Case Study

Janet is your client; she is 33 years old and she has been referred as she has hypertension. Her most recent blood pressure reading was 180/100mmHg. She works as a teacher and has said that she thinks stress of the job has contributed to her high blood pressure. She lives alone in a 2-bedroom house and hates doing continuous cardio. In her first session you noticed that she has valgus knees when she squats and she enjoys variety rather than do more than 3 sets as she gets bored easily.

1. What special considerations do you need to consider for her medical condition?
2. Janet works long hours once she has done everything at school; how can you motivate her to train even when she is tired from work?
3. How would you handle correcting Janet’s knees on numerous exercises but especially squats?
4. How can you approach it to keep her motivated?
5. How would you make sure she is okay unsupervised?
6. Do you need to assess exercise intensity?
7. What options are there to adapt the exercise she is finding boring?
8. How can we re-motivate Janet to make sure she does not lose interest?
9. We know she is doing squats but what other exercises could you look at?
10. Can you adapt a programme for her to do away from you and the gym?

It is rare that there is just one way to respond to a scenario or situation, so do not consider that the responses you have to the above scenario will be judged as right or wrong. Share your scenario with a work colleague or friend and ask them to tell you whether they think you have responded appropriately. Ask them to challenge your response if necessary. You do not need to submit this task for assessment unless asked to do so by your assessor.