Archive for August 2013
Business-in-a-Box: Create a Successful Franchise
As a fitness pro you may have already hit the mark with a personal training studio or an exercise class. Now, you’d love to take your business model to the next level. The big question: Is creating a franchised fitness brand your best next move? With the last decade’s surge in brand-based programming, more and…
Read MoreA World Fitness Celebration!
2013 IDEA World Fitness Convention (August 7-11) attendees, volunteers, faculty, exhibitors and staff experienced an thrilling, information-packed ride of a fitness event. As 2013 IDEA Fitness Inspiration Award recipient Peter Twist, MSc, said during his moving acceptance speech at the Opening Ceremonies, these 8,000 fitness pros lived their World experience “from the front seat of the roller coaster” on a continuous loop of excitement that kept everyone on their toes.
Read More“Ocean Breathing” Heals Emotional Pain
Generally speaking, the only people in the United States who are taught how to breathe on a wide scale are pregnant women. Modern medicine acknowledges that breathing techniques help to manage fear and panic, to increase focus and also to decrease physical pain in women giving birth. Think about this. Women giving birth are not…
Read MoreHigh-Intensity Training for Group Classes
As instructors, we like helping our students achieve the best results possible. In today’s busy world, people want better results in less workout time. The high-intensity interval training philosophy caters to this need. HIIT features short, intense cardiovascular exercises that improve athletic conditioning and many other markers of health and wellness. I call the HIIT…
Read MoreObese Clients: Are You Meeting Their Real Needs?
Do you think obese people are lazy? Weak-willed? Do you get frustrated when they can’t do what you ask because their girth gets in the way? If you think you know obese clients, think again. We talked to obese (and formerly obese) consumers—and the fitness pros who work with them—to find out how they feel,…
Read MoreYoga Adjustments
Think back to a recent time when you left a yoga class and felt joyfully transformed. Maybe the teacher had great auditory and visual cues. Maybe he or she made you feel safe and supported, allowing you to explore poses in deeper and more rewarding ways than you would have been able to on your own. A well-balanced yoga teacher connects with all types of learners—auditory, visual and kinesthetic. The most fulfilling classes happen when the teacher successfully blends all three teaching modalities.
Read MoreCompassion and Kindness Can Increase With Meditation Training
A recent study is shining positive light on how to nurture the human potential for kindness and compassion. Future applications could include helping kids to reduce school bullying or aiding people with antisocial behavior problems.
Read MoreAre Video Games Good Medicine For Seniors?
Your older clients are no doubt interested in complementing a fit body with a fit mind. Well, new study evidence suggests they can slow cognitive impairment by playing a few hours of “brain fit” video games designed to speed up and improve mental processing.
As the human brain ages, its executive function skills—which include perception, attention, memory, abstract thinking and problem solving—tend to diminish. Since many of us are living longer lives, scientists are motivated to identify ways to prevent this loss.
Nia® Turns 30
Nia celebrates its 30th anniversary this year. Under the current leadership of Debbie Rosas, co-creator and co-founder of the Nia Technique, the program continues to expand, with approximately 2,500 instructors worldwide. Th is year’s highlights include the launch of a new, high-energy program called “52 Moves,” which offers an adapted approach to interval training.
For more information, go to www.nianow.com.>/a>
Read MoreWhich Is Stronger: Habit or Willpower?
Most of us think we’d be healthier if only we had the mental strength to make the right choices. New research suggests, however, that in the effort to change, habits may be more important than willpower.
Read MoreRecipe for Health: Raw-Vegan Sloppy Joes
Looking for a quick and healthy weeknight meal now that the kids are back in school and your autumn schedule is about to go full tilt? This one might become a standard.
Mee Tracy McCormick learned to cook her way out of her chronic autoimmune disease by using whole foods. In the process, she created a collection of “healing recipes that combine foods in a way that is more nutritious and delicious than she could have ever imagined.”
Read MoreAsk the RD
Answer: Athletes have been using caffeine as a way to boost performance as far back as the early 1900s, and many still use it today to gain an edge. There was a time, however, when caffeine was banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). In 2004 the ban was lifted, but the substance is currently part of a monitoring program that assesses patterns of misuse.
While caffeine is considered a safe and effective supplement for enhancing exercise performance, some specifics should be sifted out before you go on a preworkout coffee binge.
Read MoreIDEA Publications Team Awarded Two More Maggies
IDEA’s editorial team has garnered two more Western Publications Association (WPA) “Maggie” Awards! This makes eight WPA trophies that IDEA publications have received since 2004. The coveted Maggie awards are known as the “Oscars” of the periodicals publishing world.
Read MoreUSDA App Tracks Food & Activity
If you’re looking for another empowerment tool to help clients monitor progress and enhance their accountability, the USDA’s nutrition SuperTracker might be worth evaluating.
Read MoreACSM’s Fittest (and Least Fit) Cities
Each year the American College of Sports Medicine releases its ACSM American Fitness Index™, which ranks the 50 largest metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) in the United States, based on certain health and fitness indicators. These indicators include preventive health behaviors, access to health care, chronic disease conditions and other factors.
Here are the highest and lowest ranked MSAs in 2013:
Highest-Ranking MSAs
Food Focus: Apple Cider Vinegar
Believers in the axiom “An apple a day keeps the doctor away” won’t be surprised to learn that apple cider vinegar has vast health benefits and about 101 different uses, including some unrelated to food.
Read MoreSecrets of Getting Published in a Magazine
You have a message, and you want to share it with the world. Publishing an article in a popular magazine is one way to do this. However, simply having a good idea isn’t always enough to achieve success in the highly competitive magazine publishing world. In many cases it comes down to your initial correspondence with an editor. These tips on how to grab an editor’s attention come from Tyler Graham, author of The Happiness Diet and formerly an editor for several publications, including Prevention, Men’s Journal and Details.
Read MoreNIH Launches Dietary Supplement Label Database
Do you research dietary supplements before you use them? Do you encourage clients to look before they leap into buying these products? A new database may save you a trip to the store by providing the essential facts you seek online.
Read MoreThe 8-Minute Healthy Eating Plan
Your clients’ best intentions for healthy eating during the week can be easily derailed if they haven’t thought through a plan. While it’s not always possible for clients to anticipate every curve ball that might get hurled their way, here are a few simple strategies from Keri Glassman, MS, RD, CDN, that take only 8 minutes of focused time each week.
Read MoreQuestion of the Month?
Please share your ideas and experiences with editor in chief Sandy Todd Webster at [email protected].
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