A personal trainer is an individual who creates and delivers safe and effective exercise programs for healthy individuals and groups, or those with medical clearance to exercise. They motivate clients by collaborating to set goals, providing meaningful feedback, and by being a reliable source for accountability. Trainers also conduct a variety of assessments beginning with a preparticipation health-screening and may also include assessments of posture and movement, flexibility, balance, core function, cardio-respiratory fitness, muscular fitness, body composition, and skill-related parameters to observe and gather relevant information needed to develop an effective exercise program and support client goal attainment.
Aerobics is a form of physical exercise that combines rhythmic aerobic exercise with stretching and strength training routines with the goal of improving all elements of fitness. It is usually performed to music and may be practiced in a group setting led by an instructor. With the goal of preventing illness and promoting physical fitness, practitioners perform various routines. Formal aerobics classes are divided into different levels of intensity and complexity and will have five components: warm-up, cardiovascular conditioning, muscular strength and conditioning, cool-down and stretching and flexibility. Aerobics classes may allow participants to select their level of participation according to their fitness level. Many gyms offer different types of aerobic classes. Each class is designed for a certain level of experience and taught by a certified instructor with a specialty area related to their particular class.
Pilates is a type of mind-body exercise developed in the early 20th century by German physical trainer Joseph Pilates, after whom it was named. Pilates called his method "Contrology". It is practiced worldwide, especially in developed countries such as Australia, Canada, South Korea, the United Kingdom and the United States. Pilates uses a combination of around 50 repetitive exercises to spur muscle exertion. Each exercise flows from the "five essentials": breath, cervical alignment, rib and scapular stabilization, pelvic mobility, and utilization of the transversus abdominis. Each exercise is typically repeated three to five times. As of 2023, over 12 million people practice Pilates.
Step aerobics, also known as bench aerobics and step training, is a form of aerobic exercise that involves stepping on and off a small platform.
Denise Austin is an American fitness instructor, author, and columnist, and a former member of the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports.
Aerobics Oz Style is an Australian aerobic exercise instructional television series, shown in Australia on weekends and then weekdays on Network Ten at 6:00 am then 6:30 am and distributed to many other countries. It was cancelled by Network Ten at the end of 2005.
The Asian Academy for Sports and Fitness Professionals (AASFP) is a fitness instructors certification body founded in Hong Kong in 1992. The academy provides professional education and training programs in Asia.
A health club is a place that houses exercise equipment for the purpose of physical exercise.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to exercise:
Wii Fit is a 2007 exergaming video game designed by Nintendo's Hiroshi Matsunaga for the Wii home video game console, featuring a variety of yoga, strength training, aerobics, and balance mini-games for use with the Wii Balance Board peripheral. Matsunaga described the game as a "way to help get families exercising together". It has since been adopted by various health clubs around the world, and has previously been used for physiotherapy rehabilitation in children and in nursing homes to improve posture in the elderly.
A fitness boot camp is a type of group physical training program that may be conducted by gyms, personal trainers or other organizations. These programs are designed to build strength and fitness through a variety of types of exercise. The activities and format may be loosely modeled on aspects of fitness training used in the military and the trainers themselves may be former military personnel.
Karen Voight is an American fitness expert. She has produced approximately 30 exercise videos, a book, Voight: Precision Training for Body and Mind, and a health column in the Los Angeles Times.
Crunch Fitness is a U.S.-based brand of over 400 franchised and corporate owned fitness clubs located in the United States, Puerto Rico, Canada, Spain, Portugal, Costa Rica, and Australia. Founded by Doug Levine in 1989, its current Worldwide CEO is Jim Rowley.
A professional fitness coach is a professional in the field of fitness and exercise, most often instruction, including professional sports club's fitness trainers and aerobics and yoga instructors and authors of fitness instruction books or manuals.
Fitness culture is a sociocultural phenomenon surrounding exercise and physical fitness. It is usually associated with gym culture, as doing physical exercises in locations such as gyms, wellness centres and health clubs is a popular activity. An international survey found that more than 27% of world total adult population attends fitness centres, and that 61% of regular exercisers are currently doing "gym-type" activities. Getting and maintaining physical fitness has been shown to benefit individuals' inner and outer health. Fitness culture has become highly promoted through modern technology and from the rising popularity of social media platforms.
Barre is a form of physical exercise, usually conducted in group classes in gyms or specialty studios. It is distinguished from other group fitness activities by its use of the ballet barre and its incorporation of movements derived from ballet. These classical dance movements and positions are combined with those drawn from yoga and pilates, and other equipment is sometimes used in addition to the barre, such as resistance bands, yoga straps, exercise balls and hand weights. Barre classes typically focus on small, pulsing movements with emphasis on form, alignment and core engagement. Participants hold their bodies still while contracting specific, targeted sets of muscles in isometric exercises. Repetitions tend to be high, range-of-motion small, and weights, when used, light. Barre classes focus on the lower body and core, developing strength and flexibility from the ankles up though the calves, knees, thighs, glutes and abdominals. Holding muscles in contraction for extended periods frequently leads to them shaking as they fatigue. This is particularly true of thighs, as the quadriceps tire.
Peloton Interactive, Inc. is an American exercise equipment and media company based in New York City. The company's products are stationary bicycles, treadmills, and indoor rowers equipped with Internet-connected touch screens that stream live and on-demand fitness classes through a subscription service. The equipment includes built-in sensors that track metrics such as power output, providing users with real-time feedback on their performance and leaderboard rankings to compete with other users.
Outdoor fitness consists of exercise undertaken outside a building for the purpose of improving physical fitness. It contrasts with exercise undertaken inside a gym or health club for the same purpose. The activity may be undertaken in a park, in the wilderness, or other outdoor location. The popularity of outdoor fitness grew rapidly in the second-half of the twentieth century and grew as a commercial consumer market in the twenty-first century.
MoonRun is a type of specialized virtual training indoor aerobic exercise equipment. It was invented by Jonathan Hoffman, a physical therapist. MoonRun is suspended from a door, wall hook, or beam, similar to other sling-training exercise devices like the TRX System. It uses motion sensors and an elastic system to provide various body training, including running, jumping and turning, in a virtual environment.
Fitness, formerly Activity, is an exercise tracking companion app announced by Apple Inc. during their September 2014 Special Event. The app is available on iPhones running iOS 8.2 or above for users with a connected Apple Watch, later expanding to all iPhones regardless of Watch connectivity with the release of iOS 16. The application displays a summary view of user's recorded workouts from the Apple Watch or supported third-party apps and exercise equipment, as well as acting as the home for all Apple Fitness+ content.
