February is Heart Health Month: How Are You Monitoring Your or Your Clients’ Hearts?
Cardiovascular health is, if you’ll excuse the pun, at the heart of physical fitness. Appropriate, then, during American Heart Month to have a look at the ways we can monitor our hearts as well as those of our clients. For clients, getting ahold of an at-home blood pressure monitor can be a good start, as […]
Inspiring ACSM Leaders: Antronette (Toni) Yancey, MD
Antronette (Toni) Yancey, M.D., was born in Kansas City, Kansas, in 1957. She studied biochemistry and molecular biology at Northwestern University before attending Duke University for her M.D. and going on to pursue a long and successful career in public health and public health education. Dr. Yancey received a posthumous ACSM Citation Award in 2014. […]
Pedaling toward Activity-Supportive Workplace Environments
Approximately 80% of jobs in the United States are predominantly sedentary. Sedentary work time is also increasing worldwide. National and global policy guidelines recommend breaking up sedentary work time to improve population health and reduce premature mortality. However, policies and job demands requiring workers to remain at their desks, along with limited funds and space for exercise equipment, can […]
Combating Obesity as a Family
Obesity is one of those diseases that just breaks my heart. After almost 24 years in the health care field, I have not personally witnessed a reduction in this “lifestyle” disease, and the official statistics in the U.S. and worldwide don’t reflect that much progress has been made toward prevention. There are many reasons why […]
AED Poster
Use this helpful poster to advertise the location of your AED.
How to Build a Bike-Friendly Community
Cycling is an ideal form of transportation and recreation: More physically engaging than driving and far more mechanically efficient than walking or running, it’s the perfect balance of convenience and exercise. It’s better for our health, and better for the environment. There’s a sticking point, though: Many communities lack the necessary infrastructure for safe cycling. […]
Racial, Ethnic, and Nativity-Based Differences in Physical Activity Behaviors
As exercise professionals ranging from clinicians to personal trainers to researchers, we know that most adults in the United States are not getting enough moderate-to-vigorous intensity aerobic physical activity (MVPA). It is important for us to understand who may be at especially high risk of physical inactivity. Prior studies have shown that there may be […]
Air Pollution Diminishes the Benefits of Physical Activity for Brain Health
Physical activity is recognized as one of the key healthy lifestyle behaviors that reduces the risk of developing dementia late in life. Physical activity requires increased rates of respiration. Thus, in areas with high levels of air pollution, physical activity may increase exposure to particulate matter and gases that are linked with higher risk of […]
Alcohol Consumption and Exercise Performance
Alcohol consumption is a topic that is not often discussed with respect to exercise performance. Typically, people joke about alcohol consumption, in general; and yet, alcohol abuse is a very serious subject. In addition, it has been well established that alcohol negatively affects health and exercise performance. Alcohol has been shown to result in damaging effects to […]
Client Challenge: Life-Change Stress Leads to Overeating, Unhealthy Food Choices
In this series, we’re exploring a variety of client scenarios. We describe a few tips from my science-based coaching toolbox to help you help your clients engage fully in a fit lifestyle that allows them to thrive, whatever thriving means in their lives. Today, we explore how to coach a client whose work responsibilities bring […]