Equipment
Asymmetrical Bar Training
Asymmetrical bar training (ABT) can help clients enhance their sense of balance while improving their core strength and rotational power.
Does Exercise Order Really Matter in Resistance Training?
Research on resistance training design finds that the chief variables include intensity, volume, recovery between sets and exercises, workout frequency, equipment and speed of movement (Sima?o et al. 2012).
Which Is Best for Hormones: The Bar or the Machine?
Testosterone and growth hormone are associated with strength and muscle gains. But what is the best training method for eliciting an acute hormone response? A study published in the Journal of the National Strength and Conditioning Association (2104; 28 [4], 1032–40) contributes to this debate.
Raising the Bar
Asymmetrical bar training (ABT) can help clients enhance their sense of balance while improving their core strength and rotational power.
How To Be A Sound Friend
As a group fitness instructor, you are the first line of defense when it comes to sound safety. Excessive noise can not only drive away customers but can also damage the ear drum.
Use the following tips to make sure you and your fitness facility are staying within safe sound-level parameters.
Props for a Great Pilates Workout
Pilates instructors know that the key to a stimulating workout is to challenge students by mixing things up, and small props are effective tools for injecting variety.
Miniball on the Mat: Core Stability Creates Flexibility?
Pilates is touted as one of the most successful methods for increasing core stability and flexibility.
Medicine Ball Moves for the Core
Did you know that training your core (your body minus arms and legs) is important to maintaining a healthy, strong body? Looking for some new core exercises? Want to add new “twists” to core exercises using fundamental, but often underused, equipment?
Medicine balls have been around for years and are a staple in boxing and sports performance communities. If you’d like to incorporate medicine balls into your workout program, check out these variations from Dan Bettcher, MS, a Muay Thai practitioner and cofounder of KOR Strength and Conditioning in San Diego.
Core Progressions on the Reformer
The core plays an essential role in everyday activities. It facilitates movement and assists with posture, stabilization and support. Learning to use the core as a dynamic center is the key to efficient, safe and balanced movement.
Biomechanics of Running In Various Conditions
Barefoot running has become increasingly popular. Many runners turn to minimalist footwear in the hope of mimicking barefoot running, but with more protection. But is running in minimalist shoes biomechanically similar to going barefoot?
No, say researchers from various Australian universities.
The Benefits of Kettlebells
Over the past several years, kettlebells have emerged (or reemerged) as a prominent fixture in fitness facilities. But are these crude tools worth their pood?*
To learn about the benefits of kettlebells, researchers enlisted by the American Council on Exercise studied 30 participants, who were divided into two groups—an exercise group and a nonexercise control group. Prior to the trials, the exercisers completed two introductory kettlebell sessions to
learn form and technique; they practiced one- and two-handed swings, snatches and other movements.
Facility Design and Construction 101, Part One
Shiny, solid floors. An upgraded stereo and microphone system. Brand-new equipment. Many fitness facility managers look around their club and can rapidly envision what needs to be acquired or improved.
Lower-Body Progressions on the Reformer
Many Pilates clients want to develop lower-body strength and definition, and the reformer is a perfect piece of equipment to help them meet this goal. Strong hamstrings, gluteals, quadriceps, adductors and abductors provide power for athletic moves and functional activities.
Standing Work on the Reformer
?Standing work on the reformer offers a perfect way to improve overall balance and posture and is a great complement to any other workout or Pilates routine. In this article, you will learn how to introduce the classic standing work—with a contemporary twist—to clients at any level, and you’ll learn how to progress or regress moves for those who need more or less.
Purchasing Used Fitness Equipment
Exercise equipment ranks high on the list of fitness facility costs. From navigating the maze of manufacturers to negotiating price and financing options, purchasing equipment for your club is a complex process.
Upper-Body Progressions on the Reformer
Developing upper-body strength and stability is often a challenge, especially for female clients. Balanced strength, stability and range of motion are critical for everyday movements.
Armchair Fitness?
We all know that too many people sit for much too long—and by doing so endanger their health. German researchers may have a solution to get people moving.
Kettlebells improve strength, Power
Kettlebell training has experienced a resurgence of late. Going by the physical improvements the training can offer, is its popularity warranted? The answer is yes, according to a study published recently in the Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research (2012; 26 [8], 2228–33).
The scientists’ goal was to determine what effects the kettlebell swing had on maximal and explosive strength. They employed half-squat
1-repetition maximum and vertical jump height as assessment markers.
Kettlebell Research Update
Kettlebells have seen growing popularity as a total-body training tool to improve cardiovascular health and musculoskeletal fitness. Yet for all the enthusiasm among personal trainers, experimental research on the effects of KB training was scant until last year, when studies began showing up in peer-reviewed journals. This column updates IFJ readers with recent research on KB training.
“What device is more effective at helping to smooth out fascia—a soft ball, a hard foam roller or a soft foam roller with bumps on it?”
This is a great question and one I get all the time. Different parts of the body respond to different degrees of pressure and firmness. Similarly, individuals respond in different ways to the firmness of the self-myofascial-release (SMR) tool they use. No matter whom you are working with, though, it is always a good idea to start them out with a soft ball (e.g., a tennis ball) so they can relax and ease into the new sensations of performing self-massage.