Archive for October 2015
Most Successful Cooking Class: 15-Minute Meals
What if teaching clients how to cook became part of your training? What if a cooking class could help you recruit new clients into your facility? What if a teaching kitchen program could add dollars to your bottom line and create buzz in your community?
Putting a kitchen inside your gym can make all that happen.
Read MoreThe Freestyle or Prechoreographed Debate
Over the past decade, group fitness has splintered into two groups: those who believe wholeheartedly in “original” choreography and class design (“freestyle”) and those who lean more toward templated programs based on exercise science, matched with synched soundtracks (“prechoreographed”). Both options are popular, and both have advantages and disadvantages.
Read MoreTeaching While Pregnant: What You Need to Know
Many years ago, while I was pregnant with my second child, something happened that I hope no other group fitness instructor goes through. As I was driving to teach class I experienced some cramping—but dismissed it. After all, I didn’t have anyone to cover for me and needed to get to the studio.
Read MoreUsing Visualization, Myofascial Release, With Clients
When Tanya Colucci, MS, trains clients, she pulls from many different resources to offer the best results possible. Owner of Tanya Colucci Myofascial Release Therapy in Bluffton, South Carolina, Colucci believes in an integrative mind-body approach, which appears to resonate with many people.
Read MoreSuspension Exercise: The Research
Suspension exercise combines body weight and anchored, seatbelt-like straps to provide an alternative to free weights and machines. Do these strap-based training systems work as well as more traditional resistance training tools.? Learn what the research says.
Read MoreGuilt-Free Holiday Eating
A guilt-free holiday can be delicious! These six recipes from a professional chef committed to comfort food makeovers will have your taste buds smiling through the holiday season without forcing you to log extra hours in the gym.
Read MoreMastering the Menu
With Americans eating more and more meals outside the home, an old adage needs an update: “You are what you eat—and
where
you eat.”
Read More25 Healthy Food Hacks the Pros Use
Whether you have a closet full of appliances and cookbooks or multiple kitchen drawers stuffed with take-out menus, the verdict is clear: Love it or hate it, cooking food at home is one of the best ways to improve your diet, lose weight and transform your health.
Read MoreGo With Your Gut: The Facts on Fiber
Most of us know the basics on fiber: It helps us “stay regular,” and if things aren’t as “regular” as usual, we try to eat more foods like bran cereals and prunes.
But there is far more to know about fiber, especially in relation to health and wellness. What exactly is fiber? Why is it so good for our digestive systems? Can it fend off disease? How much should we consume? How does the recommended intake compare with how much the typical American eats?
Read MoreWhat’s Up With the U.S. Snacking Obsession?
Snacking is no longer an occasional treat for Americans. Data show that
more of us are snacking, that we’re snacking more often and that we’re
consuming more calories from snacks. But is our snacking habit hurting
our health and waistlines, or does snacking have important nutrition,
health and performance benefits? And should snack timing count as well
as snack selection?
Come along as we dig deeper into the essence of snacking.
Read MoreOvercoming Misconceptions
Eduardo Sanchez, MD, MPH, FAAFP, serves as the American Heart Association’s (AHA) chief medical officer for prevention. Prior to joining AHA, Sanchez served as vice president and chief medical officer for BlueCross BlueShield of Texas and, before that, as director of the Institute for Health Policy at the University of Texas School of Public Health. From 2001 to 2006, he served as state health officer of Texas, where he led the consolidation of public health, mental health and substance abuse agencies into one single agency: the Texas Department of State Health Services.
Read MoreWhat Added Sugar Looks Like
Preparing for Ski Season
Use a three-pronged approach to help frail participants move better, get stronger and improve their balance.
Like to ski? Are you in ski-ready shape? A well-rounded exercise program can strengthen specific muscles used in skiing and set you up for success. Beverly Hosford, MA, author, presenter and Muscle Activation Techniques™ certi?ed specialist, explains how.
Read MoreBecome a Fit-Tech Guinea Pig
You don’t learn how to ride a bike by reading a book about it. You have to get on and start pedaling. The same is true of fitness technology: To learn it, you have to use it.
That’s why I recommend you become a fit-tech guinea pig—experimenting on yourself to see what works. Fitness technology offers motivational tools that can do the following:
Read MoreSMR Focus in Classes Proves Popular
Praise for IDEA Personal Trainer Institute™ East
Editor’s note:
In the Question of the Month section of our September Mind-Body-Spirit News column, we asked readers how they were incorporating self myofascial release (SMR) into programming. Here are a few ideas to consider:
Read MoreThe Barre Boom Bonanza
Susan Grimm, 60 years old, in Orlando, Florida, says, “When I opened the door of the 1 Body Studio, managed by Leslee Bender, I felt at home. I had been turned away before from an expensive local barre studio. After two C-sections and much weight gain, I felt horrible about myself. I tried health clubs but always felt out of place. In 1 Body Studio’s barre class, I could go at my own pace. I try to come three or four times a week. I’ve lost 40 pounds, but the weight loss is icing on the cake. I feel stronger now. I hear my body more now than ever.”
Read MoreCreative Ideas That Inspire
Located in Boston, The Club by George Foreman III offers
BOX-FIIT 360™.
Participants complete 36 minutes of ?circuits, visiting 12 individual stations. The class combines cardio, strength and boxing through a variety of training modalities, including suspension exercises, rowing, biking, kettlebells, boxing, jump rope and turf exercises. The workouts change weekly to provide members with new goals.
Read MoreSample Class: Reaching the Summit!
Who doesn’t love a hill? If you want to add interest and attention to your next cycling class, make climbing your focus. The thrill of a hill can be any combination of challenging climbs and fast, fun downhills. The goal: to reach the summit!
Read MoreResisted Rotation
There are many unique and creative ways to help participants strengthen their cores. This mini routine improves sports performance and enhances bone mineral density in the cervical spine. In sports-themed classes, instructors often teach exercises in unstable body positions. You can, of course, also teach core moves from an unstable posture (Willardson 2007). Train the core for proximal-to-distal force generation with simple equipment that most fitness facility group fitness studios already have: rubber resistance tubing and bands (Kibler, Press
&
Sciascia 2006).
How to Relocate Successfully
Because I grew up a “Navy brat,” I had to move around fairly often as a kid. Adulthood brought with it a few more moves as I navigated college and marriage. When I had my children and we’d finally settled into an area where most of our extended family also lived, I thought we were…
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