Exercise/Class Formats
Reflective Practices That Strengthen Professional Growth
Fitness professionals spend their days empowering others – guiding clients through challenges, celebrating their wins, teaching new skills, and helping them become stronger and more confident. But while trainers excel…
Lifestyle Practices Like Exercise Can Reduce Dementia Prevalence
Losing cognitive function is not inevitable–exercise matters. Exercise is among the most important lifestyle strategies to help slow or prevent cognitive decline. In the United States, about one in five…
Resistance Training Improves Sleep
Study compares aerobic, strength and combination training on sleep quality. If you have an older client struggling with sleep issues, consider recommending strength training. A study published in Family Medicine…
The Fitness Professional’s Guide to Whole-Person Mental Wellbeing
Mental wellbeing is essential to living a meaningful, engaged and connected life. It influences how people process stress, maintain relationships, make decisions and participate in their communities. For fitness professionals,…
Walking and Chronic Low Back Pain
Regardless of pace, walking for longer periods helps people fight low back pain. While a quicker pace supports longevity and reduces risks of heart disease, new evidence suggests that longer…
Brisk Walking Adds More Benefits
A faster pace can help walkers live longer. Do you use fast walking in warm-ups or interval training? If so, you’re already helping clients build a skill that boosts longevity….
Meditation Apps Are Mainstreaming Mindfulness
Research review notes more than 300 million downloads. Have you asked your clients whether they are using a meditation app? According to a new review in American Psychologist (2025; doi:…
The Emerging Science of Interoception
Interoception – our internal sense of breath, heartbeat, pressure, tension and emotional shifts – has become a major point of interest in mind–body research. For fitness professionals, understanding this system…
Building a Holiday Wellness Survival Kit
The holiday season brings joy, tradition, and togetherness, but it also brings disruption. Your training routine, nutrition goals, sleep schedule and mental calm can be challenged by extra social obligations,…
Running Never Gets Old
Running is perhaps one of humanity’s most primal movements. Our ancestors ran chasing prey, fleeing danger and traversing terrain. Today it remains one of the simplest and most accessible forms…
Strength Training for Fall Sports: How Weekend Warriors Can Stay Injury-Free
For many weekend warriors, fall sports mean dusting off the cleats, joining recreational leagues, or jumping into pickup games. But without preparation, these spurts of activity can put stress on…
The Science of Stretching Before Your Workout: Help or Hinder?
For years, athletes and fitness enthusiasts were told to hold long stretches before exercise to “loosen up” and prevent injury. Recent research, however, suggests that the type of stretching matters…
Gratitude & Movement: A Simple Fall Practice
Autumn is a season of transition: cooler mornings, shifting light, and a natural slowing of pace. It is also a season that invites reflection. Pairing gratitude with movement offers a…
Obstacle Courses – Historical Roots to Contemporary Times
In the quest for fresh new exercise programs, fitness professionals and personal trainers are rediscovering the benefits of obstacle courses, an exercise workout with deep roots in fitness history. Indeed,…
Mid-Life Physical Activity and Alzheimer’s Disease
Study finds compelling reasons to start or increase a mid-life fitness program. Looking for new ways to motivate your mid-life clients? Let them know that regular physical activity during midlife…
The Bender Ball™: The Crunch-less Core
Leslee Bender has been a leader in the fitness industry for over four decades and was a pioneer in creative functional training, even in the early years of its development….
The Renaissance of Mental Wellness
In recent years, mental wellness has profoundly transformed from an afterthought in the fitness industry to a cornerstone of holistic health programming. This renaissance in mental wellness invites fitness professionals…
New study shows Tai Chi’s power to create structural and functional changes in the brain.
Fitness pros have long understood the benefits of mind-body exercise; now, new research highlights Tai Chi as a particularly effective, non-pharmaceutical strategy that may help clients combat anxiety and stress….
Resistance Training for Cardiometabolic Health
New meta-analysis shows major benefits for clients with diabetes and obesity. A new research review confirms what many fitness pros know – resistance training delivers measurable health improvements, especially for…
Exercise Activates Brain-Protective Cells
Study identifies mechanisms for how physical activity may prevent Alzheimer’s disease. New research reveals why exercise protects brain health. It activates specific brain cells in the hippocampus, the brain’s center…