You Are What You Eat

Nutrition refers to the food that a person takes into his body and the way that food influences his health. What we eat plays an important role in determining how we feel. Our diet can help or hinder our daily physical and mental functioning and affect our long term health. You probably have heard the saying , You are what you eat. Modern medical studies have concluded that this is true! Just as your car runs best when maintained properly and given the best gasoline, our bodies function best when we eat healthy and nutritious foods and beverages. Not only does good nutrition help us to be at our mental and physical best on a day to day basis, but it also plays a large role in keeping our bodies healthy and disease free over a lifetime. As a personal fitness trainer and nutritional specialist, you'll be able to help your clients eat a more healthy diet.

To day Exercises

Sets                                                                            Sets
                                                                                   4----12 Russian Twist
4 -  - -12 Hack Squats                                                4----12 Incline Reverse Crunch
4- ---- 12 Side lunges                                                 4----12 Side Bends

4------12 Squats
4------12 Leg Extensions
2------15 Leg Curls
                                             Have a good workout

Crunches

Lying on the floor with your legs draped over a bench ,curl your head toward your knees, so that your abs pull your trunk upward. Don't try to raise your lower back up off the floor. Instead, simply crunch your trunk by pulling your ribs toward your hips. Use a weight plate behind your head, or on your chest , if this movement is too easy for you .

The Fitness Industry

You listen to your coworkers talk about the gym they belong to , you hear about the latest nutritional studies on the evening news, and you try all the latest diet and exercise programs. But do you really know how all of this fits into the fitness and nutrition industry? Or for that matter, what that industry incorporates?  Most people think of gyms when they hear the word fitness. But the fitness industry includes much more than just gyms. It includes every who works to help people get and stay in shape . So let's take a look at the different components of the fitness and nutrition industry.

Health and Fitness Clubs

In 2004 nearly 40 million people in the United States belonged to health clubs, and this number only is expected to grow as we continue through the decade. Most people belong to commercial health club, YMCA/YWCA, and company fitness programs . The baby boomers, ages 44 to 64, make up the largest percentage of those who belong to health clubs , followed closely by adults ages 18 to 43 .


Not only is the total number of individuals attending health clubs increasing but so is the frequency with which these members attend. So what do health clubs offer  people that keep them coming back ? Nearly all health club offer personal training ,making it one the number one programs offered. Additionally, many clubs offer several types of aerobic classes, access to free weights, stationery bikes, and climbers /steppers, and the opportunity to have a fitness evaluation performed. To attract mothers of young children, more clubs offer childcare facilities.

A trend we see more and in the industry is specialty clubs. Look in the yellow pages of your phone book under health clubs or gyms. Listed ? You  might find yoga clubs, Pilate  clubs, and women only clubs , just to name a few. So you see, the industry truly offers something for everyone! This rapid expansion of health clubs membership will lead to an increased demand for personal fitness trainers and nutritional specialists like my self ! 

Exercise Duration and Intensity

Remember that exercise duration refers to the amount of time in an exercise session that aerobic conditioning is occurring. Exercise intensity measures the workload or how hard the heart is working. The most common way of increasing aerobic exercise intensity is to increase the speed at which the activity is performed. For instance, walking faster or jogging can increase a walker's exercise intensity. Another way to increase intensity is to increase the number of muscles you're using. For example, playing basketball uses both upper and lower body muscles.

The client looking to improve her level of physical fitness will benefit most from a high-intensity workout. High-intensity aerobic workouts and low-impact aerobic classes improve both cardiovascular and respiratory function as well as increase muscle fiber use. Clients focusing more on the health benefits they can receive from exercise gain the most from moderate-intensity workouts done for a longer duration.

Moderate- intensity workouts, such as brisk walking, provide health benefits including lowered blood pressure, reduced body fat, improved psychological health , and a reduced risk of heart disease and other diseases.

There are many methods of preparing a competitive athlete for his or her sport. One such method is called tapering.Tapering reduces training intensity and duration as the competition day approaches while focusing on competitive technique and nutritional therapy that allow for peak performance. Tapering allows glycogen stores to be replenished and tissue repair to occur, and it keeps the athlete focused on the upcoming competition.

Exercise Frequency

You already know that exercise frequency refers to how many time each week the client performs the aerobic activity . Training too frequently can increase a client's chance of injury, while training too infrequently can hinder the client's fitness progress. Most effective cardiorespiratory programs require the client to exercise at least three days a week with no more than two days between exercise sessions.


There are several  factors the personal fitness trainer must consider when deciding what a client's exercise frequency should be . Clients who are new to exercise generally require more recovery time between exercise sessions than more experienced exercisers from 36 to 48 hours between workouts is sufficient.

Exercise done at a high intensity and for longer durations also calls for a longer recovery period than those exercises performed at a lower intensity for less time.


When a client is a competitive athlete, training frequency must be varied depending on the sport season and competition times. During the off season, an athlete may exercise frequently in a different manner or choose to train infrequently to give his body a rest. The preseason often calls for the athlete to train daily or even multiple times per day, while training should be scaled back on days prior to competition once the sport's season begins. As a beginning personal fitness trainer, you probably won't work much with competitive athletes, as working with such clients often requires specialized training.