And welcome back to the Wellness Paradox podcast . I'm so grateful that you can join us on this journey towards greater human flourishing . This is our 12th and final episode in our special collaborative series with the American College of Sport Medicine on the September-October themed issue of the Health and Fitness Journal on Professionalization and Advocacy .
As always , I'm your host , michael Stack , an exercise physiologist by training and a health educator and health entrepreneur by trade , and I'm fascinated by a phenomena I call the wellness paradox . This paradox , as I view it , is the trust , interaction and communication gap that exists between exercise professionals and our medical community .
This podcast is all about closing off that gap by disseminating the latest , most evidence-based and most engaging information in the health sciences . And in this final episode of our collaborative series with the ACSM , we really wanted to take the time to sum up what we felt was the most important advice given in the 11 previous episodes To that end .
This episode is simply a cut of the answer to the final question asked in each of the episodes of the series , and that question was if you this directed to the guest , if in each of the episodes of the series . And that question was if you this directed to the guest .
If you could give our listeners one piece of advice as to what they could do to advance and elevate our profession , what would that be ? Ultimately , that is the take home message for the frontline exercise professional from this series . It's about advancing and elevating our profession .
Before we launch into this episode , there's some important people that I would like to recognize and thank for their efforts to not only make this podcast series come to life , but the issue as a whole . First , the team at the Health Fitness Journal Brad Roy , paul Gallo , lori Tisch . Without your support and your efforts , this would not have been possible .
Thank you so much for allowing me to work with you on this very important topic . Next , all of the authors of each of the articles .
You heard from a lot of the lead authors in this series , but there were author teams that sat underneath each one of these lead authors that really allowed the content in this issue to be so relevant and so easily applicable to the things that we do . So authored teams .
Without all of your efforts , we could not have made this issue in this podcast series a reality . And then the ACSM as a whole .
Thank you as an organization for recognizing the importance of advancing and elevating our profession and for having the foresight to do an issue like this in the Health Fitness Journal and then allowing it to breathe more in the public domain in this podcast series . And then , lastly , all of you , our audience .
Thank you for taking the time to listen to this series , to really take the lessons to heart and start to apply them .
We are at a very exciting inflection point in the history of the exercise profession and it's all of you , our listeners , the frontline professionals that are out there , that are going to make this transition to a more elevated and advanced profession or reality .
Now last thing I'd like to do , before we get into the comments from each of our guests during this series , is to talk about some broad action steps .
Each of our guests will give some specific action steps , but I'm going to stay very , very broad to talk about three things that I really would like to see all of us focus on as we go down this professionalization path , and I'm going to take it very much from the perspective of that frontline exercise professional that I know is listening to this podcast series
and is excited for the future to come . Step number one is today start conducting yourself as a qualified healthcare professional . The time is now to act as a healthcare provider , not when we achieve QHP status , not when we get reimbursement from payers , but that time is today .
It's in the way you conduct yourself , the way you dress , the way you talk , the way you approach education , the way you approach outcomes . Everything that you do as an exercise professional from this day forward must must be in concert with the concept of being a qualified healthcare professional . Next , stay informed .
Certainly , the journal issue , as well as this podcast series , provides a great primer and foundation for your knowledge in the professionalization effort , but we still have further to go on our path .
There will be developments to come in the future and the best way for you to prepare yourself for a future in which you are a qualified healthcare professional is to stay informed . Lastly , we must stay united in our process . This is maybe the most foundationally important element to what we're talking about in our professionalization effort .
Tribalism cannot become a byproduct of this professionalization effort . This truly is a process where a rising tide raises all boats , and we must stay unified .
Our single goal is to be able to impact more people in this country with exercise and physical activity , and the only way we do , that is , we stay unified in our front and in our messaging , and that's something we cannot forget . As opportunities become greater , it's easy for tribalism to start to become baked in , and that's something that we cannot succumb to .
We have to realize there are more than enough people in this country who need to be moving more , and there's a very small number of us that are actually qualified to help the vast majority of people move more , so there's more than enough to go around . Please stay unified as we go on this journey .
And then , last thing I want to leave everyone with is this , and this is something I say very often when I do public speaking in any kind of a venue Please remember movement is the best thing you can do on a minute-by-minute basis for your health .
If you're moderately to vigorously active for 150 minutes per week , you meet the guidelines for physical activity that are set forth by all the major public health organizations . There's no behavior that you can engage in for only 150 minutes a week that will confer that much of an outsized benefit to your health .
That is a flag that we must plant , we must carry and we must wave everywhere we go in this professionalization effort . I'm honored and humbled to have had the opportunity to be the editor of this themed issue on professionalization and advocacy .
I'm honored and humbled that the ACSM was willing to collaborate with the Wellness Paradox on this podcast series and I'm honored and humbled to be working with all of you on the professionalization effort . With that being said , thank you for listening to the series and please enjoy this last episode .
We will summarize the final message each one of our guests gave us to answer the question if you could give our listeners one piece of advice to advance and elevate our profession , what would it be ? Enjoy their thoughts . Episode number two action steps in a rapidly evolvingly Evolving Healthcare Market . With Dr Rachel Pajednik , talk to each other .
Talk to each other . These industries need to start communicating healthcare exercise . I'll add nutrition into that space . We need to talk to each other , we need to understand each other's expertise , we need to understand each other's trainings and we need to refer to one another as the experts that we are . So talk to one another .
Network , create this bridge of trust .
Episode number three elevating the exercise profession through registry Dr Brian Biolgi .
Be part of the conversation , and so you know these conversations are being had .
Next week I'm going to a Physical Activity Alliance Invitational where we're going to have 100 high level you know stakeholders and thought leaders there , and then that information is going to get disseminated out because you know we're going to function as a collective , but then obviously we want to amplify it . These messages need to get to people .
So I know sometimes on Instagram it's fun to flip through and look at the funny videos and things like that , but you should also be following these organizations because then you're going to be in the know and especially if you want to be a professional and look at it from a career perspective , that's something that I think is an obligation .
Episode number four making exercises medicine a clinical reality with Dr Karen Wonders .
My advice would be to lead by example , and so practice what you preach . Are you getting 150 minutes to 300 minutes of exercise a day or a week , and are you practicing what you preach ? When you don't feel like exercising , are you doing it anyway ? When you're not feeling well , are you doing it anyway ?
And I think leading by example will help to inspire others who are probably watching you and want to adopt a healthy lifestyle too .
Episode number five the role of accreditation and credentialing with Dr Ben Thompson .
So it probably depends , I think , who's listening . You know , if it's a practitioner that's listening . For me , I think the one kind of take home is educate .
So educate your colleagues , educate your administration or , you know , your employers about the importance of not necessarily accreditation but the importance of , like the whole process of finding people that come from accredited programs , that hold these certifications , that have this kind of , you know , rigorous background to make sure that when they are creating exercise
programs for somebody or doing whatever they are , make sure that when they're creating exercise programs for somebody or doing whatever they are in their job , they're doing it correctly and they're doing it safely for people . So that's kind of what I would think I would say for the practitioner , for the kind of the general population .
If you get many of those , I would kind of say you know , do a little bit of research to find out if your exercise professional has a certification that's accredited , that it , you know it has that third-party accreditation and you know it has certain criteria that that professional has to meet .
I think that's probably one of the most important things that the general public can do when they're looking for an exercise professional .
Episode number six empowering exercise professionals through advocacy with Mike Gazinski .
Consider every day in your operations the word trust . You're trying to build trust with your customers , your members , but you're also trying to build trust with policymakers and the work that we're doing .
And as long as we can work together on building that trust in both directions , the sky's the limit for the growth of the industry , the potential of the industry , but also the ability for us to be able to get that seat at the table without dragging a folding chair in and making sure that we're a part of the conversations in the beginning rather than halfway
through or at the end . So trust is the most important thing that we could always do in our day-to-day operations , both mine and yours , to make sure that we're doing it and trust in us to make sure that we're doing the work to protect your business and promote it as much as possible .
Episode number seven developing trusted collaborative relationships with healthcare with Dr Amy Bantham .
That piece that we talked about with curiosity and informing ourselves and educating ourselves before we build the relationships and educating ourselves before we build the relationships . We need to know why we're building the relationship , what we're building it on what foundation . And so I think people say , okay , where do I start ?
Well , we start with what we know and who we know , and elevating what and who we know so we can really build . To me , a lot of the goal and the end game is building a collaborative referral network and so we can rely on them , they can rely on us and we can best meet the needs of patients , clients and members .
So , really taking stock of what we know , adding to what we know and then going out and building that network . And we do have very actual tips on how to build a network in the article .
Episode number eight lessons learned from the wellness coaching profession with Margaret Moore . I'm going to say two things , because there was something else I wanted to say which I'm going to .
You know , like a politician , I'm going to say two things , because there was something else I wanted to say which I'm going to , you know , like a politician , I'm going to use the use , the opening . The first thing is that our work is a relationship , first and foremost , and forever , and so build relationships , listen , appreciate , honor , empathize .
Relationships are about really their empathy and motion . I'm listening , I'm understanding , I'm listening , I'm understanding your thought process , your thinking , your emotional states , your aspirations , aspirations , your values . It's a lot to listen to .
So , um , make the effort to be a human in relationship , because that's what keeps people coming back , and then you get more information , and then your your um , the , the interventions you bring forward are more likely to work . So that's the first thing . The second thing , um , we have , uh , shifted from the word wellness to wellbeing . Wellbeing is a mouthful .
When you say wellbeing coaching , I know it's still . You still catch on that , um , in the .
In the 25 , 25 years , though , since I've been in this space and we started off with wellness coaching and well coaches , um , the field of positive psychology has come to the fore and um , and well-being is a broader topic , including positive psychology , because there are well-being bodies , of the well-being work that are that don't consider themselves positive psychology
. So it's a there's a lot of it , psychological well-being , um , which is the psychological resources you know , like motive , the quality of your motivation . Now we understand good quality versus not so good quality motivation . You know high quality , low quality , not so good quality motivation . You know high quality , low quality . Um efficacy .
You know hope , optimism , um meaning values . Those things are , um , now really well studied and wellness has got kind of frozen in time wellness wheels with a bunch of things that impact wellness , but but the scientific world is calling it well being , not wellness . They're just not using the term wellness , and so , um , that would be .
The second thing is to understand the drivers of human well-being and how exercise makes those better , because the the interaction of exercise and psychological wellbeing is profound at the genetic and cellular level . I mean your , your mood improves , you know you're . I remember someone saying you know you're always only one workout away from a good mood .
Indeed , what else can you take ? The body needs to move . And then there's exercise for the , for the mind , which which is flow , which is deep focus , work , creative work . You know which is the non-ex , you know you exercise so you can do great mental work , basically , and creative work .
So I would say , um , broaden out , you can learn it through coaching , because coaching is , is the channel for well-being and for relationships .
So coaching is basically just relationship and well-being put together into a protocol , and then , whatever you talk about , it almost doesn't matter because we're drawing out the resources that help everything , the resources that help everything . So so those are the two big contributions of coaching .
To exercise physiology is to really understand the human relationship side , the empathy , the compassion , the mindfulness , the emotional piece , the resonance , the you know the um , the um , the attunement to humans , attuning and then then using that to promote psychological wellbeing . That's what I would say . And so don't think about coaching as some like thing .
It's really bigger than the word . It's about relationships that help people improve their well-being , and so I think it's fundamental . And so I think in the long run , exercise , physiology , nutrition , mindfulness you won't be just an exercise physiologist , you'll have all of it , and all of it together will improve the outcomes with exercise too .
So that's where I would leave , and I don't want to oversell coaching , I'm just saying it's just , it's a stealth , it's the Trojan horse . What's inside there is really fundamental . It's not just this label that you call yourself a coach . No , it's about using using relationships to improve wellbeing .
Episode number nine risk management competencies for exercise professionals with Dr Joanne Eickhoff-Shevick .
Get educated . Okay , when it comes to the law , legal liability and risk management . You know lawsuits are increasing . You know risk management . You know lawsuits are increasing .
You know discrimination claims are increasing , unfortunately , and , like you said , they can be very costly , and so the best way to combat all of that is to learn the law and learn how to apply the law in your practice , and so it takes some effort , but there's a lot of reward to that , because I also think when you are following the laws and our standards
in the field , the quality of the programs that you're providing for your participants is also much higher . It's an automatic outcome of following and having a good risk management plan for your program and your facility .
So that would be my one piece of advice is just to take the time and and to take a course and learn some of these things and and encourage your colleagues to do the same .
Episode number 10 , Emerging Health Technologies for Exercise Professionals with Dr Lou Atkinson .
I mean , that's so hard to boil it down to one piece of advice , and so I think the easiest thing to do is to really stick with the topic of the article around technology , and I think absolutely the key message is don't be afraid .
You know there is so much out there that could help you , support you to do the great work that you do , to help you to reach more people . We know that AI isn't advanced enough yet to be able to give really great , reliable , consistent advice on physical activity that's tailored to individuals , so don't be worried about that .
Instead , look at how can I combine the value technology brings with the value I bring , to be able to differentiate what my personal service can offer or what my business can offer and then articulate that really well . So I think , the blending of technology .
You know so many more people out there are using technology , but you can make that technology even more beneficial for them by layering over what it is you do and you are currently irreplaceable .
Episode number 11 , compensating for exercise professional services with Christina Bataracco .
We offered several examples briefly in the article , but one I'll call out today is that I would encourage any listeners to step outside of the fitness bubble to be champions for their profession .
So write in the journals and websites and go to the conferences that are outside of your industry , where the stakeholders that you're trying to reach go for their information .
So that gives you a chance to learn how to convey the implications of your work , whether you know , regardless of your setting or the type of audience , or you know , client population you work with .
Learn how to convey the implications of your work to those audiences and that might be policymakers , that might be healthcare providers , that might be healthcare administrators and then understand the language that you need to convince them of the need to change accordingly .
We I'll use the term we very broadly are so used to being in echo chambers and silos in this modern era and even like posting and cheering for others in our own field on LinkedIn . But I think to really make the broader change and move the profession forward , as I said , we need to learn to speak others' languages and have productive conversations with them .
So I think writing op-eds can be a good way to start .
Maybe you could also , for your own professional audience , explain a lesser-known issue , a lesser-known concept , like if somebody on the line knows about or listening in today knows about a certain aspect of insurance reimbursement or other aspects of healthcare policy , maybe write an op-ed to educate some of your fellow professionals .
And I've really tried to do this myself in my profession in recent years as I've been , as a nutrition professional , trying to reach more of the physician audience or the policymaker audience .
So writing in , like Health Affairs or New England Journal of Medicine , to try to reach those audiences , not just only ever writing for the dieticians , and so again , I think that can help to help me to convey my message and convey the need to change the current system to these other stakeholders or audiences .
So I think that can be a great way it's not easy again , but I think a really important , powerful way for listeners to be able to help move their profession forward .
Well . I hope you enjoyed those insights from all of our guests . If you found this episode and this series insightful and informative , please share with your friends and colleagues . Those shares make a big difference for us . Any information we'd like to share with you on this series can be found on our website .
That's by going to wellnessparadoxpodcom forward slash ACSM . That's by going to wellnessparadoxpodcom forward slash ACSM . Please be on lookout for our regular episodes when they drop every other week on Wednesdays , and don't forget to subscribe through your favorite podcast platform Until we chat again next time . Please be well .