Be Fit With Biray

In Hawaiian wiki means “quickly” or “fast.” In today’s internet-savvy world, the term wiki has evolved to “a type of computer software that allows users to easily create, edit and link web pages.” The most popular one being wikipedia.

Since wiki software is open source, more professionals are creating their own industry wikis as a way to organize field information and collaborate on company projects. Of course, what better use of a wiki than to take advantage of the collective intelligence of health, fitness and wellness professionals!

Attention all health and medical professionals (especially doctors): there is now an official medical wiki (WiserWiki) accessible by any internet user. All entries will be “edited only by board certified doctors to ensure that the information is as trustworthy and reliable as possible.” It’s still in its infancy (beta phase), therefore, has limited entries. But over time, I suspect this will be a significant resource for the general population, as well as, medical professionals for acquiring knowledge on all-things health-related. Think of it as WebMD meets Wikipedia.

Nothing is currently available exclusively for fitness or wellness professionals, but perhaps it will only be a matter of time before we see a group exercise wiki or a personal training wiki.

Watch out world, here wiki-come!

Hi, everyone! Kix here (most of you know me as Biray’s alter-ego or Second Life avatar) . Well, I’m just as real as you ‘real-lifers’ (or as I like to call you RLers or ‘reallers’). I’m definitely more uninhibited and free-spirited than my RL-counterpart. I mean, c’mon – after all, I can fly!!

Biray has invited me to be a guest blogger on all things health & fitness-related in Second Life. So, if I come across things I think you ‘reallers’ might be interested in, I’ll post it.

I’ve been on SL for over a year and I’m still amazed at the places I discover and events I participate in (you can follow my SL adventures on my personal blog.) You’d be surprised at how positively the health, fitness, and wellness communities have responded to SL.

This morning I discovered the SL Wellness Center! Powered by TechnoGym, StreamZilla, Fitness.com – the SL fitness center is equipped with everything you would want in a gym – group exercise schedule, a stretching area, cardio equipment and weight training machines. They even offer indoor cycling classes via streaming video three times a week. I’m definitely planning on going back for a ‘real’ cycling experience.

I took a quick tour of the studio and found the design to be very spacious and user-friendly. There were posters on the walls around the gym to educate members on body mechanics, as well as, give them options for different exercises.

With the stair machines, ellipticals, and treadmills around, I couldn’t resist getting on one for some cardio. (You know what that Surgeon General says about getting those 30-minutes of physical activity in your day! It’s no different for us ‘avies’ here in SL. We have a heart, too). Though, I’ll have to remember to avoid wearing jeans and boots next time…

The strength training equipment were more limited in their function – meaning, when I sat on the machine, the animation that controlled my moves were not exactly physiologically correct. But there were plenty of different kinds of equipment to get a comprehensive upper and lower body workout.

Now I know what you ‘reallers’ might be thinking. This is crazy! It’s virtual – it’s not real. Yeah, yeah, yeah… shut up. Let’s see you come here and break a sweat…

But in all seriousness, let’s address some of possible advantages that RL health and fitness professionals might have by utilizing these Second Life resources. An immediate response of a real lifer might be, “How can watching an avatar run on the treadmill translate in one’s performance in their physical world?” A valid point (even I can see that). But let’s back up one step – whose to say that the benefits of SL have to be physiological?

Think about connecting with an audience (the video-gamer, computer-savvy, techno-driven individual) who is looking for ways to improve his/her health and fitness, but has no clue how to start a program or what to do inside a gym. Well, by being present in SL, you might have the opportunity to communicate with a different type of client who might benefit from your expertise. Here are some ideas:

* Educate SLers on health-related topics – create an event and invite SLers to your lecture and communicate in their environment. I often see health and fitness professionals encourage people to come to them (their gyms, their offices, their websites, etc.) If you want to target this new net-generation of individuals, you have to be present on their turf.
* Demonstrate and Discuss Equipment Use – these SL-gyms are great for showing SLers how to use weight training equipment and cardio machines in real life! Discuss machine advantages, give tips to consider in strength conditioning, and answer any questions in real-time. These virtual gyms are great visual references for SLers to then translate into their real gym facilities. After a few sessions with you, they may not be as hesitant in entering a gym with their new-found knowledge.
* Design exercise prescriptions for a SL-clients – Now, take it to the next level – train clients through SL! You’re not training the avatar – you’re training the person behind the avatar. Just like online personal training interacts with ‘real people’ via websites and emails, you can interact with real clients via their avatars. Service the next generation!

Also, don’t think this is all done for free – YOU CAN MAKE MONEY DOING THIS. Yes… this is real… You can charge SLers for your services and expertise. Already there are health facilities, nutritional advisers, and organizations in Second Life exploring these options. There are over 9 million residents in SL – so get in there and be innovative!

Unfortunately, I didn’t spend as much time at the gym as I would have liked. However, I did complete my workout with a cool-down and stretch sequence. It would be nice to have training buddies to challenge and accompany me during my workouts. But because SL is still an experimental platform for health and fitness professionals, most of these virtual gyms and wellness communities are still light in traffic.

Anyway, if you are a SL’er yourself and have a few moments, the Wellness Center is definitely a landmark worth checking out. (In SL, search for ‘gym on chase island’ or type in these coordinates: 62, 197, 21).

Logging Off…

(A little company plug…)
FITTmaxx Institute is offering a series of BLOGGING workshop for health, fitness, and wellness professionals across the nation in 2008! Take your health & fitness business up to speed in today’s internet-savvy culture!

FMI’s first stop will be Phoenix, Arizona.
Location: Arizona Small Business Association (Phx office) – Computer Lab
Date: Friday January 25th, 2008 – 9am to 1pm
Cost: $129, CEC’s provided

Learn how a BLOG can help you:
* Design cost-effective marketing
* Increase your revenue stream
* Strengthen client/member relationships
* Enhance your online presence

Workshop Objectives:
1. Participants will learn the fundamental structures of a blog, its applications within the health, fitness, and wellness arena, and it’s professional implications.

2. Participants will develop their own sample blog through a simple 4-phase process and discuss the advantages and limitations of creating a blog.

3. Participants will acquire effective techniques that will help with successful blog maintenance and blog marketing.

After taking this workshop, you will wonder why you weren’t blogging sooner!

LIMITED SEATING TO 12 Participants!
Register early at www.FittmaxxInstitute.com – click on STORE.

Stay tuned for announcements for upcoming workshops in February (Los Angeles and San Diego) and in March (Dallas, Ft Worth, and Austin).

I woke up this morning (a favorite part of my day) and realized I had to write a blog post immediately! For the past few days I’ve been haunted by my thoughts about how internet technologies (blogs, Facebook, YouTube, etc) are being utilized in the health and fitness arena. I hadn’t been able to construct my thoughts until now. This morning something clicked.

Is anyone even using these tools to measure health behaviors? Or are we simply using various platforms to promote health messages and market our health and fitness businesses?

Is a Facebook group on cancer or an exercise tip on YouTube any more effective than our previous forms of communication – such as through live groups, fitness DVDs, health education classes, and public health campaigns? Okay, so we reach more people through the internet (in a cost-effective way) – I get that. And sometimes the anonymity we gain when hiding behind a ‘screen name’ is comforting when dealing with certain health issues – I get that, too (although Facebook now has several alcoholics anonymous groups that are, well – not so anonymous.)

In studying health behavior change theories, most models suggest that bringing awareness to an issue or behavior is only one of many steps in the process of change. If a person doesn’t know what he doesn’t know, then how can he begin to implement change, right? Therefore, I can see value in utilizing social media in raising consciousness to a variety of health-related topics. Constructed well, the messages can reach broad audiences, and perhaps even motivate the beginnings of behavior change. You might even go so far as noting that the sheer volume of messages on the same topic, regardless of the source (be it expert or enthusiast), can create a momentum towards change. Case and point: the green movement.

But raising awareness is only one aspect of motivating change. Can these tools be used for more than mainstream messaging? Do they have any influence in sustaining a healthy lifestyle? Here are some of my initial (raw) thoughts…

Can Twitter be used as a teaching tool to introduce the art of mindfulness for the net-generation? One could argue that Twitter demonstrates the practice of recognizing what you are doing and feeling, when you are doing and feeling them. (Check out my thoughts on Twitter here.)

Can maintaining a blog between two people (i.e. a client and a trainer) increase adherence levels to a fitness program? If so, why and how can you measure its effects?

Can the process of creating your avatar for Second Life disclose a person’s self-image or self-esteem? If so, how can these be measured and translated to treating patients with eating disorders or body dysmorphic disorders? (Sabrina Doolittle wrote a fascinating post “Does Size Really Matter” earlier this year, in which she asked questions assessing the thoughts one considers when creating the body of their avatar.)

What can we extrapolate from watching hundreds of YouTube videos documenting people’s weekly weight loss updates? Does this really impact rate of behavior change and the quality of this change? Or are we simply being narcissistic? (Check out YouTube Can Be Fit to watch a montage of the health/fitness-related content posted.)

I think we owe it to ourselves to explore these tools further, especially in their application in the health and fitness fields. In researching these tools, we may find that we can gain different insights to our culture’s sport and health psychology.

Recently I had an interesting discussion with some colleagues about the internet’s role on personal privacy versus public disclosure. Although the web has made it easy for us to share every aspect of our lives with other people (strangers and friends alike), why do we feel the need to do so? Is this the classic case of ‘if a tree falls in a forest and no one is there, will it make a sound?’ Does sharing what we do and feel, at the time we do and feel them to the intangible online community our way of making sounds? Perhaps not. But the internet definitely amplifies everything. And Twitter is perhaps the most popular online ‘amplifier’ of these insignificant, incessant ramblings.

Twitter is a site for microblogging (posting short scripts about your thoughts, feelings, and actions in 160 characters or less) – think of it as an IM or text message to the world. You can follow the public timeline of ‘tweets’ or specifically subscribe to follow your friends’ daily rants. Either way, you’re likely to read the most honest, instantaneous reveals of the day, hour, minute, second, present moment, and now. (In fact, if you refresh this page or return to this post at another time, my green Twitter box might likely be updated.)

I’ve been on Twitter for about 8 months and although I understand the concept, I’m not entirely convinced of its application in the health & fitness industry (yet). I suspect there might be advantages to Twittering with clients, fitness clubs, and personal trainers, but I haven’t seen any evidence of it.

Over these next few months I will explore Twitter in hopes to discover how our community is adopting this tool and its affects on their personal and professional relationships. So far, I’ve found and have been following 16 health and fitness professionals on Twitter.

If you’d like to participate in this conversation, Twitter-me a ‘nudge’ and let’s follow each other, too!

The use of technology can be debatable when it comes to education – when is it appropriate to bring technology into the classroom, what kind of technology is effective in teaching, and how will it ultimately benefit student learning? These are some of the questions that are frequently appearing in today’s academic conversations. Check out Educause, a nonprofit association whose mission is to advance higher education by promoting the intelligent use of information technology.

At Mesa Community College, I co-facilitate (with colleague Shelley Rodrigo) a sub-group within the Faculty Professional Learning Community (FPLC) specifically about new technologies in education (we call ourselves the “Jetsons”). A group of us (staff and faculty) gather regularly and discuss topics like podcasting, blogging, Second Life, wikis and other types of social media and explore how they apply to our own teachings.

I’m always interested in how these technologies apply to health and fitness education. Becuase I discuss a wide range of health-related topics in my classes, I feel it’s important that students have an opportunity to broadcast what they’ve learned with the public. This is valuable for two reasons: 1) the quality of work increases when students know their projects will be viewed by the public, 2) it is another way to increase health awareness in the our local and global community.

Technology allows people to easily create media messages and broadcast them online. So why not create more health-related messages? So, this semester I’ve been toying with the use of blogging, podcasting, and vodcasting in health and fitness education. Embedding these features within projects and assignments, I’m learning a lot about the effectiveness of this technology as my students discuss the pros/cons of their experiences in using them.

Podcasts: Every 2-3 weeks I give the students a challenge to create a podcast on an assigned question or topic. One week I asked them to interview people in the community about their barriers to exercise. The next day we listened to the podcasts and used these real-life scenarios to discuss ways to combat people’s resistance to physical activity. I found that Gabcast was the most convenient way for students to capture audio and publish the podcast simply by using their cellphones – no mics, computer audio programs, post-production edit, etc. (I’ve posted these student podcasts on the class blog.)

Vodcasting: With over 65,000 videos uploaded to YouTube a day, it’s evident that audio/video production is not as cumbersome as it used to be. Back in the day (when I went to school), asking students to create a multi-media presentation for class (unless it was a film/TV production course) was a challenge. I’ve found that this net-generation of students are less resistant to these kinds of opportunities. This semester each student is creating a health-related public service announcement (PSA). Using JumpCut to create their message, students can create an effective montage sequence coupled with music and informative text. They can share their work with friends, family, and the public (and get direct feedback)! (I’ve posted these PSA’s on the class blog.)

Blogging: I haven’t decided how to best integrate the use of blogs into my classes, yet. So far I have only offered assignments where students can follow certain health-related blogs and report feedback on them. Also, I’m keeping a public class blog and using it as the platform to share the students’ PSAs, podcast challenges, and research projects with the community.

I’m looking forward to exploring more of these technologies in hopes to find better ways to improve teaching and learning in health education.

In support of Blog Action Day (a day where bloggers around the world to post entries that bring awareness to environmental issues), I’ve decided to focus today’s blog entry on noise pollution. Transportation vehicles (like motorcycles) and construction sites probably have the most ear piercing sounds! Clearly not good for our hearing. Unfortunately we don’t have much control over these factors. So what can we do about it? Good question.

I used to work at fitness facility where the Group Exercise Coordinator was meticulous about taking decibel readings while we were teaching – especially during the cycling and kickboxing classes where the music was always loud and pumpin’. Instructors were required to keep the music volume (including the mic volume) at or below 85 decibels (which is where hearing damage begins). If you consider normal conversation is at 60 dB and an average car is about 100 dB, then 80-85 dB is not that loud. In fact, that facility even provided ear plugs to members whose ears were extra sensitive.

To all group exercise instructors out there – in preservation of our environmental and physical health, I challenge you to incorporate moments of silence or ambient nature sounds into your group fitness classes. (Or at the very least, be extra mindful of the volume levels and keep the music extra low this week.)

I also thought Health and Fitness Marketing blog suggested a good tip: passing up the treadmill for an outdoor run!

What will you do today?

Second Life continues to amaze me! Check out this week’s article from the Washington Post discussing how SL is being explored for its health-related uses – everything from health education to medical application. Who knows how these virtual communities and services will impact our real life health in the long run, but for now, this type of experimentation is worth pursuing.

I’ve been venturing around in Second Life, as well. In fact, this October marks my one year anniversary in SL. I’ve done a lot of exploration, but certainly don’t consider myself an expert in SL. It’s time to officially introduce you to my alter-ego (or ‘avatar’) – Kix Kayamanu! She is a health-fitness journalist (or explorer), spending most of her time discovering new virtual destinations that focus on health, fitness, and wellness education and application in the virtual world.

I will document more of her journeys on this blog. (Picture: Kix sits on the patio chair at the Mystic Academy – a place for spiritual growth, wellness education, and mindful practices!)

When it comes to subscribing to blogs, you have to spend a lot of time sorting through a million foggy-blogs before finding those that are substancial (and hopefully, still active) enough to read. I don’t care if Technorati claims over 70 million blogs online. I just want to know which blogs are worth following and which ones I should avoid completely. And in terms of health and wellness, the challenge is even greater to find blogs that are informational, creative, and let’s face it, honest. (We are all sick of hearing/reading/blogging about quick fix weight-loss and fitness gimmicks.)

Like many online addicts, I’ve spent countless hours on the web looking for relevant blogs in my profession. This week, NOEDb (Nursing Online Education Database) published the top 100 Health and Wellness blogs. (Now I can finally have my Second Life back. LOL!) The list covers all blogs dealing with medicine, general health/disease, weight-loss, diet, nutrition, physical activity, strength training, and alternative health/medicine.

Although a list like this has been long overdue, I am ecstatic that it’s finally available for people to use as a reference (if you haven’t been subscribing to them already). But I have to make one big comment about this list (okay, maybe two)…

Glancing at the blogs, I’d say most of them are written by those who are NOT professionals in their field. This, by no means, invalidates these blogs – in fact, it probably validates them more. They have no ulterior motives. Their authenticity relies on the combination of experiencial knowledge, passion in wanting current & relevant information, and enthusiasm for their topic. Perhaps they are a greater resource than their professional counterparts. It’s somehow more endearing to follow a newbie in his journey to train for a triathlon than reading a professional trainer’s how-to blog to triathlons (aka training guide, aka from his book, aka that you should buy, aka from Amazon.)

So I started thinking: Why didn’t any of the blogs written by personal trainers, group exercise instructors, or lifestyle/wellness coaches make this list? I know they exist. Don’t these health/fitness professionals have experiencial knowledge, stay current on industry education, and have enthusiasm for what they do? I would hope so. So, why wouldn’t this list reflect these professional blogs? Mmm, something to think about…

The article also mentions the lack of alternative health/medicine blogs. It only listed 4 quality blogs under this category (not counting the 2 pilates and yoga blogs), of which 2 were on acupuncture/pressure, 1 on massage therapy/body work, and 1 on Chinese medicine. Quite a limited range. Isn’t there a growing community in alternative medicine, naturopathy/homeopathy, and other holisic and complementary health practices?

So, where is the presence of our health, fitness, and wellness professionals in the blogosphere?

The virtual world, Second Life, seems to be gaining more momentum, especially in the health and fitness arena. In fact, CNN featured an article on how Second Life is becoming an experimental platform for testing new ideas. Here’s an excerpt:

“In one YouTube clip a man is seen exercising on a treadmill in front of a large plasma screen that displays scenes from Second Life. Using the wireless controller from Nintendo’s Wii console, he appears to indicate which scenery he would like to jog “through” on the screen. If that’s a workable concept, the fitness equipment industry might like to know about it.” – Steve Mollman

Here is the YouTube clip the article references:

Similarly, Island Worlds is also exploring similar ideas of connecting fitness equipment with virtual worlds. I’ve ventured extensively in this world, as well, and to be honest, I’m not quite sure how it will translate into traditional health & fitness culture. Could this type of fitness delivery appeal to an entirely different audience than those we see coming to the commerical gyms and fitness facilities?