Program Design/Ex Rx/Sample Workouts
A Scientific Approach to Core Training
Core training can improve functional capacity and reduce injury potential. But accurately programming a successful, tailored and progressive core- training protocol can be a complicated endeavor. Now, researchers from Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland, have developed a model they hope gives fitness pros a solid platform to work from.
The Best Exercise to Prevent Mental Decline
Exercise can boost brain health and slow cognitive decline. One form of exercise in particular seems to produce the best benefits—dancing!
Exercise Responses Vary Among Women
A new study from Bangor University in Wales affirms that body type influences a woman’s response to exercise, potentially affecting weight management success.
Female participants were assigned to either a 4-week or 8-week circuit training intervention. The women met three times per week and exercised at 50%–90% VO2 peak for 45–90 minutes per session. They were instructed not to diverge from their usual diets.
How Older Adults Can Boost Psychological Well-Being
Researchers from Finland have determined that older adults who pump iron can build more than muscle: Resistance training can strengthen their outlook on life. The scientists say frequency is an important variable in maximizing benefits.
Sample Class: Functional-Impact Fun!
Get participants jumping with a combination of functional fitness movements and plyometric exercises that create an intense and enjoyable interval workout. The functional moves build strength and coordination, while the plyometric drills focus on muscle power and cardiovascular fitness. Together, they provide a total-body conditioning workout.
Functional-Impact Fun! Details:
Goal/emphasis: total-body fitness
Total time: 45–60 minutes
Community Cooldown
Life isn’t predictable, so why should our movements be? Add fun games to your cooldowns to help active agers learn to react to on-the-spot activities in a functional way. The following games include a social neuroscience component that builds camaraderie, upgrades reaction time and improves balance. Try them toward the end of class to get seniors on the same page.
Storks and Gazelles
Purpose: to train gait efficiency and reaction time.
Resistance Training for Youth: 10 Tips for Success
Resistance training for youth can be a polarizing topic, mostly because of misconceptions about safety, injury rates and training techniques. Though parents and trainers alike often worry about the hazards of youth resistance training, research shows that it has a host of benefits—if it’s done properly.
Combined Training for Fitness and Weight Loss Clients
In today’s marketplace, knowing how to offer combined training is a must-have skill. People want it all—cardiovascular, strength and flexibility training—in just 50 minutes.
Most Popular Club Activities
The three types of workout equipment used most often in health clubs in 2016 were treadmills, resistance machines and free weights, according to the IHRSA 2017 Health Club Consumer Report. Among group exercise and training programs, yoga topped the list, with 36% of members reporting participation. Stretching (24%) and calisthenics (23%) ranked second and third.
The Anatomy of Functional Training Risks
Many clients can’t seem to get enough of workouts that meld functional movements with high-intensity resistance training. Indeed, workouts using dynamic, high-intensity, full-body movements are great for strength and health—provided the body functions properly and exercisers use correct technique.
Creative Ideas That Inspire
Camp 4 at Mountain Challenge in Maryville, Tennessee, is an outdoor fitness facility inspired by Yosemite and created to counteract the obesity and inactivity epidemic. Once a week, Mountain Challenge’s backyard is open for recreational exercise and includes access to climbing, bouldering, group fitness classes and a yoga deck, as well as resistance bands and kettlebells for customized workouts. Student interns from the local college’s exercise science and physical education departments oversee the activities and help design programs.
Cultivate Joy Through Mindfulness
It’s a busy, technology-dominated world—and most of us are continually spinning, twisting and turning in an effort to “get things done” and “produce.” We work, we raise families, we have countless responsibilities. The truth is, this is distracted living, and it raises stress levels, lowers productivity and interferes with our ability to focus. When we live this way, we fail to cultivate a sense of contentment and joy.
Personal Experience Inspires Client Success
client: John | personal trainer: Tony Phillips, president, Custom Fitness Solutions | location: Cookeville, Tennessee
Cultivating a Home Yoga Practice
Find out why a home yoga practice can benefit your students, how to encourage them to create the space, and what will help them sustain it.
The Secrets to Building a Successful Business and a Prolific Career
When Jake Trione, owner of TriAffect Fitness, Health and Wellness in Houston, thought about what he wanted to do after 13 years of active duty in the United States Coast Guard, he knew he’d become a personal trainer. “I thought to myself, ‘If I am serious, I should find the most successful professionals in the business and spend time with them,’” he says.
Water Fitness Magic: Method, Modeling and Music
Something magical happens when you mix exercise with water. The pool can transform physical activity into something more enjoyable, safe and effective for people of all ages and fitness levels. Buoyancy is a boon to individuals with musculoskeletal issues or other health considerations; it reduces the effects of gravity on weight-bearing joints and provides a supportive, low-impact environment for improving body composition, cardiorespiratory endurance, and muscular strength and flexibility, among other health parameters.
Sample Class: Sweat, Strength & Stretch: S3
Keep participants engaged and active with this cardio, strength and yoga fusion workout.
Group fitness fans love creative total-body workouts, and this class perfectly fits the bill by combining 3-minute intervals of cardio, strength and yoga into one fun, balanced experience. Customize this template to play to your strengths as a teacher and get people moving!
Partner Up to Warm Up
Have you noticed the latest trend? Instructors are incorporating partner work to add intensity, motivation and a sense of community. Prepare your class for success by teaming people up during the warmup. Below are a few full-body exercises that hit the upper body, lower body and core in a coordinated movement pattern. Before you start, get everyone in the “sidekick spirit” with these tips:
Cue participants to find a partner as they enter the room.
50 Ways to Cut Calories
For the first time ever, overeating is a larger problem than starvation among the world’s overall population (Buchanan & Sheffield 2017). Losing weight—and, perhaps more importantly, not regaining it—is a challenge facing millions of people worldwide. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), global obesity rates have nearly tripled since 1975. Further, 1.9 billion adults, 18 years and older, were overweight in 2016. Of these people, more than 650 million were obese (WHO 2017).
Lose Weight, Save Money
A new report from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health suggests
that people who are overweight or obese could potentially trade weight for cash.
Authors of the report produced a model linking body mass index, health outcomes and associated costs at various points in an adult’s life. For example, for a 40-year-old, having obesity (vs. normal weight) adds $15,024 in lifetime third-party payer costs, $16,400 in lifetime productivity losses and $31,447 in societal costs. For a person of that age, being overweight (vs.