PRINCIPLES OF EXERCISE, FITNESS & HEALTH - 2025/6

Module Overview

This module equips students with the fundamental knowledge required for the practical application of exercise, fitness, nutrition, and health principles.  Students will investigate the outcomes of using physical activity and exercise training as well as healthy eating in the promotion of healthy living.

Students will examine the evidence surrounding possible psychological barriers to exercise and potential methods to overcome these. The module provides students with a chance to discover the varying physiological adaptations gained from different training methods. This module underpins the knowledge and skills required for many other modules on the degree progression for Sport and Exercise Science students, specifically the compulsory L5 modules of BMS2063 & BMS2066.

The module considers the promotion of healthy lifestyle changes through modifications to diet and physical activity levels. It also considers the ways in which to communicate effectively with a prospective client in order to obtain the relevant information pertinent to the design of an exercise programme. The module culminates with the design and delivery of an effective exercise programme, designed to meet the health and fitness needs of a specific individual.

This module will help students to develop professional skills that are relevant for future carriers in the health and fitness industry by practically assessing their ability to take a client through an exercise routine. Upon successful completion of the module and the practical skills assessments, students will receive formal accreditation as Gym Instructor (accreditation provided by the Chartered Institute for the Management of Sport and Physical Activity CIMSPA). 

Module provider

School of Biosciences

Module Leader

PAYNE Catherine (Biosciences)

Number of Credits: 15

ECTS Credits: 7.5

Framework: FHEQ Level 4

Module cap (Maximum number of students): N/A

Module Availability

Semester 2

Prerequisites / Co-requisites

None

Module content

Indicative content includes:

• Healthy eating principles


• Food Sources of nutrients & the food groups


• Dietary assessment and analysis (use of DietPlan software)


• Meal modification


• Components of physical fitness


• Principles of Exercise Training


• Physical activity guidelines for different populations


• Client consultation and goal setting (needs analysis)


• Health, safety and welfare in a fitness environment


• Fitness assessments


• Principles of warm-up and cool-down


• Aerobic, resistance and flexibility training for health and fitness


• Monitoring exercise intensity and training load


• Planning of training, periodization


• Motivating health behavioural change

There will also be a series of practical sessions to allow students to get hands on ‘applied’ experience of the concepts covered in the lecture content. For example, health appraisal and fitness assessments might be covered in the lecture content followed up by a practical session allowing students to conduct some of these assessments on each other. 

Assessment pattern

Alternative Assessment

When practical sessions have been missed or coursework failed, students will be provided with a case study data set (detailing relevant information such as client age, anthropometry, food diary and/or fitness assessment results) to interpret and analyse. Students will present findings in the same format as the original assessment.

Assessment Strategy

The assessment strategy is designed to provide students with the opportunity to demonstrate:

• Knowledge and practical application of fitness principles.


• Competency in exercise programming and prescription


• Competency and/or industry standards in the practical instruction of exercise

Thus, the summative assessment for this module consists of:

1.Practical Skills Assessment (50%)

Students need to show proficiency in delivering a safe and effective exercise session with a new client.

(Addresses learning outcomes: 6, 7, 8)

 

2.Coursework: Exercise Programme Portfolio Presentation (50%)

10 minutes pre-recorded oral presentation

Pre-recorded (via Panopto) narrated PowerPoint presentation (9 slides in length); including an interpretation of health & fitness assessments, a needs analysis and goal setting relevant to a client, and one week exercise plan with rationale for its design.

(Addresses learning outcomes: 1, 3, 4)

Formative assessment

Students will be provided with a case study data set complete with health and fitness assessment results and information relevant to a client consultation (goals, exercise likes/dislikes etc.).  Student will then be invited to use this information to put together a practice presentation.  Presentations will be uploaded anonymously, and a follow up seminar conducted to provide feedback.  This will see examples of both good work and work that could be improved upon discussed in detail and include some peer-review work so students can provide feedback on each other’s work as well as get the feedback of academics in an anonymous setting.  Students can then use this feedback to start work on or to improve their presentation for the summative assessment.

A specific practical session has been implemented towards the end of the semester where the students work in small groups and go through the marking criteria, and each perform a small section similar to that expected in their assessment.  The other students can then peer review the student performing the task and provide feedback.  Academics can also ensure that each student is observed, and feedback given on performance.

 

Feedback

Please see formative assessment section for details on how students will be given feedback that can inform their final summative assessments. 

Practical sessions split the cohort into small groups and during every practical session, time is set aside to allow students to work in pairs or small groups through the instruction and delivery of a certain exercise / training method / fitness test etc.  The academics present in the session can then spend time with each group and observe each student performing a given task.  This allows feedback to be given that the students can used to improve their practical and professional skills as well as their performance ahead of the summative assessment. 

Verbal feedback from academics following lectures.

Verbal feedback from academics and demonstrators during tutorials, seminars and practicals.

A specific peer reviewed practical session as a practice for the practical skills assessment provides a space for students to provide feedback and a review of their peer’s performance in relation to the marking criteria. 

Feedback on exercise programme portfolio (written feedback on presentation & practical, and one-to-one feedback, as requested)

The exercise programme portfolio presentation is made up of 9 slides with content for those 9 slides covered weekly during the module.  Feedforward is included in the module as examples of good and bad slides are provided each week for students to know what is expected.

Module aims

• To instill an appreciation of current physical activity and healthy eating guidelines for the UK
• To provide an understanding of the science of nutrition, physical fitness and training
• To develop a critical awareness of fitness and nutritional assessments.
• To develop effective and appropriate skills in communicating information, advice and instruction to clients

Learning outcomes

Methods of Teaching / Learning

The learning and teaching strategy is designed to:

Offer a face-to-face, in person lecture approach.  However, all lectures are recorded on Panopto and made available to students on SurreyLearn. SurreyLearn will also be utilised to inform students of any important news items and to disseminate content including handouts, additional useful links and/or additional literature related to the topic. 

The content covered in lectures will be supported by either a tutorial/seminar to allow further discussion and/or a practical session designed to deepen understanding of the topic being covered and provide students with the practical and professional skills required to work in a health and fitness environment. 

Activities (within tutorials/seminars, practical’s and directed study) are staged (pre & post- delivery of captured content) and scaffolded to support the development of student skills and understanding, and provide opportunity for formative feedback (e.g., feedback from learning activities; peer feedback; opportunities for self-assessment, etc.). Student participation is encouraged through the use of discussion boards, with regular opportunity for interaction with peers and academics at weekly tutorials, seminars and/or practicals.

Indicated Lecture Hours (which may also include seminars, tutorials, workshops and other contact time) are approximate and may include in-class tests where one or more of these are an assessment on the module. In-class tests are scheduled/organised separately to taught content and will be published on to student personal timetables, where they apply to taken modules, as soon as they are finalised by central administration. This will usually be after the initial publication of the teaching timetable for the relevant semester.

Reading list

https://readinglists.surrey.ac.uk
Upon accessing the reading list, please search for the module using the module code: BMS1044

Other information

This module embeds the following University pillars:

As part of the practical skills assessment, the students are encouraged to provide peer review for each other as well as to self-evaluate and reflect on their performance highlighting the resourcefulness and resilience pillar. 

Students consider physical activity and nutritional guidelines for health and fitness relating to goal 3 of the United Nations SDG and the sustainability pillar. 

The Exercise Programme Portfolio Presentation requires students to create a pre-recorded oral presentation requiring the use of Excel, PowerPoint and Panopto highlighting the reference to Digital Capabilities pillar and being held in the second semester of the students first year which will help in future University work. 

The Practical Skills Assessment is an authentic assessment that emulates real work practices of a health and fitness professional.  Soft employability skills are all assessed alongside knowledge and if successful, students will achieve formal accreditation as a L2 Gym Instructor through CIMSPA.  This highlights the relevance to the Employability pillar.

Please note that the information detailed within this record is accurate at the time of publishing and may be subject to change. This record contains information for the most up to date version of the programme / module for the 2025/6 academic year.