Archive for July 2016

So what do you do when a client or group exercise participant suddenly
becomes overwhelmed with emotion during a myofascial release session?
Here are ways to transform a potentially uncomfortable and frightening
situation into a positive one.

Thanks to the fitness technology craze, heart rate monitors have become more than just something cyclists throw on before a race. These monitors are powerful tools that can help us assess cardiovascular health, measure exercise intensity, train the body to become fuel-efficient, improve fitness and performance, and avoid overtraining syndrome.

But once we start collecting all of this data, what should we do with it?

By 2017, one in every two adults in the United States will be 50 or older (Nielsen 2012a).
Let’s take a moment to absorb what this means to you and your business.

By next year, half of your potential customers will be 50 or older. That’s a very large number. Are half of your current customers in that age group? Gaze at the people on your exercise floor. If the answer is no, maybe it’s time to explore how to maximize this demographic opportunity. Given that this age group accounts for seven of every 10 dollars that could be spent with you, it is well worth your time and effort (Nielsen 2012b).

Question: Is millet as nutritious a grain as quinoa? Can I cook it the same way? Answer: Millet is an “ancient grain” that is increasing in popularity owing to its nutty flavor, chewy texture and good nutrition. While quinoa is very familiar to Americans and seen everywhere from trendy bowls in fast-casual restaurants, to pancakes made by home cooks, millet is just being discovered. Actually, most of us do know millet, at least by sight. It is the small, round, yellow grain found in your backyard bird seed.

High-intensity interval training is still enjoying a wave of popularity, thanks to its ability to stimulate results in less time than other formats. Help attendees stay focused, engaged, and motivated to meet their fitness goals as you mix it up a little with HIIT the Highway. This class features dedicated 40-second work efforts followed by 20-second recoveries. One unique aspect of HIIT the Highway is that it uses athletic drills that relate to running and power, for a nice combination that truly exhausts energy reserves.

In a detailed and powerful examination of how dietary fat affects health, researchers from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health have shown that consuming higher amounts of unsaturated fats is associated with lower mortality. The findings suggest that replacing saturated fats like butter, lard and fat in red meat with unsaturated fats from plant-based foods—like olive oil, canola oil and soybean oil—can confer substantial health benefits and should continue to be a key message in dietary recommendations.

The American Pain Society and the American College of Physicians (Chou &
Huffman 2007) endorse exercise as a treatment intervention for chronic
lower-back pain (LBP). Many in the fitness community, the medical
profession and the general public believe that core training (including
core strength and/or core stability) is the solution for LBP.

In the fifth century BC, the famous Greek physician Hippocrates observed, “All parts of the body, if used in moderation and exercised in labors to which each is accustomed, become thereby healthy and well developed and age slowly; but if they are unused and left idle, they become liable to disease, defective in growth and age quickly” (Kokkinos
&
Myers 2010).

Myofascial release pioneer John F. Barnes, PT, has trained more than 100,000 therapists and physicians in the Myofascial Release Approach since the 1970s. “In the normal healthy state, the fascia is relaxed and wavy in configuration. It has the ability to stretch and move without restriction,” Barnes explains. “When one experiences physical trauma, emotional trauma, scarring,
or inflammation, however, the fascia loses its pliability” (Barnes 2015).

There is anecdotal evidence that in addition to triggering emotional catharsis from time to time, SMR has less dramatic emotional benefits.

When Yoga Tune Up® creator Jill Miller was writing her book, The Roll Model: A Step-by-Step Guide to Erase Pain, Improve Mobility and Live Better in Your Body (Victory Belt Publishing 2014), she put out
a request for stories about how her Yoga Therapy Balls had been useful to those who had used them.

It’s not exactly news that physical activity and exercise have powerful health benefits. Indeed, it’s an insight almost as old as recorded history.

In the fifth century BC, the famous Greek physician Hippocrates observed, “All parts of the body, if used in moderation and exercised in labors to which each is accustomed, become thereby healthy and well developed and age slowly; but if they are unused and left idle, they become liable to disease, defective in growth and age quickly” (Kokkinos
&
Myers 2010).