INTRODUCTION

1. DEFINITION OF FITNESS

The word “fitness” means the ability to perform physical activities. This includes the strength of
your muscles, joints and ligaments; the state of your endurance; and the power in which your
body is capable of moving. This does NOT mean “health.”
A person who is fit may not necessarily be healthy, and a person who is healthy may not
necessarily be fit. "Health" covers a wide array of components which are usually under the
umbrella word, "wellness."
"Wellness," in essence, covers all areas of health: mental health, emotional health, physical
health, spiritual health, social health, relationship health, and so on. Basically, these are all the
different components in a person's life that can affect their overall "well-being."
So when it comes to "fitness"... a person may be fit - be active, participate in sports, be able to lift
weights, change the shape of their body, run, jump, and increase their cardiovascular capacity -
but this does NOT mean that the state of their body, or their overall "well-being," is in good health.
The movement and oxygen produced from "fitness-type" activities can hugely benefit the well-
being of the body, BUT it is NOT the only factor that determines the overall health - the "wellness" -
of the person.

2. HOW FITNESS IS DIFFERENT FOR EVERY PERSON?

Every person who wants to get physically fit does not have the same needs. The person in
twenties may want to look good and has the desire to fit in any dress he /she desires. But people
who have reached their midlife may just want to be disease free and maintain overall health rather
than just good looks. Need of a senior citizen is different than that of their younger counterparts.
Along with being healthy they want to be strong enough to be independent.
Hence the fitness professional needs to have an extremely individualistic approach while dealing
with every client type. One cannot have cookie-cutter routines for all. Before chalking out any
exercise program the trainer must understand the person's program category.
There is something called an optimum health. This is a state in which the person is disease free
and injury free. But it does not mean that the person is fit. Fitness comes above the optimum
health. People who do not have optimum health go into the category of special population.
Trainer must understand the category of a client and chalk out the plan.
Ideal team for achieving good and predictable results are mentioned below along with the
category of the clients.

3. VARIOUS CATEGORIES OF EXERCISE PARTICIPANTS

By large we can have following program categories of people who want to participate in exercise
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· RECREATIONAL PARTICIPANTS: recreational participants are those people who just want to
be fit to look good and to feel good. These people may not have perfect body shape or
composition but they do not have any diseases and medical conditions too. They may want to
lose some weight/fat or gain some muscle. The main focus is on staying in shape and being
energetic to have better quality of life.
To serve this category of the client the team requires following components: the client, the
personal trainer and a nutritionist; because good nutrition along with physical activity is crucial
for both weight-loss and muscle gain.

· SPORTS SPECIFIC/ COMPETATIVE LEVEL ATHLETIC POPULATION: This category is of those

people who play a particular game or participate in athletic events at competitive levels. Along
with fitness they want to better their skills to perform at the time of competition.
To cater to this program category we need to have following components in the team to achieve
the best possible performance: the client, the personal trainer, the sports nutritionist and the
coach. Athletes/ sports persons have special needs when it comes to their nutrition and also they
need sports specific training. The personal trainer can chalk out the strength conditioning
program after having a word with coach related to specific movements those need to be worked
on.

· SPECIAL POPULATION: special population means all those people who are not at the optimum
level of health. People who have health issues. People who are dealing with medical issues.
Ideally these people must take care of their medical issues before they either gain or lose the
body weight. The ideal goal of these people should be reaching the optimum health and then take
care of the aesthetics.
To serve this category the team needs to have: the client, the personal trainer, the nutritionist, the
physician in the case of physiological issues and the physiotherapist/ orthopedician in case of
injuries. This category is one of the most sensitive category that needs special care due to their
health issues/ injuries. Taking the guidance from the medical professional is important as we
don't want to worsen the condition of the client. Monitoring of the food intake is also important to
manage the health issues.