“The fruits of a fulfilling life- happiness, confidence, enthusiasm, purpose, and money- are mainly by-products of doing something we enjoy, with excellence, rather than things we directly seek.”

- Dan Miller

You are probably already aware that I just recently completed the first workshop for the Medical Fellowship in Preventative Medicine, Nutrition and Sports Medicine. Throughout the three day workshop the doctors kept asking variations of the same question: “Why did we not learn about these exercise, nutrition and sports medicine prescriptions, protocols, and treatments in medical school?!?” Everyone could easily see the efficacy of the system and could not understand how they were deprived of these critically important modalities of fitness and nutrition in medical school! While it is easy to lament this oversight and blame the medical education system for this mis-judgment, it would be far more productive to focus on the solution. The Fellowship in Preventative Medicine, Nutrition, and Sports Medicine (FPMNSM) is the solution.

With only 8% of the American population exercising with enough frequency, Time, Intensity, Type and Progression to gain medical and health benefits, the other 92% has languished into EVER deepening degrees of physical inactivity until their physiological systems degenerate into disease, disability, and dysfunction. Over 80% of our health-care expenditure result from preventable, lifestyle diseases. These diseases representative our societies’ greatest killer: Cardiovascular Disease, certain Cancers, and Diabetes. From the viewpoint of an Exercise Physiologist, most of society’s disorders stem from poor exercise and nutrition habits- ALMOST ALL: Cardiovascular diseases, musculoskeletal disorders, psychological disorders, result from the steady degeneration of the underlying physiological system due to physical inactivity, the sedentary lifestyle and poor nutrition.

The good news is that the doctors in the Fellowship have committed themselves into incorporating exercise, nutrition and sports medicine prescription into their medical practice. What the doctors now know is that as a result of a carefully planned sports medicine program design, we can use these protocols to regenerate the underlying physiological system. Doctors and Fitness Professionals will work together as a team like never before to provide optimum patient care. Together, you will cause safe and effective progression to get your patients to expend 3,000 calories/week of moderately exercise/week. This level provides 100% improvement in most medical and health markers! The patient’s physiological system will regenerate.

Doctors will need well trained IFPA Certified Personal Trainers to execute these prescriptions. Personal Trainers will need the doctor’s expertise to quantify the patients limitations to exercise in physiological terms (i.e.: training HR, Perceived Exertion, Joint/Muscle/Bone Limitations, etc) and potential causes of exercise intolerance (i.e.: diabetes or Metabolic Syndrome patient’s limits on Aerobic Exercise due to lack of available glucose).

Before the Fellowship, doctors had little or no useful knowledge of exercise physiology. And Personal Trainers had great fear of attempting to formulate a program design due to their lack of knowledge of a patients’ medical restrictions to exercise including: (1) medication effects; (2) exercise dose- response (including restrictions on the F.I.T.T. principle: Frequency, Intensity, Time, Type) purposeful use of the GPO Principal: Gradual Progressive Overload; (3) Risks of Training; (4) The Cost/Risk- Benefit Ratio; and (5) Required coordination among the members of the medical-health-care team.

Both doctors and personal trainers are highly recommended to challenge themselves by completing the Fellowship, but IFPA Certified Trainers have another option. The IFPA has completed over 70 courses to provide you with the specific knowledge, skills and abilities you need to train these special needs patients safely and effectively. The IFPA also works closely with the Fitness Institute of Technology to offer you Associate Degrees (A.S.) to B.S., M.S. and PhD degrees in Medical-Fitness Specialization and Personal Fitness Training for an even more advanced learning experience.

Doctors and Personal Trainers, working together can effect immeasurable benefit to patients and provide real cures that do not mask symptoms, but regenerate the disordered system.