initial assessments and evaluations

[stroutman81]

Hey all-

I've been training independently for quite a while now and I've set up my own barrage of initial assessments that fit the specific clientèle I catered to (primarily obese individuals).

That said, I'm starting to train at a local facility part time and was hoping fellow trainers would share what they've found to be the most effective means for assessing the starting points of their clients.... and let's assume it's your typical client looking to 'shed some fat' and improve their health.

This facility seems to have a rather weak protocol basically doing girth measurements, sit & reach, and very very little postural eval.

Also, working with primarily obese individuals, I wasn't doing a lot body fat analysis. Of those of you who monitor body fat % for your clients, are you typically using calipers? I have a really nice set of calipers, much better than this gyms. But I've been contemplating purchasing:

Product - Body Logic HBF 306 Body Fat Analyzer

It's certainly not as accurate as calipers (assuming the tester knows what the heck she/he is doing) but it's less invasive. I find people tend to get the sweats when you start pinching their fat!

Thoughts, suggestions appreciated.

Thanks!

[Isaac Wilkins]

It depends. I have a battery of tests for my athletes involving some athletic drills (shuttle drills, sprints, etc). I have others for obese clients who would die just finishing a shuttle drill in under ten seconds.

I like some elements of Gray Cooks Screens, so I usually do something there. I try to find a strength or strength endurance test or two (5RM, push-ups in 2 minutes, etc). Incidently I don't think I've ever tested anyone, other than in grad school, in the sit and reach.

One thing I like to do in my evaluation of clients is to run them through a basic dynamic warm-up with lunges, high kicks, squats, push-up walk-outs, arm circles, etc. You can see a lot of misalignments, imbalances, and get a good idea of their athleticism and conditioning.

[sed8085]

Hey Stroutman,
I usually begin my postural assessments by just taking note of their overall posture and honing in how the client moves--getting in and out of the chair, how they sit while I'm talking to them, etc. The first movement assessment I perform is the Overhead Squat. Usually the Overhead squat will help me to determine the other movement tests I would like them to perform. Do you need to further check the hips, ankles, glutes, etc?

I also like to check their balance (single leg squat them if you can), and also how they perform split squats, pushups, and planks.

I don't have experience with the Body Fat device you are looking at, sorry. I think some clients (particularly female clients if you are male) would feel more comfortable with that instead of the calipers. *That's just from my experience (only 2 years).*
Or just go by measurements, I think that would be the most accurate. Who doesn’t want to see a loss of inches, right?!

fficeffice" />Hope that was helpful!! Best of Luck.
Sarah

[Jean-Paul]

Get an OMRON handheld bodyfat analyzer if you want to measure bodyfat. 2% margin of error, very non-invasive. Works well with your target clientele.

As for assessments, I use Motion DNA (3D functional motion screens), but not on everyone. It wouldn't be relevant with your crowd. Maybe do a squat to bench test (how many squats in 30 seconds.

I second the Gray Cook stuff... He's fantastic!

For the truly obese, I think you're on target to do girth measurements. Calipers and bio-impedance devices usually error out on the extreme ends of the spectrum because the algorithms are based on "norms," which they aren't.

[stroutman81]

Thanks everyone for your thoughts!

JP, isn't the OMRON the same thing in the link I posted? My concern is how factors such as hydration can affect bf% readings using bioelectrical impedance.

But at least it can track trends, I suppose.

[Jean-Paul]

Originally Posted by stroutman81

Thanks everyone for your thoughts!

JP, isn't the OMRON the same thing in the link I posted? My concern is how factors such as hydration can affect bf% readings using bioelectrical impedance.

But at least it can track trends, I suppose.

You're right. Duh! I didn't actually click the link.

The important thing is to test your subjects at the same time of day (like early morning).

And it is at least as accurate as calipers. Honestly, I have yet to meet a trainer who used them properly, so I never trust results taken by calipers from another trainer. It cracks me up when some girl who's 15 pounds overweight exclaims to me that she's 16% bodyfat!

[stroutman81]

Originally Posted by Jean-Paul

You're right. Duh! I didn't actually click the link.

The important thing is to test your subjects at the same time of day (like early morning).

So you've been using that device with your clients?

And it is at least as accurate as calipers. Honestly, I have yet to meet a trainer who used them properly, so I never trust results taken by calipers from another trainer. It cracks me up when some girl who's 15 pounds overweight exclaims to me that she's 16% bodyfat!

Oh I completely agree.

[stroutman81]

Also, do you recommend any particular products of Cook's?

[PowerManDL]

JP are you sure the OMRON only has a 2% error? It's affected a lot by hydration status, and I've been under the impression that it was the least accurate of all the methods. Calipers with someone experienced are supposed to be the best short of DEXA or dunk-tank, and even those still have a +/-2 or 3% error.

[Jean-Paul]

You are right but with one minor problem... THe skill of the tester. I could measure you three times and get three different results based on how I wanted to skew things. I could pinch in the wrong place, not squeeze the facsia properly, not drop the pincers on the just right. I can measure bodyfat really well but most people suck!

Much prefer something that uses the exact same criteria every time.

Want exact numbers? Pay someone $300 for submersion. I'm pretty tempted to try actually. It's all just a close guess.

[PowerManDL]

Ya, Di's brother does obesity research down in NZ, and he's got access to a DEXA machine.

We ran her through that awhile back, and even that has a pretty sharp margin of error based on the operator and other crap like that.

Really there's no way short of autopsy to accurately measure BF%, which sucks, but it is what it is.

I guess the bio-impedence stuff is probably just as good as anything at the end of the day, you just have to measure trends in change over time instead of focusing on the actual number

[LisaS]

Originally Posted by Jean-Paul

Want exact numbers? Pay someone $300 for submersion. I'm pretty tempted to try actually. It's all just a close guess.

you need to look into this:
Body fat testing - hydrostatic body fat testing - body fat equipment: FitnessWave
it doesn't cost near $300 to get dunked around here.

[Tom@foresight]

Hi all,

For a initial consultation i do the following:-

- Exercise and Physical activity Q'aire
- Basic Nutritional Q'aire
- Lifestyle Q'aire
- PAR-Q
- Postural ass
- Wellbeing indicators (blood pressure, body comp, circumferential measurements, lung function, glucose levels, cholesterol levels)

- Fitness indicators (various 1 RM, relivent endurance test, etc...)


I think i have encluded it all, the above then gives a good bench mark for future development.

TOM