AFPA Health and Fitness Blog

Having a good workout routine is a key part to staying healthy and losing weight. Having the right gym items is important to making sure your workout is as effective as possible. Here’s a list of the 5 essential gym bag items that are must-haves if you want to enhance your gym experience. 1.  Protein […]

Health coaching can be a transformative experience, helping clients to achieve their health and wellness goals and live their best lives. But it’s not always easy for clients to stay motivated along the way.   That’s where coaching prompts come in. By incorporating prompts that show appreciation and foster motivation into their coaching practice, health coaches […]

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published October 2014 and has recently been updated and revised for accuracy and comprehensiveness. For the past ten years, Pilates has become more and more popular in the fitness community. Whether you’re young or old it’s a perfect way to improve balance, mobility and strengthen the core. At AFPA […]

Thinness equals health and moral virtue. That’s diet culture in a nutshell. But as a fitness coach, like a Certified Personal Trainer or Yoga Instructor, you’re probably familiar with how misguided diet culture beliefs are.

People across the world are increasingly prioritizing their health. Unfortunately, “prioritizing health” isn’t quite the same as actually living a healthy lifestyle. Take this 2016 study published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings, for instance. Researchers found that an average of only 2.7% of Americans met four basic qualifications of a healthy lifestyle. What’s behind this disconnect? […]

Managed care has created a need for patients/clients to seek alternative care for the management of their injuries/disease.Cut backs on reimbursement of services to traditional medical providers (e.g., physicians, physical therapists, and chiropractors) have provided an opportunity to develop medically supervised fitness programs or post rehabilitation.

What is progress? How do you define bodybuilding progress? What types of changes are occurring within the body? Do we define change from oxen to automobile to jet aircraft progress? Can speed and efficiency the criteria of progress? Man’s clothes have changed, his food has changed, his toys have certainly changed! Athletes in the 2000’s are bigger, stronger […]

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published October 2016 and has recently been updated and revised for accuracy and comprehensiveness. Personal trainers are in the business of helping people make positive changes in their lives. And a lot of their day-to-day activities revolve around teaching people how to exercise and eat healthy. But there’s a […]

High impact exercises, like interval sprints, box jumps, and burpees, can improve your clients’ cardiovascular fitness, bone mineral density, muscular strength, and athletic performance.  But there’s one problem, and it’s something you may have realized as a Certified Personal Trainer: Not all clients are suited for or enjoy high-impact exercises.