FitnessMash

Thank You Dr. Jones!

Wanted to send a big THANK YOU out to Dr. Michael Jones of AAHFRP for flying to NYC this past weekend to conduct the first Medical Exercise Specialist Workshop at FocusNYC!

Fortunately, Nemo the Nor’easter didn’t hit New York as badly as was predicted and Dr. Jones made it in safely from Texas.

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Training For the Sport of Motherhood

Jillian Michaels adopting a kid from the Congo might be the scariest news I’ve heard in a while… When it comes to moms in training, I’d rather turn to someone like Ilene Bergelson for advice.

You may recall Ilene’s past posts on peri-natal core training here and here; now, she’s back to share her philosophies on training to keep up with a growing child.

Ilene will be giving a workshop on June 17th at FPTI in NYC called Training For the Sport of Motherhood. Here’s a brief glimpse of what she’ll be covering (fast forward to about the 1:30 mark, in particular):

The EARLY BIRD DISCOUNT ENDS Wednesday, May 18th, so be sure to sign up soon if you plan on attending. And if you can’t make it, stay tuned for some great information. There will be more to come, but since I promised my good friend and new mom Wendy some expert training tips, here’s a little Q&A to start:

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Focus Personal Training Institute

The 2011 Major League Baseball season starts today, but April 4th is Opening Day at the Focus Personal Training Institute.

I hate to say it, but most personal training education programs are a joke. April Fools Day or not, it’s really nothing to laugh about. In an attempt to raise the bar, we’ve created FPTI: A state-licensed vocational school for aspiring personal trainers with a rigorous 300-hour course curriculum taught by top industry leaders. Even better, we’ve brought on renowned fitness educator Angela Corcoran as Director. As a personal trainer, physiology professor and life-long student herself, Angela’s experience in personal trainer development is second-to-none.

At FPTI, our calendar affords you the option of enrolling in a full-time day or evening program for 11 weeks, or taking part-time weekend classes for 20 weeks. And the curriculum offers the best of both worlds: You’ll learn the science of functional anatomy, physiology and kinesiology (often missing in other personal training education programs) in the classroom…

…and receive training in assessments, program design, stretching, exercise technique and equipment use (which you won’t get in college) on the (brand spankin’ new state-of-the-art!) floor:

You’ll also learn the ABCs of nutrition and psychology necessary to achieve optimal results with clients, and the professional development skills you’ll need to succeed in the ever-growing field of personal training – all in an intimate setting to optimize learning.

If you’ve ever thought about becoming a personal trainer, now’s the time to get started. Come check us out here!

Finally Understanding The Core

Core training takes many forms these days – some good, some bad and some just plain ugly. While there’s always room for debate in exercise, the main reason for the disconnect is that many people don’t really understand the core. Today, we have a guest post from someone who does: Core-training expert Ilene Bergelson.

Ilene is Founder of LifeMoves Health, and she has over 20 years of experience training and teaching in the industry. One of her specialties is perinatal core training, and she has uniquely taken this background and combined it with the most up-to-date research to develop safe and effective core conditioning programs for…well, anyone with a core.

The great thing about Ilene’s approach is that it’s grounded in fundamental principles that really apply to everyone. She’ll be giving a workshop on March 23rd at The Focus Personal Training Institute discussing her techniques, and you’ll get a DISCOUNTED RATE if you REGISTER BY FEBRUARY 28th.

Here’s a little more about Ilene, her views on the core and how to train it, and a glimpse of what to expect from the workshop:

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Industry Interview: Chris McGrath (Part 2)

In case you missed it, you can find Part 1 of this interview here. Now, onto Part 2!

Which corrective techniques have you found to be most effective?

It really depends on the issue. One of the first questions we ask is whether the movement impairment is a mobility or stability issue. In the absence of stability, the body will give up functional mobility, but not necessarily passive mobility. Someone may appear tight through movement, but when we check their range of motion (ROM) in an unloaded position, they aren’t actually “tight.”

For example, we see a lot of squats that have a very limited range of motion when screened. But when we unload the person, they are perfectly capable of assuming a deep squat position. Their problem isn’t with mobility; it’s actually a lack of stability. In this case, stretching is not the appropriate corrective strategy.

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Industry Interview: Chris McGrath (Part 1)

Today’s post is the first part of a fantastic two-part interview with industry leader Chris McGrath, MS, CSCS of Movement First.

Chris is a personal trainer, fitness educator and consultant in New York City with more than 20 years of experience in the fitness industry. Among other events, he will be conducting a Functional Movement Screen and Corrective Exercise Workshop February 12th-13th at Focus Integrated Fitness in NYC. Having previously attended one of Chris’s presentations, I guarantee he’ll have some great information to share. You can register here if you’re interested.

For those who don’t know, the Functional Movement Screen is a seven-part test designed by renowned physical therapist Gray Cook to identify movement impairments so we don’t “put fitness on top of dysfunction” and get injured when we train. To learn how Chris assesses and improves movement, read on…

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Education vs. The Stability Ball

I had the pleasure of hearing some great presentations yesterday at the new FocusNYC – our first event of many!

Host Angela Corcoran brought up some pretty important points from ACSM’s Worldwide Survey of Fitness Trends for 2011.

If you haven’t yet seen the article, what do you think has been projected as the number one trend?

Click to find out…

Since you’re probably looking for the answer here instead, I’m going to hit you with a picture that will make you really rather look at that article:

Yes, A LOT has changed since the days of Arnold Schwarzenegger…

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A New Home For The New Year!

The new year is underway and FocusNYC has a lot of exciting new things in store!

To kick things off in 2011, we’ve just opened a brand new state-of-the-art facility on 27th Street and 6th Ave. in Manhattan.

Pretty sweet, huh?!

It’s 5,000 square feet and, in addition to housing the offices of Focus Integrated Fitness and our renowned semi-private training sessions, the space will be used primarily as an educational facility for fitness professionals. That’s right, it’s not a gym like you’ve seen before; this facilty was built as a learning and teaching facility first and foremost.

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