ACSM’s Guidelines for Exercise Testing and Prescription

Description

ACSM’s Guidelines for Exercise Testing and Prescription, Eleventh Edition is the flagship clinical reference from the American College of Sports Medicine and the global standard for safe, effective, and evidence-informed exercise programming.

Designed to support both learning and professional practice, this concise yet comprehensive handbook presents clearly summarized recommendations for exercise testing and prescription across a wide range of healthy and clinical populations. It serves as an essential resource for exercise physiologists, fitness professionals, and healthcare practitioners who counsel individuals on physical activity and exercise.

The eleventh edition has been extensively updated and reorganized for improved clarity, usability, and clinical relevance. It fully integrates the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, ensuring alignment with the most current national and international recommendations. Content is structured to help readers efficiently assess risk, conduct exercise testing, and design individualized exercise prescriptions using scientifically grounded principles.

New and expanded material includes a dedicated chapter addressing conditions that affect brain health, offering practical exercise strategies for individuals with Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, autism spectrum disorders, depression, and anxiety. This addition reflects the growing role of exercise in neurological and mental health care.

Key exercise prescription guidance is made easy to access through clearly designed FITT (Frequency, Intensity, Time, Type) boxes, along with enhanced tables, figures, and callout features that highlight critical clinical concepts at a glance. Updated appendices integrate essential information on ECG interpretation, medications, emergency management, and metabolic equations where they are most applicable in practice.

Whether used as a classroom text, clinical reference, or professional handbook, ACSM’s Guidelines for Exercise Testing and Prescription, Eleventh Edition provides the practical tools and scientific foundation needed to prescribe exercise safely, effectively, and confidently across diverse populations.