This interactive, online study guide is designed to help you learn about fitness programs for decreasing body fat and increasing muscle mass. It is supplemented by the Weight Management course text. The study guide includes a glossary of key terms (hyperlinked to the lessons) and key terms included in the student text. The online study guide introduces the process, principles, and guidelines necessary to allow the learner to design weight management programs that meet the goals and needs of individual clients. You should understand, that in order to maximize the benefits of fitness, exercise, nutrition, and health, a professional fitness trainer should be well-versed and well-practiced in merging the key elements of a weight management program into a customized assessment, prescription, nutrition, exercise, and behavior modification strategy. You will spend a "week" with a virtual mentor (Eric) who will introduce you to 6 clients at a fitness center. Your mentor will lead you through the following situations and exercises: Day 1: Accepting Clients--You review information about your first six clients and learn the steps you must take in order to accept the ethical and legal responsibilities of agreeing to work with a client. If a client is accepted, you will be able to start outlining certain program elements based on information gather in the initial stages of client interaction. This orientation session concludes with a brief quiz. Day 2: Nutritional Programming--You will learn about the major components of a nutritional program, including nutritional guidelines and how to control Calories and fat. Working with menu planning, you'll learn how to prescribe nutrition programs for your clients. Eric has a quiz over the nutrition concepts presented during this session. Day 3: Exercise Programming--Eric discusses how to design and implement appropriate cardiovascular and resistance training programs based on your clients' goals. Using the concepts of intensity, duration, overload, specificity and progressive resistance, you design exercise programs. A short quiz over exercise programming is included. Day 4: Behavior Modification--Eric introduces you to behavior modification techniques. You are asked to help your clients understand these techniques and how they can be used to ensure the long-term success of the weight management program. This session concludes with a quiz. Finally, you'll take the online course test, which covers material from the interactive study guide and from the course text. System Requirements This course is designed to work best when your computer and Internet browser are configured to the following technical requirements and setup specifications: Internet Explorer 5.5+ (Windows), Netscape Navigator 7.1+, Mozilla 1.7+, or Firefox 1.0+. Computer monitor preferences set for 640 X 480 resolution or larger. Adobe Flash Player version 5+. To download the free Flash Player, click on the button below. Adobe Reader version 7+. To download Acrobat Reader, click on the button below. Browser pop-up blockers disabled. Back to the Online Education Center.