Eating Too Much? You Can Blame Your Brain:
By Brian St. Pierre How brain signaling drives what you eat. (And what to do about it). It’s no secret that obesity rates have been rising in the U.S. (and other industrialized nations) for the past 30 years. It’s also no secret that Americans eat more than they used...
What to do when you don’t like vegetables. 3 steps for training your palate (and why it’s important):
By James Heathers and Jennifer Nickle SHARE What can you do when you have serious health and fitness goals…but you just don’t like vegetables? First, know that you’re not crazy (and you’re not alone). Next, try our 3-step formula to go from spitting out to seeking out...
Are You Carbohydrate Intolerant? Here’s How To Know + What To Do About It:
By Frank Lipman, M.D.Pioneer in Functional Medicine Are you interested in optimizing your health? Are you overwhelmed by the amount of information and guidance out there? In his new book, How to Be Well, Dr. Frank Lipman organizes your health into six essential...
New Research Tells Us What Taking A Break From Exercise Can Do To Your Blood Sugar:
By Lindsay Kellnermbg Sr. Wellness & Beauty Editor It’s officially August and high time for soaking up the best of what summer has to offer, including vacation, beach trips, and lazy summer days. The last thing many of us want to do when it’s hot is...
USE IT OR LOSE IT: UNDERSTANDING MUSCLE ATROPHY:
By JEROD LANGNESS, NASM-CPT, CES, PES, WLS, MASTER TRAINER As fitness professionals, it is easy to keep our focus on the great things that occur from having a healthy and active lifestyle. We know so much about the benefits of exercise and get excited about helping...
JOINT HYPERMOBILITY: THE SHOULDER
By Kyle Stull Everyone is quick to talk about “tightness.” The calves are tight; the hip flexors are tight; the low-back is tight; the shoulders and the neck are tight. It’s true that many people are tight and restricted, but what about those that have too much...
Functional Movement Spectrum Series: Reaction:
by Dr. David Tiberio, Doug Gray Category: Applied Functional Science Share The popular song entitled “Dem Bones” is ageless. Furthermore, it is brilliant. James Weldon Johnson first composed it back in the early 1900s. Instead of quoting all the lyrics (as the song...
HOW TO FIND THE BEST EXERCISES VIA SOCIAL MEDIA:
By Amanda Vogel MA Fitness instructors and trainers are always looking for new exercise ideas to bring to their fitness classes, and there have never been more options at our fingertips, thanks to social media. Picking up new ideas is as easy as tapping the YouTube or...
ADDRESSING OVERACTIVE HIP FLEXORS WITH CORRECTIVE EXERCISE:
BY Andrew Mills For many of us, working with individuals with tight/overactive hip flexors is a common occurrence. Learning to properly assess and address overactive hip flexors is a powerful skill in helping today’s client move more efficiently. Spending long hours...
TURMERIC: HEALTH BENEFITS REVEALED:
By NASM Turmeric continues to make some impressive health headlines. Best known as the spice behind curry, research is showing how it can potentially play a role in weight loss, along with preventing Alzheimer’s disease, cancer and other conditions. Introduction Most...
Dairy: Is it good or bad for you?:
By Ryan Andrews & Brian St. Pierre Exploring the pros and cons of this controversial food group. We’re often asked whether dairy is good or bad. Short answer: It depends. In this article, we’ll help you make sense of the research — and the wildly different...
LEVERAGING YOUR TRAINING SKILLS FOR THE SENIOR FITNESS MARKET
By STACEY PENNEY, MS, NASM-CPT, CES, PES, FNS Age is more than a number- it’s an opportunity to serve a growing population. Every day we are bombarded with statistics on seniors and baby boomers, and the customer potential they can bring. But what do trainers (or club...
What Are The Healthiest Sources Of Fat For A Vegan?
By Lisa For our bodies to function to their full capacity and to maintain a healthy weight, it is important to eat a nutritious and balanced diet that includes all the food groups in the right proportion. So, questions such as “What are the healthiest sources of fat...
IS STATIC STRETCHING THE BEST STRATEGY FOR INJURY PREVENTION AND PERFORMANCE ENHANCEMENT?
By KATHY ZETTERBERG Static stretching is a highly debated and controversial topic within the fitness and sports performance communities and is focused around the concept that sustained static stretching could impair subsequent performance (Rossi et al. 2010; Shrier...
HELPING MOMS (AND MOMS-TO-BE) KEEP IT STRONG: THE PELVIC FLOOR:
By TATUM REBELLE Maintaining a strong pelvic floor is vital during pregnancy, yet it remains a commonly overlooked and misunderstood component of most pre- and postnatal training programs. (It’s also something many of us shy away from talking about.) A strong pelvic...
STEP UP YOUR PERSONAL TRAINER BUSINESS WITH VIDEO MARKETING
By TYLER READ Video marketing is kind of a big deal right now. In fact, there has been a big hype around it for the last couple of years and everybody’s trying to get in on it. From thirteen-year-olds to start-ups or even established brands, everybody is posting...
A PRACTICAL APPROACH TO TRAINING THE MUSCLE SYNERGIES
BY BRIAN SUTTON, MA, MS, CSCS, NASM-CPT, CES, PES Muscles don’t work alone to create movement. They work together in synergies to create coordinated movements. Here we’ll identify the four muscle subsystems, discover how these synergies work together, and how to...
Every Question You’ve Ever Had About The Keto Diet — Answered:
Vincent M. Pedre, M.D.Gut Health Specialist & Best-Selling Author The mbg Collective is a curated group of our most trusted wellness advisers. Since 2009, we’ve had the brightest, most passionate, and mission-driven leaders in wellness share their intimate stories...
Can you gain weight from eating too little? No, but here’s why it’s so easy to think you can:
By Brian St. Pierre You’re tracking your eating and exercise meticulously but not seeing results. Has your metabolism slowed to a crawl? Are your hormones off? Is it really possible to GAIN weight from eating too LITTLE? Here’s what’s really going on — and how to...
PIRIFORMIS: IS IT REALLY TIGHT? REALLY?:
By Kyle Stull Most clients, and fitness professionals alike, use the term “tight” to indicate that a muscle or other form of contractile tissue is shorter than it should be. After being in the fitness industry for more than 15 years, I’ve heard the phrase “my...
EXERCISE AND PREGNANCY: WOMEN TAKING THE LEAD IN THEIR WORKOUT:
By TATUM REBELLE Exercise and Pregnancy? Yes! See the benefits of why they go together so well and exercise programming ideas for each trimester. Remaining physically active during pregnancy can help improve posture, decrease back pain, swelling, constipation, and...
REFUEL, REPAIR, REHYDRATE, REVITALIZE: SPORTS NUTRITION FOR OPTIMUM RECOVERY
By Geoff Lecovin Whether you’ve just finished a HIIT workout, completed a CrossFit WOD, hit your PR or finished a triathlon, your focus should move from performance to recovery. This involves: Refuelling Repairing Rehydrating Revitalizing Evidence-based strategies to...
HERE’S HOW TO ADD BATTLE ROPES TO YOUR TRAINING PROGRAMS
By Josh Gonzalez On the ropes about battle ropes? See how to incorporate battle ropes into your personal training programs using the NASM OPT model. Fitness has definitely changed over recent years, becoming smarter with the application of human movement principles...
MISCONCEPTIONS OF THE IT BAND
By Kyle Stull If you were to research IT band problems every day for the next year, there is a good chance you will accumulate over 365 different articles on causes, approaches to treatment, and quick fixes. Many of these articles would explain how the IT band rubs on...
Bringing Ancient Physical Culture to the Modern Age:
By TRX With the sensationalism of today’s 24-7 news, the menace of terrorist attacks and the saber-rattling of rogue dictatorships, it would be easy to believe that we live in the most violent time on record. But yet if we look back in human history, it soon becomes...
Preventing Low Back Pain:
Ahhhh…. The trials and tribulations of back pain – perhaps the most elusive member of the “aches and pains” family. How it feels and where it comes from can vary drastically from person to person. It can be attributed to anything and everything from a...
INJURY PREVENTION FOR ICE HOCKEY: KEEPING YOUR TEAM ON THE ICE AND IN THE GAME:
By MICHAEL YAREMKO Avoiding non-contact injuries with corrective exercise can help keep your hockey team on the ice and in the game. Anytime I mention that I am a hockey player, the first question I get is, “How come you still have all of your teeth?” Hockey is...
OPTIMIZING THORACIC SPINE MOBILITY WITH CORRECTIVE EXERCISE:
By Kyle Stull Thoracic mobility is a key component of spinal rotation. See why optimal thoracic spine mobility is so important for functional movement. Thoracic mobility has become a buzzword over the last several years. This is likely due to the constant barrage of...
THE SCIENTIFIC RATIONALE FOR INCORPORATING OLYMPIC WEIGHTLIFTING TO ENHANCE SPORTS PERFORMANCE:
By BRIAN SUTTON, MA, MS, CSCS, NASM-CPT, CES, PES · Olympic lifts and their variations have long been used as a strengthening technique to enhance sports performance. Olympic lifts and their variations have long been used as a strengthening technique to enhance sports...
6 TRAINING MOVES FOR ATHLETES:
By CHRIS ECKLUND, MA, NASM-PES, CSCS, USAW, TP A high school athlete walks through our doors and we can see their strength, stability and biomechanical control deficits from their gait pattern. We’ve also had collegiate and professional athletes come to our facility...
Can personal trainers and health coaches give nutrition advice?
By John Berardi, Ph.D. It’s a hot debate: Can personal trainers, health coaches, and other non-RD professionals give nutrition advice to their clients? You’ll be surprised (and relieved) to hear: Yes, to a degree. Here’s exactly what you’re allowed to say, and why...
HOW TO QUICKLY GET BEYOND THE BASICS WITH FIT TECH IN 2018:
By Amanda Vogel MA With 2018 now on our minds, it’s a good time to ponder how the fitness industry might change in the upcoming year and beyond. One thing’s certain: technology will continue to integrate with pretty much everything related to health and fitness. Where...
ACHY HOLIDAY FEET? TRY THESE CORRECTIVE EXERCISES FOR RELIEVING FOOT PAIN:
By Kyle Stull Foot pain can be one of the most debilitating types of pain and discomfort for both the average individual and the athlete alike. To put it simply, when your feet hurt, everything hurts. The foot is essentially the foundation of the body; it is the first...
THE SECOND SCOOP ON PROTEIN: WHEN, WHAT AND HOW MUCH?:
By Fabio Comana Drinking a protein shake after resistance-training is a popular nutritional strategy adopted by many fitness enthusiasts and athletes to boost muscle protein synthesis (MPS), but does evidence support this practice, and if so, then what type of protein...
HORMONAL BALANCE AND METABOLISM: HOW EXERCISE CAN POSITIVELY AFFECT HORMONES
By JOSH ELSESSER There are four hormones that are critical to the success of your client’s weight loss program. Cortisol, insulin, thyroid, and the sex hormones (testosterone in men, and progesterone in women). When kept in balance, these hormones have the largest...
INSURANCE LINGO: 9 KEY TERMS EVERY PERSONAL TRAINER SHOULD KNOW:
BY NATALIE CUTLER “Insurance”: yikes. If you’re anything like me before I became a certified insurance advisor at Next Insurance , the word brings you anything from mild anxiety to extreme frustration. For me, the hardest part about working in the insurance industry...
Boosting Brain Fitness-Understanding the Brain and Exercise:
By Fabio Comana Neuroplasticity was a relatively unknown term until the 1970s when scientists began accepting the notion that our brain is a not a physiologically static organ, becoming fixed shortly after birth with approximately 100 billion neurons (nerve cells) (1,...
4 Speed Training Lessons with High School Athletes:
By Chris Korfist Growing up in the ’70s and ’80s, a big part of my week was getting up early on Saturday morning to watch cartoons. One of my favourites was “Super Friends” (my second favourite was “Land of the Lost”), especially the episodes with Bizarro, who was...
The Surprising Truth About Sugar:
By Brian St. Pierre and Krista Scott-Dixon Is sugar “good”? Is sugar “bad”? It’s hard to know for sure these days. Which is interesting because… Sugar is a fundamental molecule in biology. Human bodies need sugar. Sugar makes up the backbone of our DNA. Helps power...
Weather Got You Feeling Sad? Here are 4 Mood Boosters:
By Geoff Lecovin Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is a combination of biological and mood disturbances typically occurring in the autumn and winter months. SAD is characterized by recurrent episodes of depression, hypersomnia, carbohydrate cravings and weight gain....
Shoulder Function Enhancing Shoulder Stabilisation:
By THOMAS F. WEST, PHD, LAT, ATC Our upper extremity is designed around our hands, our primary tool for manipulating objects in our environment. To this end, the shoulder complex provides the upper extremity with a wide range of motion, allowing us to position our...
Top 4 Secrets Of Highly Successful Personal Trainers From AFS:
By Chuck Leve Imagine, for a moment, the first day of your first job. Were you nervous? Anxious to get out there and prove yourself? Did you wonder which fellow co-workers were going to become your friends? Were you afraid to make a mistake? In all the AFS research...
5 Tips To Cue Your Training Clients For Better Movement:
By RICH FAHMY, MS, NASM-CPT, CES, PES Cueing is a vital skill that every fitness professional should master. It is essential for coaching proper technique and it creates a connection between you and your client, conveying how in-tune you are with their movement and...