rss
Br J Sports Med 2009;43:951-953 doi:10.1136/bjsm.2008.055657
  • Short report

Exercise prescription for the overweight and the obese: how to quantify and yet keep it simple

  1. R Ehrsam1,
  2. U Hoerler-Koerner2,
  3. S Stoffel2,
  4. T Melges2,
  5. B Ainsworth3
  1. 1
    Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation Division, Zinman College of Physical Education and Sport Sciences, Wingate, Israel
  2. 2
    Institute for Exercise and Health Sciences, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland
  3. 3
    Department of Exercise and Wellness, Arizona State University, Politechnic Campus, Mesa, Arizona, USA
  1. Correspondence to Dr R Ehrsam, Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation Division, Zinman College of Physical Education and Sport Sciences, Wingate 42902, Israel; Rolf.ehrsam{at}unibas.ch
  • Accepted 23 February 2009
  • Published Online First 16 March 2009

Abstract

An activity point system (APS) is presented that assists healthcare providers and health professionals with a way to prescribe exercise in a semiquantitative manner and to motivate their patients to begin an exercise programme. Activity points are specific to one’s body weight, body mass index and activity intensity for 10-minute bouts of activity performed. With a goal of accumulating 100–300 activity points per week, the APS provides a simple yet quantitatively accurate way to prescribe exercise for overweight and obese adults.

Footnotes

Responses to this article

  • Desk work in the Activity Point System
    • Marie-Eve Mathieu
    Br J Sports Med published online May 22, 2009

This Article

  1. Abstract
  2. Full text
  3. PDF
  4. All versions of this article:
    1. bjsm.2008.055657v1
    2. 43/12/951 most recent

Register for free content

The full back archive is now available for all BMJ Journals. Institutional subscribers may access the entire archive as part of their subscription. Personal subscribers will also have access to all content when logged in. Non-subscribers who register have free access to all articles published before 2006 right back to volume 1 issue 1. Register here to access the free archive of all BMJ Journals.

Don't forget to sign up for content alerts so you keep up to date with all the articles as they are published.