Healthy Ageing Summit pre-Convention to address behaviours impacting chronic disease

With the Healthy Ageing Summit set to bring together world leading educators from the fitness industry for its inaugural event in Brisbane in March next year, a one day pre-Convention will address how fitness professionals can aid and assist those suffering from chronic disease by sharing the latest research and programming to help clients on their journey to a healthier happier life.  

Being held on 26th March 2020, the pre-Convention - The Complete Solution to Addressing and Preventing Chronic Disease Changing Behaviours, Boosting Brains and Calming Cancer - will feature three speakers who are pioneers and leading authorities in their respective fields.

Summit organiser Ken Baldwin from the Healthy Ageing Institute, feels that the fitness industry is not addressing the massive growth of the ageing demographic, who, he says “are crying out for our help and really need our services.”

He advises “just imagine how much more we could grow our industry business if we really service them. The problem here - where do we start?

“The answer to this burning question is provision of good education and resources for all the trainers in our industry. Education is the cornerstone and foundation to successful programming and the implementing of solutions to create a community based around knowledge to help solve the unique problems that the healthy ageing demographic face.”

Explaining the reasoning for bringing together many world leading educators from the fitness industry to create a community that wants to be innovative and look after and service the healthy ageing demographic, Baldwin adds “we are getting older, living longer and people are looking for ways to ensure that they enjoy their time and have a better quality of life.

“There are a huge number of people in our community suffering from chronic disease and looking for ways to improve their quality of life and we all know that one of the main keys for longevity is exercise.

“But gym business owners and trainers need to know how to deal with this clientele base and our aim is to create and showcase the best resources and programming at the Healthy Ageing Summit.”

He cites that as of 2016, one in two Australians suffered from chronic disease – and that up to 90% of this is preventable through lifestyle changes.

The Complete Solution pre-Convention brings together leading industry speakers - pioneers and authorities in their respective fields - to highlight how the fitness industry can make a positive impact on chronic disease and target an increase in activity levels through education and programming.

The first speaker, Bobby Cappuccio, looks at the emotional side of those suffering with chronic disease.

He advises “as fitness professionals, we should not be focusing on finding a cure for our clients, but first understanding where they need to be met emotionally before we can make any physical changes. to create mindset and habit changes for sustainable results it is imperative that we understand the emotional status of our clients first.”

In this session , Cappuccio  will share what truly influences behaviour change and client adherence; determine why all motivation is not equal; how help clients to resolve the inner conflicts of priorities and values that stifle progress; and discover which basic needs are most important to client so those needs can be used as a strategy for success.

The second speaker, Andrea Leonard targets the largest chronic disease area - cancer.

Quite often the treatments for cancer and their side effects are worse than the disease itself. With patients already on high doses of medications, the last thing they want is to put more things into their body.

Leonard advises “creating a steady calming environment and looking at holistically assisting the body to through the right programming and mindset is essential.

“Solutions for cancer treatment by health professionals varies from individual to individual and if the wrong program is given to the client, we can actually do permeant damage to them.”

Leonard is talking from experience being a cancer survivor herself and now founder of the Cancer Education Training Institute which is dedicated to providing solutions and programming for fitness professionals to help understand what to do for different cancers.

In this session, Leonard reviews the basics on assessing, designing, and implementing exercise programs for individuals diagnosed with cancer. Participants will gain an understanding of the entire cancer process from diagnosis and treatment through recovery, reconstruction, and survivorship.

The final speaker on the day, Ryan Glatt targets the biggest fear of the ageing demographic and also the fastest growing chronic disease area, neurological disorders and cognitive decline.

While exercise is recognised as one of the best forms of treatment when it comes to neurological disorders like dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, it is not clear how and what type of exercise should be given by fitness professionals to slow the declines in these areas.

Glatt comments “having an understanding of how we can train the brain to get a better cognitive response through exercise is critical.

“All programming should include activities that challenge the client both physically and mentally.”

In this session, Glatt will share the latest research on neuroscience different assessment and the way we can implement the latest technology into our programming.

The Pre-Conference can be booked and attended on its own as a one day workshop, or it can be bundled together with the full Summit to give access to 30 sessions over the next two days of the Summit.

Click here for information on the Healthy Ageing Summit in the Australasian Leisure Management industry Calendar.

Images: Ken Baldwin from the Healthy Ageing Institute, feels that the fitness industry is not addressing the massive growth of the ageing demographic (top), Bobby Cappuccio (middle) and Andrea Leonard (below).