Continuing education continues to prosper in most sectors of the economy. Competition in the fitness industry is greater than ever, and informed, educated fitness professionals will always rise to the top because of their creativity and desire to incorporate the most recent research, programming ideas, and industry trends to produce successful and healthy outcomes for their clients.
This year, ACSM reported the top fitness trends as high-intensity training, body-weight training, strength training, and nutrition and exercise. Senior fitness, weight management, and small-group training are the three program trends identified in the most recent IDEA Fitness Programming and Equipment survey. The hot topics at the recent International Council on Active Aging conference centered on cognitive health, appropriate exercise progressions for older adults, and outcome measures—the ability to report specific results from programming.
Continuing education trends at the International LERN conference (the leading association for continuing education and lifelong learning) indicate that mobile technology is changing the way CE programs are delivered, communicated, and marketed to customers and that audiences want programs that are more in depth and developed faster and cheaper.
In light of these trends, it is important not to lose sight of the fact that fitness professionals from more than 25 national and international certifying organizations come to us for professional development opportunities and products because we offer the largest and most in-depth product line in the industry. Our professional CE topics, delivered in print and electronic platforms, allow professionals to gain insight, practical skills, and programming ideas to train the diverse clientele they work with each day.
A big part of my job this year will be to accelerate our delivery of innovative products to our customers. We will accomplish this by capitalizing on the systems and expert staff that Human Kinetics has in place. This year we will be more clearly focused, move faster, and continue to transform continuing education product development, marketing, and distribution to meet our customers’ needs.
It is a pleasure to have access to the high-quality textbooks and resources published by Human Kinetics and excellent working relationships with our current authors so that we can expand and populate the continuing education product line.
I’d like to thank all of the dedicated HK and DSWF staff who have worked so hard during the acquisition and transition process to establish the most comprehensive array of continuing education products in the industry Yes, there is light at the end of the tunnel, and it is shining brightly on the future of DSWF and HK continuing education opportunities.