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Personal training is a popular activity because it helps clients achieve their goals. Although a new membership package may include several personal training sessions, over time the client pays extra for personal training. Often, businesses split the fee with the trainer.
Read MoreExplorers once searched for the fountain of youth, and old legends tell of magic potions that keep
people young. The ancient questions—Why do people grow old? How can we live longer?—still
fascinate people, including the
scientists who study aging (gerontologists). But their most important question is this: How can people stay healthy and independent as they grow older?
Working with a group of seniors offers many unique challenges and innumerable rewards. Designing a safe, appropriate and enjoyable program for this special population takes specific training, experience and planning that go beyond the physical aspects of the workout. Seniors face losses of many kinds and are often dealing with emotional issues that require your involvement. It is quite common, for example, to have a class member who is caring for an ailing spouse or grieving over the recent death of a loved one.
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To Be Healthy…Be FitSMM survey of more than 7,600 U.S. schoolchildren ages nine to 16 revealed some sobering trends. It showed that children eat the recommended daily amount of vegetables less than half of the time and that a fourth of them do not floss their teeth at all. A third of the students surveyed…
Read MoreAs in years past, the American Dietetic Association (ADA) Conference, held October 19 through 22, 2002, provided attendees plenty of food for thought. The following session topics were among those of most interest to health and fitness professionals.
Read MoreThe quantity of media reports on nutrition and weight management seems only to increase every year. Research in nutrition, as in most sciences, is leaping at such a rate that while the body of knowledge is expanding, the interrelations being uncovered are not always fully understood.
Read MoreYou’ve probably seen it and even tried some moves on it within the past year, but have you considered the functional training implications of the little blue half-dome called BOSU? If you haven’t, it may be time to invest a bit of brain power to customize a program for yourself and those clients who say…
Read MoreQ:A:Burnout: Old topic for many instructors, but new to me! What can I do to overcome the burned-out feeling I’ve had lately when teaching? I can’t afford to take a break from instructing fitness classes. Plus, my club is facing a real instructor shortage right now. So, what else can I do to get out of my blah rut and be excited again about my classes?
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Getting new certifications is always a great way to leverage downtime into new revenue sources, and one area to consider seriously is massage therapy. In early August 2002, the American Massage Therapy Association (AMTA) asked 511 American men and 510 American women about their experiences with and thoughts on massage therapy. Their responses suggest that…
Read MoreIt’s no secret that the success of a fitness business relies on the people who work in it. A business with modern equipment, a desirable location and plenty of parking still needs creative and attentive staff who can keep people exercising. The good news is that, even though the overall U.S. economy has been lagging,…
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Vacation. For most, the word evokes images of sunny beaches, ski slopes and drinks with tiny umbrellas in them. However, for personal trainers, it conjures images of bills piling up because of income loss. Whether you or your clients take a trip, the result for you is the same: diminished finances. Many trainers simply adjust…
Read MoreQ:My director knows our studio microphone is broken and agrees we need to fix it right away. She says she has requested a repair. Yet 3 weeks have elapsed, and nothing
has been resolved. Meanwhile, my voice
is shot. If I refuse to teach until the mike is repaired, I will be considered a problem instructor. But if I continue to teach without a mike, my voice will suffer even more. What should I do?
You want to exercise regularly, but you keep encountering roadblocks—those persuasive excuses you come up with for not sticking to your plan. To make exercise part of your life, you need to identify your roadblocks and find ways to move beyond them. Sherri McMillan, MSc, co-owner of Northwest Personal Training & Fitness Education in Vancouver, Washington, and 1998 IDEA Personal Trainer of the Year, offers some help:
Read MoreDefining the Problem
Instructors who field desperate questions from participants about spot reducing and calorie burning know firsthand about people’s preoccupation with body image. And negative body perception runs rampant in our own industry.
Read MoreWhat Exactly Is the Core Board?
The new core board program and equipment developed by Reebok offer users three-dimensional motion on an oblong platform. The platform has feet that hold the board in place on the floor while the platform itself reacts to movement. Participants must adjust their balance in response to the
Read MoreSomething is amiss in our industry. Despite constant confirmation that physical activity improves health, our population is getting less and less fit. According to retention and adherence expert Rod Dishman, PhD, head of the exercise psychology lab at the University of Georgia, exercise habits haven’t changed much in the past 15 years. Dishman’s research indicates that 50 percent of new exercisers still drop out within six months of starting
Read MoreStudies have shown that seven out of 10 people who start an exercise program drop out within a few months. One problem is that most people jump into exercise without doing any planning up front. They’re just not prepared for the commitment involved. Are you ready to make exercise part of your lifestyle?
Read MoreStrategically developing your fitness business is like planning a garden. A gardener has many elements to consider—location, climate, space—and the elements can go together different ways. There are as many “right” ways to put together fitness programs and equipment as there are garden styles. And like a gardener, you have the opportunity to change things around every year.
Read MoreArrgghh! Evaluation time again! I find the whole process of having my teaching performance evaluated so nerve-wracking and artificial. I worry beforehand about doing well; then I feel my evaluator cannot get a true picture of my long-term relationship with each class; and lastly, not much ever happens as a result of my evaluation. Any suggestions or subtle words of wisdom I can give to my director to make our time spent on evaluations more worthwhile? Do any instructors have successful experiences with performance evaluations they can share with me?
Read MoreEveryone wants to know them and to benefit from them. Fitness consumers demand them—except
for those who try to avoid them.
What are the newest fitness trends?, we ask.
A trend, according to Webster, is a “line
of general direction and movement” or a “current style or preference.” Being trendy
is being fashionable. And in fitness, there can be a lot of fashion!
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