-load pattern (Naclerio 2005).
http://www.humankinetics.com/AcuCustom/Sitename/DAM/133/E5640_486157_ebook_Main.jpg
Flat pyramid.
Another possible option is to arrange the structure of the training session to use a repetition-stable pattern. This system works well for those who want to use the RM continuum strategy because the number of repetitions stays stable while the load can change as fatigue increases throughout the sets.
Learn more about EuropeActive's Foundations for Exercise Professionals.
Goal setting, motivational types, and behavioral strategies to encourage fitness
As highlighted in the previous section, knowing the client is key to maximising motivation when it comes to exercise. This section aims to progress this forward by outlining key behavioural strategies that could be used to enhance motivation towards exercising.
Behavioural Strategies to Enhance Exercise and Health Behaviour Change
As highlighted in the previous section, knowing the client is key to maximising motivation when it comes to exercise. This section aims to progress this forward by outlining key behavioural strategies that could be used to enhance motivation towards exercising. Four strategies will be discussed in all - goal setting, social support, self-monitoring and reinforcement - with examples of each given along the way.
Goal Setting
If you were to ask all people who exercise why they do so, they would all give you an answer specific to them as individuals. Whether it's to lose a bit of weight, prepare for an upcoming competition or beat a personal best in the squat rack, these are all forms of goal setting. So, people will already have end goals in mind, but are these goals achievable? Are they realistic? Are they motivational, or are they in fact the problem? Herein lies the importance of setting specific goals when it comes to motivating the exerciser (Coppack, Kristensen and Karageorghis 2012).
Key sport psychology literature (Weinberg and Gould 2007) recognises that there are three types of goals a person can set: outcome goals, performance goals and process goals. As the name suggests, outcome goals focus on the outcome or result of an event (completing a marathon, winning a boxing fight, losing 5 kg in weight) and heavily rely on external factors (opposition, form coming into an event, general lifestyle choices). Second, performance goals focus on the performance of an action, regardless of the outcome of an event (a runner may not win a marathon but may still set a new personal best in that event). Finally, there are process goals, which focus on specific actions that make up the overall performance (a triple jumper may set a process goal to increase his hop distance, somebody wanting to lose weight may set a process goal to run farther in 20 minutes than she has before).
This breakdown of goal setting has been simplified further with the use of tools such as the goal-setting staircase (see figure 18.1), which takes the three types of goal setting and divides them into long-term goals (outcome) and short-term goals (performance and process). The idea is that a long-term goal is achieved by successfully completing a range of short-term goals that lead up to it. When planning their goals, exercisers work backward down the staircase from their long-term goal to where they are today. Studies have shown that working backward from the end goal to the current position allows for greater specificity within each short-term goal (Weina, Chenglin, Liu and Watson 2012).
In terms of enhancing behavioural change, an effective goal-setting process is key. Quantifying a person's reason to exercise into a range of long-term and short-term goals can help her see what she needs to do in the short term to enable the long term to happen. Likewise, if a person's motivation levels are low when it comes to achieving a short-term goal, the reminder of why he is doing it (outcome goal) can have the same effect (Wilson and Brookfield 2009).
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Goal-setting staircase.
Social Support
What people see and experience in their social settings often influence why they choose to exercise. Whether it's what they see and read in the media or what their colleagues do and think, many external influences can affect the motivation to exercise. Second to goal setting, social support is recognised as the next key factor when it comes to exercise motivation. Wills and Shinar (2000) proposed that the amount and type of support people receive is key to their motivation. The authors state that there are five types of social support: instrumental support, emotional support, informational support, companionship support and validation.
Instrumental support is support that offers practical help so people can achieve their goals. This can come from a range of sources, including a workplace having onsite facilities for exercise (work gym or swimming pool), a car park offering free parking for the gym or gym goers supporting each other while exercising.
Emotional support is most effective in helping to boost a person's self-confidence or to reduce any anxieties that someone new to exercising may be feeling. In its simplest (and most effective) form, it involves friends, family and exercise professionals offering verbal support to the exerciser, whether that support is encouragement to finish the last set of exercises or a shoulder to cry on if the person feels things are getting a little overwhelming. Simple cues and support can be the difference between a person carrying on with training or giving up altogether.
Informational support is just that, providing someone with information in order to help her exercise experience. This can come from all manner of resources, from online forums and websites to staff working at the gym. This information may be intimidating to some, especially novice exercisers, due to the jargon that can come with it, and many people tend to seek information from friends and family who are more experienced than they are when it comes to exercising.
Companionship support relates to the people who partake in exercise with the exerciser. Having a gym buddy or a running mate has been shown to dissociate the exerciser from negative feelings such as boredom and pain. Typically, the companion comes in the form of friends and family; however, companionship support can also come from exercising as a group or in a class.
Support through validation is a reflective process where the exerciser compares himself and his worries against the social norm. This helps people to gauge their progress against where others are ahead of and behind them. Validation often gives people a needed confidence boost and lets them know that others have been in their shoes before and have successfully achieved their behavioural change.
Social support can be very useful when it comes to motivating an exerciser, and there is great scope in which to do so. As mentioned in the previous section, the key to this is knowing each individual and what works for her. Research by Swanson, Colwell and Yushan (2008) showed that factors such as experience and exercise level can have an impact on the social support a person requires.
Self-Monitoring
Self-monitoring is a process that allows exercisers to take control of what they are doing. More suited to someone who naturally has higher levels of motivation to begin with (Young, Medic and Strakes 2009), self-monitoring is most commonly done by maintaining a training journal or log. Within the journal, an exerciser would log each training session, noting key elements such as sets and reps or times and distances. This enables the exerciser to keep track of progress over a long time.
The training journal can be used in a number of ways when it comes to motivating the exerciser. First, if the exerciser is experiencing a lull in her training and is finding things hard going, just a simple recap of what she's done previously and how much she's improved can be enough to stimulate her training. Second, enabling the exerciser to take control of his own progress helps instil self-confidence that what he is doing is right (Hindle and Carpenter 2011). This level of control enables exercisers to push themselves because they can see physical evidence of their progress.
A noteworthy point associated with self-monitoring is that people tend to leave any negatives associated with their exercise out of their journals (e.g., failed reps or missed timing goals). This helps to highlight that self-monitoring is not for everyone because for it to have its full effect, the exerciser must be honest and fill it in correctly, including both positives and negatives that occur. With this in mind, this tool for behavioural change is best suited to more experienced exercisers. Because they are more accustomed to the demands of exercise, this added responsibility isn't as daunting as it might be to people who are embarking on their first experience of exercise.
Reinforcement
This is a tool that can be used to influence motivation among exercisers of all levels and experiences. However, it must be used correctly because it can steer a person away from wanting to exercise just as easily as it can gain someone's interest. Another noteworthy point is that individual differences matter here, too; what may work as reinforcement for one person might have the opposite effect on someone else.
According to Skinner's (1953) stimulus - response theory, if someone receives reinforcement about what she is doing (good or bad), then chances are this will affect whether or not she repeats the behaviour in the future. Within the context of exercise, if somebody receives praise that his physique is improving due to exercise, then this will help to motivate him to exercise again in the future. There are two key elements of reinforcement, positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement, and it is generally accepted that positive and negative reinforcement help increase exercise adherence. There are also two adverse forms of reinforcement, punishment and extinction, which tend to discourage people from repeating an action, in this case exercising. Each aspect of reinforcement will now be discussed, with industry-specific examples given. To close this section, we will look at feedback and how different types of feedback can affect a person's motivation levels in very different ways.
Positive Reinforcement
As the name suggests, positive reinforcement is reinforcement that makes a person feel good about herself. It's an enjoyable experience that gives the person a feeling of self-worth and a confidence boost. There are two types of positive reinforcement: intrinsic reinforcement and extrinsic reinforcement (Weinberg and Gould 2007). Intrinsic reinforcement is praise or reward from within. It can be the satisfaction of completing a tough workout, feeling good about physical improvements to your appearance or just the general good feeling that is associated with becoming fitter and healthier. People who are new to exercise or who are low in motivation often neglect intrinsic reinforcement because they tend to have negative views about themselves (McAuley and Tammen 1989). Over time and continued exercise, intrinsic feelings have been shown to increase (Gallagher and Updegraff 2011), and as a person becomes more knowledgeable about things such as the difficulty of the workout he has just completed, he then allows himself to feel intrinsically positive, which in turn increases levels of intrinsic reinforcement.
Extrinsic reinforcement, on the other hand, comes from external sources. In its most basic form, it includes verbal praise from family and friends about how well somebody is doing in her new exercise regime or how well she looks for doing so. It can also come from peers within an exercise group or gym who notice an increase in a person's ability to complete an exercise or task. Exercise professionals are another key form of extrinsic reinforcement, and what they say tends to pack a bigger punch because the person in question feels good that the praise that his ability has increased or his physique has improved is coming from experts. Other forms of extrinsic reinforcement are taking advantage of offers that a gym may promote (reduced rates after committing to an exercise plan for so long, free merchandise for reaching certain training goals), having to purchase new clothes due to weight loss or seeing improvements by noticing an improved physique in the mirror.
Negative Reinforcement
The term negative reinforcement may seem to be a bad thing to people not in the know, but this couldn't be further from the truth. Negative reinforcement is a process exercisers may go through that reminds them why they are committing to an exercise regime and to the process of behavioural change. The best example of negative reinforcement is when a person feels bad for missing a workout or for eating something unhealthy. The feeling of guilt reminds the person why he is committing to changing his behaviour and makes it more likely that the negative experience will be avoided in the future. Another example of negative reinforcement would be pain or discomfort someone may feel due to a bad behaviour she is trying to change. If someone suffers from back pain (negative reinforcement) due to being overweight (bad behaviour), then this would help to reinforce that her behaviour change to exercise is the correct choice.
To get the most out of positive and negative reinforcement, its best for it to take place as soon after the event as possible (Weinberg, Garland, Bruya and Jackson 1990). This allows the person to associate the reinforcement with the feelings he currently has.
Punishment
When we think of punishment, we think of the bad consequences that come because of the behaviour that took place before it (e.g., a student being told off by the teacher for breaking the rules in class). Whereas negative reinforcement tries to remove any negative consequences (e.g., back pain for being overweight), punishment has the opposite effect in adding to the negative. If the person trying to lose weight had increased feelings of pain in her back due to exercise, then this would act as a reinforcement not to exercise.
Extinction
People who are new to exercise quickly experience its positive effects and benefits. However, when they become more established exercisers, these changes happen less frequently, and people can then become demoralised and feelings of doubt start to build as to why they are exercising. This in turn could cause them to stop exercising altogether. The most common example of this is people who are trying to lose weight. When they begin, they lose greater amounts of body weight and in turn feel positive about themselves. But when the weight loss slows down, chances are they will decrease the amount they exercise because they are not seeing the same results as when they started.
Role of Feedback
People react to feedback in their own way. What one person feels is a negative comment might be just the push another person needs to get motivated to exercise. The key to this again is getting to know the individual. An exercise professional may tell someone that he looks slimmer; however, if that person's reason for exercising is to increase the size of his physique, he could take this comment as a negative, which in turn could decrease the amount he exercises. Another example of this would be telling somebody new to exercising that other gym members squat far much more weight than she can. One person may take this as a negative and become intimidated while in the gym and thus stop exercising, whereas another person could use this as motivation to train harder and increase the amount she exercises in order to achieve similar results in the gym.
Although basic, these examples show how easy it is to motivate or demotivate somebody to exercise just by what you say. It could be the difference in helping someone or preventing someone from making that behavioural change, and the key lies with getting to know what makes a person tick - that is, getting to know the individual.
Learn more about EuropeActive's Foundations for Exercise Professionals.
Learn which muscles govern movement in the body
The skeletal muscles can be divided into three groups (figure 2.5): 1. Muscles governing movement of the upper extremities. 2. Muscles governing moment of the trunk and spine (including breathing musculature). 3. Muscles governing movement of the lower extremities.
Skeletal Muscle Groups and Function
The skeletal muscles can be divided into three groups (figure 2.5):
- Muscles governing movement of the upper extremities
- Muscles governing moment of the trunk and spine (including breathing musculature)
- Muscles governing movement of the lower extremities
http://www.humankinetics.com/AcuCustom/Sitename/DAM/133/E5640_486010_ebook_Main.jpg
Muscles of the human body: (a) front and (b) back view.
Muscles of the Upper Extremity
The muscles of the upper extremity comprise the muscles around the shoulder or pectoral girdle as well as the muscles of the glenohumeral (shoulder) joint and of the elbow and wrist. These muscles are active in all pressing and pulling movements of the upper body:
- Shoulder or pectoral girdle
- Trapezius
- Rhomboideus
- Latissimus dorsi
- Pectorals
- Deltoids
- Biceps
- Brachialis
- Triceps
Muscles of the Spine and Trunk
The muscles of the spine and trunk produce movement of the spine and hips and contribute to ventilation. This covers extension, flexion, lateral flexion, reduction and rotation along the full length of the spine. Additionally, the diaphragm is the principal ventilation muscle, but muscles between the ribs can expand the thorax for heavy or deep breathing and the transversus abdominis muscles assist in establishing thoracic pressure during Valsalva manoeuvres. Valsalva manoeuvres are initiated reflexively, when external moments are applied to the torso. They consist of simultaneous contraction of the transversus and the obliques and sometimes the diaphragm, similar to a forced exhalation but against closed airways. Together these muscle actions increase intrathoracic and intra-abdominal pressure, stiffening the trunk and thereby reducing shear forces across the spine (Hill and Butler 1991).
Functionally, the muscles in the trunk are often divided into the inner unit and the outer unit. The inner unit includes the muscles that do not produce macroscopic movement but instead stabilise the vertebrae and sacroiliac joint during movement, whereas the outer unit produces the movements of the spine and hip. The inner unit consists of tonic muscles such as the transversus abdominis, the posterior fibres of the obliquus internus abdominis, the diaphragm, the pelvic floor muscles, the multifidus and the lumbar portions of the longissimus and iliocostalis (part of the erector spinae). These muscle co-contract in virtually all standing or sitting movements and most lying movements prior to other muscles firing in order to provide spinal rigidity, ensuring efficient force transfer. The outer unit consists of the obliquus externus, obliquus internus, erector spinae, latissimus dorsi, gluteal muscles, quadratus lumborum, adductors and hamstrings. Following are phasic muscles that can produce movement with great power and ROM, fulfilling tasks of vastly different mechanical and metabolic requirements:
- Rectus abdominis
- Obliques (internal and external)
- Transversus abdominis
- Erector spinae
- Quadratus lumborum
Muscles of the Lower Extremity
The muscles of the lower extremity comprise the muscles around the hip, pelvis, knees and ankles. Together these muscles perform all movements in the movement chains of the lower body:
- Gluteal muscles
- Quadriceps
- Hamstrings
- Adductors
- Psoas complex (hip flexors)
- Triceps surae (calf muscles)
Learn more about EuropeActive's Foundations for Exercise Professionals.
Rep and load variations for specific goals in resistance training program
Resistance training methods refer to the strategy used for organising training sessions. Methods should be selected by the strength zone and goals of the workout.
Common Resistance Training Methods and Systems
Resistance training methods refer to the strategy used for organising training sessions. Methods should be selected by the strength zone and goals of the workout. The following sections describe the most common resistance training methods for general fitness proposed in fitness centres and gyms.
Basic Set
This strategy requires the resistance training practitioner to perform all sets of an exercise before continuing to the next. In addition, it is necessary to rest between every set, exercise and even before the following exercise where practical (depending on the requirements of the session and the selection strategy). This method can be used for any resistance training zone but is especially effective for novice practitioners who have to learn the correct technique of the exercise (Naclerio 2005).
Resistance Training Systems
Participants can use several loading patterns or systems in order to obtain the most favourable outcomes from each resistance training session. The most common loading patterns for resistance training are the pyramid and its variations (traditional and reverse pyramids, double pyramid, skewed and flat pyramids), stable load, and stable repetitions.
The pyramid is one of the most popular loading patterns. Its structure, illustrated in figure 7.7, shows that the load increases progressively to a maximum while the number of reps decreases proportionately (traditional). In the reverse form, the load decreases and the reps increase. The physiological effects of this procedure result from the progressive activation or recruitment of available motor units (Bompa and Haff 2009). Regardless of the load used, both systems seem to be appropriate for hypertrophy. The traditional form could be more appropriate to emphasise the capacity to tolerate the repetition of maximum effort, while the reverse form seems more suitable for improving maximal strength.
http://www.humankinetics.com/AcuCustom/Sitename/DAM/133/E5640_486071_ebook_Main.jpg
Traditional and reverse pyramids.
The double pyramid (figure 7.8) consists of two pyramids, one inverted on top of the other. The number of repetitions decreases from the bottom up and then increases again in the second pyramid. Due to a high volume of sets, this pattern is more suitable for muscle hypertrophy rather than endurance.
http://www.humankinetics.com/AcuCustom/Sitename/DAM/133/E5640_486073_ebook_Main.jpg
Double pyramid.
The skewed pyramid (figure 7.9) is proposed as an improved variant of the double pyramid. The load constantly increases throughout the exercise except during the last set, when it decreases. This decrease is meant to add variation and improve motivation. Similar to the double pyramid, fatigue may affect performance and therefore hypertrophy and muscle endurance are the most appropriate outcomes of this strategy.
http://www.humankinetics.com/AcuCustom/Sitename/DAM/133/E5640_486074_ebook_Main.jpg
Skewed pyramid.
The flat pyramid, as represented in figure 7.10, is one of the best patterns for improving strength. In traditional pyramids, the load often varies from 70% to 100%. Load variations of such magnitude can span across three resistance training zones, from hypertrophy to maximal, but in the case of highly trained athletes whose goal is to increase maximum strength, it would be advisable to keep the load in the higher range of 85% to 100% 1RM (Bompa and Haff 2009). However, this strategy is flexible and can be adapted to use a load appropriate to the session or resistance training zone. This strategy has also been called the stable-load pattern (Naclerio 2005).
http://www.humankinetics.com/AcuCustom/Sitename/DAM/133/E5640_486157_ebook_Main.jpg
Flat pyramid.
Another possible option is to arrange the structure of the training session to use a repetition-stable pattern. This system works well for those who want to use the RM continuum strategy because the number of repetitions stays stable while the load can change as fatigue increases throughout the sets.
Learn more about EuropeActive's Foundations for Exercise Professionals.
Goal setting, motivational types, and behavioral strategies to encourage fitness
As highlighted in the previous section, knowing the client is key to maximising motivation when it comes to exercise. This section aims to progress this forward by outlining key behavioural strategies that could be used to enhance motivation towards exercising.
Behavioural Strategies to Enhance Exercise and Health Behaviour Change
As highlighted in the previous section, knowing the client is key to maximising motivation when it comes to exercise. This section aims to progress this forward by outlining key behavioural strategies that could be used to enhance motivation towards exercising. Four strategies will be discussed in all - goal setting, social support, self-monitoring and reinforcement - with examples of each given along the way.
Goal Setting
If you were to ask all people who exercise why they do so, they would all give you an answer specific to them as individuals. Whether it's to lose a bit of weight, prepare for an upcoming competition or beat a personal best in the squat rack, these are all forms of goal setting. So, people will already have end goals in mind, but are these goals achievable? Are they realistic? Are they motivational, or are they in fact the problem? Herein lies the importance of setting specific goals when it comes to motivating the exerciser (Coppack, Kristensen and Karageorghis 2012).
Key sport psychology literature (Weinberg and Gould 2007) recognises that there are three types of goals a person can set: outcome goals, performance goals and process goals. As the name suggests, outcome goals focus on the outcome or result of an event (completing a marathon, winning a boxing fight, losing 5 kg in weight) and heavily rely on external factors (opposition, form coming into an event, general lifestyle choices). Second, performance goals focus on the performance of an action, regardless of the outcome of an event (a runner may not win a marathon but may still set a new personal best in that event). Finally, there are process goals, which focus on specific actions that make up the overall performance (a triple jumper may set a process goal to increase his hop distance, somebody wanting to lose weight may set a process goal to run farther in 20 minutes than she has before).
This breakdown of goal setting has been simplified further with the use of tools such as the goal-setting staircase (see figure 18.1), which takes the three types of goal setting and divides them into long-term goals (outcome) and short-term goals (performance and process). The idea is that a long-term goal is achieved by successfully completing a range of short-term goals that lead up to it. When planning their goals, exercisers work backward down the staircase from their long-term goal to where they are today. Studies have shown that working backward from the end goal to the current position allows for greater specificity within each short-term goal (Weina, Chenglin, Liu and Watson 2012).
In terms of enhancing behavioural change, an effective goal-setting process is key. Quantifying a person's reason to exercise into a range of long-term and short-term goals can help her see what she needs to do in the short term to enable the long term to happen. Likewise, if a person's motivation levels are low when it comes to achieving a short-term goal, the reminder of why he is doing it (outcome goal) can have the same effect (Wilson and Brookfield 2009).
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Goal-setting staircase.
Social Support
What people see and experience in their social settings often influence why they choose to exercise. Whether it's what they see and read in the media or what their colleagues do and think, many external influences can affect the motivation to exercise. Second to goal setting, social support is recognised as the next key factor when it comes to exercise motivation. Wills and Shinar (2000) proposed that the amount and type of support people receive is key to their motivation. The authors state that there are five types of social support: instrumental support, emotional support, informational support, companionship support and validation.
Instrumental support is support that offers practical help so people can achieve their goals. This can come from a range of sources, including a workplace having onsite facilities for exercise (work gym or swimming pool), a car park offering free parking for the gym or gym goers supporting each other while exercising.
Emotional support is most effective in helping to boost a person's self-confidence or to reduce any anxieties that someone new to exercising may be feeling. In its simplest (and most effective) form, it involves friends, family and exercise professionals offering verbal support to the exerciser, whether that support is encouragement to finish the last set of exercises or a shoulder to cry on if the person feels things are getting a little overwhelming. Simple cues and support can be the difference between a person carrying on with training or giving up altogether.
Informational support is just that, providing someone with information in order to help her exercise experience. This can come from all manner of resources, from online forums and websites to staff working at the gym. This information may be intimidating to some, especially novice exercisers, due to the jargon that can come with it, and many people tend to seek information from friends and family who are more experienced than they are when it comes to exercising.
Companionship support relates to the people who partake in exercise with the exerciser. Having a gym buddy or a running mate has been shown to dissociate the exerciser from negative feelings such as boredom and pain. Typically, the companion comes in the form of friends and family; however, companionship support can also come from exercising as a group or in a class.
Support through validation is a reflective process where the exerciser compares himself and his worries against the social norm. This helps people to gauge their progress against where others are ahead of and behind them. Validation often gives people a needed confidence boost and lets them know that others have been in their shoes before and have successfully achieved their behavioural change.
Social support can be very useful when it comes to motivating an exerciser, and there is great scope in which to do so. As mentioned in the previous section, the key to this is knowing each individual and what works for her. Research by Swanson, Colwell and Yushan (2008) showed that factors such as experience and exercise level can have an impact on the social support a person requires.
Self-Monitoring
Self-monitoring is a process that allows exercisers to take control of what they are doing. More suited to someone who naturally has higher levels of motivation to begin with (Young, Medic and Strakes 2009), self-monitoring is most commonly done by maintaining a training journal or log. Within the journal, an exerciser would log each training session, noting key elements such as sets and reps or times and distances. This enables the exerciser to keep track of progress over a long time.
The training journal can be used in a number of ways when it comes to motivating the exerciser. First, if the exerciser is experiencing a lull in her training and is finding things hard going, just a simple recap of what she's done previously and how much she's improved can be enough to stimulate her training. Second, enabling the exerciser to take control of his own progress helps instil self-confidence that what he is doing is right (Hindle and Carpenter 2011). This level of control enables exercisers to push themselves because they can see physical evidence of their progress.
A noteworthy point associated with self-monitoring is that people tend to leave any negatives associated with their exercise out of their journals (e.g., failed reps or missed timing goals). This helps to highlight that self-monitoring is not for everyone because for it to have its full effect, the exerciser must be honest and fill it in correctly, including both positives and negatives that occur. With this in mind, this tool for behavioural change is best suited to more experienced exercisers. Because they are more accustomed to the demands of exercise, this added responsibility isn't as daunting as it might be to people who are embarking on their first experience of exercise.
Reinforcement
This is a tool that can be used to influence motivation among exercisers of all levels and experiences. However, it must be used correctly because it can steer a person away from wanting to exercise just as easily as it can gain someone's interest. Another noteworthy point is that individual differences matter here, too; what may work as reinforcement for one person might have the opposite effect on someone else.
According to Skinner's (1953) stimulus - response theory, if someone receives reinforcement about what she is doing (good or bad), then chances are this will affect whether or not she repeats the behaviour in the future. Within the context of exercise, if somebody receives praise that his physique is improving due to exercise, then this will help to motivate him to exercise again in the future. There are two key elements of reinforcement, positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement, and it is generally accepted that positive and negative reinforcement help increase exercise adherence. There are also two adverse forms of reinforcement, punishment and extinction, which tend to discourage people from repeating an action, in this case exercising. Each aspect of reinforcement will now be discussed, with industry-specific examples given. To close this section, we will look at feedback and how different types of feedback can affect a person's motivation levels in very different ways.
Positive Reinforcement
As the name suggests, positive reinforcement is reinforcement that makes a person feel good about herself. It's an enjoyable experience that gives the person a feeling of self-worth and a confidence boost. There are two types of positive reinforcement: intrinsic reinforcement and extrinsic reinforcement (Weinberg and Gould 2007). Intrinsic reinforcement is praise or reward from within. It can be the satisfaction of completing a tough workout, feeling good about physical improvements to your appearance or just the general good feeling that is associated with becoming fitter and healthier. People who are new to exercise or who are low in motivation often neglect intrinsic reinforcement because they tend to have negative views about themselves (McAuley and Tammen 1989). Over time and continued exercise, intrinsic feelings have been shown to increase (Gallagher and Updegraff 2011), and as a person becomes more knowledgeable about things such as the difficulty of the workout he has just completed, he then allows himself to feel intrinsically positive, which in turn increases levels of intrinsic reinforcement.
Extrinsic reinforcement, on the other hand, comes from external sources. In its most basic form, it includes verbal praise from family and friends about how well somebody is doing in her new exercise regime or how well she looks for doing so. It can also come from peers within an exercise group or gym who notice an increase in a person's ability to complete an exercise or task. Exercise professionals are another key form of extrinsic reinforcement, and what they say tends to pack a bigger punch because the person in question feels good that the praise that his ability has increased or his physique has improved is coming from experts. Other forms of extrinsic reinforcement are taking advantage of offers that a gym may promote (reduced rates after committing to an exercise plan for so long, free merchandise for reaching certain training goals), having to purchase new clothes due to weight loss or seeing improvements by noticing an improved physique in the mirror.
Negative Reinforcement
The term negative reinforcement may seem to be a bad thing to people not in the know, but this couldn't be further from the truth. Negative reinforcement is a process exercisers may go through that reminds them why they are committing to an exercise regime and to the process of behavioural change. The best example of negative reinforcement is when a person feels bad for missing a workout or for eating something unhealthy. The feeling of guilt reminds the person why he is committing to changing his behaviour and makes it more likely that the negative experience will be avoided in the future. Another example of negative reinforcement would be pain or discomfort someone may feel due to a bad behaviour she is trying to change. If someone suffers from back pain (negative reinforcement) due to being overweight (bad behaviour), then this would help to reinforce that her behaviour change to exercise is the correct choice.
To get the most out of positive and negative reinforcement, its best for it to take place as soon after the event as possible (Weinberg, Garland, Bruya and Jackson 1990). This allows the person to associate the reinforcement with the feelings he currently has.
Punishment
When we think of punishment, we think of the bad consequences that come because of the behaviour that took place before it (e.g., a student being told off by the teacher for breaking the rules in class). Whereas negative reinforcement tries to remove any negative consequences (e.g., back pain for being overweight), punishment has the opposite effect in adding to the negative. If the person trying to lose weight had increased feelings of pain in her back due to exercise, then this would act as a reinforcement not to exercise.
Extinction
People who are new to exercise quickly experience its positive effects and benefits. However, when they become more established exercisers, these changes happen less frequently, and people can then become demoralised and feelings of doubt start to build as to why they are exercising. This in turn could cause them to stop exercising altogether. The most common example of this is people who are trying to lose weight. When they begin, they lose greater amounts of body weight and in turn feel positive about themselves. But when the weight loss slows down, chances are they will decrease the amount they exercise because they are not seeing the same results as when they started.
Role of Feedback
People react to feedback in their own way. What one person feels is a negative comment might be just the push another person needs to get motivated to exercise. The key to this again is getting to know the individual. An exercise professional may tell someone that he looks slimmer; however, if that person's reason for exercising is to increase the size of his physique, he could take this comment as a negative, which in turn could decrease the amount he exercises. Another example of this would be telling somebody new to exercising that other gym members squat far much more weight than she can. One person may take this as a negative and become intimidated while in the gym and thus stop exercising, whereas another person could use this as motivation to train harder and increase the amount she exercises in order to achieve similar results in the gym.
Although basic, these examples show how easy it is to motivate or demotivate somebody to exercise just by what you say. It could be the difference in helping someone or preventing someone from making that behavioural change, and the key lies with getting to know what makes a person tick - that is, getting to know the individual.
Learn more about EuropeActive's Foundations for Exercise Professionals.
Learn which muscles govern movement in the body
The skeletal muscles can be divided into three groups (figure 2.5): 1. Muscles governing movement of the upper extremities. 2. Muscles governing moment of the trunk and spine (including breathing musculature). 3. Muscles governing movement of the lower extremities.
Skeletal Muscle Groups and Function
The skeletal muscles can be divided into three groups (figure 2.5):
- Muscles governing movement of the upper extremities
- Muscles governing moment of the trunk and spine (including breathing musculature)
- Muscles governing movement of the lower extremities
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Muscles of the human body: (a) front and (b) back view.
Muscles of the Upper Extremity
The muscles of the upper extremity comprise the muscles around the shoulder or pectoral girdle as well as the muscles of the glenohumeral (shoulder) joint and of the elbow and wrist. These muscles are active in all pressing and pulling movements of the upper body:
- Shoulder or pectoral girdle
- Trapezius
- Rhomboideus
- Latissimus dorsi
- Pectorals
- Deltoids
- Biceps
- Brachialis
- Triceps
Muscles of the Spine and Trunk
The muscles of the spine and trunk produce movement of the spine and hips and contribute to ventilation. This covers extension, flexion, lateral flexion, reduction and rotation along the full length of the spine. Additionally, the diaphragm is the principal ventilation muscle, but muscles between the ribs can expand the thorax for heavy or deep breathing and the transversus abdominis muscles assist in establishing thoracic pressure during Valsalva manoeuvres. Valsalva manoeuvres are initiated reflexively, when external moments are applied to the torso. They consist of simultaneous contraction of the transversus and the obliques and sometimes the diaphragm, similar to a forced exhalation but against closed airways. Together these muscle actions increase intrathoracic and intra-abdominal pressure, stiffening the trunk and thereby reducing shear forces across the spine (Hill and Butler 1991).
Functionally, the muscles in the trunk are often divided into the inner unit and the outer unit. The inner unit includes the muscles that do not produce macroscopic movement but instead stabilise the vertebrae and sacroiliac joint during movement, whereas the outer unit produces the movements of the spine and hip. The inner unit consists of tonic muscles such as the transversus abdominis, the posterior fibres of the obliquus internus abdominis, the diaphragm, the pelvic floor muscles, the multifidus and the lumbar portions of the longissimus and iliocostalis (part of the erector spinae). These muscle co-contract in virtually all standing or sitting movements and most lying movements prior to other muscles firing in order to provide spinal rigidity, ensuring efficient force transfer. The outer unit consists of the obliquus externus, obliquus internus, erector spinae, latissimus dorsi, gluteal muscles, quadratus lumborum, adductors and hamstrings. Following are phasic muscles that can produce movement with great power and ROM, fulfilling tasks of vastly different mechanical and metabolic requirements:
- Rectus abdominis
- Obliques (internal and external)
- Transversus abdominis
- Erector spinae
- Quadratus lumborum
Muscles of the Lower Extremity
The muscles of the lower extremity comprise the muscles around the hip, pelvis, knees and ankles. Together these muscles perform all movements in the movement chains of the lower body:
- Gluteal muscles
- Quadriceps
- Hamstrings
- Adductors
- Psoas complex (hip flexors)
- Triceps surae (calf muscles)
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Rep and load variations for specific goals in resistance training program
Resistance training methods refer to the strategy used for organising training sessions. Methods should be selected by the strength zone and goals of the workout.
Common Resistance Training Methods and Systems
Resistance training methods refer to the strategy used for organising training sessions. Methods should be selected by the strength zone and goals of the workout. The following sections describe the most common resistance training methods for general fitness proposed in fitness centres and gyms.
Basic Set
This strategy requires the resistance training practitioner to perform all sets of an exercise before continuing to the next. In addition, it is necessary to rest between every set, exercise and even before the following exercise where practical (depending on the requirements of the session and the selection strategy). This method can be used for any resistance training zone but is especially effective for novice practitioners who have to learn the correct technique of the exercise (Naclerio 2005).
Resistance Training Systems
Participants can use several loading patterns or systems in order to obtain the most favourable outcomes from each resistance training session. The most common loading patterns for resistance training are the pyramid and its variations (traditional and reverse pyramids, double pyramid, skewed and flat pyramids), stable load, and stable repetitions.
The pyramid is one of the most popular loading patterns. Its structure, illustrated in figure 7.7, shows that the load increases progressively to a maximum while the number of reps decreases proportionately (traditional). In the reverse form, the load decreases and the reps increase. The physiological effects of this procedure result from the progressive activation or recruitment of available motor units (Bompa and Haff 2009). Regardless of the load used, both systems seem to be appropriate for hypertrophy. The traditional form could be more appropriate to emphasise the capacity to tolerate the repetition of maximum effort, while the reverse form seems more suitable for improving maximal strength.
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Traditional and reverse pyramids.
The double pyramid (figure 7.8) consists of two pyramids, one inverted on top of the other. The number of repetitions decreases from the bottom up and then increases again in the second pyramid. Due to a high volume of sets, this pattern is more suitable for muscle hypertrophy rather than endurance.
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Double pyramid.
The skewed pyramid (figure 7.9) is proposed as an improved variant of the double pyramid. The load constantly increases throughout the exercise except during the last set, when it decreases. This decrease is meant to add variation and improve motivation. Similar to the double pyramid, fatigue may affect performance and therefore hypertrophy and muscle endurance are the most appropriate outcomes of this strategy.
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Skewed pyramid.
The flat pyramid, as represented in figure 7.10, is one of the best patterns for improving strength. In traditional pyramids, the load often varies from 70% to 100%. Load variations of such magnitude can span across three resistance training zones, from hypertrophy to maximal, but in the case of highly trained athletes whose goal is to increase maximum strength, it would be advisable to keep the load in the higher range of 85% to 100% 1RM (Bompa and Haff 2009). However, this strategy is flexible and can be adapted to use a load appropriate to the session or resistance training zone. This strategy has also been called the stable-load pattern (Naclerio 2005).
http://www.humankinetics.com/AcuCustom/Sitename/DAM/133/E5640_486157_ebook_Main.jpg
Flat pyramid.
Another possible option is to arrange the structure of the training session to use a repetition-stable pattern. This system works well for those who want to use the RM continuum strategy because the number of repetitions stays stable while the load can change as fatigue increases throughout the sets.
Learn more about EuropeActive's Foundations for Exercise Professionals.
Goal setting, motivational types, and behavioral strategies to encourage fitness
As highlighted in the previous section, knowing the client is key to maximising motivation when it comes to exercise. This section aims to progress this forward by outlining key behavioural strategies that could be used to enhance motivation towards exercising.
Behavioural Strategies to Enhance Exercise and Health Behaviour Change
As highlighted in the previous section, knowing the client is key to maximising motivation when it comes to exercise. This section aims to progress this forward by outlining key behavioural strategies that could be used to enhance motivation towards exercising. Four strategies will be discussed in all - goal setting, social support, self-monitoring and reinforcement - with examples of each given along the way.
Goal Setting
If you were to ask all people who exercise why they do so, they would all give you an answer specific to them as individuals. Whether it's to lose a bit of weight, prepare for an upcoming competition or beat a personal best in the squat rack, these are all forms of goal setting. So, people will already have end goals in mind, but are these goals achievable? Are they realistic? Are they motivational, or are they in fact the problem? Herein lies the importance of setting specific goals when it comes to motivating the exerciser (Coppack, Kristensen and Karageorghis 2012).
Key sport psychology literature (Weinberg and Gould 2007) recognises that there are three types of goals a person can set: outcome goals, performance goals and process goals. As the name suggests, outcome goals focus on the outcome or result of an event (completing a marathon, winning a boxing fight, losing 5 kg in weight) and heavily rely on external factors (opposition, form coming into an event, general lifestyle choices). Second, performance goals focus on the performance of an action, regardless of the outcome of an event (a runner may not win a marathon but may still set a new personal best in that event). Finally, there are process goals, which focus on specific actions that make up the overall performance (a triple jumper may set a process goal to increase his hop distance, somebody wanting to lose weight may set a process goal to run farther in 20 minutes than she has before).
This breakdown of goal setting has been simplified further with the use of tools such as the goal-setting staircase (see figure 18.1), which takes the three types of goal setting and divides them into long-term goals (outcome) and short-term goals (performance and process). The idea is that a long-term goal is achieved by successfully completing a range of short-term goals that lead up to it. When planning their goals, exercisers work backward down the staircase from their long-term goal to where they are today. Studies have shown that working backward from the end goal to the current position allows for greater specificity within each short-term goal (Weina, Chenglin, Liu and Watson 2012).
In terms of enhancing behavioural change, an effective goal-setting process is key. Quantifying a person's reason to exercise into a range of long-term and short-term goals can help her see what she needs to do in the short term to enable the long term to happen. Likewise, if a person's motivation levels are low when it comes to achieving a short-term goal, the reminder of why he is doing it (outcome goal) can have the same effect (Wilson and Brookfield 2009).
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Goal-setting staircase.
Social Support
What people see and experience in their social settings often influence why they choose to exercise. Whether it's what they see and read in the media or what their colleagues do and think, many external influences can affect the motivation to exercise. Second to goal setting, social support is recognised as the next key factor when it comes to exercise motivation. Wills and Shinar (2000) proposed that the amount and type of support people receive is key to their motivation. The authors state that there are five types of social support: instrumental support, emotional support, informational support, companionship support and validation.
Instrumental support is support that offers practical help so people can achieve their goals. This can come from a range of sources, including a workplace having onsite facilities for exercise (work gym or swimming pool), a car park offering free parking for the gym or gym goers supporting each other while exercising.
Emotional support is most effective in helping to boost a person's self-confidence or to reduce any anxieties that someone new to exercising may be feeling. In its simplest (and most effective) form, it involves friends, family and exercise professionals offering verbal support to the exerciser, whether that support is encouragement to finish the last set of exercises or a shoulder to cry on if the person feels things are getting a little overwhelming. Simple cues and support can be the difference between a person carrying on with training or giving up altogether.
Informational support is just that, providing someone with information in order to help her exercise experience. This can come from all manner of resources, from online forums and websites to staff working at the gym. This information may be intimidating to some, especially novice exercisers, due to the jargon that can come with it, and many people tend to seek information from friends and family who are more experienced than they are when it comes to exercising.
Companionship support relates to the people who partake in exercise with the exerciser. Having a gym buddy or a running mate has been shown to dissociate the exerciser from negative feelings such as boredom and pain. Typically, the companion comes in the form of friends and family; however, companionship support can also come from exercising as a group or in a class.
Support through validation is a reflective process where the exerciser compares himself and his worries against the social norm. This helps people to gauge their progress against where others are ahead of and behind them. Validation often gives people a needed confidence boost and lets them know that others have been in their shoes before and have successfully achieved their behavioural change.
Social support can be very useful when it comes to motivating an exerciser, and there is great scope in which to do so. As mentioned in the previous section, the key to this is knowing each individual and what works for her. Research by Swanson, Colwell and Yushan (2008) showed that factors such as experience and exercise level can have an impact on the social support a person requires.
Self-Monitoring
Self-monitoring is a process that allows exercisers to take control of what they are doing. More suited to someone who naturally has higher levels of motivation to begin with (Young, Medic and Strakes 2009), self-monitoring is most commonly done by maintaining a training journal or log. Within the journal, an exerciser would log each training session, noting key elements such as sets and reps or times and distances. This enables the exerciser to keep track of progress over a long time.
The training journal can be used in a number of ways when it comes to motivating the exerciser. First, if the exerciser is experiencing a lull in her training and is finding things hard going, just a simple recap of what she's done previously and how much she's improved can be enough to stimulate her training. Second, enabling the exerciser to take control of his own progress helps instil self-confidence that what he is doing is right (Hindle and Carpenter 2011). This level of control enables exercisers to push themselves because they can see physical evidence of their progress.
A noteworthy point associated with self-monitoring is that people tend to leave any negatives associated with their exercise out of their journals (e.g., failed reps or missed timing goals). This helps to highlight that self-monitoring is not for everyone because for it to have its full effect, the exerciser must be honest and fill it in correctly, including both positives and negatives that occur. With this in mind, this tool for behavioural change is best suited to more experienced exercisers. Because they are more accustomed to the demands of exercise, this added responsibility isn't as daunting as it might be to people who are embarking on their first experience of exercise.
Reinforcement
This is a tool that can be used to influence motivation among exercisers of all levels and experiences. However, it must be used correctly because it can steer a person away from wanting to exercise just as easily as it can gain someone's interest. Another noteworthy point is that individual differences matter here, too; what may work as reinforcement for one person might have the opposite effect on someone else.
According to Skinner's (1953) stimulus - response theory, if someone receives reinforcement about what she is doing (good or bad), then chances are this will affect whether or not she repeats the behaviour in the future. Within the context of exercise, if somebody receives praise that his physique is improving due to exercise, then this will help to motivate him to exercise again in the future. There are two key elements of reinforcement, positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement, and it is generally accepted that positive and negative reinforcement help increase exercise adherence. There are also two adverse forms of reinforcement, punishment and extinction, which tend to discourage people from repeating an action, in this case exercising. Each aspect of reinforcement will now be discussed, with industry-specific examples given. To close this section, we will look at feedback and how different types of feedback can affect a person's motivation levels in very different ways.
Positive Reinforcement
As the name suggests, positive reinforcement is reinforcement that makes a person feel good about herself. It's an enjoyable experience that gives the person a feeling of self-worth and a confidence boost. There are two types of positive reinforcement: intrinsic reinforcement and extrinsic reinforcement (Weinberg and Gould 2007). Intrinsic reinforcement is praise or reward from within. It can be the satisfaction of completing a tough workout, feeling good about physical improvements to your appearance or just the general good feeling that is associated with becoming fitter and healthier. People who are new to exercise or who are low in motivation often neglect intrinsic reinforcement because they tend to have negative views about themselves (McAuley and Tammen 1989). Over time and continued exercise, intrinsic feelings have been shown to increase (Gallagher and Updegraff 2011), and as a person becomes more knowledgeable about things such as the difficulty of the workout he has just completed, he then allows himself to feel intrinsically positive, which in turn increases levels of intrinsic reinforcement.
Extrinsic reinforcement, on the other hand, comes from external sources. In its most basic form, it includes verbal praise from family and friends about how well somebody is doing in her new exercise regime or how well she looks for doing so. It can also come from peers within an exercise group or gym who notice an increase in a person's ability to complete an exercise or task. Exercise professionals are another key form of extrinsic reinforcement, and what they say tends to pack a bigger punch because the person in question feels good that the praise that his ability has increased or his physique has improved is coming from experts. Other forms of extrinsic reinforcement are taking advantage of offers that a gym may promote (reduced rates after committing to an exercise plan for so long, free merchandise for reaching certain training goals), having to purchase new clothes due to weight loss or seeing improvements by noticing an improved physique in the mirror.
Negative Reinforcement
The term negative reinforcement may seem to be a bad thing to people not in the know, but this couldn't be further from the truth. Negative reinforcement is a process exercisers may go through that reminds them why they are committing to an exercise regime and to the process of behavioural change. The best example of negative reinforcement is when a person feels bad for missing a workout or for eating something unhealthy. The feeling of guilt reminds the person why he is committing to changing his behaviour and makes it more likely that the negative experience will be avoided in the future. Another example of negative reinforcement would be pain or discomfort someone may feel due to a bad behaviour she is trying to change. If someone suffers from back pain (negative reinforcement) due to being overweight (bad behaviour), then this would help to reinforce that her behaviour change to exercise is the correct choice.
To get the most out of positive and negative reinforcement, its best for it to take place as soon after the event as possible (Weinberg, Garland, Bruya and Jackson 1990). This allows the person to associate the reinforcement with the feelings he currently has.
Punishment
When we think of punishment, we think of the bad consequences that come because of the behaviour that took place before it (e.g., a student being told off by the teacher for breaking the rules in class). Whereas negative reinforcement tries to remove any negative consequences (e.g., back pain for being overweight), punishment has the opposite effect in adding to the negative. If the person trying to lose weight had increased feelings of pain in her back due to exercise, then this would act as a reinforcement not to exercise.
Extinction
People who are new to exercise quickly experience its positive effects and benefits. However, when they become more established exercisers, these changes happen less frequently, and people can then become demoralised and feelings of doubt start to build as to why they are exercising. This in turn could cause them to stop exercising altogether. The most common example of this is people who are trying to lose weight. When they begin, they lose greater amounts of body weight and in turn feel positive about themselves. But when the weight loss slows down, chances are they will decrease the amount they exercise because they are not seeing the same results as when they started.
Role of Feedback
People react to feedback in their own way. What one person feels is a negative comment might be just the push another person needs to get motivated to exercise. The key to this again is getting to know the individual. An exercise professional may tell someone that he looks slimmer; however, if that person's reason for exercising is to increase the size of his physique, he could take this comment as a negative, which in turn could decrease the amount he exercises. Another example of this would be telling somebody new to exercising that other gym members squat far much more weight than she can. One person may take this as a negative and become intimidated while in the gym and thus stop exercising, whereas another person could use this as motivation to train harder and increase the amount she exercises in order to achieve similar results in the gym.
Although basic, these examples show how easy it is to motivate or demotivate somebody to exercise just by what you say. It could be the difference in helping someone or preventing someone from making that behavioural change, and the key lies with getting to know what makes a person tick - that is, getting to know the individual.
Learn more about EuropeActive's Foundations for Exercise Professionals.
Learn which muscles govern movement in the body
The skeletal muscles can be divided into three groups (figure 2.5): 1. Muscles governing movement of the upper extremities. 2. Muscles governing moment of the trunk and spine (including breathing musculature). 3. Muscles governing movement of the lower extremities.
Skeletal Muscle Groups and Function
The skeletal muscles can be divided into three groups (figure 2.5):
- Muscles governing movement of the upper extremities
- Muscles governing moment of the trunk and spine (including breathing musculature)
- Muscles governing movement of the lower extremities
http://www.humankinetics.com/AcuCustom/Sitename/DAM/133/E5640_486010_ebook_Main.jpg
Muscles of the human body: (a) front and (b) back view.
Muscles of the Upper Extremity
The muscles of the upper extremity comprise the muscles around the shoulder or pectoral girdle as well as the muscles of the glenohumeral (shoulder) joint and of the elbow and wrist. These muscles are active in all pressing and pulling movements of the upper body:
- Shoulder or pectoral girdle
- Trapezius
- Rhomboideus
- Latissimus dorsi
- Pectorals
- Deltoids
- Biceps
- Brachialis
- Triceps
Muscles of the Spine and Trunk
The muscles of the spine and trunk produce movement of the spine and hips and contribute to ventilation. This covers extension, flexion, lateral flexion, reduction and rotation along the full length of the spine. Additionally, the diaphragm is the principal ventilation muscle, but muscles between the ribs can expand the thorax for heavy or deep breathing and the transversus abdominis muscles assist in establishing thoracic pressure during Valsalva manoeuvres. Valsalva manoeuvres are initiated reflexively, when external moments are applied to the torso. They consist of simultaneous contraction of the transversus and the obliques and sometimes the diaphragm, similar to a forced exhalation but against closed airways. Together these muscle actions increase intrathoracic and intra-abdominal pressure, stiffening the trunk and thereby reducing shear forces across the spine (Hill and Butler 1991).
Functionally, the muscles in the trunk are often divided into the inner unit and the outer unit. The inner unit includes the muscles that do not produce macroscopic movement but instead stabilise the vertebrae and sacroiliac joint during movement, whereas the outer unit produces the movements of the spine and hip. The inner unit consists of tonic muscles such as the transversus abdominis, the posterior fibres of the obliquus internus abdominis, the diaphragm, the pelvic floor muscles, the multifidus and the lumbar portions of the longissimus and iliocostalis (part of the erector spinae). These muscle co-contract in virtually all standing or sitting movements and most lying movements prior to other muscles firing in order to provide spinal rigidity, ensuring efficient force transfer. The outer unit consists of the obliquus externus, obliquus internus, erector spinae, latissimus dorsi, gluteal muscles, quadratus lumborum, adductors and hamstrings. Following are phasic muscles that can produce movement with great power and ROM, fulfilling tasks of vastly different mechanical and metabolic requirements:
- Rectus abdominis
- Obliques (internal and external)
- Transversus abdominis
- Erector spinae
- Quadratus lumborum
Muscles of the Lower Extremity
The muscles of the lower extremity comprise the muscles around the hip, pelvis, knees and ankles. Together these muscles perform all movements in the movement chains of the lower body:
- Gluteal muscles
- Quadriceps
- Hamstrings
- Adductors
- Psoas complex (hip flexors)
- Triceps surae (calf muscles)
Learn more about EuropeActive's Foundations for Exercise Professionals.
Rep and load variations for specific goals in resistance training program
Resistance training methods refer to the strategy used for organising training sessions. Methods should be selected by the strength zone and goals of the workout.
Common Resistance Training Methods and Systems
Resistance training methods refer to the strategy used for organising training sessions. Methods should be selected by the strength zone and goals of the workout. The following sections describe the most common resistance training methods for general fitness proposed in fitness centres and gyms.
Basic Set
This strategy requires the resistance training practitioner to perform all sets of an exercise before continuing to the next. In addition, it is necessary to rest between every set, exercise and even before the following exercise where practical (depending on the requirements of the session and the selection strategy). This method can be used for any resistance training zone but is especially effective for novice practitioners who have to learn the correct technique of the exercise (Naclerio 2005).
Resistance Training Systems
Participants can use several loading patterns or systems in order to obtain the most favourable outcomes from each resistance training session. The most common loading patterns for resistance training are the pyramid and its variations (traditional and reverse pyramids, double pyramid, skewed and flat pyramids), stable load, and stable repetitions.
The pyramid is one of the most popular loading patterns. Its structure, illustrated in figure 7.7, shows that the load increases progressively to a maximum while the number of reps decreases proportionately (traditional). In the reverse form, the load decreases and the reps increase. The physiological effects of this procedure result from the progressive activation or recruitment of available motor units (Bompa and Haff 2009). Regardless of the load used, both systems seem to be appropriate for hypertrophy. The traditional form could be more appropriate to emphasise the capacity to tolerate the repetition of maximum effort, while the reverse form seems more suitable for improving maximal strength.
http://www.humankinetics.com/AcuCustom/Sitename/DAM/133/E5640_486071_ebook_Main.jpg
Traditional and reverse pyramids.
The double pyramid (figure 7.8) consists of two pyramids, one inverted on top of the other. The number of repetitions decreases from the bottom up and then increases again in the second pyramid. Due to a high volume of sets, this pattern is more suitable for muscle hypertrophy rather than endurance.
http://www.humankinetics.com/AcuCustom/Sitename/DAM/133/E5640_486073_ebook_Main.jpg
Double pyramid.
The skewed pyramid (figure 7.9) is proposed as an improved variant of the double pyramid. The load constantly increases throughout the exercise except during the last set, when it decreases. This decrease is meant to add variation and improve motivation. Similar to the double pyramid, fatigue may affect performance and therefore hypertrophy and muscle endurance are the most appropriate outcomes of this strategy.
http://www.humankinetics.com/AcuCustom/Sitename/DAM/133/E5640_486074_ebook_Main.jpg
Skewed pyramid.
The flat pyramid, as represented in figure 7.10, is one of the best patterns for improving strength. In traditional pyramids, the load often varies from 70% to 100%. Load variations of such magnitude can span across three resistance training zones, from hypertrophy to maximal, but in the case of highly trained athletes whose goal is to increase maximum strength, it would be advisable to keep the load in the higher range of 85% to 100% 1RM (Bompa and Haff 2009). However, this strategy is flexible and can be adapted to use a load appropriate to the session or resistance training zone. This strategy has also been called the stable-load pattern (Naclerio 2005).
http://www.humankinetics.com/AcuCustom/Sitename/DAM/133/E5640_486157_ebook_Main.jpg
Flat pyramid.
Another possible option is to arrange the structure of the training session to use a repetition-stable pattern. This system works well for those who want to use the RM continuum strategy because the number of repetitions stays stable while the load can change as fatigue increases throughout the sets.
Learn more about EuropeActive's Foundations for Exercise Professionals.
Goal setting, motivational types, and behavioral strategies to encourage fitness
As highlighted in the previous section, knowing the client is key to maximising motivation when it comes to exercise. This section aims to progress this forward by outlining key behavioural strategies that could be used to enhance motivation towards exercising.
Behavioural Strategies to Enhance Exercise and Health Behaviour Change
As highlighted in the previous section, knowing the client is key to maximising motivation when it comes to exercise. This section aims to progress this forward by outlining key behavioural strategies that could be used to enhance motivation towards exercising. Four strategies will be discussed in all - goal setting, social support, self-monitoring and reinforcement - with examples of each given along the way.
Goal Setting
If you were to ask all people who exercise why they do so, they would all give you an answer specific to them as individuals. Whether it's to lose a bit of weight, prepare for an upcoming competition or beat a personal best in the squat rack, these are all forms of goal setting. So, people will already have end goals in mind, but are these goals achievable? Are they realistic? Are they motivational, or are they in fact the problem? Herein lies the importance of setting specific goals when it comes to motivating the exerciser (Coppack, Kristensen and Karageorghis 2012).
Key sport psychology literature (Weinberg and Gould 2007) recognises that there are three types of goals a person can set: outcome goals, performance goals and process goals. As the name suggests, outcome goals focus on the outcome or result of an event (completing a marathon, winning a boxing fight, losing 5 kg in weight) and heavily rely on external factors (opposition, form coming into an event, general lifestyle choices). Second, performance goals focus on the performance of an action, regardless of the outcome of an event (a runner may not win a marathon but may still set a new personal best in that event). Finally, there are process goals, which focus on specific actions that make up the overall performance (a triple jumper may set a process goal to increase his hop distance, somebody wanting to lose weight may set a process goal to run farther in 20 minutes than she has before).
This breakdown of goal setting has been simplified further with the use of tools such as the goal-setting staircase (see figure 18.1), which takes the three types of goal setting and divides them into long-term goals (outcome) and short-term goals (performance and process). The idea is that a long-term goal is achieved by successfully completing a range of short-term goals that lead up to it. When planning their goals, exercisers work backward down the staircase from their long-term goal to where they are today. Studies have shown that working backward from the end goal to the current position allows for greater specificity within each short-term goal (Weina, Chenglin, Liu and Watson 2012).
In terms of enhancing behavioural change, an effective goal-setting process is key. Quantifying a person's reason to exercise into a range of long-term and short-term goals can help her see what she needs to do in the short term to enable the long term to happen. Likewise, if a person's motivation levels are low when it comes to achieving a short-term goal, the reminder of why he is doing it (outcome goal) can have the same effect (Wilson and Brookfield 2009).
http://www.humankinetics.com/AcuCustom/Sitename/DAM/133/E5640_486137_ebook_Main.jpg
Goal-setting staircase.
Social Support
What people see and experience in their social settings often influence why they choose to exercise. Whether it's what they see and read in the media or what their colleagues do and think, many external influences can affect the motivation to exercise. Second to goal setting, social support is recognised as the next key factor when it comes to exercise motivation. Wills and Shinar (2000) proposed that the amount and type of support people receive is key to their motivation. The authors state that there are five types of social support: instrumental support, emotional support, informational support, companionship support and validation.
Instrumental support is support that offers practical help so people can achieve their goals. This can come from a range of sources, including a workplace having onsite facilities for exercise (work gym or swimming pool), a car park offering free parking for the gym or gym goers supporting each other while exercising.
Emotional support is most effective in helping to boost a person's self-confidence or to reduce any anxieties that someone new to exercising may be feeling. In its simplest (and most effective) form, it involves friends, family and exercise professionals offering verbal support to the exerciser, whether that support is encouragement to finish the last set of exercises or a shoulder to cry on if the person feels things are getting a little overwhelming. Simple cues and support can be the difference between a person carrying on with training or giving up altogether.
Informational support is just that, providing someone with information in order to help her exercise experience. This can come from all manner of resources, from online forums and websites to staff working at the gym. This information may be intimidating to some, especially novice exercisers, due to the jargon that can come with it, and many people tend to seek information from friends and family who are more experienced than they are when it comes to exercising.
Companionship support relates to the people who partake in exercise with the exerciser. Having a gym buddy or a running mate has been shown to dissociate the exerciser from negative feelings such as boredom and pain. Typically, the companion comes in the form of friends and family; however, companionship support can also come from exercising as a group or in a class.
Support through validation is a reflective process where the exerciser compares himself and his worries against the social norm. This helps people to gauge their progress against where others are ahead of and behind them. Validation often gives people a needed confidence boost and lets them know that others have been in their shoes before and have successfully achieved their behavioural change.
Social support can be very useful when it comes to motivating an exerciser, and there is great scope in which to do so. As mentioned in the previous section, the key to this is knowing each individual and what works for her. Research by Swanson, Colwell and Yushan (2008) showed that factors such as experience and exercise level can have an impact on the social support a person requires.
Self-Monitoring
Self-monitoring is a process that allows exercisers to take control of what they are doing. More suited to someone who naturally has higher levels of motivation to begin with (Young, Medic and Strakes 2009), self-monitoring is most commonly done by maintaining a training journal or log. Within the journal, an exerciser would log each training session, noting key elements such as sets and reps or times and distances. This enables the exerciser to keep track of progress over a long time.
The training journal can be used in a number of ways when it comes to motivating the exerciser. First, if the exerciser is experiencing a lull in her training and is finding things hard going, just a simple recap of what she's done previously and how much she's improved can be enough to stimulate her training. Second, enabling the exerciser to take control of his own progress helps instil self-confidence that what he is doing is right (Hindle and Carpenter 2011). This level of control enables exercisers to push themselves because they can see physical evidence of their progress.
A noteworthy point associated with self-monitoring is that people tend to leave any negatives associated with their exercise out of their journals (e.g., failed reps or missed timing goals). This helps to highlight that self-monitoring is not for everyone because for it to have its full effect, the exerciser must be honest and fill it in correctly, including both positives and negatives that occur. With this in mind, this tool for behavioural change is best suited to more experienced exercisers. Because they are more accustomed to the demands of exercise, this added responsibility isn't as daunting as it might be to people who are embarking on their first experience of exercise.
Reinforcement
This is a tool that can be used to influence motivation among exercisers of all levels and experiences. However, it must be used correctly because it can steer a person away from wanting to exercise just as easily as it can gain someone's interest. Another noteworthy point is that individual differences matter here, too; what may work as reinforcement for one person might have the opposite effect on someone else.
According to Skinner's (1953) stimulus - response theory, if someone receives reinforcement about what she is doing (good or bad), then chances are this will affect whether or not she repeats the behaviour in the future. Within the context of exercise, if somebody receives praise that his physique is improving due to exercise, then this will help to motivate him to exercise again in the future. There are two key elements of reinforcement, positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement, and it is generally accepted that positive and negative reinforcement help increase exercise adherence. There are also two adverse forms of reinforcement, punishment and extinction, which tend to discourage people from repeating an action, in this case exercising. Each aspect of reinforcement will now be discussed, with industry-specific examples given. To close this section, we will look at feedback and how different types of feedback can affect a person's motivation levels in very different ways.
Positive Reinforcement
As the name suggests, positive reinforcement is reinforcement that makes a person feel good about herself. It's an enjoyable experience that gives the person a feeling of self-worth and a confidence boost. There are two types of positive reinforcement: intrinsic reinforcement and extrinsic reinforcement (Weinberg and Gould 2007). Intrinsic reinforcement is praise or reward from within. It can be the satisfaction of completing a tough workout, feeling good about physical improvements to your appearance or just the general good feeling that is associated with becoming fitter and healthier. People who are new to exercise or who are low in motivation often neglect intrinsic reinforcement because they tend to have negative views about themselves (McAuley and Tammen 1989). Over time and continued exercise, intrinsic feelings have been shown to increase (Gallagher and Updegraff 2011), and as a person becomes more knowledgeable about things such as the difficulty of the workout he has just completed, he then allows himself to feel intrinsically positive, which in turn increases levels of intrinsic reinforcement.
Extrinsic reinforcement, on the other hand, comes from external sources. In its most basic form, it includes verbal praise from family and friends about how well somebody is doing in her new exercise regime or how well she looks for doing so. It can also come from peers within an exercise group or gym who notice an increase in a person's ability to complete an exercise or task. Exercise professionals are another key form of extrinsic reinforcement, and what they say tends to pack a bigger punch because the person in question feels good that the praise that his ability has increased or his physique has improved is coming from experts. Other forms of extrinsic reinforcement are taking advantage of offers that a gym may promote (reduced rates after committing to an exercise plan for so long, free merchandise for reaching certain training goals), having to purchase new clothes due to weight loss or seeing improvements by noticing an improved physique in the mirror.
Negative Reinforcement
The term negative reinforcement may seem to be a bad thing to people not in the know, but this couldn't be further from the truth. Negative reinforcement is a process exercisers may go through that reminds them why they are committing to an exercise regime and to the process of behavioural change. The best example of negative reinforcement is when a person feels bad for missing a workout or for eating something unhealthy. The feeling of guilt reminds the person why he is committing to changing his behaviour and makes it more likely that the negative experience will be avoided in the future. Another example of negative reinforcement would be pain or discomfort someone may feel due to a bad behaviour she is trying to change. If someone suffers from back pain (negative reinforcement) due to being overweight (bad behaviour), then this would help to reinforce that her behaviour change to exercise is the correct choice.
To get the most out of positive and negative reinforcement, its best for it to take place as soon after the event as possible (Weinberg, Garland, Bruya and Jackson 1990). This allows the person to associate the reinforcement with the feelings he currently has.
Punishment
When we think of punishment, we think of the bad consequences that come because of the behaviour that took place before it (e.g., a student being told off by the teacher for breaking the rules in class). Whereas negative reinforcement tries to remove any negative consequences (e.g., back pain for being overweight), punishment has the opposite effect in adding to the negative. If the person trying to lose weight had increased feelings of pain in her back due to exercise, then this would act as a reinforcement not to exercise.
Extinction
People who are new to exercise quickly experience its positive effects and benefits. However, when they become more established exercisers, these changes happen less frequently, and people can then become demoralised and feelings of doubt start to build as to why they are exercising. This in turn could cause them to stop exercising altogether. The most common example of this is people who are trying to lose weight. When they begin, they lose greater amounts of body weight and in turn feel positive about themselves. But when the weight loss slows down, chances are they will decrease the amount they exercise because they are not seeing the same results as when they started.
Role of Feedback
People react to feedback in their own way. What one person feels is a negative comment might be just the push another person needs to get motivated to exercise. The key to this again is getting to know the individual. An exercise professional may tell someone that he looks slimmer; however, if that person's reason for exercising is to increase the size of his physique, he could take this comment as a negative, which in turn could decrease the amount he exercises. Another example of this would be telling somebody new to exercising that other gym members squat far much more weight than she can. One person may take this as a negative and become intimidated while in the gym and thus stop exercising, whereas another person could use this as motivation to train harder and increase the amount she exercises in order to achieve similar results in the gym.
Although basic, these examples show how easy it is to motivate or demotivate somebody to exercise just by what you say. It could be the difference in helping someone or preventing someone from making that behavioural change, and the key lies with getting to know what makes a person tick - that is, getting to know the individual.
Learn more about EuropeActive's Foundations for Exercise Professionals.
Learn which muscles govern movement in the body
The skeletal muscles can be divided into three groups (figure 2.5): 1. Muscles governing movement of the upper extremities. 2. Muscles governing moment of the trunk and spine (including breathing musculature). 3. Muscles governing movement of the lower extremities.
Skeletal Muscle Groups and Function
The skeletal muscles can be divided into three groups (figure 2.5):
- Muscles governing movement of the upper extremities
- Muscles governing moment of the trunk and spine (including breathing musculature)
- Muscles governing movement of the lower extremities
http://www.humankinetics.com/AcuCustom/Sitename/DAM/133/E5640_486010_ebook_Main.jpg
Muscles of the human body: (a) front and (b) back view.
Muscles of the Upper Extremity
The muscles of the upper extremity comprise the muscles around the shoulder or pectoral girdle as well as the muscles of the glenohumeral (shoulder) joint and of the elbow and wrist. These muscles are active in all pressing and pulling movements of the upper body:
- Shoulder or pectoral girdle
- Trapezius
- Rhomboideus
- Latissimus dorsi
- Pectorals
- Deltoids
- Biceps
- Brachialis
- Triceps
Muscles of the Spine and Trunk
The muscles of the spine and trunk produce movement of the spine and hips and contribute to ventilation. This covers extension, flexion, lateral flexion, reduction and rotation along the full length of the spine. Additionally, the diaphragm is the principal ventilation muscle, but muscles between the ribs can expand the thorax for heavy or deep breathing and the transversus abdominis muscles assist in establishing thoracic pressure during Valsalva manoeuvres. Valsalva manoeuvres are initiated reflexively, when external moments are applied to the torso. They consist of simultaneous contraction of the transversus and the obliques and sometimes the diaphragm, similar to a forced exhalation but against closed airways. Together these muscle actions increase intrathoracic and intra-abdominal pressure, stiffening the trunk and thereby reducing shear forces across the spine (Hill and Butler 1991).
Functionally, the muscles in the trunk are often divided into the inner unit and the outer unit. The inner unit includes the muscles that do not produce macroscopic movement but instead stabilise the vertebrae and sacroiliac joint during movement, whereas the outer unit produces the movements of the spine and hip. The inner unit consists of tonic muscles such as the transversus abdominis, the posterior fibres of the obliquus internus abdominis, the diaphragm, the pelvic floor muscles, the multifidus and the lumbar portions of the longissimus and iliocostalis (part of the erector spinae). These muscle co-contract in virtually all standing or sitting movements and most lying movements prior to other muscles firing in order to provide spinal rigidity, ensuring efficient force transfer. The outer unit consists of the obliquus externus, obliquus internus, erector spinae, latissimus dorsi, gluteal muscles, quadratus lumborum, adductors and hamstrings. Following are phasic muscles that can produce movement with great power and ROM, fulfilling tasks of vastly different mechanical and metabolic requirements:
- Rectus abdominis
- Obliques (internal and external)
- Transversus abdominis
- Erector spinae
- Quadratus lumborum
Muscles of the Lower Extremity
The muscles of the lower extremity comprise the muscles around the hip, pelvis, knees and ankles. Together these muscles perform all movements in the movement chains of the lower body:
- Gluteal muscles
- Quadriceps
- Hamstrings
- Adductors
- Psoas complex (hip flexors)
- Triceps surae (calf muscles)
Learn more about EuropeActive's Foundations for Exercise Professionals.
Rep and load variations for specific goals in resistance training program
Resistance training methods refer to the strategy used for organising training sessions. Methods should be selected by the strength zone and goals of the workout.
Common Resistance Training Methods and Systems
Resistance training methods refer to the strategy used for organising training sessions. Methods should be selected by the strength zone and goals of the workout. The following sections describe the most common resistance training methods for general fitness proposed in fitness centres and gyms.
Basic Set
This strategy requires the resistance training practitioner to perform all sets of an exercise before continuing to the next. In addition, it is necessary to rest between every set, exercise and even before the following exercise where practical (depending on the requirements of the session and the selection strategy). This method can be used for any resistance training zone but is especially effective for novice practitioners who have to learn the correct technique of the exercise (Naclerio 2005).
Resistance Training Systems
Participants can use several loading patterns or systems in order to obtain the most favourable outcomes from each resistance training session. The most common loading patterns for resistance training are the pyramid and its variations (traditional and reverse pyramids, double pyramid, skewed and flat pyramids), stable load, and stable repetitions.
The pyramid is one of the most popular loading patterns. Its structure, illustrated in figure 7.7, shows that the load increases progressively to a maximum while the number of reps decreases proportionately (traditional). In the reverse form, the load decreases and the reps increase. The physiological effects of this procedure result from the progressive activation or recruitment of available motor units (Bompa and Haff 2009). Regardless of the load used, both systems seem to be appropriate for hypertrophy. The traditional form could be more appropriate to emphasise the capacity to tolerate the repetition of maximum effort, while the reverse form seems more suitable for improving maximal strength.
http://www.humankinetics.com/AcuCustom/Sitename/DAM/133/E5640_486071_ebook_Main.jpg
Traditional and reverse pyramids.
The double pyramid (figure 7.8) consists of two pyramids, one inverted on top of the other. The number of repetitions decreases from the bottom up and then increases again in the second pyramid. Due to a high volume of sets, this pattern is more suitable for muscle hypertrophy rather than endurance.
http://www.humankinetics.com/AcuCustom/Sitename/DAM/133/E5640_486073_ebook_Main.jpg
Double pyramid.
The skewed pyramid (figure 7.9) is proposed as an improved variant of the double pyramid. The load constantly increases throughout the exercise except during the last set, when it decreases. This decrease is meant to add variation and improve motivation. Similar to the double pyramid, fatigue may affect performance and therefore hypertrophy and muscle endurance are the most appropriate outcomes of this strategy.
http://www.humankinetics.com/AcuCustom/Sitename/DAM/133/E5640_486074_ebook_Main.jpg
Skewed pyramid.
The flat pyramid, as represented in figure 7.10, is one of the best patterns for improving strength. In traditional pyramids, the load often varies from 70% to 100%. Load variations of such magnitude can span across three resistance training zones, from hypertrophy to maximal, but in the case of highly trained athletes whose goal is to increase maximum strength, it would be advisable to keep the load in the higher range of 85% to 100% 1RM (Bompa and Haff 2009). However, this strategy is flexible and can be adapted to use a load appropriate to the session or resistance training zone. This strategy has also been called the stable-load pattern (Naclerio 2005).
http://www.humankinetics.com/AcuCustom/Sitename/DAM/133/E5640_486157_ebook_Main.jpg
Flat pyramid.
Another possible option is to arrange the structure of the training session to use a repetition-stable pattern. This system works well for those who want to use the RM continuum strategy because the number of repetitions stays stable while the load can change as fatigue increases throughout the sets.
Learn more about EuropeActive's Foundations for Exercise Professionals.
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