Which diagnostics that doctors or sports scientists can carry out are useful for the “health athlete”?

The answer to this question depends entirely on who we have in front of us. Someone who has done a lot of exercise throughout their life, who does sport regularly, will need less diagnostics than someone who “finally wants to do something again”. Paradoxically, however, most sports medicine and sports science examinations are not carried out on those who need them most; no, top athletes are regularly examined in order to get the most out of them! In order to make the training methods as effective as possible.

As a result, sports scientists in particular place far too high performance demands on (re-)beginners and thus contribute significantly to the demotivation of those willing to train. The greatest perversion is achieved in television shows in which completely untrained overweight people are made to perform extreme feats (the games of the Romans were less cruel!). We absolutely need more doctors and sports scientists who are familiar with prevention and rehabilitation!

Uncontrolled endurance exertion carries the risk of overloading the cardiovascular system, while too little exertion results in only a slight increase in physical fitness.

In principle, it must be assumed that there are situations in which increasing stress can lead to health problems. Blood pressure can rise sharply, the oxygen supply to the heart may no longer be sufficient and so on. Therefore, the person who is to recommend the training intensity must know the capacity of the person wanting to start.

People with particular risks (coronary heart disease, chronic lung disease, stroke) should have an exercise ECG performed by their GP. However, it is also sensible for the trainer to be informed of the heart rate up to which the patient may or should exercise. In any case, uncontrolled exercise without any controls should – no, must – be avoided. The so-called lactate test is particularly suitable for assessing exercise capacity, but it should be stopped when certain criteria are reached – at least if the athlete’s performance is not to be tested.(see lactate test)

If you want to train your muscles effectively and avoid injuries at the same time, you cannot avoid measuring your initial muscle strength and flexibility.

If you want to get an idea of a person’s nutritional status, the body mass index (BMI) is used almost everywhere today, but it does not differentiate between fat and muscle. Measuring body composition using a reasonably reliable method makes more sense and also allows a distinction to be made between fat and muscle.