Health screening should be done before beginning an exercise or fitness assessment because it helps identify possible underlying health conditions and gives the exercise/assessment administer a guideline to decide what is appropriate, or not, for the individual.
The PAR-Q (Physical Activity Readiness Questionnaire) screening determines the safety or possible risk of exercising.
The pre-exercising heart rate (HR) is the HR measured in beats per minute before an individual begins exercising. It is used in combination with the individual’s maximum HR to determine what the reserved HR is. The lower the pre-exercising HR, the higher the reserved HR, and the more “free beats” there is for performing exercise. Therefore, the lower the pre-exercise HR, the fitter the person is.
Lastly, the resting blood pressure (BP) gives information on the condition of the peripheral pressure, or the stiffness of the arteries as the heart pumps blood. The systolic number (the higher number) represents the force of the heart’s beating on the arteries, while the diastolic (the lower number) is the pressure at rest. If the resting BP is higher than 120/80, than the person may have hypertension and should follow modified exercise protocols.