The ACE advocacy team is hitting the road in the hopes of establishing more fruitful connections with our fitness professionals and health coaches. This month marks the first in a nationwide series of ACE Professional Advocacy Roundtables where we’ll sit down with our certified professionals to discuss how policy is shaping their profession.

We believe that engaging our professionals is a valuable learning opportunity for everyone involved—professionals gain a better understanding of ACE’s advocacy efforts and how to become effective advocates for the profession; and ACE achieves a more in-depth understanding of what is interesting and relevant to those working in the field.

The series will begin in Atlanta, GA on September 26 and continue into the new year with ACE making stops in several other cities, including St. Louis, MO, Los Angeles, CA and San Diego, CA. In each city, members of the ACE advocacy team will meet with a small group of fitness professionals and health coaches to discuss ACE’s key policy issues, the ways in which physical activity legislation affects their careers and resources that may be of interest, such as the ACE advocacy center website, free webinars and information on bills ACE supports. ACE’s goals with the roundtables are threefold—

1. To discover creative ways for health coaches and fitness pros to get involved with advocacy efforts, such as becoming community health champions or encouraging legislators to enact policies that make physical activity a priority
2. To assess how to build stronger relationships with health coaches and fitness pros
3. To determine how to best work together to make safe and affordable physical activity available to all individuals, no matter where they live

Our team is continually working to find innovative ways to advance the health and fitness profession by supporting policies and regulations that underscore the importance of professionally led exercise as well as the role of the well-qualified health coaches and fitness professional in the healthcare continuum. Interacting with our professionals face-to-face provides us with a unique perspective that will help us align our efforts with what is truly needed from those working in the profession. Ultimately, these efforts can create new career opportunities and help professionals grow their businesses, all while getting more people moving.

Stay tuned for roundtable updates and ways to get involved in the conversation!