Archive for May 2018
Empowered Entrepreneur: Sergeant Ken Weichert
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Read MoreSummer Travel Tips
We’re heading into summer, which means more time spent away from home (vacation!) for many of us. How can we relax and enjoy ourselves without worrying about where to find healthy food options or how to stay motivated and active? Check out my top 5 travel tips and watch my “Summer Snacking Tips” video to help you stay on track.
Read MoreSample Class: Core Training + Foam Rolling
This class is a mega movement multivitamin combining essential core training with restorative self-myofascial release techniques. Every movement recruits trunk muscles, creating a strong foundation for any physical challenge. The foam-rolling section releases fascial adhesions and can help prevent injuries. Participants will leave feeling strong, centered and relaxed.
Read MoreHow to Correct Imbalances in Walking Biomechanics
Participating in a program of regular exercise is a good idea at any stage of life. One of the most popular forms of exercise is walking, and it’s an ideal physical activity for older exercisers because they generally feel confident performing the required movements—after all, they’ve been doing them all their lives (Williamson 2007).
Read MoreDynamic Pricing: Get on Board
For years, hotels, sporting venues and airlines have utilized dynamic—or flexible—pricing when selling their services. Is it time for the fitness industry to do the same? Michael Rucker, PhD, vice president of technology for Active™ Wellness, a management company that specializes in fitness and wellness services, argues that the fitness industry no longer has a choice whether or not to adopt dynamic pricing. “The best we can do at this point is to anticipate its economic impact and plan accordingly,” he says.
Read MoreWorking On, Not In, Your Business
I started my FIT4MOM® business in August 2001, when my son was just 3 months old. I was a “solopreneur,” which meant that I did everything. I taught classes; did all the marketing; handled the website, emails and bookkeeping—and the list goes on. The business took off, but it almost took me out. I kept up this pace for a long time, and it took its toll on me and my family. As successful as the business was, in retrospect I believe I actually held it back from its true potential.
I was working in my business instead of on it.
Read MoreProfit From Affiliate Marketing
If you’re working long hours as a trainer, the idea of earning more while working less—passive income—has probably crossed your mind. There’s a good chance you can receive that income from something you’re already doing naturally: affiliate marketing.
Read MoreWhy Water Fitness?
While water fitness was once the domain of older adults, now participants of all ages and ability levels are benefiting from aquatic workouts. Shirley Archer, JD, MA, water fitness specialist and health and wellness blogger, examines what’s new in aquatic training research and looks at different types of programs.
Research Update
Here are some of the newer findings related to aquatic training:
Sample Class: Step With Variations
Step classes are still alive! Many participants remain eager for creative yet easy-to-follow choreography. You can keep yours simple while retaining some of the frills that people enjoy. Here’s an example: This class starts with one 32-count step combination for the warmup and continues with four variations on that combo during the main segment. Try this choreography during your next step class.
Step With Variations Details
GOAL/EMPHASIS:cardiovascular workout with classic 32-count step choreography
Teaching Yoga at the Wall
As a yoga teacher, you guide participants through a practice that deepens their understanding of asanas (poses) and how these take shape in students’ bodies. You cue, coach, align, adjust, demonstrate and discuss, and you offer tips on breathing, anatomy, “feel” and sensation. Often, the most effective way to help participants understand a specific element is to slow down, grab a prop or two, and work a little deeper. You may have access to straps, blocks and bolsters, but you might be forgetting another perfect “prop”: the wall.
Read MoreDiet, Exercise and Bone Health
As a fitness pro, you can’t fix the genetic and environmental contributors to bone loss, but you can encourage physical activity and proper nutrition, both of which improve bone health. More than 70% of Americans don’t get the recommended amount of physical activity (Laskowski 2012), and 50% are considered deficient in vitamin D (Karaguzel & Holick 2010). One systematic review rated calcium, vitamin D, dairy and physical activity/exercise as the most important modifiable lifestyle factors that can influence the development of peak bone mass (NOF 2016).
Read MoreBone Loss and Aging
Bone loss and aging are inseparable: “The skeleton is a systemically regulated mass of mineralized material that is born, grows, reaches a more or less high peak, and then declines faster or slower as to develop a correspondingly high or low fracture risk”(Ferretti et al. 2003). Musculoskeletal aging—declining bone and muscle mass, increasing joint pain and stiffness, and decreasing physical mobility—is a normal part of aging. However, how rapidly or slowly bone mass declines depends on different factors.
Read MoreExercises for Clients with Osteoporosis
When working with any clients diagnosed with osteoporosis, you want to maximize the benefit, but you must also take care to avoid unnecessary risk. If mobility and posture are altered after a vertebral fracture, pay close attention to correct lifting technique and avoid pitfalls such as loading the spine in a flexed posture. For example, since exercise machines often require twisting and forward bending, you may need to avoid using them with clients who have osteoporosis (Giangregorio et al. 2014).
Read MoreBone Health in Women
Fitness professionals have to be aware of just how great the osteoporotic fracture risk is for women. Worldwide, osteoporosis affects 200 million women, and the lifetime risk of a hip fracture is 1 in 6, compared with 1 in 9 for breast cancer (IOF 2017).
Read MoreBone Modeling and Remodeling
The skeleton is composed of two types of bone: cortical and trabecular. Cortical (compact) bone comprises 80% of the volume in the adult skeleton and forms the outer layer of bone (Lerner 2012). Trabecular (cancellous) bone makes up the inner layer; has a spongy, honeycomb structure; and is mostly found in the skull, pelvis, sacrum and vertebrae. Although peak bone mass is reached in late adolescence, bones never stop changing. An adult skeleton replaces its bone mass every 10 years (OSG 2004).
Read MoreEnvironmental Endocrine Disruptors Partly to Blame for Weight Regain in Women?
Maintaining weight loss is extraordinarily difficult for most people for myriad reasons, some understood and others less so.
In February, PLOS Medicine published results of the first randomized controlled human study looking for connections between weight loss and exposure to synthetic chemicals called perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). The researchers found that higher blood levels of PFAS don’t affect weight loss but are associated with greater weight regain, especially in women.
Question of the Month: McDonald’s Makes Kids’ Menus Healthier—Are They Healthy Enough?
A Happy Meals makeover is underway at McDonald’s. As of June, all Happy Meals in the U.S. will contain fewer than 600 calories. By 2022, they will have less than 650 milligrams of salt, and under 10% of calories will come from saturated fats and added sugars. Water is now the default beverage. Cheeseburgers are off the Happy Meal menu, while chicken nuggets and hamburgers are served with fruits, vegetables or a 110-calorie mini-side of fries.
Read MoreStuffed Portobello Burgers With Caramelized Onions
Fungi. Ewww. That’s true if it’s fuzz on your loaf of bread or mold in the corners of the gym shower. But mushrooms, redolent of the earth and presenting in a dizzying array of shapes, are fruiting bodies worth cozying up to.
Read MoreTrending: Sparkling Water
Out with soda and in with . . . sparkling water. Health-conscious Americans looking for a carbonated-beverage fix are in luck as sparkling water takes over store shelves across the country. The sugar-free bubbling water is a great hydration source and is free of artificial sweeteners and other processed ingredients common in diet sodas.
Read MoreChildhood Obesity Stats Remain Grim
A February study in the journal Pediatrics debunked reports that childhood obesity rates were leveling off or in decline. In fact, the study found that despite substantial efforts to curb the epidemic in recent years, obesity rates have increased for every demographic—especially preschool children and adolescent girls. Moreover, the study cited a substantial rise in severe obesity in children.
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