In the past few years, fitness has made its way into different aspects of our lives; whether it’s getting fit, eating healthy, or maintaining an ideal weight.
But there’s one more sector that’s benefiting immensely from fitness, and that’s medical fitness. Medical fitness trainers help people transition toward a healthier lifestyle through the use of health and fitness.
Instead of following traditional exercises, medical fitness focuses on offering specialized care so people with health issues can lead normal lives without their health issues getting in the way. Besides, people with temporary injuries can also benefit from medical fitness and reduce their recovery time. Here is all you need to know about medical fitness training, and if you’re interested in becoming a trainer in the medical industry, check out our course.
Medical Fitness Vs. Fitness
Focused On Healing
Most people attend medical fitness training to help with chronic illnesses like heart issues, arthritis, muscle spasms, and diabetes. These issues require specific exercises to help them relax and reduce their pain. Most of the time, the exercises are light and designed to stretch the muscles, improve blood circulation, and release stress. But for regular fitness training, the intensity of the exercises keeps increasing to improve fitness and quickly help clients reach their goals.
Based On Nutrition
Fitness training is focused on nutrition to help clients reach their ideal fitness level, but a lot of times, there’s no restriction on what clients can eat as long as they maintain their calorie intake. On the other hand, with medical fitness training, nutrition is the basis of fitness. Before creating a workout plan, the meal plan is designed in conjunction with the client’s doctor so that the client can keep up with the workout without compromising on their health.
Keep Health Issues In Control
With regular fitness training, a trainer might refuse to work with a client with specific health issues because the trainers aren’t experienced in helping with health conditions. But the basis of medical fitness revolves around maintaining the patient’s health issues so they can lead normal lives without changing their lifestyles. For this, instead of changing workouts to improve their fitness levels, trainers look for workouts the clients can perform consistently. These workouts should also help maintain their health and keep their illness or injury under control.
Input Form Doctors
General fitness trainers don’t take input from the client’s doctor when designing a workout routine. This is because these workouts are developed based on the client’s fitness levels and fitness goals. But with medical fitness, a lot of times, trainers need to take input from the client’s doctor to prevent any injuries or deteriorating the client’s health. This input helps them to design effective workouts that help the client heal, stay fit, and not stress them out.
How Can You Become A Medical Fitness Trainer?
Even though there are no explicit rules on who can become a medical fitness trainer, people with a medical background have better odds of succeeding. That’s because they already have basic medical knowledge and can work better with the client’s doctors to improve their health. Besides that, to get a proper medical fitness certification like the one offered by W.I.T.S Education, you’ll need to be 18 years of age and should have a high school diploma or a GED. Additionally, having some previous fitness training certification or experience will be beneficial.
How Does It Help Clients?
Holistic Wellness
The holistic wellness approach considers a person’s physical and mental well-being. People with chronic illnesses often have a stressed-out mental state that prevents them from relaxing and enjoying their lives. The holistic wellness approach by medical fitness trainers enables clients to relax their minds, ease their muscles and enter a tranquil state of mind. This takes the pressure off of their nerves and reduces fatigue and headaches. Commonly meditation and yoga are used for holistic wellness.
Helps Relieve Pain
Some chronic illnesses like obesity, heart issues, and arthritis put people in a lot of pain. This makes it difficult for them to perform day-to-day tasks. Workouts like stretching, running, and swimming can help relieve some of these issues. This happens because the muscles are stretched, which relaxes them and increases the blood flow. It also helps release the built-up tension in the muscles and soothe them. Exercise also reduces blood sugar levels and increases the body’s sensitivity to insulin, allowing diabetic patients to better manage their condition.
Reduces Recovery Time
Some injuries require people to rest and do nothing to recover, while others need movement to get the body back on its feet. Medical fitness trainers can help clients reduce their recovery time with fitness training and enable them to gain better control of their muscles and expand their movement. Doing this increases muscle development and strengthens the bones. Additionally, people are less likely to feel pain and experience muscle spasms if they have stronger muscles.
Helps Better Manage Health
People with diabetes, obesity, and other health issues often struggle to break a sweat and maintain a workout routine. Even if they do work out, they struggle to stick to a routine. However, regular exercise can solve several health issues if done properly.
With regular trainers, people don’t get a lot of personalized input regarding their health, but medical fitness trainers have experience in the medical field and can easily determine which type of exercise would help clients better manage their health.
These exercises don’t have to be in the form of workout sessions; people can also stay fit and healthy by maintaining an active lifestyle. For example, taking the stairs instead of the elevator or walking to the grocery store instead of taking the car.
Take Your Fitness Career To The Next Level With W.I.T.S. Education
W.I.T.S. Education offers personal health trainer programs to help trainers enter into different fitness industries and expand their clientele. We offer a variety of courses, including those for certified personal trainers, senior fitness instructors, and group exercise instructors. Additionally, both the N.C.C.A. and the American Council on Education have accredited our courses.
Our students can obtain college credits by enrolling in our courses because we have one of the largest networks of institutions and colleges. Our mission is to help students develop practical skills that will boost their professions. So why are you still waiting? Enroll in our programs to begin your path to personal trainer certification!