Get practical advice on health and wellness related issues for professional personal trainers looking to help their clients.
Holistic wellness has become a bit of a buzzword in the health and fitness industry, floating up here and there as and when needed, often misused, or taken lightly as another fad.
However, it’s so much more than just a filler term or random word indicating a new trend in the industry. It’s an entire movement and a paradigm shift in how we think about health and wellness in general, encouraging participants and trainers alike to make smarter decisions. (more…)
A good personal trainer is the one that can help clients destress and relax in addition to improving their physical health. Most personal trainers make workout plans that include one or more destressing exercises, or they recommend exercises that offer the benefits of both; physical training and mental relaxation.
As a result, clients are more likely to see better results faster. In addition, certified personal trainers also allocate days where clients focus on mental relaxation without any physical exercise. This guide will help you learn about some exercises that work on your client’s mind and body and make them feel refreshed. (more…)
Marketing your fitness business is key to getting more clients and increasing your revenue. But it’s not as easy as it seems. Over the years, marketing has changed quite drastically, partially due to the change in marketing channels and the changes in consumer behavior. Previously, services were first introduced, and customers would bend to them. But these days, clients are much more aware and want transparent campaigns that highlight the services. (more…)
For those interested in entering the fitness industry, picking a field or a niche can be challenging. That’s because, from the outside, everything looks pretty much the same, and it’s hard to form an opinion when you haven’t got any insights.
As a result, many prospective trainers end up enrolling in the wrong certification courses. Two of the most popular employment options in the fitness industry are gym instructors and personal trainers. Both are similar, but some key differences make both fields different. (more…)
Breaking into the fitness industry in this era isn’t as easy as it used to be. In the past, there were only gyms, but now, with the advancements in the industry, it has become quite versatile. However, you can use this versatility in your favor and create a unique fitness business model.
You don’t require any management education for these businesses, but it can help you a lot. So if you’re interested, W.I.T.S Education has an online program for fitness management that’s designed to improve your interpersonal and management skills. (more…)
For shedding calories and building muscles quickly, high-impact workouts are the best option. These workouts help reduce fat and have many beneficial impacts on the body, such as improved cardio health, blood circulation, and oxygen absorption. The idea behind high-impact workouts is to get your clients to do short but demanding workouts to get their heart rate up, followed by an equal rest period before the next set. (more…)
As the pandemic is slowly coming to an end and things are getting back to normal, people are a lot more eager to meet others and carry out activities in groups. When it comes to fitness, studies show that training with a group has better results, and since fitness studios and gyms are opening up again, group fitness training is once again in demand. Group fitness training allows people with similar fitness goals to learn and train together. To do this, fitness trainers need classes that cater to the needs of people with similar health and fitness requirements. If you’re interested in entering the group fitness niche, this blog will brief you on it.
Group fitness training doesn’t refer to a particular form of training; instead, it includes different types of training done in a group setting. This training can be anything from yoga, aerobics, to even crash training. These trainings are a bit more generalized, meaning that the instructors don’t focus on individual training that much.
However, they do track the progress of each participant to ensure that everyone is at the same level. The main reason why group exercise training is so popular is that in a group setting, people tend to train better. There are friendly competitions that urge the participants to work harder and push their limits.
For people with demanding jobs and busy schedules, making time to hit the gym can be hard. However, they can sign up for online fitness programs to achieve their fitness goals. The problem with online fitness is that the lack of a professional environment decreases the motivation level of the clients and they take longer to achieve their desired results.
These days digital group training has become quite popular in which people from different regions take part in the same online fitness class and work out together virtually. These types of classes are great for business because they don’t require any physical location or any equipment.
Most outdoor fitness training is done in groups. People like working out in the fresh air in the morning. This style of working out also has a lot of health benefits besides fitness. For example, your body absorbs plenty of vitamin D, the fresh air cleanses your body, and the outdoor setting is great for mental peace.
These are all the benefits a regular indoor fitness studio might not offer. Not to mention, when working out outdoors, there’s no need for special equipment and you can run your classes without investing a lot of capital.
Group yoga is a form of yoga where the participants of a class work together to form yoga poses. Since yoga is a bit hard to master, these group training classes are perfect for people to learn. That’s because the participants help each other out to ensure that everyone is on the same page. Not to mention the instructor also progresses the class slowly to ensure each participant is learning properly.
In some cases, instructors combine yoga and Pilates and offer combo classes so clients can yield better results. Moreover, group classes teach clients to be patient and progress as a group since patience is a basic principle of yoga.
These days, it’s not just young people that are interested in fitness, but senior citizens are also trying to remain fit and active. This has given rise to a whole new industry in the fitness world related to senior fitness. Group exercises are a crucial part of senior fitness. That’s because senior citizens are different in physical health compared to young adults, and that’s why they can’t do intense 101 training. Group exercises offer them a unique chance to better their physical health without straining their body too much.
Besides that, the classes also offer an opportunity to senior citizens to socialize with the same age group, something that is hard for them to do otherwise. These classes are designed to ensure that all the participants, regardless of their health and medical needs, can easily exercise without any issues.
Youth fitness is another popular form of group training. It is similar to senior fitness training, except, instead of senior citizens, the classes are for children. These children are mostly around the ages of 9 to 12. Youth fitness ensures that the upcoming generation has good health and that they are physically active in this digital era.
When it comes to designing group classes for youth, they can be based on several different things. For example, stretching, running, engaging in sport activities, or even yoga.
High-impact workouts are a great way to lose fat, gain muscle mass, and achieve a leaner body. However, these workouts are quite demanding and can easily lead to burnouts or muscle fatigue. Not to mention, clients usually lose motivation easily and don’t continue with the workouts. That’s why offering groups classes for high-impact workouts is the best way forward.
When working within a group, people tend to get a bit competitive and this increases their motivation levels. Additionally, in groups, people are more likely to try out harder workouts than they would normally.
If you’re a fitness trainer looking to expand your expertise, check out W.I.T.S Education. W.I.T.S is a training institute that offers various certifications in the fitness domain. Some of these certifications include group exercise instructor course, youth fitness training course, and senior fitness instructor course. For those who run their own fitness studios, W.I.T.S offers courses for fitness management as well.
All of the courses at the institute are accredited by the NCCA and allow college students to earn credit. Moreover, the courses are hybrid with online classes and practical in-person training in labs located all over North America. These labs are designed to give students hands-on practical knowledge.
So what are you waiting for? Enroll today and expand your career prospects.
The fitness industry is becoming quite dynamic and is constantly changing. As a result, trainers need to keep up with the new trends in order to maintain their clients. At the same time, new trainers can use these changing trends and jump-start their careers. In the past few years, the gap between the fitness industry and the wellness industry has shrunk, and many fitness specializations are mingled with the wellness industry.
Fitness trainers with a background in the medical field can take advantage of this unique position in the fitness industry and become medical fitness trainers or fitness nutritionists. Similarly, certified personal trainers can become wellness coaches or weight loss specialists.
With institutes such as W.I.T.S Education, it has become quite easy for trainers to get additional accredited specializations that’ll help them broaden their career prospects. Whether they want to work for a gym or start their own business, these specializations can help them achieve their goals.
Despite the pandemic, the fitness industry has remained afloat and is constantly thriving. This happened mainly due to the industry’s fast adaption to the changes caused by the pandemic, such as online learning and certifications. A major part of the fitness industry has been occupied by wellness and lifestyle coaching as a lot of people needed to get back on track after the extensive lockdowns.
Not just that, but many new career paths have opened up for fitness trainers. They are no longer constrained by the options of working at the gym or becoming personal trainers. Today many established and new fitness trainers can further their careers in different fields related to fitness, such as group fitness, senior fitness, and even youth fitness. Not just that, but many fitness training centers and gyms have started offering these pieces of training to their clients.
As a result, fitness trainers get a lot more options to work than before. Their changes are increased when their certifications are accredited, and they can also get higher paychecks. So, in terms of job perspective, now is the best time to enter the fitness world, make a name for yourself, and advance your career.
Specializations help you further your career prospects as well as let you offer diverse services to your customers. Your clients can get a higher level of service that considers their health and fitness. Instead of basic exercises and weight loss, your clients can now opt for wellness coaching that takes care of their fitness and health needs.
Besides that, specialization plays an important role in setting yourself apart from the rest of the trainers, which means lesser competition and a chance to reach more clients. General trainers are good for the gym, but when people pay extra for their fitness, they demand special services. You can only deliver these if you have the relevant certifications. In addition to that, you can combine your extensive knowledge from different specializations to deliver a truly unique workout and wellness routines to your clients.
Last but not least, specializations allow you to generate more income. When you offer special services, it’s given that you’ll charge more for them. The attitude of people towards fitness has changed drastically in the past few years. They are willing to pay extra for special services that can help them reach their fitness as well as health goals.
The fitness and wellness industries are quite broad and therefore offer many options to prospective fitness trainers to work with clients on a more personal level. Specializations offer in-depth knowledge of specific areas, and you can combine this knowledge with your knowledge of fitness training. This combination allows you to offer a wider range of services that can tackle different problem areas of your clients.
Some certifications require a medical or nutritional background, such as medical fitness trainers and nutritional trainers. As a personal trainer, these certifications allow you to turn your fitness training into full-fledged wellness coaching. Here are some of the top specializations you can take today!
Medical fitness is an emerging field in fitness work that skillfully combines physical movements and exercises for people that suffer from chronic health issues and disabilities. As a medical fitness instructor, you’ll be responsible for analyzing each client and developing a fitness plan based on their individual needs. The plan would include physical exercise as well as a diet that can help people suffering from such conditions to improve their health.
You’ll also be required to coordinate with medical professionals to find the best course of action to improve your client’s health. Aside from that, you’ll need to monitor the client’s progress and modify your exercise and diet plans accordingly. Medical fitness courses teach you how to plan exercise routines, understand chronic conditions, and treat them properly using fitness.
Wellness coaching is considered vital to the overall long-term health goals of your clients. The basis of this certification is to create an exercise program that is geared towards mental and emotional wellbeing in addition to physical. As a wellness coach, it’s your job to create innovative ways to help your clients reach their goals while staying on top of their health.
Wellness coaching can be taken by medical professionals, occupational therapists, massage therapists, and health coaches. Your diverse background will aid in strengthening your career as a wellness coach. You’ll be able to make exercise plans, diet plans, and other activities that help your clients reach a peaceful state of mind.
Fitness is not the same for everyone; health, age, and physical limitations play a huge role in changing the fitness requirements for each individual. Among such are senior citizens that struggle the most to reach their fitness goals because of the lack of options for trainers. This is where senior fitness comes into play. As a senior fitness instructor, it will be your responsibility to identify age-related changes in the bodies of your clients and adjust their fitness routines accordingly.
The specialization will teach you how to assess the fitness of each individual client and design exercise programs for each of them. You’ll also be responsible for developing short and long-term fitness goals for them, keeping in mind their health and fitness. You’ll also need to take into consideration the behavioral changes that can affect the older population and devise strategies to overcome them. This will help you keep your clients on track.
Youth fitness is extremely important to help the kids improve their cardiorespiratory fitness, strengthen their bones and muscles, and avoid obesity and other health issues from a young age. These fitness techniques keep in mind their mental health as well and prevent or reduce the symptoms of anxiety and depression. As a youth fitness instructor, you’ll be required to develop age-appropriate exercises for the kids, check their daily diet, and modify these exercises based on their progress. Due to the different growth levels of kids, it’s impossible to make a single plan that’ll work for everyone. The exercises and subsequent diet need to match the growth rate of each individual.
In simple terms, group fitness instructor specialization allows you to conduct group fitness classes. The common exercises included in group fitness are aerobics, yoga, stretching, muscle conditioning, and exercising. In this type of fitness, you’re responsible for developing an exercise routine that will be followed by the entire group. The important thing to keep in mind is that this routine should be developed based on the needs and fitness level of each client. You’ll also be responsible for creating programs that include different exercise formats such as cycling, kickboxing, sports training, and gym classes.
You’re supposed to lead these group exercises as well as monitor the progress of each member of the group. You’ll need to make changes to the routines to ensure everyone is on the same page fitness-wise.
A fitness nutrition coach is different from a fitness instructor because they help people overcome their health issues through diet and nutrition. They are responsible for developing healthy diet plans for people, keeping their health and fitness level in mind.
As a fitness instructor, a nutrition coach certification will allow you to monitor the physical as well as the dietary requirements of your clients. Instead of targeting exercises, you’ll be using nutrition as well as exercises to help your clients live a healthier lifestyle. Not just that, you can expand your expertise to different age groups and deliver age-appropriate health plans to your clients.
If you have all the necessary certifications and want to start your own fitness business, you’ll need to learn how to manage it. Fitness management training allows trainers to tackle key issues related to business. These issues include membership purchase and client retention, offering trial memberships, developing programs to capture a wider range of clients, recruiting staff and purchasing equipment, and managing risk and legal liabilities.
All of these things are hard to come by without any proper knowledge of running a fitness business. This is why a fitness management course will help you understand the legal and management related aspects of your fitness business
To pick a fitness specialization for yourself, you need to consider a few things. The first would be the age group of clients you want to train, the kind of training you want to offer, and the trends in the fitness industry regarding specializations. Once you’ve decided which one you want to go for, it’s time to pick an institute. W.I.T.S. Education has an excellent range of fitness specializations to choose from. The following are the few things you should keep in mind before settling on a specialization.
Age groups play a huge role in fitness specialization. If you are an aerobics instructor, your clients are likely younger. The same thing goes for youth fitness. These days, one of the most overlooked groups, the senior citizens, is taking a keen interest in fitness. That’s why the prospects of senior fitness specializations look great. There’s a shortage of credible trainers, and the market is huge.
On the other hand, youth fitness is an emerging field as well. Because of the pandemic and the new schooling rules, children don’t get to do as many physical activities as they used to. AS a result, parents have turned to trainers to ensure that their children are getting the proper physical training to keep up with their growth rate.
If you have a background in the medical field, such as a nutritionist or occupational therapist, medical fitness is perfect for you. This certification has a few prerequisites that are needed before you can begin the course. With your background and qualifications, you can easily take the medical fitness course and expand your expertise. Not just that, but the earning potential in this field is high too because people are willing to pay good money to find great trainers.
If age and educational background aren’t your main points of focus, then maybe you should select specializations based on your interests. Ask yourself what do you like about the fitness industry and specialize in that. For example, you might like leading groups exercise sessions, and you have the potential to become a good group fitness instructor. Or you might want to manage gyms and fitness training centers; then you should opt for the fitness management specialization.
Currently, the fitness industry is merging with the wellness industry. Workouts are no longer about reaching your ideal weight or building muscles rather, a vast majority of people want to get into fitness to improve their health and mind. As a result, there are many specializations you can take that combine the wellness industry with the fitness industry. These courses will help you develop exercise and wellness programs for your clients.
If you’re looking to get a quality education to further your fitness career, take a look at the certification offered by W.I.T.S. Education. W.I.T.S is a fitness training institute that offers general fitness training courses as well as unique specializations that set you apart in the dense market. Some of their special courses include the medical fitness trainer course, senior fitness instructor course, and youth fitness instructor course.
These courses allow you to expand your services as a fitness instructor and make a name for yourself in the industry. Not just that, but these courses also increase your chances for employment. W.I.T.S Education has a unique learning method that involves online lectures as well as hands-on in-person training labs that are not offered by any other institute. Their training centers are located all over North America. Check out their courses or reach out to them today to learn more.
What should you eat when you finish a workout? Anyone who has done any weightlifting to build muscle would answer that protein supplementation is the way to go. However, what if you just completed an aerobic/cardio workout? Is protein going to provide your body with the fuel it needs to recover successfully from that type of workout? In addition, can you eat that fuel at any point during the day? Or does it need to be right away after your workout to get the full benefit?
When we work out, our muscles use its stores of glycogen to give them the energy they need to keep doing the “work” we ask them to do. When those glycogen stores are used and gone, the body needs energy replenishment. Most people have been taught from unreliable sources that you must replenish these energy stores with high amounts of protein after every workout, no matter the type of workout. While increasing protein intake when attempting to build muscle and decrease body fat levels is beneficial, there is a level of protein intake that becomes detrimental to health with long-term use. A 2013 study posted on the US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health website, states that “the adverse effects associated with long-term high protein/high meat intake in humans were (a) disorders of bone and calcium homeostasis, (b) disorders of renal function, (c) increased cancer risk, (d) disorders of liver function, and (e) precipitated progression of coronary artery disease.” Yikes! So, what amounts of protein intake is useful to our bodies without becoming unhealthy?
Let’s first that a look at how to recover from different types of workouts. To keep it simple, we will look at cardio workouts and resistance training workouts. When you have done a cardio workout; your body needs to restore those glycogen stores, which comes from carbohydrates you ingest. Now let us be clear: it’s not a candy bar or a sugary drink. Its complex carbohydrates – aka healthy carbs. Eating a diet that is higher in fat and low in carbs will mean that you cannot workout as hard when you do a more intense workout. Carbs are your friend and allow you to work harder and more efficiently! The amount you need to aim to ingest within one hour after completing your cardio workout is 3-5 grams of complex carbs for every kilogram of body weight. (Weight in pounds / 2.2) Eating this amount within that one-hour window ensures that your body is using the energy optimally to help with recovery and replenishing glycogen stores. If your steady-state cardio workout goes long than an hour, increase the grams of complex carbs per kg of body weight to 6-8 grams.
When you do a resistance-training workout, you will still need to eat carbohydrates, but protein will help with the rebuilding of muscles and decreasing of soreness. Protein is the building blocks of your body so you do need to eat them, just not in excess to cause long-term health issues. The recommended amount of protein is 1.2 -2 grams of protein per kg of body weight (see above paragraph to convert weight in pounds to kilograms). Again, getting this level of protein into your body within one hour of finishing that resistance workout will be extremely important to help your body recover optimally and decrease soreness. If you are a protein shake person, make sure to look for a shake that does not contain many fillers. Look at the nutrition label – the less the amount of listed ingredients, the more clean the protein shake will be – allowing your body to absorb the protein more efficiently. Otherwise, eating meat with lower amounts of fat will work just as well!
If you want to see results as “quick” as possible, helping your bodywork optimally during a workout is going to be one of the best ways to hit those goals. Replenishing the needs of your body after different workouts will do that and help, you keep moving along the path to seeing results.
By Pamela G. Huenink, MS, EP-C, W.I.T.S. Faculty
The human body is nature’s most sophisticated piece of machinery. Let’s briefly analyze one its most fundamental tasks: movement. Movement is the resultant cascade of neurophysiological functions beginning with the beaconing of efferent signals from the central nervous system to the pools of motor units innervating skeletal muscle. The recruitment of motor units is dependent upon the task and associated external force needed to meet said task. The rate and selectivity at which motor units are recruited are influenced by an individual’s neural efficiency. The magnitude and rapidity of force production exhibited during activities of daily living, recreation, and competition are largely improved through resistance training. (more…)
