Unit 3 Notes:

Fitness/Wellness Programming

Lesson Objectives:
By completing the work in this lesson, you will have learned:

• the basic components of a wellness program

• the basic components of a fitness program

• the basic principles of a fitness program

• assessment features used in reviewing a fitness program

Be sure to READ Chapter 3 in the textbook, Recreational Sports Management before you begin work on this lesson. 

Introduction
Any programming strategy starts with defining the activity and developing a few basic "truths" around this definition.  This then quickly progresses to a myriad of questions that then define the who, what, when, why, and how of a program.  Fitness/wellness programming is no exception.  This information will be presented as if you were starting a fitness/wellness program from scratch.  However, the strategy is the same whether you are starting a new program or evaluating an existing one.  So, before designing a quality fitness/wellness program, you need to know what fitness and wellness are and what they are not and how both are achieved.  We'll start with wellness.

Wellness Concept
Wellness is more than the absence of illness and more than physical fitness.  It is an active process of becoming aware of and altering an individual's behavior toward a more successful physical, mental, and emotional existence.  A wellness program is an organized program intended to assist individuals in making voluntary behavior changes reducing their health risks and enhancing their individual well-being.  The concept of wellness also involves:

• a continuing development involving many changes

• developing a knowledge or realization; becoming informed

• the act of deciding and selecting

• choosing healthy attitudes, actions, and habits

• a balance of all aspects or dimensions of life

• the optimal health of the total person

Optimal health consists of a balance of emotional, mental, occupational, physical, social, and spiritual well-being.  It is the state in which we feel best, work/study best, and have the greatest resistance to disease.

• Emotional:  Having a sense of feeling; acceptance of oneself; effective communication; stress management

• Mental:  Ability to reason or understand; creativity; expansion and application of knowledge; perception

• Occupational:  Trade, business, or profession requiring a significant amount of time; challenge; personal development; satisfaction

• Physical:  Of the body as opposed to the mind; activity; use of medicines; nutrition and substance use

• Social:  Having to do with human beings interacting together; community; environment; family

• Spiritual:  Of the spirit or soul as opposed to the body; beliefs; ethics; values

As participants in your recreational sports program try to achieve wellness, it is important that they take it one step at a time.  Review lifestyle habits with them with the preceding six dimensions in mind.  Try to encourage them to select one weak point to begin improving.  With success, additional changes come easier.

Fitness Programming Components and Principles
Now that you have a basic understanding of wellness, let's take a look at fitness.  Because of the relative ease of their implementation, self-directed participation and fitness systems have become a very popular form of recreational sports programming.  Fitness should be looked upon as an extension of the wellness program....a way of enhancing overall well-being through sport and fitness activity.  Let's look at the basic components and principles that, if followed, will help participants achieve fitness:

Components of Fitness Programming:  Fitness is comprised of basically six components

• Cardiovascular endurance:  the efficiency of the heart and lungs

• Muscular strength:  amount of resistance

• Muscular endurance:  ability to continue muscular resistance

• Flexibility:  range of motion

• Body composition:  ratio of lean body mass versus fat

• Neuromuscular development:  agility, balance, skill and performance

Principles of Fitness:  In order to reach maximum potential in the six components, the following FITT principles should be adhered to:

• Frequency of exercise....three to five times per week

• Intensity of exercise.....50% to 85% maximum oxygen intake or 60% to 90% maximum heart rate

• Time/duration of exercise....15 to 60 minutes of continuous aerobic activity

• Type of exercise.....large muscle group, continuous and aerobic in nature

Program Assessment and Implementation
With these fitness components and principles in mind, the first step is to conduct an overall assessment of the fitness program.  This consists of a series of questions that will identify various intangibles which will help in designing and planning the specifics of your fitness program.

What kind of agency/organization do you operate in?
Each organization or agency is unique with different participant needs and interests.  For example, older adult participants in community recreation programs might want low impact programs, middle adult participants in private agencies might want membership to be exclusive, while in a collegiate setting, female young adults might dominate a group exercise program.

Who are the clients or constituency?
It is important that you know the demographics of your participants such as:  participant personal fitness goals, age, current fitness level, participant lifestyle (full-time employee, student, family, financial status, time available, etc.) and special needs.  How do these different factors affect the type of programs you will offer?

What kind of facilities do you have?
Once you feel confident that you have a good grasp on who will be participating, it is time to assess the actual facilities that your agency has.  This will have a major impact on the types of programs you are able to offer.  Are the general purpose rooms and exercise rooms available for your use?  If so, what are the specific sizes, floor types, ventilation concerns, acoustics, aesthetics, current use/scheduling of the program, and so forth?  Are there specialty facilities such as pools, running tracks, fitness trails, etc. available for your program to use?

What kind of budget do you have?
This affects program pricing and marketing plans that you might implement.  You must know if the fitness program is self supported or subsidized by an agency or corporation or is the program strictly fee-based with participants supporting the program through entrance fees?

Program Design
Once the assessment phase is completed, the next step is to begin the actual development of the fitness program.  Consideration in the development phase consists of the type of program, scheduling, safety, and budget.

Type of program: 
This is the most important consideration that must be addressed.  Without a quality offering of activities meeting the needs and wants of participants, the fitness program will not be successful.

People participate for a number of reasons.  Among them include:  to feel better, pleasure/fun, improve flexibility, control weight, reduce stress, be with people (socialize) or advised by their doctor.  However, research shows that approximately 30%-50% of those who join a fitness program will drop out within the first three to six months.  There are a number of barriers or reasons.  You probably already know a number of them from observing friends and family members.  Some of them include: not enough time, lack of facilities, poor facilities, lack of energy, high cost, injury, lack of motivation, or a lack of skill.

Once you have identified the programs that you believe participants want and need, you will need to examine each for specific details.  For example, if one of your programs is a group exercise (also known as aerobics) program, you will need to decide on such items as:

• will the program be high or low impact (low impact is a vigorous cardiovascular work-out designed to minimize stress on the joints and is conducted using movements that keep feet low and close to the floor or by maintaining contact with one foot on the floor at all times)

• will it incorporate freestyle vs. planned routines by exercise leaders?

• what will the lengths of each session be?

• what are the safety concerns?

• what music will be used?  how often will the music be changed?  how fast/how many beats per minute?

As you can see, there are a substantial number of details that must be considered for every program.

Other fitness programs in addition to group exercise/aerobics include aqua aerobics, power walking/jogging, muscular strength, stretching, interval training, weight lifting/training, cross training (aerobics, weights, and skill-development), exercise prescriptions, wellness programs (stress management, weight control, smoking cessation, etc.) and evaluative counseling and testing.

Scheduling:
After the various programs have been decided, scheduling of the programs and facilities is our next concern.  Issues that will need to be addressed include:  the availability of facilities; identifying the demand for particular programs and determining a priority in terms of facility reservation; and determining if there are any special multi-use facility and equipment needs that will have an impact on the program.

Safety:
The area of safety is extremely important not just for fitness programming but for all recreational sports programs.  Questions that should be addressed when looking at safety are:  do existing facility and equipment maintenance schedules and staff meet your program needs in terms of safety?  what kind of specialized training does your programming staff need?  are specific certifications required for staff members who are involved in highly physical and thus life-threatening activities such as aerobics?  are participants required to produce evidence of a recent medical examination prior to participating?  are liability waivers required and enforced?

Budget:
What are the specific line items needed for fitness budget for each program activity?  What are your specific operating costs for staff, equipment, materials, promotion, etc.?  How much income/revenue do you plan to generate with the current programs?  What kind of fees should you charge?  What are your agency's organizational goals and marketing strategies?

Program Implementation
Now that the program is designed, you must take all of the information that has been developed and obtained during all of the pre-implementation phases and begin the actual delivery of programs.  Two areas that we have not dealt with yet but are vital in this phase are promotion and staffing. 

Promotion Strategies:
Promoting and publicizing the programs are keys to informing the general public of your activities and registration dates.  There are a number of promotional mediums that can be used that are not specific to fitness but are used in all of the recreational sports programs.  Among them are:  flyers, ads, newsletters, special events (funfests, health fairs, etc.), free public service announcements (PSA's), web sites/internet, feature articles in local newspaper, word of mouth from current participants, selling program by yourself and your staff.

Staffing:
Generally speaking, the number one reason for participants joining or dropping a fitness program is because of quality staff (or lack thereof!).  To ensure quality staff, it is important that sound, overall personnel management techniques are used.  This consists of:

• Recruitment:  where would you start the job search process for qualified or interested people in fitness?  where would you place position announcements for qualified applicants?

• Selection:  usually, fitness programs conduct interviews and auditions for selecting leadership positions such as aerobics leaders, strength and conditioning consultants, etc.  Selection criteria should also consist of testing, years of experience, education, and certifications earned.

• Training:  once hired, fitness leaders would participate in regular and on-going training meetings which reviews fitness techniques, safety concerns, leadership skills, program knowledge, and other essential areas.

• Supervision:  fitness leaders should have appropriate staff supervision at each activity session.  It is important that the staff supervisors be problem-solving in their approach in addition to problem finding, job performance evaluation, facility and equipment maintenance, etc.

• Evaluation:  proper evaluation of fitness staff members and the actual fitness program by participants should always be encouraged and solicited.

Future Planning
As with any recreational sport program, it is important that you are always looking for ways to expand and experiment with new program ideas offered by staff and participants alike.  For example, trends are constantly changing.  We are currently experiencing fitness trends in the use of personal trainers, new twists in programming (funk aerobics, power walking, new equipment or gadgets - slide machines vs. step boxes, etc.), targeting different populations such as the obese, men, senior citizens, youth, and disabled participants.  Keeping abreast of new and futuristic trends will maintain program excitement among staff and participants.

Summary
In summary, individuals participate and refrain from doing so for various reasons.  Recognizing these differences may help the fitness programmer in preparing various activities to be offered.  A goal should not stop at just seeing an increase in participation but should be extended to encouraging individuals to adhere to or "stick with" their exercise endeavors.  Our primary goal should always be the health and well-being of our participants!