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Emptying Your (Head) Trash

“There just aren’t enough hours in the day to exercise!” “My injuries prevent me from doing yoga now that I am older.” “I tried Pilates once, and it didn’t do any good.”

10 Tips for Fall Fitness

How many New Year's Eves have you spent sipping champagne and vowing to get more fit in the coming year? And how many times have you failed to follow through? "December 31 over a drink is too late to set goals and make promises," says Justin Price, owner of The Biomechanics, a personal training and wellness coaching facility in San Diego, Calif. Fall, on …

Honoring the Whole Person

Almost a decade ago, IDEA member (21 years and counting) Molly Lynn had a pivotal discussion about the specialized health and fitness needs of people in her age group (mid to late 70s and older). Lynn, who lives in St. Paul, Minnesota, and a friend agreed that fitness professionals offered very few programs for much older adults. They decided they would be the ones to meet the challenge. …

Being Sedentary May Be Genetic

A study conducted by The American Physiological Society has raised interesting questions about why some people seem to be born to move while others prefer to hibernate like sleeping bears. Apparently, being a couch potato may be hard-wired into the brain, according to the researchers’ findings, which were published on the society’s website (a href=”www.the-aps.org/press/journ…

A Better Habit

Nancy Jerominski hasn’t always been the healthy powerhouse she is today. When her clients share setbacks with her, large or small, she gets it. She really gets it. The Seattle resident and owner of NLJ Fitness and Wellness Consulting has taken the long road to wellness herself. While Jerominski got a head start in the fitness industry in the late 1970s, she took an
alcohol-…

Remembering a Forgotten Population

For weeks, IDEA member James L. Bertram had gently tried to encourage Ann to join one of his exercise classes. “I’m too old to exercise,” she’d inevitably reply. But Bertram, who lives in Little Egg Harbor, New Jersey, didn’t want to give up on the 83-year-old. He knew from experience teaching other assisted-living residents that his program would enliven her…

Most Walkable Cities

Most Walkable Cities

If you’re traveling for the holidays, see if your destination is on AAA’s list of North America’s Top 10 Most Walkable Cities and, if so, plan to leave your car keys at the hotel:
Old Town Alexandria, Virginia
Boston
New Orleans, Louisiana
Downtown Los Angel…

Moving Beyond Barriers

Your years of experience and training have prepared you to design the best exercise plans. You know how to get results; it’s just not always easy to inspire clients in a way that truly motivates them. Why is it that Charles starts strong, only to burn out after three sessions? Is there a reason Melanie can commit to exercise only if the weather’s good? By evaluating what your cli…

Totally Taken Care Of

San Diego–based exercise equipment manufacturer and IDEA World Fitness® exhibitor efi Sports Medicine has been lending its muscle to men and women in the armed forces by donating more than 150 of its Total Gym machines to troops stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Luke Paulino, Private First Class with the U.S. Army 2nd Platoon, 792nd Chemical Comp…

Stability Ball Training for Sedentary Men and Women

Stability ball training has been used for many years to improve spinal stability and to reduce the risk of back pain. It is frequently employed in both the physical therapy and fitness settings. From an anatomical perspective, clinicians link the mechanisms of spinal stability to the trunk muscles, which are often grouped into two categories: the global muscle system and the local …

Rural Rewards

Do you ever get frustrated because of poor attendance in your group exercise classes? Stop and think for a moment about what it would be like from a completely different point of view. What if you were a participant who didn’t have the option of going to a group fitness class? Not because you didn’t have a car or the motivation, but because you lived in a rural area and th…

Future Classrooms May Be More Active

Do children really need to sit at desks while they learn? Not necessarily, say some forward-thinking researchers. In fact, the classroom of the future may even incorporate movement into regular lessons. Mayo Clinic obesity researcher James Levine, MD, PhD, and child researcher Lorraine Lanningham-Foster, PhD, are testing a radical concept: Together they have designed what they believe to be the…

Do You Have a Particular Client Who Inspires You? Why?

I have been fortunate enough to help a diverse group of people achieve their potential. Each of them has fueled the desire in me to continue doing my best. Reflecting on the inspiring clients I work with at this time, I must confess that I have to “cheat” and select n…

Fitness for All

The 2005 Center for the Advancement of Health briefing &ld…

A Meaningful Methodology

When Omar Burgos is confronted with a challenge, his mind goes into creative overdrive. The 20-year fitness veteran from Bogotá, Colombia, sees a pyramid of possibilities where others see an empty lot. His academic prowess, love for dance and movement, and compassion for others combine to form a nonstop powerhouse. This drive served him well when he started working at Compensar, a not…

Remembering How to Play

What do parents say is the main reason their children are overweight? According to an AP-KOL poll on attitudes about childhood obesity (October, 2005), of the 21% of parents surveyed who admitted their children were overweight, 38% said that lack of exercise was the main culprit. Easy access to junk food came in a close second, followed by genetics and eating unhealthy food. The telephone in…

Plant the Seed, Watch It Grow

During his welcome inspiration address at 2005 IDEA Fitness Fusion—Chicago® last April, Jay Blahnik,1996 IDEA Fitness Instructor of the Year and senior education consultant for the Nautilus Institute™, talked about how fitness professionals are on the front line of health promotion and advocacy. He referred to the fitness industry as “plan A&rdq…