My Top 10 Fitness Resources (and one secret bonus)
As a continuation from my last post, Top 10 NYC Boutique Studios with the Best Instructors, I’d like to share with you my favorite places to get new fitness information, and what each is excellent at.
1. Pub Med:
Trick question! If you are a fitness professional, you really should be getting your core information from peer-reviewed, evidenced-based research, not wellness blogs, whose writers come from all different backgrounds and may not appropriately interpret or screen their sources. Yes the articles on Pub Med can be dense. And yes, we should critically analyze them for sample size, who paid for the research, margins of error, etc.
BEST FOR: SCIENCE AND MEDICAL RESEARCH
I’ve taken a lot of continuing ED courses on MedBRIDGE, a paid resource for Physical Therapists, Athletic Trainers, Occupational and Speech Therapists, and Nurses. Everyone offering training is a licensed professional. It is one of the best review resources for those that are licensed to diagnose and treat injuries. I love streaming a new class and feeling like I’m back in school, but from bed.
BEST FOR: CONTINUING ED FOR PTS
3. Ginger Garner:
Dr. Ginger is also such a fitness nerd! She’s a Physical Therapist, Athletic Trainer, trained Yoga and Pilates instructor, and certified Ayurveda lifestyle instructor. She’s also the founder of the Professional Yoga Therapy Institute, the first interdisciplinary medical yoga program in the world. She offers a medical yoga certificate for licensed health care professional (I’ve taken one of her courses). Girlfriend does not slack! As one of the most well-educated players in the game, she’s an excellent resource for anyone who wants to elevate their yoga/pilates game, and/or use yoga and pilates as a resource within healthcare. It’s very refreshing to see yoga being taught by a doctorate level clinician, and I personally look forward to more courses from her.
BEST FOR: MEDICAL YOGA
4. IDEA Health and Fitness Association:
The IDEA Health and Fitness Association is one of the leading resource for fitness professional to educate themselves. Offering coursework, articles, blog posts, and videos, this is a highly reliable place to learn best practices for fitness professionals. You must check it out!
BEST FOR: CONTINUING ED FOR FITNESS
5. NASM (National Alliance of Sports Medicine:
I was certified by NASM during PT school, and was impressed at how complimentary the teachings were with my physical therapy curriculum. I highly recommend them as one of the top personal trainer certification.
BEST FOR: PERSONAL TRAINING CERTIFICATION
Everyone should include some elements of yoga in their fitness routines- I’m on team yoga every da*n day. The brilliance of combining oppositional poses, breath work, abdominal bracing, balance training, and mindfulness is phenomenal for improving blood flow and tapping into the parasympathetic nervous system. Staying up to date with the Yoga Journal is recommended for everyone, particularly physical therapists.
BEST FOR: MOBILITY, BODY WEIGHT, BREATH WORK
With a PhD in sports medicine and a CSCS, Bret “The Glute Guy” has built a niche around performance training for glutes. He’s great for trainers and fitness fiends to geek out on strategies to engage your glutes, exercises that have the most bang for your booty (vs, say, quads), appropriate form in weightlifting, and several other fitness topics. He has a ton of resources on biomechanics for staying fit. His information is well-researched and awesome and for that, he’s a must-read!
BEST FOR: GLUTES!
8. APTA Newsletter:
The APTA newsletter simplifies and breaks down research related to PT, and can be a good abridged resource, especially if leafing through dense scientific journals is too intimidating. Unlike the standard news media, the information is processed by doctors of physical therapy, so the conclusions and headlines tend to be closer to the evidence-based research intentions. By the way, Happy National Physical Therapy month!
BEST FOR: PHYSICAL THERAPY NEWS
9. T-Nation:
First, a disclaimer: Not everything posted in T-Nation is fact. And a lot of the trainers who write articles there would take issue with, for example, my stances on injury prevention and dislike how long I often recommend clients stay in a corrective exercise phase – probably because they don’t treat sports injuries all day long! However, as a whole, T-Nation is an awesome place to learn about and discuss bodybuilding and strength training, something that lots of men DO (so it needs to be part of their fitness routines), and most women don’t do ENOUGH of (connected to bone density issues in post menopausal women). As much as my clients sometimes make me laugh when they mix up a bunch of concepts from articles on this site, I love that they are reading, researching and asking questions. (And from personal experience, the “all bulk, all the time” guys always come around once my clients are ready to lift heavy and they see how killer their form is)
BEST FOR: WEIGHTLIFTING NEWS AND TRENDS
10. Pain Science:
I’m very supportive of the evidenced-based massage movement. Yes, manual work is overhyped: Massage does not cure all issues, and as a solo tool, it’s not enough. Yes, many effects of massage be achieved by reciprocal activation of oppositional muscle groups. However, for many instances, reciprocal activation doesn’t work right away, or is challenging for clients to access. Massage has a tremendous ability to improve blood flow, release constrictions in muscle and fascia, that, while nearly always a temporary fix, when coupled and stabilized with appropriate strength training, can be very supportive of a movement program. I really like the Pain Science blog.
BEST FOR: MASSAGE
AND ONE BONUS…!
11. Jen Selter!
My guilty pleasure. I admit it: I’m part of the Jen Selter Fit Fam FB group, and she’s one of my favorite Instagram Influencers- I’m pretty sure I watch her stories basically every day. I ran into her at midnight once while I was leaving a party, and she was the sweetest ever. (JEN if you read this, you will make my YEAR if we ever plan a workout!) She’s not a licensed PT or certified trainer, and yes, her pelvis looks like it may be in a large anterior pelvic tilt, so why do I adore her so so much? Because Jenn teaches the number #1 and 2 rules of Posture Bar: 1. Show up 2. Do your best. She’s relatable, beautiful, passionate, and extremely dedicated and supportive of her loyal following. #selteringforever . BEST FOR: MOTIVATION!