Your Blog Description here! ACSM's Guidelines for Exercise Testing and Prescription (American College of Sports Medicine).

Overview

ACSM’s Guidelines for Exercise Testing and Prescription is the flagship title from the American College of Sports Medicine, the prestigious organization that sets the standards for the exercise profession. This critical handbook delivers scientifically based standards on exercise testing and prescription to the certification candidate, the professional, and the student. This manual gives succinct summaries of recommended procedures for exercise testing and exercise prescription in healthy and diseased patients
The tenth edition reflects some crucial and exciting changes, making the content necessary for effective study and practice. New pre-exercise health screening recommendations are critical to helping more of the population begin a safe, healthy physical activity program without consulting a physician. New and expanded information on the risks of sedentary behavior, clinical exercise testing and interpretation, high intensity interval training, musculoskeletal injury risk, fitness testing protocols and norms, and an expansion of the principles of health behavior change are included. Additionally, significant reorganization of content will help you reach the information you need quickly.
This manual is an essential resource for all exercise professionals, as well as other health professionals who may counsel patients on exercise including physicians, nurses, physician’s assistants, physical and occupational therapists, dieticians, and health care administrators.

Submitted by: Jon YeanSub Lim, CSCS, USSA Doctoral Student

Introduction

Today, the average of life expectancy has gone up in the United States (U.S.) and is expected to increase even more in the future. The U.S. Bureau of Census (1994) predicted there will be more than 40 million people over 65 years old in the year 2010. The growth in the senior population of the U.S. is a similar trend throughout the world. Consequently, the health, fitness and well-being of the senior population are of increasing concern in today’s society.

Aging is a normal biological process in human beings involving the gradual alteration of body structure, function, and tolerance to environmental stress. From approximately age 30, effectiveness of various physiological functions begins a subtle decline that becomes more obvious around age 55-60. However, physiological aging does not occur at the same rate throughout the population. At the present, it is difficult to distinguish reasons of decline in physiological functions. The reasons could be from advancing age, deconditioning from physical inactivity, disease, or any combination of them (ACSM, 1995).

There is a biological and a chronological age. Biological age focuses on senescent changes in biological and physiological processes, whereas chronological age focuses on elements of calendar time. An individual who is 70 years of age may have a biological age of 45, based on his/her health and fitness status. Biological age may be reduced by regularly participating in a well-designed physical fitness program. Nakurma, et al. (1989) found that active elderly men who followed a regular exercise program were able to significantly lower their biological age with improvement in functional capacity and maximal aerobic power. This may explain that normal aging processes account only for a portion of the loss of physiological function; physical inactivity accounts for greatest amount of the loss with age (Poehlman et al., 1991). This loss from physical inactivity is avoidable through adequate and regular exercise.

The benefits of physical activity for older individuals are well documented. It improves cardiorespiratory function, reduces risk factors for coronary artery disease, and most importantly enhances of the ability to perform daily activities (Blair, 1993; Huhn, 1993). There is no clear evidence that exercise will improve longevity, but there is little doubt that it improves the quality of life in old age. It maintains endurance, strength, and joint mobility while it reduces the incidence and severity of hypertension, osteoporosis, obesity, and diabetes mellitus. The purpose of this paper is to provide general guidelines of effective and safe exercise testing and prescription for the senior adult population. The physiological changes accompanying advancing age which influence exercise should be considered in the design of effective and safe exercise programs for the senior population.

Physiological Changes With Aging
The study of physiological changes with aging come from data collected from different cross-sectional and longitudinal studies (Table 1). It is crucial to have knowledge of the physiological changes of aging in order to have a safe and effective exercise program for older individuals. With advancing age, there are gradual decreases in basal metabolic rate (BMR), bone density, maximum oxygen consumption (VO2 max), muscle mass, muscle strength, and range of motion (ROM).

Table 1 Effects of Exercise Training and Aging
Variables	Aging	Exercise Training
Resting heart rate	Little or no change	Decreases
Maximal cardiac output	Decreases	Increases
Resting & exercise blood pressure	Increases	Decreases
Maximal oxygen uptake	Decreases	Increases
HDL	Decreases	Increases
Reaction time	Decreases	Increases
Muscular strength	Decreases	Increases
Muscle endurance	Decreases	Increases
Bone mass	Decreases	Increases
Flexibility	Decreases	Increases
Fat-free body mass	Decreases	Increases
Precent body fat	Increases	Decreases
Clucose tolerance	Decreases	Increases
Recover time	Increases	Decreases
(ACMS Guidelines for Exercising and Prescription, 1995)

The benefits associated with exercise are well documented showing the enhancement of the ability to perform daily activities in old age (Table 1). Most of the physiological changes of aging can be improved with regular exercise training.
Exercise Testing
The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) recommends that older individuals should obtain a medical clearance from their physician prior to maximal exercise testing and before their participation in vigorous exercise. In addition, health screening of the p

Acsm Guidelines Exercise Testing Prescription