Fitness Education
Welcome to the Fitness Education page!
1. Learn more about exercise science, strength and conditioning, and medical fitness concepts and principles.
2. How to design clinically safe programs for patients and clients who are either able-bodied, or who have been diagnosed with conditions across the spectrum of medical maladies.
3. How to bridge the gap between fitness and medicine.
While all the information on this page is valuable, it all begins with The Medical Fitness Bible and corresponding instructional videos. With that as the foundation, the rest of the content will become much easier to understand.
Click on the picture below to purchase the unique electronic Flipbook!
The Medical Fitness Bible is co-authored by Jeff Young, Kinesiologist, and Dr. Jonathan Bonnet, M.D. (licensed in Family, Sports, Obesity, and Lifestyle Medicine).
This unique book is a comprehensive 'playbook' on how to design resistance, aerobic, and flexibility training programs for individuals with and without chronic disease and/or musculoskeletal issues.
What makes this book unique, besides the expertise of each author, is that there are corresponding instructional videos (found below) which "bring each chapter to life," and the book and videos are created for clinicians, fitness trainers, and exercising laypeople to easily understand.
This long overdue information provides the education needed to design safe, effective, individualized, progressive exercise programs.
The book and videos, in combination with the educational content provided in this website provide an entire "ecosystem" on how to connect medicine, rehabilitation, and fitness.
To purchase this book in PDF format, navigate to the CEU page (for those who need the continuing education credits) or the Non-CEU page (for those who don't need the continuing education credits).
The Medical Fitness Bible is approved for 1.0 continuing education units (CEUs), which is TEN contact hours, through the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM). These CEUs will transfer to most certifying fitness bodies. For more information, head over to the CEU Content page.
The Medical Fitness Bible Table of Contents:
Part 1: Program Design Concepts and Guidelines for Able-bodied Individuals:
Chapter 1: General Principles in Exercise Prescription
Chapter 2: General Philosophy and Approach for All Individuals
Chapter 3: Initial Consultation and Strength Assessment Considerations and Guidelines
Chapter 4: Exercise Prescription Variables for General Strength Fitness and Balance Training
Chapter 5: Trigger Point Release and Flexibility Assessment and Program Design
Chapter 6: Cardiovascular Exercise Assessment and Program Design
Chapter 7: Example Resistance Training Program Design
Chapter 8: Exercise Technique
Chapter 9: Biomechanics (written by co-author, Dr. Jonathan Bonnet)
Chapter 10: Nutrition (written by co-author, Dr. Jonathan Bonnet)
Part 2: Program Design Concepts and Guidelines for Medical Fitness Special Populations:
Chapter 11: Additional Consultation, Strength, Cardiovascular, Flexibility, and Trigger Point Release Assessment and Program Design Considerations and Guidelines
Chapter 12: Program Design Considerations and Guidelines for Common Musculoskeletal Conditions (knee, spine, shoulder, and neck pain; osteopenia and osteoporosis)
Chapter 13: Program Design Considerations and Guidelines for Common Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Conditions (hypertension, COPD, pulmonary hypertension, asthma)
Chapter 14: Program Design Considerations and Guidelines for Common Metabolic Conditions (obesity, type II diabetes)
Chapter 15: Program Design Considerations and Guidelines for Cancer Survivors
Chapter 16: Program Design Considerations and Guidelines for Common Neurological Conditions (Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis)
The book was written with the intent of corresponding with educational videos to create a virtual course on the principles of exercise science, strength and conditioning, and medical fitness, and below you'll find INDIVIDUAL videos corresponding with each chapter. While the book can serve as a stand-alone resource, it will be understood much more clearly if read along with watching the videos.
The option below is for those who prefer to purchase videos individually, as opposed to purchasing them in the form of a package (e.g., Part 1 chapters, and Part 2 chapters) as found on the CEU Content and Non-CEU Content pages.
For example: maybe you don't need continuing education credits (CEUs) and you aren't interested in watching the videos for every chapter in Part 1. But you are interested in seeing the videos for Chapters 1, 2, 4, and 7. The option below allows you to purchase the videos that way. On the other pages, the options are only to purchase the book and/or the videos in a package.
Having said that, if you are a certified fitness trainer and you ARE looking for CEUs, you MUST purchase the content from the CEU Content page.
Please note: since the content available for purchase on this website is downloadable, digital content, there are NO refunds for any purchases.
Below is a current, principle-based instructional video on exercise programming (strength and cardiovascular training) for individuals suffering from Long Covid. Within this 26-minute video you'll find:
• An overview of what Long Covid is.
• Common signs and symptoms.
• Medical screening and clearance – purpose, importance, and “What happens if the person isn’t able to get in to see their doctor?”.
• Post-exertional/exercise symptoms.
• Concepts and guidelines for gathering the pertinent information during the initial consultation.
• Why resistance training should be considered as the primary mode of exercise, at least initially.
• Resistance training: initial program design and clinically safe progression guidelines.
• Warm-up considerations.
• Clinical “special considerations” that must be inserted into program.
• Cardiovascular training: how to determine clinically safe start points and progression guidelines.