Technology
Question of the Month
dietary apps or food trackers to your clients?
Please share what apps you’re working with, whether you prefer one app or device to another, and any successes you’ve had with clients.
We want to hear from you! Email executive editor Joy Keller, jkeller@ideafit.com.
Question of the Month
Do you make a point to limit social media use? If so, how do you think that has affected your personal and professional life?
Send your responses to Joy Keller, jkeller@ideafit.com.
Cutting Facebook Lowers Stress Levels
Need to cut some stress out of your life? Researchers from the University of Queensland in Australia say that taking breaks from Facebook can help.
Their study included 138 active Facebook users who were asked to either take a 5-day fast from the social media platform or maintain current usage. Each person self-reported on their well-being and stress levels and underwent salivary cortisol tests before and after the intervention.
Creating Blog Content That Drives Traffic to Your Site
If you own a fitness website, chances are you write a fitness blog and post it on the site. This is crucial for gaining new followers, new prospective customers and, eventually, new paying clients who will help your business grow.
Twitter’s Former CEO Shuts Down Fitness App Startup
Unable to solve the challenge of how to support positive behavioral change, Dick Costolo, former CEO of Twitter, decided in February to shut down Chorus, a social fitness app that began beta testing in April 2017. The app was designed to use a “chorus” of friends as team members and have them support each other in achieving self-proclaimed weekly fitness or other health-related goals.
Question of the Month
When you offer training advice to clients, are you discussing the significance of sleep? If yes, are you using sleep trackers and monitoring results? Please describe how you are educating clients regarding the role of sleep in effective training and weight management and share any success stories you have had.
Share your responses with executive editor Joy Keller, jkeller@ideafit.com.
Exergaming May Improve Independence Among Older Adults
Maybe you’ve thought about integrating exergaming—exercise combined with video games and other elements of technology—into some of your classes or sessions. Don’t forget to include older adults. A recent study found that seniors with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), a precursor to Alzheimer’s, showed significant improvement in certain complex thinking and memory skills after exergaming.
Wearable Heart Rate Trackers: Which Works Best?
How accurate are the latest wearable heart rate trackers?
That’s an important question amid the flourishing demand for wearable fitness devices and wrist-worn heart rate monitors. Approximately 1 in 6 consumers in the U.S. uses some type of wearable technology, such as a fitness band or a smartwatch (Piwek et al. 2016). Industry research from 5 years ago predicted sales of 110 million wearable devices by 2018, but shipments of 115.4 million in 2017 have already outpaced that projection (Piwek et al. 2016; IDC 2018).
“Hearables” Are Here!
If you’re a fitness technology geek, here’s something to geek out on: By 2022, more than 285 million “hearables” could be in use worldwide. According to a Juniper Research report, shipments of hearables plus clothing-based wearables are expected to increase more than 60% every year between 2018 and 2022.
Activity Tracker Usage Improves
The initial finding—that people stop using their fitness trackers after the first 6 months—seems to be evolving. In a new study by insurance company Humana, 80% of participants in a structured program were still using activity trackers after 6 months. Researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia found that game design elements—such as points, levels, badges and financial incentives—helped to keep users active.
Question of the Month
What apps do you use to improve your productivity?
Helpful Productivity Apps
Do you struggle to stay focused or cross off items on your to-do list? There are apps for that. Here, five successful business owners share their favorite apps for getting things done:
Selfies, Weight Loss and Virtual Support
Social media and selfie photos can play a positive role in helping people achieve weightloss goals, according to a study published in the Journal of Interactive Marketing in 2017.
MyPlate Goes Seasonal
Looking for new nutrition tools and resources to share with clients? MyPlate has launched seasonal resources for nutrition and health professionals to share with clients. Jump into spring with gardening resources and ideas for using homegrown herbs in cooking, and sample Earth Day activities, farmers’ market resources, and tips for prepping potlucks and parties.
Learn more at choosemyplate.gov/seasonal.
Healthy-Eating Blogs
Thinking of starting a nutrition or healthy-eating blog? Start by knowing the data on what end users find most useful.
Healthiest and Unhealthiest States
America’s Health Rankings® has released its annual report, which ranks each state’s health based on 35 factors, including behaviors, community and environment, policy, clinical care, and outcomes data. Now in its 28th year, the report has two primary goals: to provide a benchmark for states and to promote action to improve the health of citizens.
According to the data, these are the five healthiest states:
1. Massachusetts
2. Hawaii
3. Vermont
4. Utah
5. Connecticut
On This Day in Fitness History
The first-ever Winter Olympics were held January 25–February 5, 1924, in Chamonix, France. The event involved eight sports and just over 250 athletes.
Recovery Tech—An Array of New Products, Services and Centers
New technologies, products and services are boosting the exercise-recovery business. What’s going on here?
The rising popularity of wearable devices is making people much more aware of their performance.
High-intensity interval training remains one of the most popular kinds of exercise.
Everyday exercisers can now afford treatments that were formerly reserved for pro athletes.
The Importance of Introductory Offers
Early in my career as a personal trainer, I was confused as to why my client base was growing at a glacial speed. After all, I had spent years preparing, applying principles, learning program design and getting certified so that I could have a career that would change people’s lives for the better.
Product Showcase
Nutrition By The Book
The Endurance Training Diet & Cookbook (Harmony 2017) by Jesse Kropelnicki is both a cookbook and a training nutrition manual. Kropelnicki shares his personal program of optimized nutrition, including 70 recipes that put his concepts into practice. The book provides nutrition information for distance runners, cyclists and triathletes and explores guidelines for what to eat pre-workout, post-workout and during recovery. There’s also a game plan for race-day nutrition.