Hide

Error message here!

Lost your password? Please enter your email address. You will receive a link to create a new password.

Error message here!

Back to log-in

Close
female-trainer-senior-client-exercise-ball

Become a Movement Detective!

Often clients have nagging pains and aches that do not seem to go away. Pain inhibits seniors from doing more. And they WANT to do more.  You need to find out what is causing pain. You might need a team of referral partners. You might figure it out yourself. You start by becoming a Movement Detective !

Analyzing your clients’ daily patterns and repetitive activities as well as how they spend their “down” time will give you many CLUES into what might be causing the aches and pains of daily living. A careful detective asks the best probing questions in a conversational manner. There once was a 70’s TV detective named Columbo. He was always asking questions to get to the bottom of the crime. You need to get to the bottom of the crimes of poor movement and poor sedentary postures.  

Once you discover a few clues, then you can incorporate alternative patterns and postures that may be less irritating to the joints and safer for the client. Just because they are still climbing stairs and ladders does not mean they are doing it well. Sewing all day in a hunched over position is doing nothing to improve that chronic neck and shoulder pain. Plopping into car seat and grabbing the seat belt with too much force and rotation is not helping with their back pain. See where this is going?

A. WHAT to look for 

Ask your client to answer these questions. Give them a day or two to think about it. Write them down on an index card for them to carry around and be prompted to pay attention to their personal patterns.

Things you do the most often…

  1. Where do you sit? 
  2. Where do you stand and what do you do there?
  3. Where do you move around? What areas of the home?
  4. What tools do you use? Home. Garden. Hobbies.
  5. What do you pick up and put down? Pets. People. Stuff.
  6. What shoes do you wear? Home. Outdoors. Exercise.
  7. What kind of car do you drive?  SUV. Sedan.  Low/High.
  8. In what position do you like to sleep? Side. Back. Tummy.

B. HOW to set up the crime scene for examination. Clues are in the moves.

  1. Have your client demonstrate how they maneuver through their day inside and outside the house.  
  2. Have them demonstrate a few ADLS like picking up and putting things down.  
  3. How they work at a counter and desk.  
  4. How do they talk on the phone and work on their devices. 
  5. How and what do the like to keep clean? 
  6. Have them sit in their favorite chair and get cozy.

C. WHO to refer to if you spot a problem that you are not qualified to address.

Having a strong network of allied health professionals for your client to consider is a level of service most trainers are unable to provide.

Sometimes we notice things that are troublesome like seeing the client wince in pain when doing daily movement. This is when you ask about it and see if they would consider going to the doctor or physical therapist to determine if there is pathology to the pain or other discomforts such GI issues, headaches, etc. (Take detailed notes here. This will help the allied health professional if your client goes to them for diagnosis and treatment).

Important things to remember:

  • Refer not Defer!  
  • When in doubt… Refer Out!
  • Stay in Your Scope of Practice!

D. WHEN and WHERE to begin teaching the client new ways to do these everyday things.
BETTER and PAIN FREE.

Fit Pros: Guide Older Clients as a Geriatric Fitness and Lifestyle Specialist

Millions of people over age 65 looking for guidance from fitness professionals who are knowledgeable in exercise, nutrition and lifestyle principles that can help them improve functional mobility, while also preventing and managing chronic conditions to live their highest quality of life. The Geriatric Fitness and Lifestyle Specialist online certificate course will give you insights, strategies and tools to be a successful professional in this rapidly growing market. Learn how to be a valued part of clients’ continuum of care, working with the medical team to improve functional outcomes and positively impact people’s lives.


Holly H. Benson, BS, is a veteran in the Recreation and Fitness industries with over 35 years of administrative and technical experience. She holds two bachelor’s degrees, Corporate & Community Fitness and Recreation Administration, and numerous fitness certifications. She has developed thriving fitness programs for special populations and has passionately focused her career on the much older adult.  She currently owns and operates Moving Strong Medical Exercise, LLC in Lakewood, Colorado and provides in-home and virtual fitness training to older adults and persons with chronic medical and orthopedic conditions.

Caregiver-and-Senior-Woman

Caregivers: The Often Overlooked Gold Mine in the Senior Market

Caregivers… what does that mean? Obviously, it means someone who takes care of others. In this case, seniors 65 and older. Now you might say that 65 is a very young age to need caregiving, but not if you have a chronic condition like Parkinson’s, COPD, Multiple Sclerosis, even Type II Diabetes. What happens when these seniors suddenly can’t navigate through their life like they used to and even simple things like getting to the doctor and grocery shopping become extremely difficult to manage? They find they need a break after doing these simple tasks. At this point, they either have their adult children take on these tasks or hire someone to do them. These people — the Caregivers — are a huge untapped market for medical fitness professionals to provide our valuable services.  

Do you have connections to this market? They tend to be overlooked as they are not the end-user of our services.  Yet, they hold the key to introducing us to pre-qualified clients. There is a huge trust already established between these caregivers and their relatives or employers. The client values and relies on their recommendations, therefore, it is very advantageous to cultivate a presence in their world.  

As with all targeted marketing, where do they hang out and what are their needs? Did you know there are entire associations geared specifically toward caregivers with a subcategory of the adult children, or “parents taking care of parents”? If you didn’t, you need to. It is where the goldmine begins, and the subcategory of caregivers we are going to focus on.  I have been a caregiver with both of my parents and with numerous clients I’ve worked with. When you tap into this market, you find yourself becoming a caregiver as well. If you are great at establishing trust, you too become a trusted resource for referrals. This is a compelling reason to develop a network of preferred medical practitioners that hold similar values and approach towards care. 

From the biopsychosocial aspect of where these caregivers are, they are stressed out from providing care for both their parents and their own children as well. Their parents will fall under the category of Condition Impacted Dependent© to Extensively Dependent and Frail©, meaning they need assistance or improvement with their IADLs (Instrumental Activities of Daily Living). The caregiver demographic will be working a full-time job and juggling their own children, they have very full plates. They literally will not have the energy or time to research and find a qualified professional who can provide in-home medical exercise services designed to make their lives easier. They will welcome any respite in managing their parents’ condition; improving function is added frosting on the cake. 

When it comes to getting noticed, start with your message.

  • Preventing further decline – how valuable do you think that is to stressed-out caregivers? 
  • Increasing their parents’ ability to function more independently can prevent further decline, allowing them to take on more of their own IADLs and in the process keep their cognition. 
  • The capacity to bounce back after setbacks is instrumental to all the people involved. 
  • The biggest take-home is that it will reduce the caregiver’s anxiety of having to care for their parent.
  • Have your materials ready to educate people on what medical exercise is and specifically what the benefits are to the caregiver and the client’s lives.

Marketing Plan

  • Research groups that support caregivers, specifically adult children of seniors (see resources)
  • Offer presentations on how-to’s.  Build fall resilience, improve strength for grocery shopping, resources on balance training, presentation on 10 best exercises seniors can do for function. Make sure you have these ready to go, it will save a lot of stress later. 
  • Have a PDF ready of your services and costs. The caregiver might be tech-savvy, but they will need to have something easily accessible to show to their parents
  • Hone your empathic listening. When a potential caregiver calls you up, listen. A lot of times this technique will put you above the competition. Seniors love to chat, it is how they make connections and establish trust. I know that if a trainer is constantly interrupting me or seems to have divided attention when talking to me, they are certainly not going to be listening to my rambling parent/client. 
  • Network within your community. Join a local chamber of commerce, look up villages and volunteer your time. 

This is just the tip of the iceberg, we haven’t even covered other categories of caregivers, CNAs, housekeepers, assisting hands companies, etc. That and more is covered in-depth in the Geriatric Fitness and Lifestyle Specialist online course, available through MedFit Classroom.  


Sharon Bourke has been involved in the health and fitness industry for more than 28+ years presenting, teaching and coaching in fitness clubs and private studios throughout the Washington metropolitan area. She holds certifications in Medical Exercise Specialist, Personal Training Pre-Postnatal fitness, Fitness for Arthritis, and Multiple Sclerosis. Sharon founded the Life Energy Foundation,to utilize her extensive experience and network to create exercise and behavior modification programs and resources to help people avoid becoming immobilized from their chronic conditions. 

trainer-client-strength-training-exercise

Exercise For Sobriety

The crucial element that I always recommend to people when they say they have been experiencing anxiety, depression, addiction/s of some sort, or even sleeplessness, is exercise. Almost every time, I get a response like, “Does that help you?” Then I get to explain to them why I am so incredibly passionate about fitness. I discuss the fact that I never used to enjoy working out, and, as a matter of fact, still don’t enjoy it, but rather enjoy the feeling it gives me afterwards. This then opens the gateway for me to plead my case as to my passion and explain the many benefits that fitness provides. Exercise has helped people in many ways, but especially in terms of boosting mood and keeping mental illnesses at bay, both of which have a direct impact on addiction. 

Types of Sobriety

The reason I live, eat, drink, and breathe all things fitness is because of how beneficial it has been on my own personal wellness journey. Rather than get into my whole life story, I will instead discuss how crucial fitness is to achieve sobriety. When people hear the term “sobriety” they tend to think of only substance abuse — mainly alcohol, opioids, or hard drugs. Not only can sobriety refer to the latter, it can also include medications that an individual was prescribed that their body happened to develop an addiction to, or could even refer to an undesirable behavior or reaction. For example, I had a client who would unconsciously binge eat after an unpleasant encounter with her then-husband, now ex-husband. Eventually, we realized that she was using food, and unhealthy foods at that, to make her feel better after arguments. In essence, she was supplementing her body with sugary foods that would help her body produce the dopamine her body was craving in order to produce the emotional high that would make her feel better. Here’s a different example: a different client would unconsciously lash out at her mother after having been insulted by her critical father. Once we realized why this was happening, I had her incorporate fitness into her daily schedule, right before she went home from school to her parents. Going to the gym every time she got angry with her father resulted in much less conflict between her and her mother, and, in conjunction with therapy, opened up a new line of communication between the two of them.

Improved Physiology and Psychology

Another common comment I encounter is after discussing the fact that I generally hit the gym for an hour and a half each day. Almost every single time, I get the exact same response, “I wish I had your energy!” For me, it’s not energy, it’s anxiety. I have discovered that I cannot eliminate it any other way than, as I say, “working out until I pass out,” or at least, until I’m thoroughly exhausted. I have found many other individuals who share my same sentiment, most of whom have also endured several instances of trauma, with the later group showing the most benefit and overall improvement from fitness. There have been numerous studies about the positive impacts that physical activity has on an individual’s mood and overall state-of-being. Exercise has been proven to reduce anxiety by promoting positive adaptations of several physiological processes within the body, such as improving dysregulations of the HPA axis of the brain, restoring abnormalities in monoamine function, producing endogenous opioids in the brain, and increasing BDNF (brain-derived neurotropic factors). There have been studies that suggest that fitness may increase neurogenesis, as well. Exercise has also proven to reduce the psychological effects of anxiety as well, such as reducing anxiety sensitivity, improving one’s sense of self-efficacy, and providing “time out” from one’s daily activities and stressors.

Work Out to Work It Out

In short, work out to “work it out.” All of the above are reasons why I always suggest to anyone struggling with their mental health that they start some sort of exercise regimen. Whether a person is addicted to a substance or even an undesirable or destructive behavior, fitness will improve the problem and provide results.


Tambryn Crimson-Dahn is a certified personal trainer, fitness coach, nutritionist, and addiction recovery specialist with 4 years of experience. After having worked in the gym industry, she founded and now operates her own company, Crimson Wholistic Fitness. She specializes in overall mental health and wellness, addiction, and relationships and how they can affect mental health.

References

feet sneakers

The Feet: The Body’s Foundation

The feet are one of the most overused and taken for granted parts of the body. Since the feet are the foundation for the rest of the body, it would only be logical to begin developing strong, aligned, and full functioning feet from the start when developing a personalized fitness program. The feet should be a priority for developing sound fitness education in order to prevent injuries. Most fitness and sport injuries usually involve the feet. Even when the injury is to the knee, hip or back it can usually be traced back to a misaligned foot pattern.

male-trainer-male-client

Fitness: Readiness Assessment & Setting Priorities

My biggest concern as a personal trainer was always the safety of my clients – both physically and medically. Over the years a common theme emerged with each new client relationship that I developed and that was how unprepared people were to really engage in a significant training program and what skills and knowledge they would be required to develop for success. Physicians were often unprepared to advise their patients on what to do, how to proceed, or what limitations and issues needed to be acknowledged by their patients before engaging a trainer to help them “get to the next level”.

stretching

When Should I Stop Stretching?

Stretching is the most overlooked form of exercise. After returning to see my physical therapist, she insisted that I stretch more often so I can improve the range-of-motion in my hips. Geez, I thought I was already doing plenty of stretching, or I thought, just enough so I could audition with confidence for Cirque du Soleil. Apparently, I wasn’t ready. How much more should I stretch?

inflammaging word cloud

Inflammaging: The Link Between Sarcopenia and Cognitive Decline

Awareness is the first step to making changes to live healthier, stronger, and longer. Older adults love to learn, and sharing life-saving information empowers them.

If you ask an older adult client, “What is inflammaging?”, they usually won’t know; yet inflammaging is a key concept to understand because it contributes to the decline of the body and brain, threatening functional independence, and increasing the risk of a devastating fall.

group-of-seniors-biking

Understanding Ageless Marketing

It took the 70th birthday parties of a few thousand leading edge baby boomers for corporate America and the mainstream media to wake up to the fact that the median age of adults in the US increased by about a decade while they weren’t looking. Today, articles and conference topics on boomers proliferate, but understanding the underlying values and cognitive decision making processes of older adults remains a mystery to most… old paradigms die hard.

If you are among those that believe there are easy steps or simple typologies that will insure success in the aging marketplace, you are on a fool’s errand. The typical boomer, like the typical senior, is as much like other older adults as a snowflake is typical. Consumers become more dissimilar as they age not more alike, although they share common ‘gut level’ values.

Only a few have successfully targeted the mature consumer, so evidence on what works best is limited. In the last ten years, most targeted the mature market using traditional features and benefits methods only to conclude there was little potential because consumers failed to respond. Those failing blamed neither the medium nor the message, but the intended recipient.

Likewise, millions of dollars have been spent on aging sensitivity without first developing an empathetic understanding of the consumer and their decision-making processes. In fact, sensitivity training often reinforces rather than correcting stereotypes. To increase the probability of future success, marketers must first abandon the approaches that worked so well in yesterday’s youth market; and adopt an ageless approach more likely to appeal to a maturing consumer base while not alienating younger segments.

The first step is to always project a positive, mindful image of aging. This image should underlie all communications and collateral material. Consumers tend to select products/services that reflect images of what they want to be not what they are, and this applies to older adults as well. While physiology changes, older consumers “feel” anywhere from 10 to 15 years younger than their biological age, but this doesn’t mean they think they “look” 10 to 15 years younger. Therefore, when models are too young or engaged in extreme sports, the consumer simply dismisses the message. The key is realistic people in real world activities.

Advertising and communications should also focus on lifelong health and well-being, productivity, later life autonomy and empowerment, and connectedness to family, friends and community. Remember that a prospective customer’s mind will consider your initial message for from .2 to .8 of one second (your cognitive window of opportunity). Not much time to make a first impression – that is why every word and image is so important.

The brain does not process words; it processes pictures and sensory data in context with the circumstances. If the perception “senior” is old, frail, dependent, or other traditional stereotypes, the mind may “exclude” whatever is associated with that word from conscious consideration if the consumer does not view themselves as fitting the stereotype.

By mindfully pursuing an ageless approach to marketing communications, perhaps the general public will come to view later life as something to look forward to and enjoy rather than a time of loss and decline. Ageless marketing solutions do not have to be complex or expensive.  Keeping open minded to all possibilities, some big fixes can be surprisingly simple and low in cost.


For 35 years, Richard Ambrosius has been educating companies, nonprofit organizations and public agencies on how better to communicate with and serve middle-aged and older adults. Moreover, he was among the first in the United States to realize the potential of the New Consumer Majority and specialize in older markets. Ambrosius has delivered keynote addresses and motivational workshops in 49 states.