As personal trainers , you’ve made the decision to go into the growing and ever evolving world of exercise science. Cardiovascular training and weightlifting are important parts of keeping the heart and body healthy.  However, it is important to understand the risks involved and be prepared to act should an emergency occur.

Exercise tolerance is defined as the ability of the cardiac, pulmonary, and vascular systems to meet the requirements generated by large muscle use.  Simply put, can the body move enough oxygen to the muscles fast enough? If one system fails to keep up, your client could experience cardiac arrest and need CPR. While the goal is to better ones exercise tolerance, pushing someone too hard or to0 fast could be detrimental.

It is important for personal trainers to form a close relationship with all their clients in order to create a program within his or her functional physical capabilities. Ultimately, it is the trainer’s responsibility to understand your clients’ medical history and physical boundaries.

There are multiple ailments that may increase your clients risk of heart failure:

• History of Heart Attack
• History of Stroke
• Poor bloodflow
• Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
• Poor aerobic metabolism (Inability of muscles to process oxygen)

Thorough understanding of CPR and the ability to act responsibly are critical in the moments between cardiac arrest and EMS arrival on scene. Immediate CPR and AED use could be the difference should a life and death situation present itself. We not only strongly urge personal trainers to receive CPR training, but most personal training certifications such as the American Council on Exercise (ACE) or the Aerobics and Fitness Association of America (AFAA) require it.  Many gyms are also equipped with Automated External defibrillators (AED) and require personal trainers, fitness instructors and staff to be certified in both CPR & AED. Sign up for our Heartsaver CPR & AED course!

For more information on the correlation between exercise and heart failure, please visit the American Heart Association.