BarWorks: an exercise practice combining yoga, ballet, and Pilates using specific alignment principles from the YogaWorks (www.yogaworks.com) method.
Behavioral contract: a written agreement to yourself or another to behave in a prescribed manner.
Body Mass Index (BMI): a relative measure of body weight to body height; for most people this correlates closely with body fat. The number is calculated by dividing weight (in pounds) by height squared (in inches) and then multiplying by 703. A BMI of 30 or more is considered obese by U.S. standards.
Boot camp: got its name from military basic training but in the fitness world refers to group training and most often involves running, weights, and interval drills, usually in an outdoor setting.
Capoeira: a Brazilian art form that combines elements of martial arts, sports, and music.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): an agency composed of a number of centers, institutes, and offices that aims to promote health and quality of life by preventing and controlling disease, injury, and disability.
Certification: the act of attesting that an individual or organization has met a specific set of standards; fitness certifications are established by organizations within the fitness industry.
Core training: strength training focusing on the back, stomach, and shoulders with proper alignment, defined “six pack” muscles, and injury prevention as some of its benefits.
Cortisol: a steroid hormone produced by the adrenal gland, also known as the “stress hormone” because it is activated when the body is stressed.
CPR: cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
CSCS certification: strength and conditioning instructor certification created by the NCSA (National Strength and Conditioning Association), which focuses on strength training and conditioning to improve athletic performance.
Empathy: understanding another person’s point of view in a manner that still allows objective reasoning.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA): a government agency with the mission of protecting human health and safeguarding the natural environment.
Epidemiology: the study of distribution and determinants of diseases or other health outcomes in human populations.
Exercise physiologist: a scientist who conducts controlled investigations of responses and adaptations to muscular activity using human subjects or animals within a clinical, research, or academic setting; exercise physiologists are degreed and certified in exercise physiology or a related field.
Exercise prescription: a physician’s recommendation or referral for exercise; the recommended volume of exercise including frequency, intensity, duration, and type of exercise.
Fitness evaluation: a series of tests designed to assess cardiovascular fitness, body-fat percentage, flexibility, and muscular strength and endurance.
Food and Drug Administration (FDA): the regulatory agency that is part of the Public Health Service of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; responsible for ensuring the safety and wholesomeness of all foods sold in interstate commerce (except meat, poultry, and eggs).
Food and Nutrition Board (FNB): established in 1940 under the National Academy of Sciences to study issues pertaining to the safety and adequacy of the nation’s food supply; establish principles and guidelines for adequate nutrition; and render authoritative judgment on the relationships among food intake, nutrition, and health at the request of various agencies.
General liability insurance: insurance covering the insured for bodily injury or property damage resulting from general negligence.
GRAS: an acronym for “generally recognized as safe.”
HTML: stands for HyperText Markup Language and is the predominant language, or building block system, of most web pages and is behind the scenes creating what viewers see on websites.
Independent contractors: individuals who conduct business independently on a contract basis and are not employees of an organization or business.
Informed consent: voluntary acknowledgment of the purpose, procedures, and specific risks of an activity in which one intends to engage.
International Food Information Council (IFIC): a nonprofit association supported by food, beverage, and agricultural companies to assist the media, educators, health professionals, and scientists to effectively communicate science-based information on health, nutrition, and food safety.
Kinesiology: the study of human movement.
Liability: legal responsibility.
Modeling: the process of learning by observing and imitating others’ behavior.
National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES): a series of surveys that include information from medical history, physical measurements, biochemical evaluation, physical examination, and dietary intake of population groups within the United States conducted by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services approximately every five years.
Nationwide Food Consumption Survey (NFCS): a survey conducted by the USDA roughly every ten years that monitors nutrient intake of a cross section of the U.S. public.
Permalink: a URL, or web address link, that points to a specific blog or article/entry after it has passed through the homepage, and remains unchanged indefinitely.
Personalized exercise program: an individualized exercise program based on the person’s fitness evaluation results, and personal fitness and health goals.
Professional liability insurance: insurance covering the insured for damages resulting from negligence, errors, or omissions.
Sciatica: a common form of leg and low back pain or numbness caused by weakness or injury to the sciatica nerve.
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA): the government department comprised of numerous agencies charged with different tasks related to agriculture and the food supply.
Waiver: voluntary abandonment of a right to file suit; not always legally binding.
Weight-control Information Network (WIN): an information service of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases of the National Institutes of Health; assembles and disseminates information on weight control, obesity, and nutritional disorders to health professionals and the general public.