During the gathering information phase of a fitness assessment, a client's goal to improve cardio-respiratory fitness can be described as:

When evaluating a client's goal to improve cardio-respiratory fitness during the information-gathering phase of a fitness assessment, it's important to assess the characteristics of the goal itself. The goal of "improving cardio-respiratory fitness" lacks specificity, as it does not define what improvement looks like or the exact target the client has in mind. Additionally, this goal is not measurable since it does not include specific metrics or levels to assess progress against — for example, improvements in VO2 max, the number of minutes they can run without stopping, or improvements reflected in heart rate recovery times.

Furthermore, although the goal can be considered attainable and realistic for many individuals, and often setting a timeline helps to specify the goal further, in this case, the lack of specificity and measurable criteria is what defines it as vague and overly broad. Without a clear timeline as well, the goal leans towards being unstructured and does not inspire actionable steps. Therefore, the categorization that best fits the client's goal is that it is not specific, not measurable, while still being attainable and realistic, albeit typically lacking a defined timeline.