Research & Resources
Is the Glass Half-Full?
One’s outlook on life may have a significant impact on heart health. Optimism is linked with a longer life and a lower risk of cardiovascular events.
Seeking Relief From Digital Distraction?
As fitness professionals, we face the challenge of competing for our clients’ attention. People often have a difficult time focusing on the present moment and are unwilling to disconnect. Research reveals what neuroscientists and psychologists have identified about technology-addicted behavior and which activities can provide relief. Read on to gather information and tips for you and your clients.
Prebiotics for Better Sleep
Prebiotics are best known for supporting gut health, but they can also improve sleep and enhance stress resilience, according to a study published in Scientific Reports. Researchers from the University of Colorado Boulder say prebiotics—dietary fibers that nourish the gut’s microbiome—create a symbiotic relationship with the body that affects the brain.
Life Purpose Is Linked With Longevity
Link up with clear goals and find your wellness groove. In a study of nearly 7,000 American participants over age 50, researchers found that having a strong sense of purpose in life was linked with a lower rate of death from all causes.
Yoga Boosts Brain Fitness
Practicing yoga benefits both brain structure and function by increasing grey matter in brain regions responsible for memory recall and emotion regulation, among other changes, according to research findings published in Brain Plasticity (2019; doi:10.3233/BPL-190084). Researchers at the University of Illinois and Wayne State University reviewed 11 studies that examined the effects of yoga on brain structures, function and cerebral blood flow.
Overtraining Tires Mind and Body
Here’s another reason to encourage exercise enthusiasts not to overtrain. New research shows that cognitive fatigue is as much an effect of overtraining as physical fatigue.
The Best Way to Use Ice Baths
If repairing and building muscle is a primary goal, people may want to think twice about taking an ice bath after training. New research conducted at Maastricht University in the Netherlands shows that cold-water immersion during recovery from resistance-type exercise reduces muscles’ ability to take up protein for repair and to synthesize protein to muscle building.
Your Gut Microbiome and Its Connection to Sleep
The gut and sleep? There is more to it than munching too many chips while binge-watching a favorite show and then tossing and turning all night. Home to thousands of bacteria that make up the microbiome, the gut affects appetite, metabolism, weight management, and whether or not a sound sleep arrives at night. To understand how nutrition, the gut and sleep interact, take a closer look at the purpose and physiology of sleep. Then discover the intricate web that ties together food and drink, the gut, and the health benefits of sleep.
Using Periodization to Promote Optimal Recovery
High-intensity interval training and variably challenging, high-intensity workout programs continue to be popular because they produce the results that clients want. High-intensity exercises can be effective, but they place a lot of stress on the physiological systems of the body. Proper recovery is therefore important.
The Forgiveness Factor
Do you know that forgiving others can help your mind and your body? Forgiveness is universally accepted throughout the world’s religious and spiritual practices. Learn what the research says about forgiveness, how you can achieve it for yourself and how you can introduce the concept to clients.
Outdoor Mindful Movement Training
Ready to give your mindful movement activities an additional boost? Look for ways to take them outdoors. Findings from a systematic review published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (2019; 16 [17], pii E3202) showed that nature-based mindfulness activities have positive mind, body and social effects.
Training Happy for Positive Behavioral Change
Are happiness exercises part of your training program design? Does that question seem odd? As you embark on a new year of helping clients work toward their fitness resolutions, this is the perfect time to pause and consider how you can use every tool at your disposal to make sure people succeed. Your toolbox includes harnessing the power of positivity to promote physical activity.
HIIT and Memory in Older Adults
High-intensity workouts may improve memory performance in older adults, according to a study published in the journal Applied Physiology, Nutrition and Metabolism. The findings may be critical for developing new treatment plans for dementia and cognitive decline.
Career Advancement for Everyone
Thousands of fitness professionals consider the IDEA World Convention to be the best investment they can make to further their careers. That’s largely because the event delivers robust, multilevel education covering all facets of the industry. But there’s more to it than that, according to fitness industry veteran and this year’s IDEA Jack LaLanne Award recipient, Jay Blahnik.
Ignite Your Passion and Watch Your Career Thrive at the 2019 IDEA® World Convention
You’re a forward-thinking, highly skilled professional who works tirelessly to Inspire the World to Fitness®. After hustling for clients, teaching countless classes and paying bills, the question is, what do you do for yourself to make sure the passion that drove you to become a fitness leader continues to burn bright?
Succeed in the Business of Fitness
Learn the strategies to develop a club or studio that inspires, thrives and affords you the personal and professional life you’ve always wanted at the IDEA World Club & Studio Summit.
Heading into its fourth year, this Summit—on how to succeed in the business of fitness—has become its own conference thriving inside IDEA World. There seem to be events popping up all over the country for people who run clubs and studios.
Finding the Right Credential: Meeting Your Potential
As your clients resolve to shed bad habits and holiday pounds, you probably have a few personal goals of your own this year. Maybe you want to better help clients in the new year or advance your career. Maybe you want to start your own business or increase your earning potential.
2018 IDEA® World Scholarship Recipients
In partnership with ACE, IDEA co-founders Kathie and Peter Davis have established the IDEA World Scholarship Fund, which provides selected recipients with a registration for the event as well as financial assistance for related travel expenses.
Learn, Connect and Thrive at the IDEA® World Convention
Education is the foundation of the IDEA World Convention, but this fitness event offers plenty more than stellar instruction. For Jonathan Bernath, publicist-turned-personal-trainer, it’s where he discovered the “fitness family” that would guide him in his new career.
Programming to Prevent ACL Injury
Your new client, 16-year-old Alexis, is a competitive athlete who wants you to design a fitness program that will help her prevent a second anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tear. She partially tore her ACL while playing soccer and rehabbed it with a physical therapist, who cleared her to play again. Alexis returned to spring softball without an issue, but she would like to be as fully prepared as possible for the upcoming fall soccer season. She hopes to be recruited to play in college, but her parents are concerned she will sustain another ACL injury, perhaps a more severe one.
