Active Living Program News
Tactics for Improving Health Abound at Joint IHRSA/AJHP Conference
Attendees at the recent International Health and Racquet Sport Association (IHRSA) and Art and Science of Health Promotion conference immersed themselves in myriad health and fitness promotion techniques. Thanks to Active Living Partners, these techniques included specific strategies for helping the unfit to increase their physical activity and improve their eating habits.
Active Living Every Day and Healthy Eating Every Day author Ruth Ann Carpenter and Active Living Partners Director Michele Guerra conducted three well-attended sessions on enhancing member retention, breaking into the corporate wellness arena, and improving eating habits through a whole diet approach. “We are really encouraged by the attendance at our sessions,” said Michele Guerra. “Interest in reaching inactive and low-active people is steadily growing, and clubs seem more open to changing the approaches they use to help these people.”
Ruth Ann Carpenter of The Cooper Institute agreed. “The public health focus in the U.S. and other countries is increasingly targeting the sedentary and obese. I’m happy to see that IHRSA is actively involved in exposing their members to behaviorally based approaches like the ones used in Active Living Every Day and Healthy Eating Every Day.”
A striking change at this year’s event was the joining of the IHRSA and the Art and Science of Health Promotion conferences. While the IHRSA conference typically attracts health club professionals, the Art and Science conference draws more people from worksite and community health promotion. Conferees could attend sessions sponsored by both organizations. The sessions provided a blend of health improvement methods. Featured speakers included lifestyle change guru Dean Ornish, retired U.S. General Tommy Franks, stage of change model creator James Prochaska, and legendary coach Phil Jackson.
“I think the merging of these two conferences is a great move,” said Michele Guerra. “I attended sessions on both sides of the conference. They were all well done; each provided a different viewpoint. Health club and health promotion professionals can learn a lot from each other.”
In addition to high-quality sessions, conference attendees were able to preview and purchase reliable health promotion, fitness, and club management resources at the joint Human Kinetics and IHRSA bookstore.
“We are thrilled to be working with Human Kinetics and Active Living Partners,” said Rick Devereux of IHRSA. “We can always count on them to provide first-rate information to our members.”
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