The Fitness Assessment: Blood Pressure & Grip Strength
The Fitness Assessment
Blood Pressure &
Grip Strength
The average personal trainer closes at less than 30% of their fitness assessments. That's why more than 90% of textbook trainers quit within 12-months. The main reason being the average personal trainer lacks the following:
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Trade Skills (hands-on learning)
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Personal Skills (being likable)
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Business Skills (streams of revenue & sales)
During the fitness assessment, trainers should thoroughly review the PAR-Q (physical activity readiness questionnaire) which includes medical and workout history, resting measurements, goals, and a workout. The two most important resting measurements are blood pressure and grip strength.
BLOOD PRESSURE
Blood pressure is the amount of pressure of blood pushing against the arterial walls. Arteries carry blood away from your heart to other parts of your body. Also referred to as the silent killer and takes the lives of almost 700,000 people annually. The top number is referred to as systolic and the bottom diastolic.
Common misconceptions are that decreasing sodium intake will significantly lower hypertension, this is not supported in the literature. The best steps for decreasing high blood pressure are managing stress, sleeping 7-9 hours per night, exercising regularly and decreasing alcohol intake. We challenge trainers to manage their blood pressure for one week to cause awareness for the silent killer and showcase your elite level as a fitness professional.
Grip Strength
Grip strength can be measured via a grip dynamometer (the prefix “dyna” is greek for loss of power) and a great indicator of living to 100-years of age. This is a fun and less intrusive test compared to a YMCA step-test or Rockport test that NASM uses. Show Up Fitness prefers to use the grip strength test and educate clients around sarcopenia (loss of muscle mass due to age) and dynapenia (loss of power due to age.) At Show Up Fitness, we challenge MALE trainers to be able to pull over 130-pounds and women to pull over 100-pounds. These are part of the Show Up Fitness Strength, Conditioning and Wellness Standards. For our general population clients, the following is a great chart to help track strength gains via the dynamometer:
How to charge $100 for the fitness assessment
If you want to learn more about the fitness assessment, Show Up Fitness will be hosting a LIVE and VIRTUAL course on how to charge $100 for the fitness assessment. Saturday June 24th 10am Chris Hitchko and Jimy Dabney will be doing a 3-hour class on what the SUF-CPT assessment looks like. Purchase the ticket HERE. If you want to do a VIP workout with Chris at 8am at Santa Monica Equinox, email chris@showupfitness.com