Be Fit With Biray

Fitness professionals are often told that they should take advantage of podcasting as a marketing tool. And while there are plenty of certified trainers and instructors out there, there are only a handful of them who share their exercise expertise through podcasting. (This does not include the fitness podcasts that guide you through a workout.)

One of my favorite podcasts is the Quick & Dirty Tip’s Nutrition Diva, hosted by Monica Reinagel, a board-certified Licensed Nutritionist and a professionally-trained chef (and opera singer!). She shares regular tips about nutrition and diet in about 5 minutes! Her episode topics are very relevant and easy for anyone to understand.

Besides having timely content (often in response to listener questions), this Nutrition Diva does an excellent job ENGAGING her audience via Twitter and in Facebook. Her responses are quick and personal. Also, Nutrition Diva recently launched a ‘widget’ that allows anyone to post her episodes on the web. Grab the code below by clicking on “get this widget”:

For those personal trainers or health coaches who want to get involved in podcasting, listen to Nutrition Diva and learn from her example. Even if you don’t want to create your own podcast, you can still benefit from knowing what podcasts to recommend. As a college health instructor, I often include these podcasts into the design of my course (especially during the nutrition unit). However, you can just as easily embed the Nutrition Diva widget on the side bar of a blog or website as supplemental information for your clients, too!

One of my favorite things to do is listen to various health and fitness podcasts. I have discovered many interesting programs and fitness workouts that keep me motivated during my workouts. I really believe this format truly gives a voice to fellow professionals in our field and allows them to express their passion, motivate their listeners, and educate audiences much more effectively.

When it comes to cycling, I have a list of podcasts I’ve been anxious to try. This weekend was the perfect opportunity to try one since I wasn’t quite in the mood to run. I downloaded one of the latest vodcasts to hit the iTunes circuit. David McQuillen, a cyclist from Zurich (Switzerland), recently started an indoor cycling series called “The Sufferfest“. Here’s how David came up with the idea:

A couple of years ago, when I really started training again, I started looking for good iPod workouts. I couldn’t find anything I liked. It was either some hyped up fitness instructor doing some mix of spiritual and physical spin training, or a cycling coach who bored me to tears with 10 minute time trial efforts (on the road, that’s fine, on a spinbike, it’s hell). Wasn’t there anything out there that was meant for cyclists, but that was also fun?

Fun, indeed! David not only creates interesting (and challenging) rides, but couples them with musical and video montages which makes for an entertaining experience. I decided to do his latest vodcast in the series, #5 “Glory Days of Tears and Pain”. The vodcast highlighted classic European cycling tours from the 80s (showcasing famous athletes like Greg Lemond during the height of his career) and married these videos with musical tributes to 80s/90s rock n’ roll songs. It was hard-core and completely awesome!

So far, there are only 5 vodcasts in the Sufferfest series (workouts 1 & 2 have been removed from the web for remastering). Having done podcasting production myself, producing hour-long rides is definitely time-consuming and production-intensive. So I can certainly appreciate David’s effort (and humor) that he puts into making these workouts exciting. While the vodcast concept has great potential for the indoor cycling format, the only thing I question is its sustainability. Currently, the SufferFest is a fairly amateur production and said to be listener supported (not that there’s anything wrong with this). But to produce these vodcasts must cost a fortune, if not for the video clips, but for the songs (musical licenses can increase production costs exponentially). So, for the sake of SufferFest fans (like me), I sure hope David and his team have enough capital to fund this project (or at least not get caught breaking any copyright laws.)

Exercising to a video is not a new thing. Cyclists have set up their trainers in front of their TVs for years. Group exercise rooms have been equipped with TV screens to show videos of cycling courses and races to motivate participantes during classes. But I suspect we will see more of these cycling vodcasts in the future. Some may not prefer watching a small screen during a workout, but others may find these images are just what they need to boost their training.

For me, watching the shot of the lone cyclist struggling through a snowy race day was just the visual I needed to keep me going on my last sprint interval. “If this guy can finish a race in a blizzard, I can certainly pedal a bit harder in this temperature controlled, cycling room.”

I don’t think vodcasts are appropriate for every activity or training format. In some cases, a regular podcast may be the better alternative. But for indoor cycling, vodcasts may be the next wave of media to make this cardiovascular activity worth pedaling.

Every year the American Council on Exercise (ACE) publishes their top 10 predictions for the fitness industry. This year, technology-based fitness was included as a major upcoming trend:

Technology-Based Fitness: From iPods to Cardio Cinema to exergaming (i.e., Wii Fit, Expresso Bikes) the latest in technology will continue to infuse itself in all aspects of fitness. Look for 2009 to provide more interactive video games that provide fitness benefits, as well as new inventions to make exercising a more engaging experience.

Although more programs will be enhanced through technology, 2009 will be the year where we will see less resistance from fitness professionals and commercial health clubs to adopt these newer technologies into their mainstream programming. For the past few years, there have been questions whether or not these alternative programs (such as, exergaming, fitness-related podcasts, online training, etc.) would be sustainable or even complementary to the efforts of most fitness professionals. I have heard many of my colleagues ask (and rightfully so) if these ideas would be short-lived or truly the beginning of a new era in fitness. And ACE confirms that this trend will only continue to grow. (Yes!)

For fitness pros and health clubs owners, 2009 will be less about immediate implementation of techno-based fitness programs (primarily due to economic concerns and the high costs associated with some technologies). Instead, growing efforts will go towards ‘behind-the-scene’ preparations for a stronger, bigger market-entry in late-2009, early-2010. Preparations that may or may not include: 1) offering and/or attending trainings on new technologies (i.e. workshops on fitness podcasting, certifications for exergaming, etc.); 2) budget considerations for future equipment purchases and club renovations to attract a new demographic; 3) recruiting or organzing staff/employees for new departments and fitness roles… and much, much more, I’m sure…

With that said, to all fitness professionals who are interested in marrying technology with their fitness efforts, I say: take this year to educate and experiment with new technologies (if you aren’t doing so already)! Attend sessions at conferences that introduce and discuss these topic areas. Talk to the early-adopters of these technologies and learn from their research and successes! Be a part of this conversation!

This year I will be discussing many of these topics in my sessions at IHRSA, ACSM, and IDEA World. Check my speaking schedule for exact times and dates.

Happy New Year!

I must admit, I was briefly impressed when Exercise.TV (a website that streams exercise videos on demand) started categorizing their workout plans by “personality types”. As fitness professionals, we are always encouraged to assess a client’s full profile when designing an exercise plan – beyond simply considering their physical fitness levels. Clearly, the Fitness Newbie should receive a different workout plan then a Fitness Trendster. But, on the website, it is also nice to see that the Busy Businessman would be receiving a different plan than the Dorm Room Diva.

So, imagine my surprise when out of 30 different personality-based workout plans, I came across the ones for Gamer and Cubicle Geek (the two groups I enjoy training the most).

Each profile has its own description. For instance, Gamers “see a lot of action every day: gunfire, hand grenades, street races, drug busts, and archeological adventures… and the adventure is 100% virtual.” And Cubicle Geek is said to benefit from a workout design that upgrades his current exercise ritual of “walking from his chair to the water cooler.”

So… what does Exercise.TV have in store for these two characters?

A 14-day series of conventional exercises that include working out with Resist-a-Balls, Stretch bands, and foam rollers. I’m not sure this really catches the eyes of the gamer/geek. Do you?

Now, I’m not suggesting that Gamers should exercise with a Wii-Fit and Cubicle Geeks should connect treadmills to their computers. That would be much too cliche. But I’m also not implying that gamers/geeks wouldn’t be able to execute these workout plans successfully – cuz some of them, I’m sure, could.

All I’m saying is, if you’re going to design a program around a type of lifestyle, at least make the effort to provide a plan that is relevant to that audience.

I mean, seriously – can you really see the someone like Chris Pirillo doing this?

Just sayin’…

About two months ago I wrote a post called Why Are Students Taking Health Ed In College because I wondered why college students felt a course on basic health was necessary when, let’s face it, most of them knew the basics to healthful living. Regardless of their motivations, my main objective was to discover methods of making student learning experiences about health & fitness be more meaningful. I wanted to know how I could extend this class beyond the textbook of “eat your veggies and exercise.”

After many discussions with Shelley Rodrigo and leaning from the classroom experiences of Alisa Cooper, who have both inspired me to continue thinking outside the box in my teaching, I have come up with a new class project for this semester’s online fitness & wellness course.

The assignment is called HEALTH SLIDES. Every week students create 3 PowerPoint slides around and assigned topic. I, then, compile these slides into one large presentation and post them on the class blog (which is slowly growing into a repository of student produced health media). I realized that while their individual messages were informative, when combined, their messages are more powerful.

Here are two presentations that were compiled by the collaborative efforts of 13 to 15 online students whose independent efforts aligned into educational messages.

At the end of every week, students watch these presentations and learn from each other’s slides. At the same time, the online community can also learn from these messages, as well.

As I continue to pursue the question of WHY students take health education courses in college when they already know the basics (or more importantly, what my role as an educator is besides going beyond the basics), I realize that I am also in charge of educating them on how to educate others about health. It’s when students share their work and what they’ve learned with others, that matters, too. It’s when a student can say to a friend or family member, “Hey, check out this presentation that we did in my health class last semester” where you can see  student learning extend beyond the classroom.

FitnessFest, the largest fitness and wellness conference in the Southwest, is always offered twice a year. Once in April (at Ariz. State University in Tempe, AZ) and once in October (at Univ. of Arizona in Tucson, AZ.) And yesterday (10/9) marked the first day of the fall conference which will continue through this Sunday (10/12).

Earlier in April I was the official social media gal for the spring conference – creating YouTube videos, uploading flickr photos from the event. Podcasting interviews with the presenters and even live blogging various sessions.

This time, I have been invited to come back as a presenter to discuss these social media tools and how they can be used in the context of fitness and wellness. The session is entitled “Taking Your Offline Presence, Online” (which I also presented at IDEA World Convention in July) where I will discuss ways fitness professionals can connect with the Internet-savvy client of today by leveraging web 2.0 tools to develop their online authority, enhance their client-business communication skills, and become better health-fitness resources.

If you are interested in coming to the session, please check out their website for more information.

Monday night I was featured in a news segment reported by Keith Yaskin from Fox10 News. The segment was about video games and exercise – was it a legitimate form of physical activity? It basically answered the question most consumers want to know – “Can you lose weight by playing video games?”

I had the opportunity to play a few rounds of tennis on the Nintendo Wii with Keith (which I let him win ONLY because I thought it would be nice to give him the chance to feel victorious). I also demonstrated the ‘workout mode’ in the game Dance Dance Revolution, as well as, feature a produce called Gamercize.

Below is a recording of the segment that aired on TV (sorry for the poor quality… I was rushed for time to put it up. For a clean version, go here) Enjoy!

I hope this media only adds to the growing exposure exergaming continues to get. I imaging it helps people recognize this is not just a trend – but sign of what’s to come in the world of fitness.

I have decided to launch a new experiment. I’m calling it “Utterlicious!” and I will be using Utterli to track my delicious meals (well, I think they’re delicious although some have not shared in my enthusiasm). Every day during the month of October, I will be podcasting about the foods I eat, as well as, posting a photo of my meals. (People have visually tracked their dietary intake on Flickr before, but Flickr doesn’t have the podcasting capabilities of Utterli.)

I realize there are plenty of sites online that have robust tracking features that offer caloric breakdowns of your foods, telling you how many grams of fats, proteins, carbohydrates you are consuming. But I’m not interested in counting calories or knowing my macronutrient details. I think people are too concerned with these things and don’t take the time to listen to their bodies and enjoy the foods they eat. This is why the podcasting component is essential. When you talk about the foods you eat, you tend to really enjoy your meal – or else why would chefs take such pleasure in describing their dishes with such delicious detail! Culinary art should be appreciated!

Therefore I’m dedicating this experiment to the JOY OF EATING! That’s right, I’m going to track my food EXPERIENCE. I believe that if you enjoy the foods you eat (good or bad) that you’ll be more mindful when you eat them. And if you’re more mindful when you eat your meals, you’ll be more conscious about what you’re putting in your body. And if you’re more conscious about what you’re putting in your body, then you’ll make healthier choices (most of the time).

I’ve tracked my meals on Utterli before, but it has always been inconsistent. This time I look forward to logging with more purpose.

Will you JOIN me?

Here is how to do it:
1. An Utterli account, if you don’t have one.
2. Join the group “Utterlicious”

Here are the ‘rules’:
1. Create/Cook a meal (or order one, if you’re dining out) that you’re going to enjoy eating.
2. Take a photo of your meal and upload to Utterli. (I use my cell phone which is more discrete than taking a digital camera w/ me)
3. Call Utterli and explain your dining experience (who you’re dining with, what you plan on eating, why your meal is so utterlicious)
4. Label the contents of the meal in your Utterli description (at some point when you log in to Utterli)
5. Link your Utterli post to the ‘Utterlicious’ group so we can comment on your food choices (which is half the fun!)

Remember, this is for one month! Don’t cheat and ‘forget’ to post on those days you’re eating those french fries or drinking one too many glasses of wine… it’s about putting it ALL out there for one month – good or bad! And consciously enjoying your dining experience!

Bon Appetit!

Last week I was the keynote at the Major Moves in Physical Activity Conference in Birmingham, UK duing Leisure Industry Week. My presentation entitled “Do Your Eyes Flickr and Your Head Twitter When You Hear The Words Facebook and Second Life?” was about using social software (Web 2.0 tools) in the promotion of physical activity (and other health & fitness behaviors).

Statements like ‘Google it’ and ‘upload to YouTube’ is a clear indication that the web we know today is significantly different from the one ten years ago. Websites have become more user-friendly and user-centric. Online participation has turned into a cut-and-past, click-n-drag interaction. This shift from being the world’s ‘information superhighway’ to being a platform for dynamic interaction has captured the attention of more online users. And now, conversations about its relevance and application to health promotion and physical activity are becoming much more prevalent.

Despite the advancement in internet technology, what do these tools mean in the world of health and fitness? Its appeal is understandable: powerful mobile phones in the palm of your hand, addictive nature of networking on Facebook, the freedoms of the avatar lifestyle. But these things aren’t going to solve the increased incidences of cardiovascular disease, Type-II diabetes in children, and obesity rates.

Or are they?

Could our efforts online play a significant role in impacting health and wellness of a society? The long-term effects of using web 2.0 for health promotion and physical activity initiatives are inconclusive due to the fact that most of these tools are still in their infancy. However, the enthusiasm behind their potential application warrants further exploration. This may be why health organizations and fitness experts are embracing these online tools. Perhaps they are hoping to engage a greater audience, enhance their current professional efforts, and expand their field of expertise.

Today’s cutting edge technology is preparing professionals to think laterally in this next generation of health promotion and fitness programming. Carly Fiorina, ex-CEO of Hewitt-Packard, once said that “the past 25 years in technology has been a ‘warm-up’ act. What we’re entering is the main event, and by ‘main event’ I mean an era in which technology will truly transform every aspect of business, of government, of society, of life.” The question is not whether or not technology will evolve. The question is how will health professionals adopt and apply these technologies in order to determine their future evolution. Could these web-based tools be integral in those efforts to help people adopt healthier lives in the next era? I sure hope so!

Below is a glimpse of the presentation: