Archive for February 2014
Props for a Great Pilates Workout
Pilates instructors know that the key to a stimulating workout is to challenge students by mixing things up, and small props are effective tools for injecting variety.
Read MorePilates: Effective for Better Balance
If you want to add a valuable benefit for your middle- to older-aged clients, emphasize Pilates elements that enhance balance. You may very well save a life.
Read MoreCase Study: Pilates for Chronic Pain and Osteoarthritis
Like most Pilates instructors, I’ve worked with many clients who deal with chronic pain. One of the most challenging and common conditions I see is arthritis.
Read MoreWhat’s Your Pilates Brand?
Brands are very powerful. Pilates, like Starbucks, is a strong brand that can bring certain thoughts and images to mind in your potential customers. They may think of core strength, strong posture or the reformer; they might even think Pilates is too hard.
Read MoreIs Fat or Muscle Better for Bone Density?
According to research from the The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (2014; doi.org/10.1210/jc.2013-3190), body weight is associated with bone strength. But in this regard, which component of body weight is more important—lean mass or fat mass?
Read MoreMind-Body Therapies and Cardiovascular Disease
Mind-body therapies and biology-based therapies are the treatment modalities most commonly used among patients with heart disease who turn to complementary and alternative medicine, according to a report in Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine (2013; doi: 10.1155/2013/672097). Researchers based this conclusion on an analysis of a variety of studies and surveys, including the American 2007 National Health Interview Survey and international surveys conducted through 2010.
Read MoreExercise Helps People With Dementia
In people with dementia, exercise may significantly improve cognitive functioning and the ability to perform activities of daily living (ADLs), according to an updated research review from the University of Alberta in Edmonton. Researchers are motivated to find ways to treat or to slow dementia’s progress, since rates of the disease are expected to rise exponentially along with the aging population.
Read MoreThe Caffeine Fix
Sleep and Exercise
?Did you know that getting enough zzzzzzs may actually improve your exercise performance? If you regularly cut sleep short, you may want to reconsider this practice.
Why is sleep so important for exercise, and what can you do to sleep longer and more deeply? Mike Bracko, EdD, FACSM, director of Dr. Bracko’s Fitness and of the Institute for Hockey Research, examines these questions.
Why Sleep Helps
Read MoreHelping Clients to Take Small Steps
Gina M. Crome, MS, MPH, RD, is an ACE-certified personal trainer and the owner of Lifestyle Management Solutions, a nutritional counseling and consulting practice that specializes in weight management and disease prevention. Having once weighed more than 300 pounds, Gina has unique insight into the mindsets of those impacted by obesity. Now 172 pounds lighter, she holds dual master’s degrees in clinical psychology and public health nutrition from Loma Linda University, where she received the Selma Andrews Award for Excellence and Professionalism.
Read MoreCreative Ideas That Inspire
Avera McKennan Fitness Center in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, offers a wide variety of fitness classes to meet all of its members’ needs. Lite-N-Low focuses on strength, flexibility and cardiovascular fitness and is suitable for all fitness levels.
Read MoreSample Class: Yoga on the Ball
Flexibility, balance, strength and endurance are common components of a yoga class. The poses alone provide an excellent workout, but if you’re ready for something different, consider adding stability balls to your practice. This is a fun way to recruit core musculature, incorporate more balance work, and increase range of motion.
Yoga on the Ball Details
GOAL/EMPHASIS: a basic yoga practice incorporating the stability ball TIME: 45–60 minutes (can be shorter or longer depending on how many reps you do or how long you hold poses)
Read MoreMiniball Moments
Fitness “toys” can make a big difference in helping class participants heighten body awareness—especially awareness of their core muscles. Case in point: a small, soft, inflatable exercise ball known as a sponge ball or Pilates miniball. The miniball comes in a range of sizes, from 7 to 12 inches in diameter, and is a great addition to many classes.
Read MoreAre You a Sound Friend or a Sound Foe?
How loud is too loud? The sound of a power lawn mower registers about 90 decibels, and a chainsaw about 110 (CDC 2013). What are the sound levels in your classes? Workouts may help participants feel motivated to improve their strength and endurance, but blasting music can lead to hearing loss.
Read MoreWalking: The Latest Research
We all know the basics on walking: It’s simple, inexpensive and brimming with health benefits. Yet, in an age when exercise technology is increasingly complex and trainers’ clients are developing more sophisticated tastes, questions linger: How can walking provide a worthwhile workout, and how well does walking burn calories? These and many other walking-related issues…
Read MoreNutrition Matters: Separating Trends From Fads
While flavor-of-the-month fads fire our imaginations before they flame out, genuine trends reflect changes in our eating patterns that can influence just about every facet of a health and fitness program.
A panel discussion at 2013 IDEA World Fitness dived into some of the hot-button dietary topics that are on Americans’ minds at the moment. Panelists delved into the protein craze, GMOs, plant-driven diets, cooking for kids, and the eating habits of Millennials, to name a few.
Panelists
Read More“How do you get clients through their training plateaus?”
Clients who have hit a plateau may need some additional tweaking of their pro- gram or lifestyle to get them to progress toward their goals. In my studio, we focus on the trifecta for success: nutri- tion, stress management and sleep.
Read MoreBattling Big Media
The frustrating thing about these headlines is that, to the letter, they are not untrue. To date, there have not been any large, randomized studies that have shown that reducing sodium intake to 1,500 milligrams per day (as is advised for certain special populations) has a positive outcome. But it is clear that the majority of Americans are getting far more than the 2,300 mg per day that has been found to correspond with certain disease risk factors.
Read MoreTraining for a Cause
Helping herself to help another.Many individuals seek guidance from a personal trainer in the hope of achieving a goal such as losing weight, improving energy level or building self-esteem. Steffani wanted all of those things, but she also had another person in mind when she decided to work with Mark Krug, owner of ProXercise in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Her 19-year-old son, Josh, has spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy and is confined to a wheelchair. He weighs about 100 pounds; moving him in and out of his wheelchair posed quite a challenge for Steffani.
Read MoreAnnouncing the IDEA Workout Builder
IDEA members asked, “Can you create a tool for us to put together workouts, with videos of each exercise online?” Yes! You asked for it; you got it! The new IDEA Workout Builder.
The IDEA Workout Builder allows you to quickly customize, save and share workouts—with over 1,000 videos at your disposal! The videos IDEA pro- vides show top educators progressing and regressing exercises to make them appropriate for most of your clients.
The IDEA Workout Builder gives you the ability to:
Read More