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Sample Class: Functional-Impact Fun!

Get participants jumping with a combination of functional fitness movements and plyometric exercises that create an intense and enjoyable interval workout. The functional moves build strength and coordination, while the plyometric drills focus on muscle power and cardiovascular fitness. Together, they provide a total-body conditioning workout.

Functional-Impact Fun! Details:
Goal/emphasis: total-body fitness
Total time: 45–60 minutes

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How to Become a Group Exercise Instructor

When I began my quest to become a group exercise instructor 30 years ago, I couldn’t have imagined the industry would be where it is today—an evolving, dynamic profession with boundless potential. Group exercise is diverse and offers unlimited options. However, finding the right job or deciding which direction to take can be overwhelming. This article takes you step by step through how to navigate a career in group exercise.

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How to Become a Personal Trainer

If you love to work out and help others stay in shape, you could have a promising future as a personal fitness trainer. But don’t be blinded by the prospect of earning $60 an hour to exercise: Becoming a successful personal trainer requires education, personality and diligence.

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Building a Successful Business: IDEA® Personal Trainer Institute

Elevate your purpose at the IDEA® Personal Trainer Institute in Alexandria, Virginia, March 1-4, and for the first time ever, in Dallas, April 5-8!

When Jake Trione, owner of TriAffect Fitness, Health and Wellness in Houston, thought about what he wanted to do after 13 years of active duty in the United States Coast Guard, he knew he’d become a personal trainer. “I thought to myself, ÔÇÿIf I am serious, I should find the most successful professionals in the business and spend time with them,’” he says.

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Fusion Workout: Cardio, Strength and Yoga

Group fitness fans love creative total-body workouts, and this class perfectly fits the bill by combining 3-minute intervals of cardio, strength and yoga into one fun, balanced experience. Customize this template to play to your strengths as a teacher and get people moving!

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The Achilles Tendon

Many fitness professionals have dealt with an Achilles tendon injury, either their own or a client’s. The largest and strongest tendon in the body, the Achilles connects the lower-leg muscles and calf to the heel. “Synchronous functioning” of the tendon and calf is crucial for many activities, including standing on tiptoe, running, jumping and climbing stairs (Bhimji 2016).
Dutch surgeon Philip Verheyen named the tendon (after the Greek hero Achilles) in 1693. Previously, it was known as “tendo magnus of Hippocrates” (van Dijk 2011).

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When the Client Is You

client: Frank | personal trainer: Frank McKenna, MEd, owner, Beach Better Bodies | location: Virginia Beach, Virginia

A dire situation. In the summer of 2016, personal trainer Frank McKenna received news he never expected to hear. At age 56, he had recently completed his own physical transformation and was arguably in tiptop shape, so when his doctor told him he had stage 4 lung cancer, he was stunned.

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The Power of a Playlist

There was a time when I was teaching 32 group classes per week for 14 companies, all with different demographics and with classes spread throughout the city. It wasn’t uncommon for me to teach in a collegiate setting, a fitness facility, a studio, a corporate office and a hospital, all in the same day. Could I have used the same generic fitness mix for every location or simply chosen a station on a music streaming app? Sure, if I’d been content to deliver a subpar experience.

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Fire It Up

Looking for some heat this winter? Turning up the furnace on your meals with chilies may make it easier to stay on good terms with the scale, according to a study conducted by OminActive Health Technologies and University of Arizona and published in Advances in Nutrition in 2017.

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BPA Replacements Show Promise

In the past decade or so, a number of studies have suggested that high exposure to bisphenol A (BPA), a chemical compound used in the lining of many canned foods and drinks (as well as in plastics, to make them tougher), could raise the risk for everything from heart disease to diabetes to weight gain.

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Rise of the Plants

While meat remains the primary protein source for most Americans, it appears that more people are considering serving up chickpeas instead of chicken more often. According to the market research firm Nielsen, 22% of Americans plan to cut back on their meat intake, and 15% of those surveyed wish to bump up their intake of plant proteins like legumes, nuts and seeds, according to a 2017 report from FoodNavigator-USA.

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Looking on the Bright Side

From previous research, we know that eating together as a family tends to improve the nutritional status of the children in the household and reduce their risk of becoming overweight. But less has been known about how the emotional climate of mealtimes influences the foods children choose to eat.

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Not-So-Sweet News About Caffeine

No wonder so many people drown their coffee in sugar and gravitate toward saccharine breakfast foods. In 2017, the Journal of Food Science reported that people rated a sweetened caffeinated coffee as less sweet than a sweetened decaf coffee. A sugar solution consumed after the coffee was also deemed less sweet in the caffeine trial. Interestingly, there was no impact on other taste sensations, namely bitter, sour, salty or umami. Caffeine appears to dull receptors in our sweet-sensitive taste cells.

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Ask the RD

Question: I know chocolate is considered a healthy snack, but are all kinds of chocolate healthy?
Answer: Chocolate has complex flavors, amazing mouthfeel and myriad phytochemicals, including polyphenolic compounds with antioxidant activity (Katz, Doughty & Ali 2011). It is linked to reduced risk of cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes and even improved mood (Mostofsky et al. 2017; Scholey & Owen 2014; Sorenson & Astrup 2011).

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