Article Archive
Fitness professionals have an opportunity to help more Americans who are trying to improve their health. The population’s average body mass index is increasing, even as more Americans are trying to lose weight, according to findings published in JAMA Network Open.
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If your clients need more evidence that training while injured can be detrimental, new research suggests that the adverse effects on movement quality can linger even after an injury has fully healed.
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Heart health is not simply about having a strong heart muscle; a healthy cardiovascular system requires a healthy nervous system that regulates the heartbeat and supports efficient functioning whether a person is feeling calm or stressed. A new study from Finland shows that more physically active and fit children have better cardiac regulation than those who are less active and less fit.
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Before your next endurance event, try getting a few extra sleep hours.
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Fitness professionals may want to reach out to more young adults, as “millennials are seeing their health decline faster than the previous generation as they age,” reports Blue Cross Blue Shield in The Economic Consequences of Millennial Health, published on November 6, 2019. Millennials were born in 1981–1996 and are considered to be the first generation of “digital natives.”
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Dementia, the fifth-leading cause of death for Americans over 65, affected 5 million American adults in 2014, with numbers growing annually. Psychotropic drugs are often prescribed as therapy, but side effects include dizziness and a higher risk of falls. In the United States, polypharmacy is also an issue for this age group, with more than 44% of men and over 57% of women currently taking five or more medications. Ironically, a side effect of polypharmacy is cognitive impairment.
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Are customized routines really better than a standard protocol? One recent study posed this question in reference to tai chi: Is it better to offer a standard tai chi sequence or to individualize moves to a person’s needs?
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Hip fractures have serious consequences, including an increased risk of death within the first year following the accident. Findings from a recent study offer good news on the benefits of physical activity for postmenopausal women.
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These days, we hear a lot about the cognitive benefits of exercise. A recent research review examined 72 studies (including literature reviews and meta-analytic reviews) to clarify the relationship between exercise and cognition.
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Water exercise is a great alternative to treadmill or outdoor walking for people who experience discomfort when training on land.
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Serving cancer survivors is another area in which exercise is being acknowledged as an important part of the healthcare continuum. New guidelines, developed by an international group of experts, advise people living with cancer to avoid inactivity.
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A spotter’s gender does not influence bench press performance during a 1-RM testing protocol, according to a 2019 report in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research (2019; doi: 10.1519/JSC.0000000000003156) This is true whether the weightlifter is male or female.
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State-of-the-art cold-weather protective clothing adds a metabolic cost from the extra weight, independent of thermal effects, and you may not need bulk to optimize comfort and warmth, according to a study published in Applied Ergonomics (2020; 82, 102956).
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Health and wellness coaching has hit an important professional milestone. The AMA has officially recognized the role of health and wellness coaches as nonphysician healthcare professionals by approving procedural codes for tracking health and well-being coaching services. This means that health and wellness coaches who are certified by either the National Board of Health and Wellness Coaching (NBHWC) or by the National Commission for Health Education Credentialing Inc. are recognized as Category III healthcare professionals.
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In a review of 10 studies—published between 1950 and 2019—that included 3.8 million people, researchers found that dog owners had a 24% lower risk of dying than nonowners during follow-up periods averaging 10 years.
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How fast you walk at midlife may provide insight into your future physical and mental fitness. Researchers from Duke University in North Carolina and the University of Otago in New Zealand evaluated data from more than 1,000 male and female participants, who were assessed at intervals from birth to age 45 on factors including physical function, gait speed, aging pace and neurocognitive function.
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The mental aspect of strength training is often given short shrift, but now a systematic review has analyzed relevant research to determine which most benefits weightlifting performance: focusing externally on the intended weightlifting result, focusing internally on the body or having no specific focus.
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Here’s more good news for pregnant exercise enthusiasts. East Carolina University researchers found that women who did 50 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise three times per week during pregnancy had babies with better neuromotor skills at 1 month old than babies of mothers who did not exercise.
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A new study, conducted under the leadership of IDEA author and presenter Len Kravitz, PhD, compared cardiovascular and metabolic responses to two exercise protocols: (1) six bouts of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) followed by three rounds of circuit weight training (CWT) and (2) CWT rounds interspersed with HIIT bouts. Fourteen trained young men (ages 25.7 ± 4.4) participated in the study, completing each of the two programs 3 days apart.
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Noting that 1 in 5 Americans will be over 65 by 2030 and that skeletal mass, strength and functional loss represent health risks, the National Strength and Conditioning Association has released its first position stand on older-adult resistance training.
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