Exercise Prescription

Exercise prescription is the structured specification of an exercise program designed to achieve particular fitness, health, or functional goals. Rather than simply recommending that a person be more active, an exercise prescription defines how exercise is to be performed and can be adjusted according to factors such as current activity level, physical function, health status, exercise responses, and individual goals .¹

Exercise prescriptions are commonly organized using variables such as frequency, intensity, time, and type, often summarized by the acronym FITT. Frequency describes how often exercise is performed, intensity describes how demanding it is, time describes the duration of exercise, and type describes the mode of activity. Broader prescription frameworks also consider total exercise volume and how the program progresses over time .¹

The specific variables used depend on the form of exercise being prescribed. Aerobic exercise may be described using duration and measures of cardiovascular intensity, while resistance exercise may additionally specify variables such as resistance, repetitions, and sets. Flexibility and neuromotor exercise can likewise be prescribed using variables appropriate to those activities .¹

Exercise prescription is distinct from a general physical activity recommendation. Physical activity includes bodily movement produced by skeletal muscles that increases energy expenditure, whereas exercise is a planned, structured, and repetitive subset of physical activity intended to improve or maintain physical fitness. Exercise prescription goes a step further by specifying how that planned exercise should be performed for a particular purpose .^1,2