Carrie Myers

Discover how you can better support clients who are navigating menopause. This article explores the physiological and psychological impacts of menopause, strategies for effective communication, and evidence-based exercise recommendations to empower your female clients during this life stage.

Whether it’s popping up at your favorite gym, studio or on your social media platforms, Pilates seems to be everywhere these days. Here, we examine the latest trends within Pilates, including innovative class formats and its increasing popularity among diverse client demographics, including men. As a health and exercise professional, you’ll gain insights on how to effectively incorporate Pilates into your training offerings to meet the growing demand and elevate client experiences.

You may have clients who just can’t seem to stick with their goals, despite the best of intentions. It can be tempting to think of them as being resistant or self-sabotaging, but those labels aren’t helpful. Learn how fear can keep clients stuck in a pattern of failure and what you can do, as a health coach, to help them feel supported and successful.

Your knees are acting up, or you’ve worked out more strenuously than usual and feel sore, so you pop a couple ibuprofen to minimize the pain. But is this really as safe as it seems? A growing body of research suggests that nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs—better known as NSAIDs—could cause harm to the heart, kidneys and gastrointestinal system. Learn how to inform your clients about these dangers and offer some safer alternatives to ease the pain of inflammation.

Many women experience a range of issues and complications after giving birth via cesarean delivery. Once your clients are ready to come back to training with you post-cesarean, having a great understanding of this procedure and how it affects the body can enable you to play an important role in their postpartum fitness plan.

Pelvic floor issues can cause a wide range of problems, including urinary continence, and affect one out of three women in their lifetimes. Other than recommending Kegels, is there anything you can do to help your clients who may struggle with these issues? As it turns out, you are in a position to change the lives of many of the women who come to you for health and exercise guidance.

As a health and exercise professional, approaching your role as a coach is more likely to result in your clients achieving true behavior change. Learn why motivational interviewing—a core tenet of health coaching—is a particularly effective way to communicate with clients and help them achieve their health and fitness goals.

You know that client you’re always reminding to not hyperextend their knees during deadlifts? Or that student in class who hyperextends their elbows in upward-facing dog? There’s a good chance they have hypermobile joints, which could make exercise painful or make them more prone to injury. Learn some important precautions and guidelines that will allow you to help these clients in meaningful, productive ways to get the results they’re after.

Pain is the body’s way of signaling that something is wrong, but what about the pain that doesn’t go away? New research into chronic pain suggests that it is influenced by a range of biological, psychological and social factors. In this article, you’ll learn practical insights and interventions, and gain valuable tools to support clients in alleviating and managing chronic pain.

We’re told we need more of it to stick to our goals, but does willpower even exist? And if it does, are we just born with it, or is it a learned thing? Or is it like a muscle and we have to build it up over time? As always, we turn to the research—and a few experts—to answer tough questions like these. Read on to learn more about willpower and what it can and can’t do when it comes to sticking with healthy habits and working toward big and small goals.

From rising at the same time each morning to your bedtime routine and everything in between, your habits make you who you are. This is good news—for both you and your clients. After all, if you don’t like some of your habits, you can create new ones that are more aligned with your values and who you want to be.

All-or-nothing thinking can hold you back in all areas of life, from sticking with an exercise program to starting a new business. Learn strategies to break the cycle of perfectionist thinking.

As a health and exercise professional, you coach your clients to help them achieve their goals, but can you coach them to greater happiness? Discover the impact of specific habits and practices on happiness and learn strategies you can use to help your clients increase their resilience, maintain a positive state of being (even in the face of challenges), and achieve deeper joy and a more meaningful, satisfying life.

As a health and exercise professional, your job is to inspire others toward healthier living—including engaging in regular exercise—but what happens if one of your clients seems addicted to exercise? Is exercise addiction a real thing—and if so, how do you talk to your clients about this issue if you suspect they may be addicted? Take a deep dive into this topic as we uncover the answers to these and other questions related to this important issue.  

With so many free and low-cost marketing opportunities available on social media today, do you really need to invest both time and money into a website?

Hey, entrepreneur! Are you working on building your business? Or are you building your brand? What’s the difference? Is there one? Read on to learn about the differences between building a business and building a brand—and why you need to do both to set yourself up for success.

Because the core is the body’s foundation, it is imperative that it is built solidly before other, more difficult exercises are added. Having clients do more difficult exercises with a weak core could set them up for injury. Learn how to help your clients build a strong foundation by starting slowly and using proper progressions to create a three-dimensional, well-functioning core.

You know you need a website and are ready to get it done, but knowing where to start, what to include and how much it will cost can feel overwhelming. Here, we break it down so you can map out what you’ll need on your website to start generating traffic—and, ultimately, income.

As a health and exercise professional, you know the importance of developing muscular fitness in the core musculature, but are you completely clear on what muscles make up the core and are you following a safe progression of strengthening exercises? Do you know how to train to avoid imbalances in the core musculature? Like many of your clients, you may have a few questions about this all-important area of the body. Here are your much-needed answers.

If you lived through the ‘80s and ‘90s, you are probably familiar with the self-esteem movement, which rewarded participation and regarded positive reinforcement as essential to a child’s development and future success. But did this movement create more harm than good? As a health coach, should you coach your clients toward higher self-esteem—or something else?

We’re told we need more of it to stick to our goals, but does willpower even exist? And if it does, are we just born with it, or is it a learned thing? Or is it like a muscle and we have to build it up over time? As always, we turn to the research—and a few experts—to answer tough questions like these. Read on to learn more about willpower and what it can and can’t do when it comes to sticking with healthy habits and working toward big and small goals.

There are many reasons to help your clients practice proper posture, including better physical and mental health. While posture is a big topic, this article explores some of the benefits of good posture and the negative effects of poor posture, and presents recommended techniques for assessing and correcting it.  

As a health and wellness professional, it's likely that at some point in your career, one of your clients will unfortunately experience a pregnancy or infant loss. Are you prepared to offer empathy and a gentle return-to-exercise protocol when they're ready? Read on for some suggested do's and don'ts when it comes to offering support for someone going through this grieving process.

Over the past two decades, a growing body of research has investigated the merits of whole-body vibration training (WBVT). This article examines the potential benefits of WBVT and who might most benefit from its use.

From rising at the same time each morning to your bedtime routine and everything in between, your habits make you who you are. This is good news—for both you and your clients. After all, if you don’t like some of your habits, you can create new ones that are more aligned with your values and who you want to be.

As a health and fitness professional, it's important to take special considerations when working with someone who's experiencing PTSD. Continue reading for some tips from an ACE Certified Personal Trainer and owner of veteran-focused gym.

Today, we know more than ever about what it takes to achieve health and wellness, and yet more people are living in larger bodies than ever before. What are we doing wrong? This article examines the effects of focusing so much on weight loss and how shifting our focus to other aspects of health, such as stress and sleep, could have a much greater impact.

If you lived through the ‘80s and ‘90s, you are probably familiar with the self-esteem movement, which rewarded participation and regarded positive reinforcement as essential to a child’s development and future success. But did this movement create more harm than good? As a health coach, should you coach your clients toward higher self-esteem—or something else?

Social media can be a great way to grow your audience and connect with them in a variety of ways at no cost to you. But as with anything, even social media has its limits. Learn why growing your email list is a powerful and smart marketing strategy to get in touch with the people who want to buy your products or services.

Hey, entrepreneur! Are you working on building your business? Or are you building your brand? What’s the difference? Is there one? Read on to learn about the differences between building a business and building a brand—and why you need to do both to set yourself up for success.

Many people spend much of their lives battling their body image, with research suggesting that this internal struggle begins at a young age. As a health and exercise professional, you are in a position to help clients learn to respect, accept or, at the very least, feel more neutral about their bodies.

Are you one of the 431 million people who use Pinterest every month? If so, are you using Pinterest for your next DIY project—or are you harnessing its power to scale your business? If you’ve never thought about using this platform as part of your marketing plan, it’s time you start using this powerful marketing tool.

With so many free and low-cost marketing opportunities available on social media today, do you really need to invest both time and money into a website?

Visualization and vision boards are two powerful tools that you can use to help you and your clients clarify and achieve a wide range of goals and aspirations. Learn about the science behind these tools and why vision paired with action can be such a powerful combination.

Have you ever considered coaching parents and educating them in using a coach approach to encourage their kids toward healthier habits? What about coaching teens to live their best, healthiest lives? Learn about the unique rewards and challenges of coaching kids, teens and their parents.

Social media can be a great way to grow your audience and connect with them in a variety of ways at no cost to you. But as with anything, even social media has its limits. Learn why growing your email list is a powerful and smart marketing strategy to get in touch with the people who want to buy your products or services.

While many look forward to a time of good cheer and celebrating, the holidays can be a stressful period for health and exercise professionals who experience a decrease in work volume and, as a result, income. Check out these tips to help you more joyfully get through this—and every—holiday season from here on out.

Are the holidays mostly cheer, celebration and joy for you? Or do you, like many, feel pressure to perform a certain way—and feel guilty if you don’t? Learn how you can create a holiday experience that is truer to your values and vision for you and your family.

Food can be a powerful tool in reducing one’s risk of depression, while also helping to improve focus and reduce inflammation. Learn which foods play a role in brain health and mood, the role of the gut’s microbiome, and how one’s relationship with food can help improve both physical and mental health. 

Can a person really be addicted to sugar? Learn what the research has to say about this controversial topic, and how you can help your clients understand that food restriction, when taken too far, can actually cause more harm than good.