Apple's iWatch and HealthKit: What They Mean for Health and Fitness Pros and Their Clients

The fusion of technology and the fitness industry continues at warp speed. This brings both excitement and concern, with users around the world waiting for the release of the new iPhone 6, new iOS 8 and the closely guarded Apple iWatch. Rumors suggest the devices will be both fashionable and practical.
Wall Street has also been watching the buzz around the new Apple products, as this is the most significant event for Apple under the leadership of Tim Cook (and not Steve Jobs). With the introduction of HealthKit, it is also Apple’s attempt to make the iPhone not only the center of the user’s digital world, but also of his or her physical world as well.
The HealthKit framework within iOS 8 will offer more health and fitness functionality by linking devices with a user’s health information, using the iPhone as the central hub. Now users will be able to capture and monitor health and fitness information such as pulse, steps, blood pressure and sleep habits. These health measures offer a clear and current overview of a person’s overall well-being. While it is true that individual apps have been doing this for years, the new HealthKit will allow these health and fitness apps to sync data about the user’s health and fitness across a variety of wearables and apps, organizing them all into one dashboard application—the iPhone.
Within the fitness industry, excitement started a year ago when Apple hired fitness-industry expert and ACE Pro Jay Blahnik as one of the first of many hires specific to health and fitness. After years spent consulting with Gatorade, Nautilus, Schwinn and Nike, Blahnik was all in with Apple. In December 2013, Apple met with the Food and Drug Administration, the U.S. governing arm of the federal government for all things medical, to discuss mobile medical applications, likely to ensure that HealthKit would not cross a regulatory line.
This is exciting news for our industry, so how can personal trainers and health coaches benefit from such technology? Here are three things I will be watching for in the weeks and months that follow the announcement:

Being Connected. Our world continues to become even more connected. It is through being connected that trainers and health coaches can engage with their clients, keeping them on the path to wellness. Through the new iPhone platform, clients will be able to share with you integrated insights into their daily lives (activity, sleep, steps, food, pulse rate, etc.) that wasn’t previously possible. No longer will you need to guess what your clients did outside of training or if they took your advice—it will all be there with a click of a button. How’s that for accountability? New business models for training and coaching will be developed to take advantage of this technology and the job of a trainer or coach will no longer be limited to inside the four physical walls of a gym, opening up new markets not only down the street but around the world.
Deeper Collaboration. We’ve seen that it takes a team to make a real difference in the lives of our clients. From trainer to physician, coach to nutritionist, the power of collaboration, being in sync and in real time, is one highlight of the new HealthKit. It will take time for each team member to understand his or her place in the overall HealthKit matrix, but what is exciting is the possibility of overall health for our collective clients. More teamwork between practitioners allows trainers and coaches to stay within their scope of practice and seek partnerships with others in the healthcare industry.
Proceed with Caution. Apple is late to the game with regards to fitness tracking, but many expect it to succeed where others have not. While Jawbone and FitBit do a good job of tracking activity, many consumers still see wearables as “unstylish” and the buzz of the wearable soon wears off with a sharp decline in use after just six months. A device has yet to emerge with enough authority to encourage mass adoption (not good if you are relying on this data). Apple could change that perception with their historic strengths in design and new hires in fashion, which means more people will be more inclined to wear a device and thus more health data will be collected.
As we share more personal and confidential information across the cloud, there will be more debate surrounding security and privacy with this type of information. Apple has taken steps to ensure our privacy, with requirements that apps using HealthKit not store information on the cloud and not share information without user consent. Of course, there will always be a risk when sharing data through the cloud, but does the benefit of sharing outweigh the concern over privacy? Or vice versa?
Remember, Apple is not the only kid on the block using smartphones for health. In the US, there are nearly 170 million cellphone users, 70 percent of whom use smartphones. Within the smartphone category, the iPhone is by far the most popular, with 42 percent of users, followed by Samsung at 28 percent, 7 percent for LG, 6 percent Motorola and 5 percent for HTC. However, when looking at the operating systems of these smartphones, Android takes the lead with 52 percent, Apple at 42 percent, and Microsoft, BlackBerry and others making up the remaining 8 percent (ComScore, 2014). The takeaway? If you only work with Apple, you will be missing out on 58 percent of the population that uses a smartphone other than an iPhone.

I am a believer in effective uses of technology and am excited about the Apple announcement, as well as the upcoming announcements from Microsoft and Google within the health and fitness space. New technologies and innovations like the iPhone, the Apple iWatch and HealthKit are not a magic bullet, but they can be a very powerful tool that, when properly implemented into trainers’ and coaches’ businesses, can lead to new clients, new revenue streams and new partnerships. These technologies will never replace a qualified and certified personal trainer or health coach. After all, clients hire us for our knowledge and accountability, but they keep us for our personality and ability to connect with them.

Source : By Ted Vickey Ted Vickey Ted Vickey, M.S., is the Senior Consultant - Fitness Technology for ACE. He’s been an ACE Certified Personal Trainer since 1992

7 Fitness Tips for Busy Parents

Being a parent often means that every moment of your day is occupied with kids, worrying about the kids, thinking about activities to do with the kids, and wishing you could just have a few minutes away from the kids to take a nap. It's exhausting. The sad part is that you're too tired to get in a good workout.

Don't be one of the parents that are just too tired and busy to get in your workout. Accept no excuses, and let the tips below help you to fit in that workout.

1. Get Your Workout Over With

Having a hard time getting your workout in? Go to bed ready to workout in the morning--you can even try sleeping in your workout clothes--and jump out of bed in the morning ready for a quick workout before the little one is fully awake. You can even convince your partner to dress and feed the baby in the morning, or get the school kids ready. Get that workout in first thing, and it will be one less thing to cause stress in the morning.

2. Get Out of the House
Need to make it a bit easier on yourself to do a workout? Don't spend your day sitting with the baby in front of the TV, but make it a point to spend at least four or five hours of your day out of the house. Once you're done with shopping, go for a walk or run in the park. Take the sport stroller for a jog, or bring your light weights to do some exercise while the little one is running around.

3. Play with the Kids

One of the best ways to get exercise in is to play with your kids. Whether you're playing a game of backyard soccer or football, a game of basketball in the driveway, or tag in the park, you'll spend more time running and moving around. It may not be the awesome workout you want, but it will help to make up for the fact that you can only spend a small amount of time doing a focused workout.

4. Prepare Your Workouts

If you know you have a few moments in the day when you can work out--such as when baby is asleep or the older children have just been packed off to school--make sure to prepare your workouts beforehand. Have the weights ready to go, the DVD in the player, and your workout clothes already on. Make it a point to always be prepared to get in that workout, and organize your schedule around those workouts.

5. Trim the Workouts

Don't expect that you'll be able to fit an hour or so of exercise into the busy day of a parent, or you'll be in for a real disappointment. Instead, make sure that your workouts are no longer than 10 to 20 minutes, but make them count. Go for high-intensity exercises that combine cardio with muscle building, and you'll see the results in far less time.

6. Make them the Weights
Have you ever tried to jog while pushing a double stroller up a hill? It's incredibly intense exercise, and you'll be able to get in great shape if you make your children the weights. There are dozens of fun exercises you can do using your children as the weights, and it can keep them entertained as well. Whether you carry baby around for an hour or go for a hike with the little one on your back, it's a great workout!

7. Make it a Priority

Sometimes, you're going to have to be okay with sitting the kids in front of the TV just so you can get in that 20-minute workout, or serving them a quick meal instead of making an elaborate one. Be a bit more selfish with your workouts, and you won't regret it.

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How to get and stay fit when you are in a relationship

Studies show that most people gain weight when they are in a relationship. It’s not just that the hunt is over and we already have someone to share our life with and we don’t feel the pressure to stay in shape, it’s also the fact that we now have to coordinate everything we do with our other half we now share everything with. Staying in shape while in a relationship can be challenging, but it can also be something that brings you closer together and helps you bond. Something that makes you and your relationship stronger. It all depends on how you approach it.

Recruit your other half to participate
Work on the principle that couples who train together stay together. All you need is a little bit of planning with all parties being aware of the precise time and the kind of training you will be doing so everyone is mentally and physically ready for it. Talk it out, look at available options together, make it a couple thing and work around your schedules and other commitments. There are many ways to work out together without leaving your house or spend any extra money on equipment or gym membership. You can even make it a habit to work out in front of the TV instead of having a family meal while glued to the screen.  Pick a time during the day when no matter what you both have to drop whatever you are doing and show up for a training session and a work out. People who are in sync and who can find the time for each other also tend to have a more fulfilling and happy relationship and fitness is one of these things that can bring people closer together.
If you can’t recruit your other half for whatever reason and the only option is to work out alone, make sure you talk about it and explain exactly what you are doing, when and especially – why. It’s important that your other half understands your motives and can see that you are serious about your fitness.
Get a plan and have it where you can see it - at all times
Finding a good program to follow is half the battle, sticking to it is another matter entirely. The main obstacle is that we tend to find the plan but then ignore it half the time. Print everything out and put it on display, cross things out on completion and track your progress. It also helps when you need to make sure your family understands what you are doing and especially when so they know not to bother you during these time slots or maybe have an option to join in.

Agree on the menu 
When we are in a relationship we can’t cancel dinners or get by on half a yogurt and some sunlight – it wouldn’t be fair to the person you are with. So there will be cooking and there will be eating no matter what. If you agree beforehand on the healthier options and find the kind of menu you will be both comfortable with, you don’t just get to eat healthier you also get all the moral support you need. It’s easier to follow a plan when you do it together. It helps to sit down and talk about it, not just announce that you no longer eat - period, but reason it out why would you want change your eating habits, what it’ll change for the two of you and how it’ll affect you both in the long run. Explaining the “whys” is vital in this case.
Make your house fitness friendly
The best way to avoid snacking is to remove chips and candy (crisps and sweets) from your house completely. So when you want to have something special and not-so-good for you, you’ll have to leave the house and go get it first. At the very least, you’ll get a walk out of it and best case scenario – you won’t want to bother going out and won’t snack. You can place a bowl of washed and ready to eat apples and pears on a table for when you feel like crunching on something. Clear the area in your house for exercise and set reminders everywhere you can all around to stay motivated. Change your screensaver on your laptop to match your fitness goals and keep your programs and workout charts at hand at all times. Post it notes with messages to yourself will work, too.

Tips:
- Eat your dinners while talking to each other – it’ll help you mind what you eat and you’ll eat less.
- Go for a short walk after every meal together.
- Plan your cheat meal for the weekend and eat healthy the rest of the time.
- Choose activities that will make you move – try to do at least one active thing every evening.
- Walk everywhere together – you can even race each other on a dare to different locations.
- Get an active hobby as a couple, like cycling or city photography. Going running together is unbeatable.
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