Happy New Year! I hope your holiday celebrations were happy ones that allowed you to slow down and enjoy family and friends. It has been a tough time for those who lost their jobs during the past year and a half, but the economy appears to making a move in the right direction and hopefully, jobs will soon follow. As a new year begins we look over the past year and make resolutions to change certain things during the next 12 months. For some who lost their jobs it will be retraining, new certifications, or perhaps a new academic or professional degree to deal with the future of the job market. For others, it will focus on health-related issues to lose weight, become more physically active, or learn a new sport-related skill. This represents an ideal time for fitness professionals to help these individuals achieve their goals, and one of our feature articles will help us do that.
Siobhan M. White, B.S.; Emily L. Klamm, M.S.; and Edward McAuley, Ph.D., provide an overview of common behavior change strategies and how to incorporate them into our physical activity programs, in their feature: Leading a Physically Active Lifestyle: Effective Individual Behavior Change Strategies. The more we learn about how to get people started and how to keep them going, the better we will be able to help our clients achieve the benefits of regular physical activity. This article will help us to do that and is a must read as we kick off 2010.
In our second feature, Increasing Physical Activity in African Americans: A Multifaceted Approach, Joyce M. Woodson, M.S., R.D.; Karen Brown-Gordon, M.Ed.; Jennifer Padilla-Loupias, M.S.; and Nora Constantino, Ph.D., FACSM, show how to use creative ideas to provide physical activity programs to reach an underserved population. This is a very practical article that describes what works and what doesn’t, and how to work through issues to bring physical activity programs to everyone. It provides important insights for those trying to accomplish similar goals.
In our third feature, Peripheral Arterial Disease: Exercise is Medicine, Paul Sorace, M.S., RCEP, CSCS; Peter Ronai, M.S., RCEPT, CSCS; and James R. Churilla, Ph.D., M.P.H., M.S., RCEP, CSCS, provide an overview of Peripheral Arterial Disease (PAD), explain the importance of exercise/physical activity for managing PAD, and discuss exercise guidelines for the clinical and health and fitness environments. As more and more individuals with chronic disease move from hospital-based rehabilitative/fitness programs to commercial/community/worksite fitness programs, we must be better educated about the variety and complexity of the problems these individuals bring with them. This article helps us achieve that goal and should be included on the reading lists of those in school and those already active in the profession.
Enjoy!