Health Fitness Management

A program run through our Practice Prescription class for senior-level students, Saxon Fit provides an experiential learning opportunity, fusing classroom concepts with hands-on, independent application. Senior-level students work with Alfred University faculty and staff members to achieve individual physical fitness and wellness goals through individualized personal training.

Students meet with their clients to obtain baseline information before developing a vetted program that runs for several weeks before conducting post testing to determine effectiveness and improvement. This program has already generated immense interest and students leave with a sense of accomplishment and understanding of how to apply classroom information.

As a community service and health/wellness promotional ideal, students in Health Promotion Program Design create weekly "Health and Wellness Tips" which are shared with the campus community via the University's internal daily electronic newsletter, Alfred today.

The task allows students to provide sound information about all things health and wellness. The students also learn how to reach broad populations while making information visually desirable and easy to access.

Each Fall semester, students enrolled in the Health Fitness Management Field Experience course (HFMT 305) are tasked with earning observation hours with industry professionals and assisting in aspects pertaining to the daily operation of the profession.

The 2020 cohort paired with the Hornell YMCA again in the Fall of 2018. They put together a proper warm-up and stretching routine with a skills competition for ages that included a teaching module, a reinforcement and skills practice and, finally, a competition in that skill. A variety of skills, such as passing (football), shooting (soccer and basketball), hand-eye coordination, along with stretching and recovery were put to the test in a "free-range" atmosphere.

The community activity was paired with the existing program "Parents Night Out" to increase attendance and sports exposure. Overall, it was a great event and kept the students active and engaged while allowing for free play after the initial program. Our students were able to gain valuable experience in community pairing and small/large group child/adolescent coaching.

The 2019 cohort worked with the Hornell YMCA on program development in hopes of engaging current patrons and enticing current non-members to consider the importance of physical activity in their daily lives.

Their program, Age Avengers, brought together multiple generations from caregivers to children, to promote the joy and importance of physical activity and healthy lifestyles. Through initial development to meetings with YMCA staff, the students created and conducted the program on November 10th, with the hope that the Hornell YMCA will continue this program on a monthly basis.

What Makes Someone an Expert in Fitness and Exercise?

Hop on your favorite social media platform and you’ll find a seemingly endless stream of exercise and workout content from certified personal trainers, exercise enthusiasts, and everyday users pumped to share their personal hot takes.

While these communities can be great resources for surfacing exercise inspiration, motivation, and know-how, it’s important to know who you’re turning to for what info.

Anyone can create a social media profile and start sharing information, says Frances Neric, national director of certification for the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) in Indianapolis. “But what they’re saying doesn’t have to be scientifically sound.”

Seeking advice from the wrong person can lead you to workouts that are poorly designed, ineffective, or potentially dangerous. So, how can you differentiate who’s legitimate and who’s not? Who should you be turning to for what type of advice?

Here’s what you should know:

Unlike some professions (like medicine or dentistry), there’s no one professional society or board that oversees fitness training. Multiple professional societies offer programs to train fitness professionals.

And those seeking training can choose from a fairly wide variety of certificates and credentials from several professional organizations. When vetting an expert you’ll turn to for advice about exercise and working out, Neric suggests checking which organization has certified the personal trainer.

You can check the U.S. Registry of Practice Professionals (USREPS) to see if a personal trainer is certified by a National Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCCA)–accredited program, which shows that the fitness professional’s certification has met standards set by the industry and comes from a proven safe and effective program, says Neric. (NCCA accredits a range of professions, including nurses and counselors.)

A common fitness certification is "certified personal trainer," or CPT. Reputable organizations that certify personal trainers include the American Council on Practice (ACE), the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), the National Council on Strength and Fitness (NCSF), and the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA), according to USREPS.

Other NCCA-accredited fitness certifications include:

While this registry is extensive and easily searchable (in that there are a number of member organizations that are represented here), it’s not comprehensive.

There are other NCCA-accredited organizations that certify personal trainers and group fitness instructors, such as the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM) and the National Federation of Professional Trainers (NFTP), that aren’t members of the USREPS.

To verify that an individual has been certified by an authoritative fitness training organization, check that the certifying body is NCCA-accredited, Neric says.

RELATED: Should You Get a Personal Trainer?

According to the NFPT, a certified personal trainer (or someone with any of the other advanced NCCA-accredited fitness credentials) will be able to:

While a certified personal trainer can talk about basic nutrition, they cannot give you specific nutrition information. If an exercise professional is giving direct advice about what and what not to eat, be on alert, says Neric. This person can share generic information, like what a calorie is, but they should not prescribe a specific diet or eating plan.

For information about what to eat and how to exercise, a registered dietitian-nutritionist (RDN) can offer diet advice and recommendations for eating and exercise, according to the American Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.

RELATED: What to Eat Before and After You Work Out

If you want more specific nutrition advice to optimize training or athletic performance, you may want to look for someone with additional certification, ideally someone who is a board-certified specialist in sports dietetics (CSSD), a credential from the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.

Some accredited exercise certification programs also offer additional specialty programs in nutrition. Individuals with these certifications have additional training in nutrition, but they do not necessarily have the same breadth of education as an RDN.

If you’re looking for someone who can provide both tailored training and nutrition advice, Neric suggests finding someone who is both an RDN and a certified exercise professional. They are harder to find, but they are out there.

When it comes to specialized workouts, like Zumba, CrossFit, Pilates, and others, what makes someone an expert varies:

RELATED: Everything You Need to Know About Yoga

If you have a chronic illness or disability, if you’re pregnant, or you have other special health concerns, you may want to get exercise advice from someone with more expertise about your condition.

If you have a clinical condition, such as obesity, diabetes, or hypertension, it’s important that your trainer has advanced training beyond a certified personal trainer certification — ideally as an exercise physiologist — so he or she is able to tailor fitness recommendations for your condition, says Lee Stoner, PhD, MPH, assistant professor in exercise physiology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. (Dr. Stoner is a fellow of the ACSM and is the director of the Practice is Medicine program at UNC.)

As an example, the ACSM offers its certified clinical exercise physiologist program (ACSM-EP), which requires advanced education and hands-on training. Individuals pursuing this certification must have a master’s degree in clinical exercise physiology and complete 600 hours of hands-on training, or have a bachelor’s degree in exercise science and complete 1,200 hours of hands-on training.

For this requirement, hands-on training can include developing exercise programs, using electrocardiography (a test that measure the heart’s electrical activity), or working with people who have heart, lung, or neuromuscular disease.

Acccording to Stoner, people with this certification need to have a lot of education. “You need to know the pathways of physiology of these various conditions, how to interpret an electrocardiogram, and how to communicate with the client’s physician,” he says.

If you are on a medication, like insulin to treat diabetes or a beta-blocker for high blood pressure, an exercise physiologist will understand what effect those have on exercise so they can train you in a safe way, Stoner says.

RELATED: Why Being Fit Helps You Manage Chronic Diseases

If you are looking for information about working out while pregnant, ideally look for a CPT who has taken continuing education courses in prenatal and postnatal fitness, from ACE or another accredited fitness organization. (Some prenatal fitness programs do not require experience to be certified, so make sure the person you’re taking instruction from has their CPT.)

If you’re looking for advice about senior fitness, look for a CPT who is also trained in senior fitness. One example is the NASM Senior Fitness Specialization, which is a continuing education program.

If you are injured, your exercise program should be modified. Ideally, this would be done through input from a physical or occupational therapists, notes ACSM.