Supervised and appropriate strength training plays an important role in promoting the health and well being of the mother and fetus as well as promoting a less painful labor and recovery. 

This course provides understanding on how to encourage women to weight train, with detailed information of the multiple benefits gained through weight training. In addition, you will find practical, safe training techniques with examples of resistance training and free weight training programs.

This comprehensive review provides detailed descriptions as well as pictures to ensure proper technique for the 3 and 7 site skin fold measurements. In addition, for your convenience we included 4 charts; a male and female 7 site chart, as well as a male and female 3 site chart.

Children are much more susceptible to heat stress than adults. A child’s sweat glands are not yet fully developed so they are less effective at cooling down through evaporation then adults. Make sure they drink lots of water and always exercise in light, cotton clothing. 

High intensity interval training (HIIT) is the alternating between high and low intensity exercise(s) or between high intensity exercise and a short period of rest.

The more active you are, the less weight you're likely to gain. A National Institutes of Health review showed that people who did aerobic activities every day for 10 or more minutes had 6 fewer inches around the waistline compared to people who didn't exercise. And exercising while you're in the process of losing weight -- as well as after you've lost it -- may be critical to maintaining weight loss.

Coordination is a motor skill that is necessary for functional athletic performance. A well- coordinated child will acquire a skill quickly and be able to perform it more efficiently as compared to a child who is not as coordinated. Coordination, agility, and balance are key components to motor skill straining. Good coordination results in more efficient skill effectiveness. Agility represents an athletes ability to change directions with ease, and balance represents an athletes ability to maintain body control while performing an athletic skill.

Plyometrics provides an edge that is essential to all athletes. This course provides a detailed list of safety guidelines, the 3 basic types of plyometric training and a 10 week program guide. Finally you will find 23 fully illustrated photos with descriptions attached to each plyometric exercises.

Rhabdomyolysis is a condition that results in the death of your muscle cells from a stress (like exercise) that overwhelms the body's ability to adapt. The muscle cells rupture and release their cellular contents into the blood. This not only can be dangerous, it can be deadly.

This course discusses the physiological changes that occur in the senior individual, guidelines for safety and efficiency, as well as precautions related to arthritis and osteoporosis. In addition a descriptive list of functional exercises is also provided. 

This course is a great introduction into yoga. It offers 29 fully illustrated photos of various yoga poses. Attached to each poses is a description of how to perform the poses, the purpose, and modifications for each movement. In addition you will find a detailed description on proper yoga breathing enhancing your yoga exercise.

Core training should be an essential part of everyone’s training program. This detailed guide discusses muscles used, proper technique/body alignment, as well as a guide to defining the advanced, intermediate and moderate client/student. In addition, the detailed description of the stability ball, resistance bands, bosu and medicine ball will increase your knowledge and understanding to enable proper and safe training techniques. This course also provides 49 different exercises (pictures attached to each exercise) utilizing the stability ball, resistance bands, bosu and medicine ball.

One often overlooked subject when a client/student is learning to run are the mechanics or running form. Many recreational runners make the assumption that running form is only important for competitive athletes. It is just as important for a new runner to learn proper running mechanics. In many ways it is even more important for a beginning runner to learn proper form. Learning it early can eliminate picking up bad running habits that can cause injury, frustration and an inefficient runner.

Female athletics are increasing in popularity every day. Because of this, female athletes must prepare their bodies for the demands of their sport just like the male athletes. Strength development is especially important for females because they have an increased risk of ACL tears and knee problems due to their hip to knee “Q-angle.” A strong “core,” hips, quads, and hamstrings can drastically decrease stress on the knee joint when female athletes land from a jump or change direction on the athletic field.

This comprehensive course provides understanding of how age, gender and limitations affect flexibility. As well as defining health concerns and precautions, the benefits of flexibility training, 7 different types of stretching techniques, and flexibility training guidelines. Finally, you will find 60 fully illustrated photos (with description) of various flexibility techniques, and exercises covering each muscle group.

Many individuals who are overweight have knee issues. Those issues are often the result of being overweight and will become worse if they don’t lose weight. As fitness professionals, we know what exercise programs will produce the quickest results, yet we must choose wisely. The exercise program we choose will either help to decrease or increase the knee problems. Additionally, many of these individuals have back problems also related to excessive weight. Again, the exercise program will help or further increase the back issues.

The benefits of kettlebells are numerous and are as follows; Full body conditioning, working multiple systems simultaneously, increased strength without increased mass, increased range of motion and joint mobility, enhanced performance in athletics and everyday functioning, exercise that relates to “real life”.

This comprehensive course provides all the detailed ins and outs of what you need to know to understand nutrition. You will find charts including the Food Pyramid, glycemic index table, a fat finder worksheet and complete details of macronutrients as well as micronutrients.

Nutrition is even more important to children than it is to adults.  Young athletes need good nutrition to maintain health, and optimize athletic performance.  Not only do they have to eat nutritious meals that provide energy, but their nutrition must provide for physical growth and development.

Pilates boasts great benefits such as core strength, balance, flexibility and improved posture, but that’s just a few of the possible benefits. When you understand the details of how to properly perform Pilates, you will find it an essential part of your exercise regimen. This comprehensive course provides a detailed look into the foundational movements of Pilates, the muscles used in Pilates as well as 22 fully illustrated photos of the primary Pilates exercises.

Using bands or tubing is a great way to add variety to any exercise program. Training with resistance bands requires more skill and coordination than some other types of strength training equipment. Beginning with a thin band and focusing on the correct form and technique will train children to stabilize their bodies against resistance. With resistance band or tubing, the exercise will become more difficult and the end of the range of motion. Due to their portability, they are a good idea for the occasion to take your exercise outside or as you travel.

Periodization is program progression and long term planning. Periodization can be used to maximize the gains in muscular fitness achieved during training for young athletes to peak their performance at the appropriate time for competition. After a period of time, adaptation to a new stimulus will no longer take place unless the stimulus is altered. This variation provides a constantly changing stress to the neuromuscular system, which promotes continued adaptation and prevents plateaus.

Speed for young athletes isn’t even about training – it’s about development.  The essence of creating maximal and permanent speed and agility is based on a developmental principal that involves slowly improving all of the biomotor abilities.  Biomotor abilities are strength, flexibility and power.  With the human body, increases in one biomotor ability will lead to increases or improvements in all of them, especially for younger athletes. 

Nearly half of America's youth (aged 12-21 years) are not vigorously active on a regular basis. Physical activity declines during adolescence, when physical education and youth sports become less available, and school, work, and less-active leisure activities become more important.  Regular physical activity should be encouraged for all children as a form of preventive healthcare. Physical activity performed during youth will improve quality of life during adulthood, and also reduce morbidity and mortality secondary to heart disease and other chronic illnesses.

Early adolescent years of 11 to 14 are ideal for structuring a program of resistance training.  At this age they should do other physical activities in addition to strength training.  Some children enjoy participating in activities such as bicycling or swimming, but may at this age range prefer a variety of team sport activities.

Everything in the program design must be analyzed for the reduction of injuries by a risk-to-benefit ratio.  Is the benefit of this exercise worth the risk?  The ratio of risk-to-benefit changes with age and levels of experience.

Recent studies show that children make substantial grains from lifting weights in strength and also in fat reduction.  Females, in particular, benefit greatly from weight lifting due to the fact that it helps build bone mass, because females are more prone to osteoporosis. 

Children can weight train safely without damaging fragile bone growth centers.   Most injuries to youth athletes occur at the ligaments and tendons.  A well designed strength training progression will strengthen the ligaments and tendons.

There are numerous resistance training exercises that can be used in a strength-training program.  It is important to keep in mind the risk versus benefit of each exercise.  You must weigh the goals and limitations of each client separately when prescribing exercises.  Quality and not quantity is the key.  Proper body alignment and stability should be your main focus when placing your client under resistance loads.