Archive for September 2015
Creative Ideas That Inspire
YogaFaith,
taught at Edge Fitness in Puyallup, Washington, is a faith-based yoga class that aims to integrate mind, body, spirit and soul. Classes focus on exhaling the chaos and clutter of everyday life to create space and wholeness. The donation-based classes include various styles of yoga and are open to all levels.
Read MoreSample Class: Circuit Progressions
To achieve results, your participants need to be challenged in new ways. If your strength training classes are circuit-style and you want to up the ante, try adding strategic progressions. This workout, a traditional circuit format, cycles through several exercises with minimal rest. The key is to challenge participants by adjusting a variable during each cycle. With this approach, they enjoy the familiarity of the sequences, as well as fun surprises.
Circuit Progressions Details
Read MoreHelp Students With “Tech Neck”
Have you noticed an increase in postural deviations among your students? In today’s society, “tech neck” is becoming more common—we all spend too much time looking down at our devices. This requires rounding the shoulders (rather than keeping them back and down, with chest open) and jutting the head forward. The position is becoming so habitual for a lot of people that it feels fixed and “natural” to them. Help participants become more aware of this uncomfortable trend and empower them to make better choices.
Read MoreHow to Deal With an Obsessed Member
“Linda,” a longtime member at your fitness facility, is a group exercise fanatic and has become a regular in your classes. Your friendship starts with a little chitchat. She loves your teaching style and engages you in small talk after class. As time goes on, your relationship grows. She shares stories about her family, brings in baked goods and is always nice enough to give you a small holiday gift.
Read MoreMeditation: Practicing for Life
Ezra Bayda and Elizabeth Hamilton, husband and wife, have been practicing Zen meditation for over 40 years and have taught for the last 20 at the Zen Center of San Diego. They lead retreats across the United States and in Australia and France. Both have led meditation in hospice venues, and now they offer it in a retirement community.
IDEA Fitness Journal
recently interviewed them about the rising interest in meditation and what has kept them practicing for so long.
Read MoreAchieving “Critical Mass” at the IDEA World Fitness Convention™
I believe most attendees don’t think about the amount of work that goes into creating IDEA World Fitness. I do, though. I applaud and appreciate the effort, consistency and quality that continue to make the event the professional standard by which all other fitness conventions are measured. What attendees
do
Read MoreToward a Minimum Standard of Practice
Cliff Collins serves as director of programmes for EuropeActive (formerly the European Health and Fitness Association) and the European Register of Exercise Professionals, an independent registry of all instructors, trainers and teachers working across Europe in the fitness industry. Collins has spent much of his career ensuring that health and fitness professionals in his home…
Read MoreThe Impact of Chronic Pain
Use a three-pronged approach to help frail participants move better, get
stronger and improve their balance.
Did you know that more than 45% of Americans experience pain on a
regular basis? Are you one of them? Unfortunately, people tend to fall
into bad habits as the body adapts to, and becomes familiar with,
persistent pain (Duhigg 2012).
An Epic Afterburn
Taking Control With Mental Toughness Techniques
Sport psychology is dubbed the “science of success” because it studies the four mental toughness skills—motivation, confidence, concentration, and emotional and physiological control—that athletes use consistently, in conjunction with training and nutrition, to give them the ultimate performance edge. Whether you are a personal trainer, group fitness instructor, coach or mind-body wellness professional, the information, tools and techniques discussed here will help your clients to enhance their performance and give them the best shot at realizing their true potential.
Read MorePhysical Ability Matters
While we like to think of coaching and teaching as art forms, there is a distinct science to communicating for optimized motor learning. Communication starts by engaging clients in a way that ensures they are listening. Once we have their attention, we want to provide instructions, feedback or cues that focus the clients externally rather than internally. Further, we want to account for any physical limitations across position, pattern and power that could be limiting the effectiveness of our coaching.
Read MoreDynamic Duos
“Every day we get to get up together with this joint goal of challenging the world to change. Every day we gain traction,” says Colin Milner, CEO and founder of the International Council on Active Aging® (ICAA), which he runs with his wife Julie, the chief operating officer.
Read More2015 IDEA Fitness Industry Compensation Trends Report
The Great Recession forced the U.S. economy through a bruising workout in a fight to survive, and after the first shocks had rattled the system, the country suffered the equivalent of a massive dose of delayed-onset muscle soreness. Pain spread gradually, sidelining the vulnerable. While most workers picked themselves up, unfortunately many Americans are ?still struggling to make gains or even to find jobs.
Read More2015 IDEA World Fitness Convention™ A 5-Day Lesson in How to Bottle Lightning
It wasn’t the initial thunderclap outside the Los Angeles Convention
Center that grabbed everyone’s attention. In a noisy city like L.A., the
boom could easily have been a bus wheel thumping into a pothole. But
when lightning followed in staccato step with torrential rain and more
rumbling—and then even more dramatic bolts—people looked up. Real
“weather” of such force doesn’t often grace Southern California in any
season, much less in mid-July. This was something special.
The Latest Wellness News and Research
Academic Stress Increases Risk of Athletic Injuries
Read MoreTraining for Mind-Body Resilience
Think of a recent time you felt stressed. Maybe it was during an argument with your spouse, or a meltdown with your kids. Maybe you were stuck in traffic and late for an important meeting. Or maybe you were lying in bed, worrying about work. Whatever the cause of your stress, your body and brain were almost certainly experiencing the same thing: boiling blood pressure, a churning stomach, tight muscles and a racing mind.
Read MoreThe Number-One Self-Care Tip for Wellness Professionals
If you’re a personal trainer, yoga or Pilates teacher, coach or healing practitioner of any kind, first off, thank you. You could have gone into a career that was almost guaranteed to earn you a higher income, more prestige, or extra points on your curriculum vitae, but instead you chose the way of the heart. You chose to follow your passion. There is nothing wrong with money or prestige, of course, but they are not the main motivations for wellness professionals like us. We know we’re here to share our talents and add value to the world.
Read MorePilates for Chronic Pain and Osteoarthritis
Like most Pilates instructors, I work with many clients who deal with chronic pain. One of the most challenging and common conditions I see is arthritis.
Arthritis, which is joint inflammation, is most likely to occur in joints with a wide range of motion—fingers, elbows and knees, for example (CDC 2001). Arthritis causes pain and stiffness in the affected joint. For some, the inflammation, pain and stiffness can make the simplest movements—such as tying shoelaces or opening food containers—daunting or even impossible.
Read MoreCreating Better Breakfast Habits
Each morning is a clean slate and an opportunity to start fresh. As fitness professionals, we know that making healthy breakfast choices can set the tone for the rest of the day. Because it can be difficult to make drastic changes all at once, consider asking your clients to concentrate on fine tuning their breakfast habits just one or two days a week. In honor of National Breakfast month, IDEA has compiled a list of our favorite articles on breakfast nutrition, the benefits of eating breakfast and some delicious recipes to inspire your morning meal.
Read MoreIs Tart Cherry Juice the New Super Recovery Drink?
Emerging research suggests tart cherry juice has a unique blend of
powerful anti-inflammatory and antioxidant agents that help athletes and
exercise enthusiasts recover faster from exhaustive exercise. This
discovery is attracting growing interest among fitness professionals.