Programming
Sample Class: Seated Exercises for Older Adults
Older adults are more susceptible to deficits in cardiovascular fitness, muscle mass, strength and power, which may ultimately lead to losses in physical function. The following chair-based format focuses on improving outcomes for older participants, especially those who may need the support of a chair during exercise. Ready, Set, Sit! offers the variety of three 15-minute training segments (cardiovascular, high intensity and strength/power), while targeting important components that boost overall function.
Complex Training: Pairing for Power
If you work with athletes, you’ve likely run into the challenge of how to incorporate power components into their already-packed training schedules. Whether you’re working with a clutch outfielder, a center or a lineman, your client’s athletic skills need refinement, and power is one aspect that requires attention. Trainers typically program resistance training to develop strength and plyometric drills to improve speed.
Sample Class: Every Minute on the Minute
If you enjoy teaching (and doing) high-intensity classes, this workout is for you! The “every minute on the minute” (EMOM) protocol is fun, fast-moving and challenging. You start a predetermined number of reps at the top of a minute and rest for the time you have left until the next minute begins.
Gamify the Fitness Class Cooldown
There are 5 minutes left in your class, the energy is high, and everyone is sweating and having a great time. As you wrap up the last set, participants cheer and exchange high-fives to celebrate another awesome workout. You turn the music down to prepare for the cooldown, then you look up—and notice that people are packing up and leaving.
Sample Class: Tabata for Every Rider
This indoor cycling routine introduces Tabata-inspired intervals that provide a great workout for both beginner and advanced cyclists.
Try Different Plank Variations in Your Class
Forearm plank, side plank, plank with hip dips—all are group exercise favorites. The plank is one of the most familiar and effective choices for core work, and it’s an easy addition. However, how many times can you program that same old plank? Fortunately, with a little creativity, a basic plank can be amazingly versatile. Just add simple movements and a little resistance to make an already challenging move even more interesting and effective.
2019 IDEA® World Convention: Igniting Passion With Purpose!
Purpose, passion and people! The fitness industry is all about forging relationships that lift others up. Fitness professionals have energy to spare, and they are dedicated to mentoring new generations of pros, networking with peers, and motivating clients and participants every day.
Sample Class: EMOM Workout
If you enjoy teaching high-intensity classes, this fun, fast-moving and challenging EMOM workout is for you!
Using Anti-Rotation to Coach Rotation
When you watch someone hit a golf ball, throw a punch or simply retrieve groceries from the car, it’s evident that human movement occurs in all three planes of motion. A review of basic core anatomy—major muscles attached to the trunk, above the ischial tuberosity and below the superior aspect of the sternum—reveals that 87.5% of the core muscles are oriented either diagonally or horizontally, and one action that these muscles perform is rotation (Santana 2000).
Winning Combination: Mindfulness and Strength
If you teach high-intensity classes, you may have noticed that many of your devoted students don’t take advantage of gentler options, such as restorative yoga, foam rolling or low-impact classes. Cross-training is necessary for peak fitness and reduced injury risk, yet persuading participants to try something new or different is not so easy. This class, Mindfulness and Strength, prioritizes mindfulness and flexibility.
Beat the Summer Lull at Your Fitness Business
Summer is here, which for many fitness businesses means downtime at their studio or gym. As a studio owner myself, I’ve experienced what seems like “The Endless Summer,” too.
Long gone are the days of resolutions and defined schedules. Instead, clients are away on vacation, taking care of kiddos on summer break, spending more time outdoors—and, for some, all of the above.
Reaching Millennial Moms
Are you leaning into the rise of millennial moms? These women are part of a generation that’s expected, as of this year, to surpass baby boomers as the nation’s largest age demographic. The 83 million 17- to 36-year-old “millennial” men and women in the United States—combined with Generation Xers—account for 80% of the fitness dollars spent in clubs (Lexington Law 2019; Les Mills 2017). Already fitness consumers, millennial women are becoming mothers.
A Barre-Cardio-Core Class
When you take the strong, efficient movements of barre and mix in cardiovascular intensity and a comprehensive core routine, you get a winning combination for a full-body workout that appeals to a wide variety of people. Traditional barre classes use small, repetitive movements from a standing posture to work on balance while strengthening the lower body. Simultaneously, the upper body receives graceful range-of-motion benefits.
Have a Ball Workout
This fun format incorporates exercise balls into cardiovascular and strength intervals. Each 8-minute round uses either a stability ball or a medicine ball, 4 minutes of high-intensity cardio training (combined), and about 4 minutes of strength-focused work (combined). For those who also enjoy a core challenge, this class delivers.
Sample Class: Barre-Cardio-Core
When you take the strong, efficient movements of barre and mix in cardiovascular intensity and a comprehensive core routine, you get a winning combination that appeals to a wide variety of people. Traditional barre classes use small, repetitive movements from a standing posture to work on balance while strengthening the lower body. Simultaneously, the upper body receives graceful range-of-motion benefits. These movements prepare the body to progress to more intense cardio work, and the core section challenges the center from all directions.
Outdoor Workouts Without Equipment
It’s that time of year when springtime reinvigorates clients and participants, coaxing them to come out of hibernation and play. Why not leave the fluorescent lights behind and take class outside? Parks, fields, even parking lots are great places to lead outdoor workouts. There are options for everyone—and you don’t have to lug around a bunch of equipment, either. Maximize your time and space by incorporating simple, effective body-weight exercises that improve strength, speed, power and flexibility.
Kickin’ Cooldown: Post-Kickboxing Stretches
Kickboxing is an empowering class that builds confidence and improves balance, cardiovascular endurance, proprioception, strength and dynamic flexibility. It’s an effective total-body workout, especially when taught correctly, with key tenets in mind. Some say kickboxing is on the downswing; however, it’s possible that any decline in popularity is due, not to the format itself, but to how it’s being taught (or mistaught). It continues to be a staple in many facilities.
Sample Class: Mindfulness and Strength
If you teach high-intensity classes, you may have noticed that many of your devoted students don’t take advantage of gentler options, such as restorative yoga, foam rolling or low-impact classes. Cross-training is necessary for peak fitness and reduced injury risk, yet persuading participants to try something new or different is not so easy. This class, Mindfulness and Strength, prioritizes mindfulness and flexibility.
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.
Variable Deadlifts & Deadshifts
We define what variable deadlifts are and address the need for variable lifting, as well as the deadlift’s forgotten cousin, the deadshift.
