In the following section, you will find some basic exercises that we have deemed safe and effective for building and improving fitness in a client regardless of their main goals.
They are split into the following components:
- Cardiovascular Equipment & Exercises
- Resistance Machines & Exercises
- Free Weights & Exercises
- Body Weight Exercises
- Basic Stretches
- Warm Up Sequence
- Cool Down Sequence
- Additional / Advanced Exercises
In this section, we introduce the use of Instructional Acronyms:
- IDEA
- NAMSET
- NASTY
IDEA
Best utilised for Cardiovascular machines. The acronym is defined as follows:
| Introduce | Introduce the Exercise / Equipment. |
| Demonstrate | Show the client how to perform said exercise without talking. Necessary for visual learners. |
| Explain | Explain with clear & concise teaching points how to perform the exercise |
| Active | Ask the client to try it and get them active. |
NAMSET
Beginners to resistance training are often unfamiliar with resistance exercise machines and free weights. This is a basic method that gives the instructor the ability to provide a consistent and logical introduction to resistance exercises. It also allows the trainee to more easily understand an exercise’s purpose and technique.
NAMSIT is used by some training courses in place of NAMSET, but the two are essentially the same. I recommend using whichever acronym makes the most sense for you or whichever one your course uses. The acronym is defined as follows:
| Name | Name the Exercise / Equipment. |
| Area | The instructor then points out the area(s) of the body that the exercise will work. |
| Muscle Used | The instructor provides more detail and explains which muscles will be used and points them out to a client |
| Silent Demonstration | The instructor now demonstrates the exercise silently so that the client can see how the exercise is done. Necessary for visual learners. |
| Explain / Instruct | Explain the key aspects of the exercise |
| Teach | guides the client through the exercise as they attempt it themselves |
NASTY
This is probably the easiest to remember given the comedic effect of the word. It’s perfect for CV, Resistance, Functional, Core exercises. NASTY stands for:
| Name | Name the Exercise / Equipment. |
| Association | This is an association to the muscle(s) being worked, the movement pattern it belongs to or the energy system taken up. |
| Silent Demonstration | The instructor now demonstrates the exercise silently so that the client can see how the exercise is done. Necessary for visual learners. |
| Teaching Points | Explain the key aspects of the exercise |
| “You have a try” | guides the client through the exercise as they attempt it themselves |
Please be aware, the following lessons are mainly images and text. We’re in the process of filming our exercise library.