Inactive/Deconditioned
Mother-Daughter-Inspired Fitness
Chalene Johnson attributes her success in part to her mother. It’s not just the nurturing hand of love that gave Johnson, chief executive officer (CEO) of Powder Blue Productions and creator of Turbo Kick® and PiYo™, a head start in the world of fitness. Johnson’s mother, Marge Melvin, was one of the first Jazzercise® instructors in the state of Michigan.
Fitness With A French Twist
The French often participate in sports and other nontraditional “fitness” activities without joining a health club, notes Fred Hoffman, MEd, 2007 IDEA Fitness Instructor of the Year, director of International Services for the Club & Spa Synergy Group and fitness consultant for women’s marketing at Reebok France. “Hiking, walking and Nordic walking are popular, and many people ride bicycles,” he says. “Boxing, judo, karate and other martial arts are extremely popular for children, teenagers and young adults.
China’s Community Approach to Fitness
China is enthusiastically embracing the past and the future in its approach to fitness. “There are many ancient exercises with over a thousand years of history, such as tai chi,…
The Philippine Perspective
2009 will see a big boom for the Philippine fitness industry, says Cynthia L. Carrion, personal trainer to the country’s president, and undersecretary for the sports and wellness industry in the Philippine Department of Tourism. Why?
How to Change the World in 2009
Happy New Year! This year make it a resolution to bring about global fitness.
Exploring Egypt
As investment in corporate real estate and construction climbs in Egypt in 2009, so will the number of on-site gyms and spas, according to Tamer Farag of Cairo, chief executive…
A Second Chance at Health
Our industrialized world presents numerous opportunities to indulge. Humans wrestle with increased levels of saturated fat and salt, decreased levels of fiber and exercise, widespread use of alcohol and tobacco,…
Giving Back
Yvonne Jones, department head of health and fitness at Magdalena Ecke Family YMCA in Encinitas, California, describes herself as a “poster child” for the mentoring concept. In 14 years, Jones went from being a student in the back row to being instructor, coordinator, supervisor, director and then department head.
Boardroom Fitness Testing
Are you maximizing your potential in your health coaching business? Are you finding that individual coaching or personal training is not paying off financially or emotionally? Expand your horizons by diversifying your talents. Grow your revenue, motivation and message by bringing health coaching to corporations, executives and the public at large.
Positive Exercise for Plus-Size Women
Twenty-five years ago Debra Mazda, MEd,
of Mazda Motivations LLC, visited a health club and experienced firsthand the
feeling of not belonging. At age 21, she weighed over 300 pounds. Depressed and
battling high blood pressure, she decided to reinvent her life. “I was the only
seriously fat person in the gym,” she remembers. Undaunted, she sweated her way
through ae…
Meeting Future Needs
Kris Thomas knows group exercise, as she’s been involved with it in one form or another for 22 years. She brings a strong background in dance and movement,
along with h…
Inspiration Works Both Ways
Since introducing the Inspire the World
to Fitness® initiative in 2003,
IDEA members have sent in numerous motivational accounts of how they’ve helped
bring about positive change in others. Whether they trained a former
nonexerciser to run a marathon or modified a class so that a dis…
Seeking the Summit
When IDEA member Nancy Norris was 4 years old, her mother did something that set her life in motion, literally. “She enrolled me in a dance school, and I fell in love with dance,” says Norris, who lives in Grand Blanc, Michigan. Dance fulfilled an exercise niche way before fitness was “cool,” and Norris danced and taught dance classes until age 37, when something new caught her attention: aerob…
A Wide-Reaching Impact
Linda Dunn, MA, became a fitness professional by default. The Tuscaloosa, Alabama, resident couldn’t find a local group fitness class she liked after her regular teacher moved, so she decided to learn how to do it herself. More than 20 years later, and now retired from a job with the school system where she worked as a psychometrist and counselor, Dunn dedicates all of her time to fitness and w…
Best Fitness Benchmarks
If you’ve ever tried to set a fitness goal, you know it can be tricky business.
Set the bar too low and you may find you’re lacking motivation. Aim too high–think a four-minute mile–and you’re bound for disappointment.
So how do you set goals that are right for you? One way to go, fitness experts say, is to assess and record your baseline fitness scores for such ya…
The 25 Most Significant Health Benefits of Physical Activity & Exercise
People of all ages can improve the quality of their lives and reduce the risks of developing coronary heart disease, hypertension, some cancers and type 2 diabetes with ongoing participation in moderate physical activity and exercise. Daily exercise will also enhance one’s mental well-being and promote healthy musculoskeletal function throughout life. Although habitual physical activity is an a…
International Inspiration
Nothing fires up fitness professionals more than the thought of helping others discover the joy of living healthy, active lives. Individually, we do phenomenal work to make a difference in our communities. Universally, however, we can’t do it all alone: we need to connect with each other to share knowledge and information and to brainstorm new ways to reach the people we want to serve. The fabu…
Legalizing Longevity
Fitness professionals understand firsthand the transformat…
Always on the Line
As a child, IDEA member Sonya Bruton,
who lives in Apex, North Carolina, distinctly
remembers buying clothes from
the “chubby” section at Sears department
store, and how painful it was. Today, people
have a tough time imagining Bruton
as an overweight little girl, but she is the
same person who listens so well and
offers sound fitness advice. It is because
Bruton spent so many years devel…
Facilitating Fellowship
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