Archive for December 2024
Buy or Bye: Matcha
Weโve all heard about the benefits of green tea, but what about its superpowered sibling, matcha? Both are derived from the tea plant Camellia sinensis, but matcha is made from young shade-grown leaves that are ground into a fine powder, meaning it contains the plant-based compounds from the entire leaf. These days, itโs not likelyโฆ
Read MoreWhy Plant Protein Powder Can Be Just as Powerful as Whey
With increasing interest in plant-based eating, the supplement market has been flooded with protein powders sourced from only plants. But there has been a worry that these powders are of lesser quality and can limit the muscle-building benefits, especially when you compare them to whey protein. Now, we have evidence that lifting weights and thenโฆ
Read MoreThe Gifts of Fitness: A Journey of Shared Wellness for Experienced Health and Exercise Professionals
Working as a health and fitness professional is more than just a career; itโs a calling that requires passion, dedication, and a deep connection with the people we serve. The relationships we build with our clients are the lifeblood of our practice, and over time, they become more than just clientsโthey become friends, confidants, andโฆ
Read MoreWeekend Warriors Reap Benefits
New research shows benefits of one or two days a week of concentrated physical activity. Weekend warriors rejoice. Formerly, experts viewed weekend only training as less valuable than consistent exercise throughout the week. Harvard Medical School researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital recently found that a โweekend warriorโ training pattern is equally effective at reducing diseaseโฆ
Read MoreRotational Power: Moving Beyond the Sagittal Plane
Many clients enthusiastically participate in rotational sports, such as golf, baseball, softball, tennis, pickleball, hockey, lacrosse, handball and volleyball. As fitness professionals, one major goal is to help our clients perform more fluidly in their selected sport activities, while also providing training that helps protect them from injury. However, a traditional strength training program, withโฆ
Read MoreYoga and Low Impact Exercise Helps Older Women with Incontinence
Incontinence is one of the most common health issues for women as they age. Yoga and low impact exercise for at least 12 weeks significantly reduced incontinence episodes, according to a study in the Annals of Internal Medicine (2024) Researchers from leading universities including University of California, San Francisco, and Stanford University, investigated whether yoga exercisesโฆ
Read MoreExercise and Healthy Belly Fat
Long-time exercisers have healthier belly fat than new exercisers, in new study. Exercise benefits people even when they gain extra weight. Researchers from the University of Michigan wanted to evaluate whether exercise impacts fat tissueโs structure and function. In a study of 32 subjects with obesity, they examined the differences in belly fat tissue amongโฆ
Read MoreHow Exercise Reduces Depression
Physical activity, particularly aerobic exercise, is known to reduce depressive symptoms, but how is not understood. Researchers from University College London reviewed multiple studies on depression, exercise, motivation, dopamine transmission, and inflammation. Study authors theorize that exerciseโs anti-depressant effect comes from its tendency to reduce inflammation, improve dopamine transmission and boost exertion of effortโboth physicalโฆ
Read MoreExercise and Diet Can Prevent Type 2 Diabetes
More good news promotes the value of exercise. A recent 3-year-long study by University of Eastern Finland researchers focused specifically on men with a high genetic risk of type 2 diabetes. Investigators tracked nearly 1,000 men between 50 to 75 years in either a health-promoting lifestyle group or a control group. The prevalence of typeโฆ
Read MoreOutdoor Gait Training and Shin Splints
Many exercisers enjoy treadmill running, but often suffer from shin splints. Outdoor gait training and home exercises significantly reduced pain for subjects in a 4-week study conducted by University of Virginia researchers. Gait training exercises reduced ground contact time, increased cadence, and decreased stride lengths. For home conditioning, participants did single-leg squats and lateral stepโฆ
Read MoreUnexpected Gifts: How Helping Others Live Healthier Lives Shapes our Own
The fitness industry itโs electrifying, deeply connected, and constantly evolving. Itโs a force of transformation, empowerment, and connection โ unlike any other profession. Those who work within it are bound by shared passion and purpose, kindred spirits united by the desire to make a real impact on peopleโs lives. We โgetโ each other because, atโฆ
Read MoreHigh Intensity Training and Appetite Suppression
Vigorous exercise suppresses hunger more than moderate exercise for healthy adult men and women, according to a small study described in Journal of the Endocrine Society (2024). Among a group of healthy men and women in their mid-thirties, scientists measured ghrelin levels and perception of appetite after no exercise, moderate- and high-intensity exercise. Ghrelin isโฆ
Read MorePre-Natal Exercise May Protect a Child Against Asthma
New research provides even more reasons to motivate mothers to exercise during pregnancy. For the first time, scientists show a link between maternal exercise and nearly half the likelihood of a child developing asthma, when the pregnant mother exercises at least three times a week. This discovery was independent of other maternal and environmental factors.โฆ
Read MoreChildrenโs Fitness Levels and Teen Brain Fitness and Mental Health
Higher levels of motor and aerobic fitness in childhood are linked with better cognitive performance and mental health in adolescence, as reported in Sports Medicine (2024). Researchers from University of Eastern Finland conducted a longitudinal study with 241 boys and girls beginning from the ages of six to 9 years old over an 8-year follow-upโฆ
Read MoreBLinG-Healthโข: Black Leadership in Girlsโ Health
Training adolescent black girls as peer physical activity leaders in high school promoted health, fitness and community, according to a small, qualitative study published in Journal of Healthy Eating and Active Living (2024). Researchers from Towson University, Baltimore, Maryland, in collaboration with Baltimore City Public Schools trained 3 peer leaders to lead Tabata group fitnessโฆ
Read MoreQuestion of the Month
What programming are you finding is in most demand among your clients? For example, do they seek cardio training programs, specialized sports programs, overall conditioning programs that combine resistance, cardio, balance, flexibility and agility? Or, are you providing menus of shorter classes to allow clients to create their own programs? If you focus on personalโฆ
Read MoreTrain to Failure for Bigger Muscles
Advise clients to push to failure during resistance training when muscle growth is the objective, according to results published in Sports Medicine (2024). Florida Atlantic University researchers reviewed 55 studies to analyze how different levels of reps in reserve (the number of reps remaining before failure) impacted strength and muscle growth. Data analysis showed that trainingโฆ
Read MorePeople Are Talking About . . .
A study by Australian researchers that found that 60 percent of videos posted by fitness influencers contain content that is either harmful of misleading; โฆ The new Guinness World Record holder for oldest person to hold an abdominal plank for at least 3 minutes, 80-year old Annie Judis of Beverly Hills, who also holds theโฆ
Read MoreAmerican diets are still lousy, according to the latest research
Itโs believed that more than 1 million Americans die every year from diet-related diseases, and, if dietary intake data is accurate , we can expect these numbers to remain alarmingly high. The percentage of U.S. adults with what can be classified as a โpoor dietโ decreased from 49% to 37% between 1999 and 2020, basedโฆ
Read MoreRecipe for Health
We hear a lot about the benefits of eating more plant proteins, but the fat from plants is also good news for longevity. Research, published in JAMA Internal Medicine, demonstrates that people who get more of their fats from plant sources cut their odds for early death, and death from heart disease. Conversely, the studyโฆ
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