Getting started with an exercise program takes discipline and motivation, but just getting started is only the beginning. After adhering to a fitness program for several weeks, the next challenge presents, progression. In order to reach your fitness goals the exercise program must intensify in one way or another to force your body to adapt. The rate of progression is as individualistic as our exercise programs. Every athlete progresses at their own pace, some individuals may be more comfortable with these progressions. It is the role of the personal trainer to observe how their client reacts to these changes and to cater the program to progress at their own pace. The goal of our autism exercise programs is to help our clients access the benefits of exercise and to become more physically active. However, in order to reap the benefits of exercise, you are going to have to be challenged.
Many families seek out Adaptive Exercise to get their loved ones started exercising. Many of the clients we serve have little to no prior history of exercise. At least in a structed exercise program. In such cases, we must be cognizant of this and be sure to start small and progress gradually. Progressing an exercise program too quickly or intensely can make exercise aversive. Pulling our clients further away from accessing the benefits of physical fitness. But, before considering any progression, you must first determine baseline performance. This should be done over the course of the first several sessions. Bombarding clients with formal or even informal exercise assessments can lead to aversion. The trainer should focus on collecting a minimum baseline of at least 1-2 exercises in each of the functional movement patterns, pushing, pulling, rotating, single leg movements, and bending and lifting. This baseline data should consist of exercise form accuracy, current level or resistance, current level of repetitions, as well as sets. Throughout this process it is important to remember that with autism exercise or any form of personal training, safety should always be the emphasis. In order to follow a safe process the trainer must only focus on progressing exercises that can be performed consistently with proper form. Until this prerequisite is accomplished, the trainer should refrain from other forms of progression.
Once baseline data has been collected the trainer can turn their focus to progression. But, even throughout the progression stage of an exercise program the trainer should keep note of exercise form and terminate exercises when the form is compromised. One way to progress exercise performance is through increasing the amount of repetitions. Let’s say a client has show in their baseline data that they can safely perform 7 overhead presses with no added resistance. Before attempting to progress this exercise too soon and risking the program becoming aversive, the trainer should see if the client has been able to perform the exercise at this level across sessions. If the client shows they cannot do the 7 overhead presses with proper form across consecutive session, the trainer should refrain from progression at this time, at least with this movement. Now let’s say that the client shows in their data that they can perform 7 overhead presses (no added resistance) with good form across consecutive sessions, the trainer can progress to 9 or 10 repetitions with good form. Once this marker is met on consecutive sessions, the trainer can consider further progression through increased repetitions or by other means.
Increasing repetitions is typically more strenuous than another form of progression we use in our autism exercise therapy, increasing the amount of sets of an exercise. Going back to our previous example of the client performing 7 overhead presses with no added resistance, the trainer may choose to progress the exercise by increasing the amount of sets. The trainer may have the client start by performing this exercise for 1 or 2 sets, but in this progression the trainer can simply have their client perform more sets of this movement. Similarly to increased repetition progression, the exercise should be terminated once the client shows they cannot perform a movement with good form.
Improving the strength of our clients is a common focus in our autism exercise programs. One of the most effective means of improving strength is through increasing the resistance on a exercise. This form of progression should be done cautiously and at the pace of the individual. As with any form of progression safety is still the number one focus, exercises should not be performed with increased resistances until the client has shown consistent form integrity with that particular exercise. The rate of this form of progression should be done very gradually, between 2-10 percent increases or 2 to 5lbs after consistent safe performance. So the client who has shown they can perform 7 overhead presses with no resistance could progress to 2lb at reps, then 4lb, so on and so on. Other forms of progression should first be considered before ramping up the resistances used in exercises. However, our autism exercise programs are individualized and in some cases increasing resistance can be considered to increase motivation and active participation. But, even in these cases this progression should only be considered if exercises are being performed safely.
These are the three main forms of progression we focus on in our autism exercise programs at Adaptive Exercise. These are not the only forms of progression, trainers can increase the complexity of movements, pair exercises together into compound movements, increase the speed of an exercise or add movement to an exercise. These less commonly used forms of progression may be considered, but for the sake of safety and appropriateness they are not the focus. The reason we progress throughout an exercise program is simple, to improve physical fitness and help our clients access the benefits that come with exercise and physical fitness. Safety should always remain the focus, a client who gets hurt while exercising can no longer exercise and may find the program aversive. So in order to ensure our high level of training and to create positive exercise experiences we progress at the pace of the client.