Archive for September 2007
Core Conditioning and Athletic Performance: Is There a Connection?
Core conditioning has quickly become a major component of many athletic training programs; however, recent research questions the validity of claims that it enhances athletic ability. The Indiana State University study tested the core strength of 29 NCAA Division I football players and compared the results to the athletes’ abilities in three strength variables and four performance
varia…
Simulated CPR Results Show Lack of Force
How long has it been since you’ve practiced your cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) skills? Recent findings show that the majority
of people untrained in CPR, and even many trained emergency personnel, do not push with enough force.
The research, detailed in the June issue of Cardiovascular Engineering, tested 104 adults untrained in CPR and 83 trained firefighters. Find…
Media Morsels
Nintendo has taken Donkey Kong up a notch or two. One of the company’s latest product concepts, revealed during the E3 Media & Business Summit in July, might just put some personal fitness trainers out of business (or be a new profit center). The Wii Fit™ Balance Board (name not final) is a pressure-sensitive controller that users manipulate with their feet. The devic…
Read MoreAEDs Required in California Fitness Facilities
It’s been 3 months since all
fitness facilities and studios in California were required to have an automated external defibrillator (AED) program in place (the implementation date was July 1). If this requirement applies to you, are you up to code? If you don’t live in California, visit www.ncsl.org/programs/health/
aed.htm to see if your state
requires …
Jacki Sorensen
Jacki Sorensen is credited with originating one of the most significant fitness movements in history: aerobic dance—the combination of fitness and dance that swept the world in the ÔÇÿ70s before evolving into the multifaceted group exercise classes of today.
Thirty-eight years later, Sorensen still lives and breathes choreography, crea…
Read MoreEffective Ghost Managing
If you are like a lot of program directors, you manage people you rarely see—or who rarely see you. This makes you a “ghost manager.” The biggest challenge in being a ghost manager lies in connecting with and motivating your staff. Ghost managers can be responsible for 30 or more instructors who work about 1–3 hours per week, and for 50-plus time slots on the schedule. Most instructors teach pa…
Read MoreThe Uniform Question
Both the IDEA Personal Trainer Code of Ethics and the IDEA Group Fitness Instructor Code of Ethics urge fitness professionals to “uphold a professional image through conduct and appearance.” However, what type of clothing helps fitness professionals project the right image? Some owners and managers believe that providing uniforms is key…
Read MorePrograms With Promise
Crunch helps its members get in touch with their inner daredevil performers with Club Cirque. The class is based on movements from static trapeze and other circus disciplines and focuses on agility, flexibility, acrobatics and strength. Pacific Athletic Club in Redwood Shores, California, caters to children ages 8–13 with a well-rounded, specialized Youth Exercis…
Read MoreSample Class: 3, 2, 1 Dance
So you think you can’t dance? You don’t need to be a professional dancer to teach a fun, heart-pumping, soul-soaring dance-based class. If you can walk, you can dance—it takes three easy moves. The only differences are style and a touch of attitude. Also, if you don’t believe that you can dance, how can you instill confidence in your students? If you help them believe that they can dan…
Read MoreStep Into Namasté
Do your participants think the strength and cardio sections are the only important aspects of step class? The cool-down can be just as important, if not more so. While there are infinite ways to cool the body down, why not try adding yoga moves for stretching, balance and stabilization? Begin cooling down with basic grapevines and step-touches within a smaller range of motion, but make the moves d…
Read MoreThe Body-Mind Cube
Runners and swimmers, dancers and gymnasts, bodybuilders and bowlers. None of them are likely to be described as body-mind fitness types. In books on the topic (Iknoian 2001; Seabourne 2001), membership in the “body-mind fitness club” is largely reserved for those who practice yoga, tai chi, Pilates, qigong or some martial art. To borrow Susan Powter’s (1995) phrase, we simply have to “s…
Read MoreGot Calcium?
Conventional wisdom has long held that calcium plus vitamin D offers the best antidote for age-related bone loss. In fact, those ubiquitous “Got Milk” commercials boast of the calcium-rich beverage’s ability to strengthen bones. And some research suggests that both calcium and vitamin D play a critical role in maintaining bone health (Heaney 2007). Since calcium is a building bloc…
Read MoreTricks of the Trade
Finding and making time for your own workouts is any trainer’s hardest daily task. I struggled with this challenge for many years but finally sorted it out after much anguish and many missed workouts.Like most trainers, at the beginning of my career I was not that busy and had ample time for working out. With the quick growth of a client base and the exciting cash flow t…
Read MoreBuilding a Full Schedule
Obtaining a full client load is a crucial aspect of a personal trainer’s job, but getting those clients can often seem the most laborious and difficult task of all. Whether working the floor at a large, full-service gym or striking out as an independent contractor, each trainer must find a way to attract new clients or all the hard work and dedication put into earning his title will be for naug…
Read MoreIDEA Home Study
Sample Class!
Check out this great sample class from the IDEA Article Archive on teaching intense intervals without equipment! As an IDEA member, all of the sample classes in our archive are free to you!!
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Read MoreOne Vision, Many Paths
A sense of “ah” permeated the ballroom at the La Quinta Resort & Club in Palm Springs, California, September 6-9, as the intention for the second annual Inner IDEA Conference was set. Marcia Hayes, director of programming, led the audience in a guided meditation. “Let all your tension go and be here now,” she said. “Release the outer world and focus on the inner world. We invite you to be the person you came here to be.”
Read MorePilates Corrective Exercises for Golfers, Part 2
From a biomechanical perspective, the golf swing is a complex and unnatural movement that works the whole body—but not in symmetrical patterning. Addressing physical limitations through a series of Pilates exercises can help create symmetry and coordination, improve muscular endurance and increase range of motion.
Read MoreYoga Boom: Reaching Older Clients
Whoever isn’t focused on capturing Baby Boomers over the next two decades isn’t focused well on the future. In the coming 20 years, Boomers will inherit estates worth over 10 trillion dollars—that’s more than the value of the entire New York Stock Exchange today.
Read MoreFeedback From the Field: Wrist Modifications
In a previous issue of Inner IDEA Body-Mind-Spirit Review, we asked: What kind of modifications do you offer for yoga participants who complain of wrist pain? Here’s what you had to say.
Read More