Archive for July 2009
Back Extension
STARTING POSITION
Begin standing with legs hip-distance apart, holding a golf club or Maple Roll-Up Pole straight out at chest level, and your arms shoulder-distance apart.
Read MoreCore Conditioning: 5 Partner Exercises
How do you transition students quickly from the main part of class to the core-conditioning exercises? With larger classes and limited space and equipment, you may want to add creative partner-based moves.
Read MoreMarathon Training 101
There are more than 300 marathons just in the United States each year, with hundreds of thousands of people running them. Chances are that one or two of your clients want to do one. So how do you train them for a marathon? Consider the following strategy.
Mileage
Read MoreYoga Teacher-Training Schools Facing Licensure
Yoga teacher-training schools have been subject to state licensure under statutes regulating vocational schools in a few states for some time, but this year has seen a spate of new licensing activity in various states across the country. This growing trend, which has sparked lively debate in the yoga community, reached critical mass recently in New York State.
Read MoreNegotiating Compensation (In A Recession)
What are your skills worth? Probably more than what your employer is paying you, right? While that might be true, it does not necessarily mean your employer wouldn’t like or want to pay you more; instead, it could be that the potential earnings from the service you provide limit what the company is able to pay. An increase in earnings has to be a win-win situation for both you and your employer. And then there’s the recession to consider.
Read More2009 IDEA Programs & Equipment Trends
This year our 14th annual survey went to club owners, fitness directors and other fitness professionals in the midst of a financially unstable economy. While the fitness market may not be booming, it seems to be at least stable, which is great news when businesses all around the globe are faltering. The really encouraging aspect of this year’s results is that the diversity of classes, equipment and programs offered has continued to increase.
Read Morefresh berries glazed with balsamic vinegar
Here’s a quick, healthy dessert to try while the berry harvest is still in full swing this summer. Once reduced, the balsamic vinegar glaze becomes sweet and syrupy, a perfect yet unexpected partner to the fresh raspberries and blackberries used in this recipe. You can also use strawberries, huckleberries or blueberries or whatever is in season locally.
4 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 teaspoons (tsp) agave nectar
1 cup fresh raspberries
The Future of Pilates
T“The Future of Pilates,” a unique, innovative and thought-provoking panel discussion, was presented to an overflowing room of enthusiastic attendees last September at the 2008 Inner IDEA Conference, held at the La Quinta Resort & Club near Palm Springs, California.
Read MoreGreen Up Your Fitness
Fitness professionals are already leaders in promoting health for the body and mind. Now, with the increased worldwide emphasis on sustainability and “green” practices, it is time for us to show our leadership skills in promoting practices that increase the health of our environment. The two causes are not unrelated, for just as a healthy mind is linked to a healthy body, so the health of the world is inextricably linked to each of us.
Read MoreWeaving Your Best Life
weaving
Read More2009 IDEA Health & Fitness Inspiration Awards™ Finalists
IDEA is thrilled by all of the meaningful work our members do to motivate people to live healthfully. The IDEA Health & Fitness Inspiration Awards honor professionals who go all out to help clients, communities and the fitness industry. Join us as we recognize the achievements of the 2009 finalists at the IDEA World Fitness Convention™ award ceremony on Thursday, August 13, at 8:05 am, in The OC (Anaheim), California.
Read MoreThe Latest Nutrition & Physical Activity Policies
As Americans have continued to eat more and exercise less over the past decade, health and fitness experts have focused their efforts on inspiring healthful change one individual at a time. Unfortunately, this approach has not improved the nation’s obesity crisis, nor has it increased adherence to healthful eating habits and regular physical activity programs. This is not necessarily because people lack the willpower and motivation to change; it is more because our very environment discourages many health-promoting behaviors.
Read MoreSpanning The Generations
Have you ever wondered why younger trainers are labeled as
having little loyalty to, or ownership of, the fitness business the way you did when you were their age? Or perhaps you are one of those younger trainers and you cannot figure out why your older colleagues frown when you tell them to “cheer up” and not take their jobs too seriously. Why does a group exercise instructor who has been teaching since the 1980s clash with the new director who feels strongly about moving away from the “old-school” styles of teaching?
IDEA Publications Team Receives Prestigious Award
For the fifth year in a row, IDEA Health & Fitness Association’s publications team has been awarded the prestigious Maggie award. Dubbed “the Oscars® of the magazine industry,” the Maggie awards are presented by the Western Publishing Association and represent more than 400 magazines. This year IDEA Fitness Journal took top honors as Best Health & Fitness/Trade publication. “We are extremely proud of the editorial team,” says Kathie Davis, executive director
of IDEA.
Does Mental Fatigue Affect Exercise Performance?
Research reports often tout the beneficial effects of exercise on mental performance, but can the opposite be true when a cerebral task is performed before
exercise? Yes, says a study published in the March issue of the Journal of Applied Physiology (2009; 106, 857–64). In response to many studies that focused on
fatigue in drivers and airline pilots, the authors investigated the relationship
between mental fatigue and physical performance.
Weight Loss Eases Female Incontinence
According to the National Kidney and Urologic Diseases Information Clearinghouse, millions of women experience urinary incontinence. “Some women may lose a few drops of urine while running or coughing. Others may feel a strong, sudden urge to urinate just before losing a large amount of urine,” states information on the website. Now a recent study may offer much-needed relief for incontinent overweight and obese women.
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