Exercise testing
Exercise testing varies among the population because of its differentiated age brackets. This age brackets state what and how exercise testing is going to by in each age bracket. Therefore, that is why exercise testing is different when it comes to conducting it on children, adults, and the old. This essay thus discusses the comparison and contrast of the three age brackets as well as the reason for taking of specific precautions.
Well for the elderly who are the people above 35 years, it is first good to consider health aspects like overweightness, their high blood pressure history, and lastly heart diseases. They are therefore required to consult a physician. When exercise testing old people it is important to near first aid supplies, medical help, and enough resuscitation equipment. Exercise should be started at a low intensity. They should also be given additional time to get back to their steady state. Another thing is to reduce their total time they test. During test, blood pressure, ECG, and heart rate should be constantly monitored. They have poor balance so it is preferable to use the cycle ergometer. They also have poor ambulatory ability so increase the treadmill grade instead of the speed. Consider also their poor neuromuscular coordination in which the amount of practice should be increased therefore it is a number of tests. Exercise population for the old should involve activities that have a low-impact on the joints. Examples are stationary cycling, walking, swimming and water exercises. The reason for this is because old people have feeble joints that are prone to getting hurt or damaged. The activity should be convenient, enjoyable, and accessible to people involved. The reason for this is precaution is to avoid the participants from losing motivation since psychologically they know they are done for physically.
For children different programs for testing are conducted that suit the children. Some of the testing programs include Presidents challenge, fitnessgram, international fitness test, eurofit, and national physical fitness awards (NPFA). This tests are done as they have been approved of being child compliant. In this tests lower weights, times, distances, and simple modified equipment and instructions are used while also some tests are similar to those of adults. The testing environment is considered and it has to be proper. The place of test should be attractive physically and it should have children age-appropriate pictures that are interesting. The staff members should be encouraging, compassionate, and enthusiastic. Use of equipment and protocols of the right size is important as it may cause them to be scared. Since children use become steady quicker than adults and the old, treadmill protocols should use the 2 or 3 minute stages. VO2max values are 7% to 10% higher than the cycle ergometers. In addition, the tests are designed to last for between 8 up to 12 minutes. The test adviser should also constantly monitor children but by regularly asking questions. The prescriptions should consider the child’s attention span and to what extent do appropriate role models are provided by the parents. Another thing is the child’s history of physical activeness should be looked at. This is because of the sake of prescribing the appropriate exercise tests.
For adults some things are similar to those for the other two age brackets. Well to start with those not similar we have that monitoring should not be done constantly since in this age bracket most people are physically fit naturally. Second, VO2 max values for the treadmill are higher than those of cycle ergometers by 7% to 10%. Adults are fast therefore fast protocols should be applied plus the slow ones. A single instructor should cater for a number of people since these people are mature and will perform the tests as required. For adults you can start with a high as well as low intensity. They require less time to attain a state of steadiness because they take a short warm-up time and larger increments in the working-rate. The total test time can be increased to 20-60 minutes because in this group the people are strong enough and have more stamina to continue that long. The people also have good balance and ambulatory ability so the treadmill speed can be increased reason being of the masculinity and strength of the people of the group. They also have good neuromuscular coordination therefore precaution should be to either maintain a constant practice session.
Conclusively, the exercise tests for children, adults, and old people and the reason for the precautionary approaches being taken have been explained above. Therefore, it is better that exercise experts consider this and apply them to their exercise population whether young, adult, or old.
References
Exercise Testing and Prescription for the Senior Population | The Sport Journal. (n.d.). volume 16 | The Sport Journal. Retrieved June 22, 2013, from http://www.thesportjournal.org/article/exercise-testing-and-prescription-senior-population
Guinness, B., & Knox, J. (2008). Garden your way to health and fitness: exercise plans, injury prevention, ergonomic designs. Portland: Timber Press.
Riner, W., & Sabath, R. (n.d.). Precautions in exercise testing and prescriptions for children. Human Kinetics. Retrieved June 22, 2013, from http://www.humankinetics.com/excerpts/excerpts/precautions-in-exercise-testing-and-prescription-for-children
Sutton, A. L. (2007). Fitness and exercise sourcebook (3rd ed.). Detroit, MI: Omnigraphics.
