title: Exercise prescription--North American experience.
abstract: The principles of exercise prescription are reviewed with respect to North American experience. The required regimen must be safe, therapeutically effective, and ensure a high rate of compliance. Precautions to increase the safety of exercise are discussed. Cardiac emergencies are sufficiently rare events (less than 1 in 200,000 hours even in post-coronary classes) that the need for immediate medical supervision of a well-designed programme can be questioned. The prime determinant of the response to training is the intensity of effort relative to the individual's initial fitness. Post-coronary patients often have a great potential for training due to their previous inactivity, but this will not be realised if the prescribed exercise is of insufficient intensity. Exercise programmes are plagued by a high 'drop-out' rate; 50% of normal middle-aged volunteers are lost in 6 months, and even with post-coronary programmes losses can be 60--70% over 4 years. Simple suggestions are made for improving compliance with the required exercise prescription.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001265:Athletic Injuries / Q000517:prevention & control; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy; D005081:Exercise Therapy; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009656:North America; D010349:Patient Compliance; D010551:Personality; D010806:Physical Education and Training; D005082:Physical Exertion; D055656:Prescriptions; D012306:Risk; D012449:Safety; D013997:Time Factors