Coaching Skills
How do you plan an effective exercise session for an individual or for a group? How should things be structured? What should I take into account? All of these questions will be answered in this section. During this section, we will allude to sessions (individual exercise episodes) and programmes (a programme consisting of basic pre-planned sessions to meet the objective).
All programmes / sessions should be planned with consideration for each client’s individual circumstances. When planning a gym-based programme, the fitness instructor should take into account the client’s:
Meeting the needs of clients with different objectives
All programmes or sessions should be planned to meet the client’s needs or objectives. There is a broad range of possible objectives you may encounter, or reasons for wanting to exercise:
- Improving posture
- Improving flexibility
- Improving muscular strength or endurance
- Improving cardiovascular (CV) fitness
- Losing weight (usually they mean body fat, but clarify this with them)
- Increasing muscle (hypertrophy)
- Increasing muscle tone (same as hypertrophy but a softer word often meaning hypertrophy)
- Improving health and wellbeing (such as managing stress or lowering blood pressure)
- Improving fitness for sport or an event, e.g. a marathon or a triathlon
When planning gym-based exercise sessions for clients, it is important to:
- Ensure risks are minimised throughout the programme / session
- Plan realistic timings and sequences for exercise
- Record programme / session plans in an appropriate format
Different objectives require different programme designs and content. When designing programmes / sessions, the instructor must consider the ASCM (American College of Sports Medicine) recommendations for exercise for each component of fitness (frequency, intensity, time and type) in order to meet specific objectives.
CV fitness guidelines for exercise prescription for healthy adults
Muscular fitness guidelines for exercise prescription for healthy adults
Flexibility guidelines for exercise prescription for healthy adults
Safe and effective session structure
Any gym-based session should include the following elements:
- A full introduction which includes a verbal conversation prior to any exercise taking place. This should include:
- An outline of the session structure (what you have planned and how the session will run)
- Any health and safety information
- Asking if the client has any injuries you should be aware of prior to the session
- Giving the client the opportunity to ask questions
- A warm-up to prepare the mind and body for activity
- A main session to train specific components of fitness, relative to the needs, preferences and/or goals of the individual(s); i.e. CV fitness, muscular fitness and/or functional fitness
- A cool-down to return the body to a non-exercising state and improve flexibility
- A full debrief, which should include:
- Your feedback for the client on how their session was (performance, things to work on etc)
- An opportunity for your client to give you feedback on the session (what they liked, disliked etc as well as general thoughts and feelings)
- An opportunity for your client to ask any questions
Planning the warm-up
Warming up prior to the main workout is important for:
- Reducing the risk of injury by ensuring muscles are gradually taken through an increased range of motion (ROM)
- Improving performance in the main workout
- Preparing the mind for the challenge of the main workout
- Opening (dilating) the blood vessels that are supplying the working muscles, which allows more oxygen to be delivered
- Increasing muscle temperature, which in turn increases elasticity and contractility
- Giving the fitness instructor the opportunity to observe posture and technique at a low intensity and correct any poor alignment prior to the main workout, where the risk of injury is greater
There are many different ways of warming up, which should vary depending onwhat is planned for the main workout; for example, if a client is performing an upper body workout of a split routine, it would be no real use warming up on an upright bike as this will only work the lower body muscles.
General warm-up guidelines
- If you are performing specific joint mobility exercises, you should aim for 15-20 reps at each point, while gradually increasing ROM.
Note*: If a client were to use a cross-trainer or rower for their CV pulse-raiser, all joints would be mobilised, therefore it might not be necessary to perform separate mobility exercises, unless the client were particularly ‘tight’ in a certain area. - A pulse-raiser should take 5-10 minutes for a healthy client in a ‘normal’ exercising environment, however this may need to be longer when considering the factors identified previously. The aim is to gradually increase intensity throughout the pulse-raiser to ensure the client achieves a rate of perceived exertion (RPE) between 4 and 7 (1-10 scale), dependant on the intensity of the main workout.
- A warm-up should include dynamic stretching; this encourages movement whilst still stretching muscles in readiness for the main session.
Dynamic stretches
Squat to overhead arm swing
Teaching points:
- Squat down by bending the ankles, knees and hips
- Swing the arms downa nd back during the decent into the squat position
- Keep the chest lifted throughout
- Return to standing position with arms stretched overhead
- Repeat
Muscles stretched
- Quadriceps
- Gluteus maximus
- Latissimus dorsi
- Soleus
- Lliopsoas
Squat to overhead arm swing with rotation
Teaching points:
- Squat down by bending the ankles, knees and hips
- Swing the arms down and back during the decent into the squat position
- Keep the chest lifted throughout
- Return to standing position with arms stretched overhead wile rotating the upper body to one side
- Alternate the ride of rotation with each rep
Muscles stretched
- Quadriceps
- Gluteus maximus
- Latissimus dorsi
- Soleus
- Lliopsoas
Lunge with rotation
Teaching points:
- Stand in an upright position with feet hip-width apart
- Lunge forward while simultaneously rotating the torso towards the lunging side leg
- Push back strongly off the lead foot and return to the starting position
Muscles stretched
- Quadriceps
- Gluteus maximus
- Obliques
- Lliopsoas
Posterior step with overhead reach
Teaching points
- Stand in an upright position with feet hip-width apart
- Take a small step back while both arms reach overhead
- Ensure the lunging side heel makes contact with the floor
- Brace the abdominals to prevent excess lumbar extension
- Push back strongly off the posterior foot and return to the starting position
Muscles stretching
- Latissimus dorsi
- Rectus abdominis
- Llipsoas
- Gastrocnemius
Standing dynamic pectoral stretch
Teaching points
- Stand in an upright position with feet hip-width apart
- Horizontally extend the arms to a wide position
- Push the arms forward while allowing the thoracic spine to round slightly
- Repeat the above varying the angle of the arms of use static stretches
Muscles stretching
- Pectoralis major
- Rhomboids
- Mid Trapezius
Warm-up stretches should be dynamic and gradually build up to take the muscles safely through their full ROM
Mobility exercises
Upper-body mobility (body weight)
- Shoulder lifts and circles
- Arm circles and raises
- Shoulder pressing action
- Chest pressing action
Trunk mobility (body weight)
- Rotations
- Side bends
Lower body (body weight)
- Knee raises
- Leg curls
- Foot pedalling
- Calf raises
Warming exercises (pulse-raising)
- Using CV machines warms the muscles and increases the heart rate in readiness for exercise
- Intensity should be progressive and in accordance with the client’s level of fitness
- Exercises can include: cycling, treadmill and stepper machines to mobilise the lower body (knees, hips and ankles)
- Rowing and cross-trainer mobilise the lower body (knees, hips and ankles) but also the upper body (elbows, shoulders and back) in specific movement ranges
Stretching exercises
- Dynamic range-of-motion stretches
- Whole-body approach
General cool-down guidelines
A frequently overlooked and undervalued component of an exercise session is the cool-down and flexibility element. After a workout, it is important to gradually return the body to it’s ‘pre-exercise’ state, in order to ensure:
An effective cool-down consists of two main components:
Pulse-lowering
Stretch and flexibility
It can be useful to perform low intensity CV exercises between resistance training and stretching to help with some of the removal of waste products and aid muscle recovery by stimulating blood flow (oxygen and nutrients).
The intensity should be reduced gradually from CV training level, to lower the heart rate. The duration of pulse-lowering would depend on the intensity of the workout and the fitness of the client.
Deconditioned clients tend to need longer to cool-down than experienced athletes, even though they would work at lower intensities.
At the end of an exercise session, it is important to stretch all muscles that have been worked. This is to help reduce tension, return and maintain normal ROM in muscles and take the opportunity to develop tight muscles and improve flexibility.
Stretching should also take place at the end of sessions. Here, static stretching is recommended; not only can static stretching improve your flexibility and range of motion, it can also help your muscles recover faster after a workout, leading to less pain and stiffness. Static stretching is also a great way to release stress and tension in your muscles, which can help you feel more relaxed. This type of stretching also encourages the participant to be stationary and in doing go, lowering the heart rate / blood pressure, helping to return to a resting pre-exercise state. There are two types of static stretches:
Static maintenance stretches take the muscle to the end of its normal range and hold it there without bouncing; they are short stretches held for 10-15 seconds and used to maintain the normal length of the muscle.
Static developmental stretches are used to develop flexibility and ROM at a joint. Below are teaching guidelines for developmental stretching:
- Take the stretch to. the point of mild tension, maintaining good alignment and posture
- Hold for 10-15 seconds until the tension within the muscle has reduced slightly
- Relax and passively increase the ROM of the stretch until the tension is felt again
- Hold for 10-15 seconds until the tension within the muscle is reduced
- Increase the ROM of the stretch until the tension is felt again
- Hold until the tension reduces, the slowly return the limb to its normal position
- Repeat the stretch if desired
Safety tips
To keep your stretches safe and effective, keep these tips in mind:
- Don’t stretch beyond what’s comfortable. A slight degree of discomfort is normal, but you shouldn’t feel any pain while you’re stretching. Stop right away if you feel sharp pain.
- Be gentle. Use smooth, slow movements. Avoid jerking or bouncing movements while you’re holding a stretch. Be extra cautious if you’re recovering from an injury.
- Don’t forget to breathe. Breathing can help relieve stress and tension in your body, and may also help you hold a stretch for longer.
- Start slowly. Start with just a few stretches at first, and add more repetitions and stretches as you build your flexibility.
Flexibility guidelines
