the HAE Senior Fitness Assessment
Curious how you stack up against the competition or just want to find out if there are areas you could improve on. Sign up for a HAE Senior Fitness Assessment. On the day of your assessment, I will meet with you in your home to discuss your goals, your health history and will perform a thorough physical fitness assessment that day. Here are some of the areas I will be assessing:
Past Medical History and Current Conditions: I will review your pertinent health history, discuss with you any concerns you have about your current medical conditions, within the scope of my practice, and provide education on conditions that you may benefit from understanding better. If I feel like you could benefit from any specialist referrals, I will provide this feedback to you and your medical team.
Assessment of Goals: For your Wellness plan to be effective, it must start with you. We will discuss what your goals are at present and for the future. These goals can be anything from being able to get up from the ground with more ease, to participating in your favorite hobbies and leisure activities with less limitation. I will use this information to help with development of your Wellness plan and our success together is measured by your progress in these areas.
Clinical Assessment: I will then perform a thorough physical assessment of your areas of strength and any areas of potential weakness. I will perform tests and measures to assess the following areas:
o Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Health
o Functional Strength, Power and Muscle Endurance
o Flexibility and Range of Motion
o Aerobic Capacity and Activity Tolerance
o Balance and Coordination
Functional Outcome Measures: By utilizing outcome measures with predetermined age-matched norms and cut-off scores that indicate associated fall risk and other functional outcomes, I can better gauge where you are at present, and where I hope you will be when by the time we finish. I use tests like the 6 Minute Walk, 2 Minute Step, Berg Balance Scale, Functional Gait Assessment, 30 Second Sit to Stand, Arm Curl Test, and the Activities Specific Balance Scale among others to help me set more specific goals for you, and to help illustrate for you where you land currently on the spectrum of health and fitness. I will provide you with your scores, and we will reassess these as you progress with your Wellness program.
Development of Your Wellness Plan
After careful review of your medical history, and after we address any pertinent current medical issues, I will review specific guidelines for physical activity and provide you with education on any relevant precautions or contraindications for exercise. I will then review your individualized Wellness plan and we will determine together how you would like me to help you along your journey. Visits can be made in person or virtually, and at a frequency that you and I decide together would be most beneficial.
While our routine may vary, and all Wellness programs are individualized, there are certain types of workouts I find most beneficial to my clients. All of your workouts can be done in your home with whatever equipment you have on hand, or no equipment at all. Here is an overview of some of the different types of workouts you can expect to try:
Functional Strengthening: I believe in performing exercises and activities that are designed to directly improve your ability to function. This means choosing activities that strengthen your body in ways it must move to perform functional mobility and everyday activities. Typically, these movements fall into seven categories: Pushing, Pulling, Hinging, Squatting, Lunging and Core Work and Twists. While these are the same types of patterns you may expect to see heavy weightlifters performing, I modify these to reflect the types of activities you perform during your everyday life. You perform a squat every time you get up and down from a chair or the toilet. Stairs require a form of lunging and you hinge every time you must retrieve an item from the ground. Pushing happens when you rise from bed, and you pull often when get in and out of the car. Your core is active during every one of these activities and twisting is a part of everything you do – rarely do these actions happen in isolation or as straight plane. By getting away from the traditional single limb strength protocols (bicep curls, knee extensions) and focusing on the multi-body part, big muscle group motions that translate to increased function, your workouts will not only be more effective, but more efficient. To read more about the benefits of functional strengthening, check out this blog post I wrote about it here.
High Intensity Training and EMOM-Style Workouts: To get maximum benefit from your workouts, you must be working intensely. And while this doesn’t necessarily mean you have to be dripping sweat or exhausted, it does mean I will find ways to get you moving and keep you moving so your heart rate stays up and you get a cardiovascular benefit even during your strengthening. I do this frequently by incorporating low impact aerobic intervals into your strength sessions, or using Every Minute on the Minute (EMOM) style workouts that use strength activities performed at more intense speeds and efforts to achieve the same effect.
Low Intensity (LISS) and Moderate Intensity (MISS) Steady State Cardio: While it may sound simple, there are so many benefits from participating in regular low to moderate intensity aerobic exercise, that it has a role in a every Wellness program I create. This is the place where you get to choose how you move; if you like to walk, I will help you create a walking program. If you like to dance, we will find a way for you to find your groove. If you want to get on a bike, we can do that too. The only guideline I have your LISS or MISS workouts is you pick something you like to do, that feels good for your body.
Balance, Coordination and Agility: I rarely meet someone who couldn’t benefit from work on their balance. I will create a balance program specifically for you that starts with the areas I find deficit during your assessment. It will start easy, and progress to keep you challenged, with activities modified to present challenges to your static, dynamic and walking balance all designed to encourage more instinctive and effective use of your balance strategies when needed.
