Webinar: Effective Training with Older Populations In Health Club and Gym Settings
This webinar will cover my own best practices and lessons learned in working within groups of 6-10 people at a time in the Cooper Tracks hosted program at Shannon Health Club over the past 1.5 years time. I have worked with 10 different groups, men and women in 8 week cohorts (many as repeat program members) ages 60-87 years old who all have conditions of either diabetes, CVD, arthritis, or Cancer. Many with multiple conditions. Obesity is another condition many of the patients/members present with. Conditions common with advanced aging as well as the conditions above are most always present in these groups. This had lead me to adapt my previous training methods and delivery models (from healthy young and athletic populations) to best fit this population's needs in an effective, non-intimidating, safe way. I want share these best practices with others to allow them to deliver their expertise as a fitness professional to the aging populations they serve in their gyms and health clubs in the most optimal way.
Learning Objectives:
1. Learn the most effective ways to communicate with an older population of clientele when guiding them through exercises via wording, phrasing, and body language. This also applies to how to explain how exercise and physical activity impact their bodies in ways they can understand and appreciate.
2. Learn key tips in how to show and demonstrate exercises and movements in very clear ways that an older population client can grasp and follow easily. This also applies to the often difficult use of common exercise machines not built for those with mobility and ROM restrictions.
3. Understand some key factors that often get lost or missed with an older population in terms of technology use, hearing, MSK limitations, orthopedic limitations, cognitive barriers, and visual barriers as it applies to exercise performance, compliance, and learning.
Speaker: Joshua Hockett, Fitness Instructor and Exercise Physiologist at the Shannon Health Club
Joshua has worked as a health, fitness, performance, and nutrition specialist for 15 years.
Joshua has served as a military health and fitness specialist for 9 years including 5 years with the Navy aboard 2 aircraft carriers with an overseas deployment. He spent 3 years at Goodfellow AFB, TX within the DoD fire academy as a civilian strength and conditioning specialist. Joshua also supported the 57th Rescue Squadron in Aviano Italy in 2019 to help support the paratrooper human performance team.
Joshua has also worked as both an in-person and online personal trainer/fitness coach for over 15 years. His in person training and strength and conditioning coaching takes place in San Angelo Texas while his online training has spanned the nation and even overseas. Joshua also teaches one in-person course to undergraduate exercise science students at Angelo State University in San Angelo Texas.
Lastly, Josh has worked as an instructor to the Shannon Health Club hosted Cooper Tracks program since December of 2023. There he works with adult and older populations afflicted with conditions of arthritis, diabetes, cancer, and CVD.
Joshua holds a MS in exercise science, BS in kinesiology, and is a certified personal trainer and registered strength and conditioning coach with the NSCA. He is an ACSM Certified EP and physical activity public health specialist.