Olivia A. Gallucci

This blog post contains my notes for chapter 2 of the American Council on Exercise (ACE) Certified Personal Trainer (CPT) exam. The focus of this chapter is the Integrated Fitness Training Model.

All content in this post should be attributed to ACE and the research cited in Chapter 2.

American Council on Exercise. (2020). ACE Integrated Fitness Training Model. In The exercise professional’s guide to personal training study companion (pp. 33-58). 

Evolution of personal training 

Personal training has evolved beyond just physical fitness to encompass improving overall function, health, fitness, and quality of life. 

Traditional training parameters	Contemporary training parameters
Cardiorespiratory (aerobic) fitness Muscular endurance Muscular strength Flexibility	Health-behavior change Postural (kinetic chain) stability Kinetic chain mobility Movement efficiency Core conditioning Balance Cardiorespiratory (aerobic and anaerobic) fitness Metabolic markers (ventilatory thresholds) Muscular endurance Muscular strength Flexibility Agility, coordination, and reaction time. Speed and power

Function-health-fitness-performance continuum

ACE Figure 2-1 The function-health-fitness-performance continuum. 

The spectrum starts with developing or reestablishing basic functional movements and extends to performing highly advanced and specialized movements and physical work seen in athletics.

This continuum is based on the premise that exercise programs should follow up progression to:

• Reestablish proper function
• Improve health
• Development advanced fitness
• Enhance performance

ACE Integrated Fitness Training (IFT) Model

The function-health-fitness-performance continuum suggests a training sequence for clients from physically inactive to performance-oriented, but it does not address how individual fitness components fit together.

The ACE IFT model integrates the “latest exercise science and health behavior research into a systematic approach” for designing, implementing, and modifying exercise programs tailored to each individual’s abilities, needs, and goals.

Here, this client-centered approach facilitates behavior changes while improving posture, movement, flexibility, balance, core function, cardiorespiratory fitness, and muscular fitness (strength and endurance).

Figure 2-2 ACE IFT model

The IFT model has two training components:

• Cardiorespiratory training
• Muscular training

The training components are independent, so any cardiorespiratory phase can be combined with any muscular phase to match each client’s unique health and fitness goals and abilities.

Why ACE IFT model is needed 

Unfortunately, unhealthy lifestyle choices—like smoking, drinking too much alcohol, poor nutrition, not getting enough sleep, and lack of exercise—can harm natural development, making us less fit, increasing risk of chronic diseases, and impairing the ability to move properly.

• Activities of daily living (ADL)
  • Basic tasks essential for self-care, such as eating, bathing, dressing, and mobility.
• Cardiorespiratory fitness
  • The ability of the heart, lungs, and circulatory system to supply oxygen to muscles during sustained physical activity.
• Balance
  • The ability to maintain the body’s center of gravity over its base of support.
• Stability
  • The capability to control the body’s position, whether stationary or while moving.
• Speed
  • The ability to move quickly across the ground or move limbs rapidly.
• Power
  • The capacity to exert force rapidly, combining both strength and speed.
• Self-efficacy
  • An individual’s belief in their ability to succeed or accomplish a task.
• Adherence
  • The extent to which an individual consistently follows a prescribed regimen, such as a fitness or medical plan.
• Chronic disease
  • A long-term medical condition that is typically progressive, such as diabetes, heart disease, or arthritis.

Recommendations 

By US Department of Health and Human Services (2018)

For substantial health benefits, adults should do at least 150 minutes a week of moderate intensity, cardio, respiratory physical activity, 75 minutes a week of vigorous intensity, aerobic physical activity, or an equivalent combination of the two. 

In addition, adults should participate in muscle strengthening activities of at least moderate intensity involving all major muscle groups on two more days per week. 

2018 ACSM guidelines 

The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) provides recommendations to help people safely and effectively improve their quality of life through physical activity.

• Health
  • State of complete physical, mental, and social well-being, not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.
• Quality of life
  • Overall enjoyment of life and sense of well-being, encompassing physical health, psychological state, level of independence, social relationships, and personal beliefs.

ACSM guidelines provide broad ranges for exercise Frequency, Intensity, Time, and Type (FITT) and sometimes the Volume of exercise and the Progression component (FITT-VP).  

They do not provide specific instructions on how to exercise.

• Frequency
  • Number of times a specific activity or exercise is performed within a given time period, typically per week.
• Intensity
  • Level of effort required to perform an activity or exercise, often measured in terms of heart rate or perceived exertion.
• Time
  • Duration of an activity or exercise session.
• Type
  • Specific kind of activity or exercise being performed, such as running, swimming, or strength training.
• Volume
  • Total amount of exercise, calculated as the product of frequency, intensity, and time.
• Pattern
  • Specific manner in which exercise is accumulated or organized, such as continuous or interval training.
• Progression
  • Gradual increase in exercise intensity, duration, or volume to improve fitness levels.
• Obesity
  • Medical condition 
  • Excessive body fat accumulation
• Hypertension
  • A chronic condition where the blood pressure in the arteries is persistently elevated.
• Hyperlipidemia
  • High levels of lipids (fats) in the blood, such as cholesterol and triglycerides.
• Previously physically inactive
  • Describes individuals who have not engaged in regular physical activity or exercise for an extended period.

Building rapport

Building rapport with clients is essential for trust, communication, and a positive working relationship, which improves training effectiveness. Understand their goals to strengthen the client-trainer relationship.

• Rapport
  • Positive, harmonious relationship characterized by mutual understanding, empathy, and respect.
• Trust
  • Belief in the reliability, truth, or ability of someone or something.

Facilitating behavior change in fitness

Successful personal trainers help clients reach their fitness and wellness goals through behavior-change strategies. Key steps include:

• Building rapport
  • Develop and enhance rapport with clients.
• Assessing readiness
  • Identify each client’s readiness and stage of behavior change.
• Creating a supportive climate
  • Foster a caring environment to boost client motivation.
• Encouraging adherence
  • Create positive exercise experiences to build self-efficacy and adherence.
• Assessing needs
  • Determine when and which assessments are needed.
• Designing personalized programs
  • Tailor exercise programs to clients’ health, fitness status, needs, and goals.
• Empowering clients
  • Encourage self-reliance and ownership of lifestyle changes.
• Facilitating transitions
  • Use strategies to help clients move through stages of behavior change.
• Preventing relapse
  • Implement strategies to avoid relapse.
• Promoting intrinsic motivation
  • Help clients shift from extrinsic to intrinsic motivation.
• Setting realistic goals
  • Establish achievable short- and long-term goals to prevent burnout and promote success.
• Managing stressors
  • Consider external stressors to avoid overtraining and plateaus.
• Increasing self-efficacy
  • Empower clients to train independently.
• Encouraging lifelong activity
  • Support clients in making physical activity a lifelong habit

ACE Mover Method 

ACE Mover Method is founded on these tenets: 

• Each professional interaction is client-centered, with a recognition that clients are the foremost experts on themselves.
• Powerful open ended questions and active listening or utilized in every session with clients.
• Clients are genuinely viewed as resourceful and compatible of change

Philosophy and ACE ABC approach

• Ask open ended questions.
  • Asking questions to identify what the client hopes to accomplish by working with an exercise professional, and what, if any, physical activities the client enjoys. 
• Breakdown barriers
  • Asking questions to discover what potential barriers they get in the way of the client reaching their specific goals.
    • What do you need to start doing now to move closer to your goals?
    • What do you need to stop doing that will enable you to reach your goals?
    • Both questions can be very revealing.
• Collaborate
  • Collaboration between the client and exercise professional to establish specific steps to take action towards goals. 
  • Allow the client to lead the discussion of how to monitor and measure progress that empower slim to take ownership of their personal behavior-change journey.
  • SMART goals
    • A specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound objective designed to provide clear direction and track progress.

ACE recommends using the ABC approach, so clients know their personal trainer cares about them. 

Remember that clients often do not care to hear all the science, training methods, and other health related information that the personal trainer knows. Instead, they want to hear that their personal trainer is invested in them.

• Mobility
  • Ability to move freely and easily across different planes of motion without restriction or pain.
• Relapse
  • Return to a previous state or behavior, particularly after a period of improvement or recovery.
• Overtraining syndrome
  • A condition resulting from excessive training without adequate rest, leading to fatigue, decreased performance, and potential injury.
• Talk test
  • Method to measure exercise intensity based on the ability to hold a conversation while exercising; moderate intensity allows talking but not singing, while vigorous intensity allows only short phrases.

Motivation types

• Extrinsic motivation
  • Driven by external rewards or pressures
    • Money, praise, or deadlines
• Intrinsic motivation
  • Driven by internal rewards
    • Personal satisfaction or the enjoyment of the activity itself

Cardiorespiratory training

The IFT model offers a structured approach to cardiorespiratory training, guiding clients from physical inactivity to training for personal records and events like a half marathon. While such goals may not be typical for most previously inactive individuals, having a systematic training framework enables personal trainers to support a wide range of clients—from those new to exercise to competitive athletes—facilitating long-term progression.

Base Training	– Focus on moderate-intensity cardiorespiratory exercise (RPE = 3 to 4), while keeping an emphasis on enjoyment.Keep intensities below the talk-test threshold (below VT1). – Increase duration and frequency of exercise bouts. – Progress to Fitness Training when the client can complete at least 20 minutes of cardiorespiratory exercise below the talk-test threshold at least three times per week.
Fitness Training	– Progress cardiorespiratory exercise duration and frequency based on the client’s goals and available time. – Integrate vigorous-intensity (RPE = 5 to 6) cardiorespiratory exercise intervals with segments performed at intensities below, at, and above VT1 to just below VT.
Performance Training	– Progress moderate- and vigorous-intensity cardiorespiratory exercise. – Program sufficient volume for the client to achieve goals. – Integrate near-maximal and maximal intensity (RPE = 7 to 10) intervals performed at and above VT2 to increase aerobic capacity, speed, and performance. – Periodized training plans can be used to incorporate adequate training time below VT1, from VT1 to just below VT2, and at or above VT2.

Base training

Base training focuses on building a basic aerobic fitness level, especially for clients who have not been active. 

This is different from the aerobic base training that endurance athletes do as part of their off-season prep.

Any client who isn’t consistently doing moderate-intensity cardio exercise for at least 20 minutes, three times a week, should start with base training.

A client who has been inactive for a long time might only manage five minutes of continuous cardio exercise at a moderate or low-to-moderate intensity at first.

The goal of base training is to create positive early exercise experiences, helping clients become regular exercisers by gradually increasing exercise duration and frequency until they are doing cardio exercise 3 to 5 days a week for 20 minutes or more.

The talk test is the easiest way to monitor exercise intensity during base training. 

• First ventilatory threshold (VT1)
  • Exercise intensity at which ventilation starts to increase disproportionately to oxygen uptake, indicating the onset of blood lactate accumulation.
• Rating of perceived exertion (RPE)
  • A subjective scale
  • Measures intensity of exercise based on how hard an individual feels they are working, typically ranging from 6 to 20 or 1 to 10.

Fitness training

Fitness training aims to improve clients’ aerobic efficiency by increasing the duration and frequency of sessions and incorporating exercises at or above VT1. 

This blend of moderate (below VT1) and moderate to vigorous intensity (at or above VT1, RPE 5-6 on a 0-10 scale) adds variety and promotes better cardiorespiratory fitness and psychological adaptation.

Performance training

Personal trainers can enhance clients’ endurance performance by creating periodized training plans that focus each day’s training on specific variables, such as recovery, increased speed, or improved power.

• Second ventilatory threshold (VT2)
  • Where efforts are very high intensity (RPE = 7 to 10 on the 0 to 10 scale) in short duration.

Periodization training plans enable personal trainers to adjust key variables—such as total training volume and the frequency and duration of intervals performed between VT1 and just below VT2, or above VT2—to help clients achieve their unique performance goals.

Muscular training

The muscular training component of the ACE IFT model offers a structured approach that begins by improving clients’ posture, stability, and kinetic chain mobility. 

Then, it progresses to programs designed for general fitness, strength, bodybuilding, and athletic performance.

Functional Training	– Focus on establishing/reestablishing postural stability and kinetic chain mobility. – Exercise programs should improve muscular endurance, flexibility, core function, and static and dynamic balance. – Progress exercise volume and challenge as function improves.
Movement Training	– Focus on developing good movement patterns without compromising postural or joint stability. – Programs should include exercises for all five primary movement patterns in varied planes of motion. – Integrate Functional Training exercises to help clients maintain and improve postural stability and kinetic chain mobility.
Load/Speed Training	– Focus on application of external loads to movements to create increased force production to meet desired goals. – Integrate the five primary movement patterns through exercises that load them in different planes of motion and combinations. – Integrate Functional Training exercises to enhance postural stability and kinetic chain mobility to support increased workloads. – Programs should focus on adequate resistance-training loads to help clients reach muscular strength, endurance, and hypertrophy goals. – Clients with goals for athletic performance will integrate exercises and drills to build speed, agility, quickness, and power.

Kinetic chain

The kinetic chain is the interconnected system of muscles, joints, and bones that work together to produce movement and maintain stability throughout the body.

Functional training

Functional training emphasizes muscular conditioning aimed at establishing or, in many cases, reestablishing postural stability and kinetic chain mobility. 

This conditioning is achieved through exercise programs designed to enhance joint function by improving muscular endurance, flexibility, core strength, static balance, and dynamic balance.

• Dynamic balance
  • Ability to maintain stability and control while the body is in motion.
• Center of gravity
  • Point in the body where the total weight is considered to be concentrated and balanced in all directions.

Movement training

• Range of motion (ROM)
  • Full movement potential of a joint, usually its range of flexion and extension.

Five Primary movement patterns

• Bend-and-lift movements
  • Performed throughout the day as a person sits, stands, or squats down to lift an object off the floor.
• Single-leg movements
  • Involve single-leg balance
  • Performed during walking or going up and down stairs.
  • Lunging movements are performed when a person steps forward to reach down with one hand to pick up something small off the floor.
• Pushing movements
  • Upper-body movements occur in four primary directions:
    • Forward (e.g., when pushing open a door), 
    • Overhead (e.g., lifting something to a high shelf), 
    • Lateral (e.g., lifting one’s torso when getting up from a side-lying position), and 
    • Downward (e.g., pushing oneself up and out of the side of a swimming pool).
• Pulling movements
  • These movements occur during exercises like a seated row or pull-up, or when pulling open a door.
• Rotational movements
  • These movements often occur in the torso as force transfers from the legs to the arms (e.g., throwing a ball) or during twisting movements like a dancer performing pirouettes or a golfer striking a ball.

Load and speed training

Load and speed training focuses on using external loads during movements to increase force production, leading to muscular adaptations. 

This type of training aims to achieve fitness goals such as muscular strength, endurance, hypertrophy, and positive changes in body composition.

Forms of exercise

• Resistance training
  • Involves working against a force to improve muscle strength, endurance, and size.
• High-intensity interval training (HIIT)
  • Cardiovascular exercise strategy
  • Alternates short periods of intense anaerobic exercise with less intense recovery periods
• Plyometrics
  • Involves explosive movements to increase power, such as jumping or bouncing.

Physical abilities and skills

• Postural stability
  • Ability to maintain an upright posture and control body position while standing or moving. 
• Agility
  • Ability to move quickly and change direction with ease and precision.
• Quickness
  • Ability to react and move swiftly in a short amount of time.
• Coordination
  • Ability to use different parts of the body together smoothly and efficiently.

Physiological metrics

• Hypertrophy
  • Increase in the size of muscle cells, typically resulting from resistance training.
• Body composition
  • Proportion of fat, muscle, and other tissues that make up a person’s total body weight.
• Heart rate reserve (HRR)
  • Difference between maximum heart rate and resting heart rate
  • Determines exercise intensity.
• Heart rate (HR)
  • Number of times the heart beats per minute.
• Body fat percentage
  • Proportion of a person’s body weight that is made up of fat.
• Fat-free mass
  • Total mass of the body minus the fat mass, including muscles, bones, organs, and other non-fat tissues.
• VO₂ max
  • Maximum rate of oxygen consumption
  • Measured during incremental exercise
  • Indicates cardiovascular fitness
• Systolic blood pressure
  • Pressure in the arteries when the heart beats and fills them with blood.
• Diastolic blood pressure
  • Pressure in the arteries when the heart rests between beats.

I hope you found these notes on ACE chapter 2 (Integrated Fitness Training Model) helpful. If you are looking for my other ACE CPT notes, checkout ACE Chapter 1: Role and Scope of Practice for Personal Trainers.