Assignment: Finding a potential client

Find a potential client (friend, family member, current training client, or even yourself) and initiate an initial assessment. Have the client complete the appropriate questionnaires. You can download forms from the SFN course homepage or utilize the forms in the Client Forms and Handouts packet included with your course materials.

Fully describe your nutrition and coaching plan for the client including:

1. client level and the reason for choosing this level
2. limiting factors
3. outcome goals
4. behavior goals
5. which assessments you will record and why/how you will incorporate the results
6. your recommended nutrition and supplement plan
7. what (if anything) your client will need to discuss with his or her physician
8. referrals to your professional network (if needed)
9. proposed appointment scheduling including:
1. frequency (when)
2. what you will discuss at each appointment
3. which assessments you will perform and when
10. a plan of action if you observe a plateau
11. and a plan of action if your client changes his or her goals. (Include the hypothetical goal change along with your plan of action.)

Trainer Tip: Get in the right mind-set with this case study. Look at your case study as an opportunity to develop a real-life plan and to have that plan critiqued by leaders in the field. Imagine that this sample client is paying you to get results. Be as detailed as you would need to be when relaying the plan to the client. Also, be sure to tell us why you are making the decisions you are making.

You must proofread your paper. But do not strictly rely on your computer’s spell-checker and grammar-checker; failure to do so indicates a lack of effort on your part and you can expect your grade to suffer accordingly. Papers with numerous misspelled words and grammatical mistakes will be penalized. Read over your paper – in silence and then aloud – before handing it in and make corrections as necessary. Often it is advantageous to have a friend proofread your paper for obvious errors. Handwritten corrections are preferable to uncorrected mistakes.

Use a standard 10 to 12 point (10 to 12 characters per inch) typeface. Smaller or compressed type and papers with small margins or single-spacing are hard to read. It is better to let your essay run over the recommended number of pages than to try to compress it into fewer pages.

Likewise, large type, large margins, large indentations, triple-spacing, increased leading (space between lines), increased kerning (space between letters), and any other such attempts at “padding” to increase the length of a paper are unacceptable, wasteful of trees, and will not fool your professor.

The paper must be neatly formatted, double-spaced with a one-inch margin on the top, bottom, and sides of each page. When submitting hard copy, be sure to use white paper and print out using dark ink. If it is hard to read your essay, it will also be hard to follow your argument.