The fitness industry defines muscular strength as the physical ability to generate force against an external load. The 1RM simply represents the maximum amount of force that a muscle can exert against an external resistance, moving through a full range of motion to...
Cathleen Kronemer
Cathleen Kronemer is an NFPT CEC writer and a member of the NFPT Certification Council Board. Cathleen is an AFAA-Certified Group Exercise Instructor, NSCA-Certified Personal Trainer, ACE-Certified Health Coach, former competitive bodybuilder and freelance writer. She is employed at the Jewish Community Center in St. Louis, MO. Cathleen has been involved in the fitness industry for over three decades. Feel free to contact her at trainhard@kronemer.com. She welcomes your feedback and your comments!
Understanding Tempo: Can Specific Eccentric Cadence Can Boost Hypertrophy and Strength?
Understanding lifting tempo is complicated enough for trainers, and most likely completely escaping your clients' attention. Science reveals different outcomes for how we apply such cadences in our lifting, specifically with regard to hypertrophy and strength gains....
Soda Addiction: How to Break the Cycle
When working with clients, personal trainers are likely to come up against lifestyle habits that need to change, one of which is very problematic and difficult to quit: Soft drink consumption. Those clients who may drink a six-pack of Coca-Cola daily or admit to...
Everesting: The Ultimate Cycling Challenge
Since its inception, Everesting has experienced growth far beyond its creators’ wildest dreams. Now considered a worldwide sensation, cycling athletes can choose from almost 20,000 Everesting offerings of different kinds in just about every country, large or small....
Avoiding Lifting Injuries
As fitness professionals, we accept the premise that most serious strength-training athletes and bodybuilders will experience injuries at some point in time. Within a 1-year period of regular strenuous workouts, almost 50% of bodybuilders report suffering from some...
Men’s Health and Cycling: Is There a Higher Risk of Infertility?
Mountain biking and competitive cycling, among the world’s most popular modes of exercise, carry the potential risk of male infertility and other risks to men's health. Learn about the challenges, and how best to inform and support your clients who ride frequently and...
Ergothioneine: The Mushroom’s Mighty Amino Acid
Mushrooms, members of the general class of edible fungi, enjoy popularity in global cuisine. From the exotic truffle to the ordinary white caps, mushrooms now also figure prominently in scientific research as one of the top nutritional sources of the amino acid...
How Effective Communication Can Enhance Performance and Client Relationships
Clear, prudent, and relevant communication skills provide clients with the tools needed to overcome adversity, break through a plateau, and feel comfortable turning in a new direction when they fail to meet their goals. A trainer/coach can foster this connection...
Enhance Muscular Strength with Krill Oil
Omega-3 fatty acids offer a cornucopia of health benefits, including anti-inflammatory properties, improvements in joint pain, better brain health, and improved cardiac function. Still, 98% of all Americans fall short of meeting the RDA of Omega-3 intake....
Should Eating Disorder Treatment Include Exercise?
Despite the fact that exercise may improve a range of biopsychosocial outcomes in patients with eating disorders (ED), exercise does not figure prominently, if at all, as a currently established adjunct within ED treatment. Many researchers focus on the deleterious...
Zinc Can Add a Zing To Building Muscle
In the world of fitness, we can cover topics from A to Z, starting with Aerobic exercises and ending with the focus of today’s article, Zinc. Learn how to help clients boost their workouts – and overall health -- with this simple, cost-effective mineral. The...
Mixology 101: Combining Protein Powder with Hot Liquids
In order for our personal training clients to build muscle, one must consume a significant amount of lean protein, often in the form of protein powder. Many debates exist regarding the best way to ingest the right types of protein. Whey protein, considered the ideal...
Inner Fitness: How Altruism Keeps Us Healthy
A healthy diet, exercise, and screening for disease will always remain the cornerstones for lifelong health. Yet many experts --- including, apparently, the well-respected late poet Ralph Waldo Emerson -- feel that inner fitness must also make the list. Read on to...
The Link Between Plant-Sourced Proteins and Blood Pressure
Amino acids may form the foundation of all proteins; however, only a select few hold the potential to lower blood pressure. Read on to learn how these particular building blocks pave the way towards lower hypertension and better overall health. As Always, Diet and...
The Importance of Post-Workout Meal Timing: Myth or Mandatory?
Prudent personal trainers know that both training stimuli and nutrient consumption affect hypertrophy gains. Training increases protein synthesis, but it may also activate muscle protein degradation. In the absence of properly-timed quality nutrition, these two can...
The Importance of Grip and Forearm Strength
Exercises like pull-ups, rows, kettlebell swings, and bicep curls all involve a certain amount of forearm strength. Rock climbing, one of the fastest-growing sports in this country, requires an incredible amount of upper body power, forearm strength, and grip...
Nutrigenetics and Nutrigenomics: The Symbiosis of Genetics, Nutrition and Fitness
As science draws ever closer to the reality of personalized nutrition for optimal performance, nutrigenomics --- the study of the interplay between nutrition/bioactive food compounds and gene expression --- offers an up-close view into human dynamics. In...
Bone up on Stress Fractures and Prevent the Pain
If you've ever suffered a stress fracture, then you know that pain: the aching, often stabbing sensation in the shins, reminding us we overdid it on the trail running and high-impact aerobics, or our athletic shoes seriously need replacing. Seasoned athletes and...