
| Orientation/Syllabus | Weekly Journal Format | Weight Loss Tips |
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Wk 1 |
Wk 2 |
Wk 3 |
Wk 4 |
Wk 5 |
Wk 6 |
Wk 7 |
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| Wk 8 | Wk 9 |
Wk 10 |
Wk 11 |
Wk 12 |
Wk 13 |
Wk 14 |
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Click Here for pointers on setting up your workout plan.
1. List your goal(s) in taking this course.
BE SPECIFIC! List two to four goals but make at least one goal something you can measure.
For Example:

Are you wasting your time in the gym?
Click Here to read about the six major mistakes that most people make when doing fitness training.
Week 2 Questions to be answered:
1. List the five primary components of fitness.
2. List two common mistakes people follow when working out at the gym that can lead to reduced fitness improvement.
3. What is the minimum number of cardiovascular exercise sessions recommended each week?
4. According to the Surgeon General's report, how many days a week should you exercise, and for how long each day?
5. Look at your weekly exercise program and describe what you are doing - or plan to do - to meet all four exercise components (you don't need to mention the body composition component).
Send to: atravsky@wyoming.com
Answer the following questions and submit your answers with your weekly
journal:
1. Define cardiorespiratory fitness and give one example of an exercise that fits this category (include type of exercise, duration and intensity).
2. What is your age? Calculate your target heart rate zone for exercising
at 60 to 90 percent of your maximum heart rate. NOTE: The answer is a range, not a single number.
3. Why is a primary aerobic activity, such as running continuously for 30 minutes, better for cardiorespiratory fitness than a game of racquetball?
Note: Racquetball, basketball, and other activities may not be as good as running continuously for cardiorespiratory fitness but they are still excellent forms of exercise!
4. What is the age-adjusted maximum heart rate (NOT the target range) for a 20 year old man?
For a 20 year old woman? Both answers are a single number, not a range of numbers.
5. What four factors affect the effectiveness of aerobic or cardiorespiratory training?
Send to: atravsky@wyoming.com
CORE STRENGTH is a hot topic right now and is a specific target of muscular strength and endurance training.
CLICK HERE to find out more about Core Strength.
Click Here for a recommended core workout plan that takes only 20 minutes! This is the program devised and recommended - and used by the instructor, Amber Travsky.
Do you REALLY want to get faster and/or stronger? CLICK HERE for more information on Training basics.
Answer the following questions:
1. What is an advantage of using weight lifting machines over free weights?
2. What is an advantage of using free weights over lifting machines?
3. What is one impact resulting from the loss of muscle mass as we age?
4. What muscles are meant by Core Strength?
5. How would you weight train for muscular strength, versus training for muscular endurance
(both involving lifting weights)?
Send to: atravsky@wyoming.com
Answer the following questions for this week:
1. What is flexibility?
2 & 3. Name two benefits of flexibility workouts.
4. What is the recommendation about bouncing when stretching?
5. Back pain can result from poor flexibility in what parts of the body?
Send to: atravsky@wyoming.com
Important clarification: Body mass index has nothing to do with percent body fat on a person. The BMI is a number that is computed based on height and weight only. Percentage of body fat is the amount of fat on your frame, versus muscle and other tissues. Don't confuse the two because one has nothing to do with the other.
Answer the following:
1. There are essential body fat levels - what we need to just stay alive - and then the fat added to that that is considered "normal." What are the "normal" body fat ranges for men? For women?
2. Describe one method for determining body fat percentage.
3. What does the Body Mass Index measure (two factors) and what is the desirable BMI range (it is the same for men and women)?
4. What is your BMI? - use Web site link on the info page for easy calculation.
5. What is one criticism of the BMI?
Send to: atravsky@wyoming.com
CLICK HERE for information on diet and nutrition.
Research has found that keeping a food journal can help a person lose weight, if that is their goal, or to get a better feel for how healthy they're eating.
Keeping a food journal is not required for this class, but it can be helpful.
Click Here for more info on keeping a food journal.
The instructor keeps a journal using an Excel program. Click here for a template journal - modify for your own use.
Questions to be answered:
1. Name the five food groups that are illustrated in the MyPlate diagram going from the one that you should consume the most to that that you'd eat the least.
2. Which is most calorie-dense (having the most calories per gram): fat, carbohydrate or protein?
3. What is the basic equation that results in weight loss, weight gain, or maintaining weight?
4. Fad diets often work over the short term. What factor results in this weight loss (it is common to pretty much all fad diets, regardless of the "rules" of the diet)?
5. Which type of edible fat is healthier: that that is solid at room temperature, or that that is liquid at room temperature?
Send to: atravsky@wyoming.com
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Questions to be answered:
1. Give an example of a claim of a fad diet that is truly bogus. For this question, fad diets are those that certainly aren't what you could stay on for the long term.
2. How much exercise is really needed to keep the pounds off, especially as we age?
3. What is the recommended amount of weight loss per week to ensure the weight stays off?
4. What can you do to keep losing weight after an initial weight loss period seems to stall out?
5. Name a food that burns fat.
Send to: atravsky@wyoming.com
Questions to be answered:
1. What is better for heart health: 30 minutes of bicycing OR three 10-minute
sessions of bicycling, assuming the same intensity?
2. Why may a person fail to lose weight when they initially start an exercise program even though they may lose inches?
3. What is better for working your heart when you are healthy: 30 minutes of
running or 30 minutes of walking? (in other words, is higher intensity more helpful for working the heart?)
4. How can a person spot reduce to get rid of their love handles?
5. If your goal is losing weight, should you go at a lower exercise intensity to lose more weight?
Send to: atravsky@wyoming.com
Week Ten - Due April 2
Questions to be answered:
1. Is it OK to swim after eating?
2. At what point is more exercise not better?
3. Is it OK to exercise every day?
4. When should you drink water as it relates to a workout?
5. Does muscle turn to fat if you quit exercising for a while?
Send to: atravsky@wyoming.com
TOPIC: Cardiovascular health
Questions to be answered:
1.List a controlable major risk factor for CVD.
2.List a second controlable major risk factor for CVD.
3.What is one risk factor for CVD that a person can't control?
4-5. List at least two lifestyle behaviors a person can follow to reduce their risk for CVD.
Send to: atravsky@wyoming.com
TOPIC: Weight Management
Questions to be answered:
1. How important is genetics to weight control?
2. What is a factor affecting weight management that a person can't control?
3. What is a lifestyle factor affecting weight management - something they can control?
4-5. Provide two lifestyle changes or current behaviors you have that YOU can incorporate or continue to ensure weight management.
Send to: atravsky@wyoming.com
Send to: atravsky@wyoming.com
CLICK HERE for the FINAL EXAM.