Personal Training and Functional Fitness in Treatment Facilities
Many times, being an athlete and having an eating disorder go hand in hand. By incorporating a functional fitness and activity plan, eating disorders are discouraged and overall health is encouraged. Athlete and eating disorder treatment plans go beyond conventional therapies by focusing on issues specific to active persons. It does not matter whether you are a professional athlete or an expert couch potato, workout programs can vary from person to person. Treatment programs at specific eating disorder treatment centers will be appropriately designed in accordance with each individual’s unique goals and abilities.
Many residential athlete and bulimia treatment or anorexia treatment programs are successful due in part to the fact that the human body was designed for motion. It will do what you ask or train it to do. However, as with all things in life, exercise must be engaged in with an emphasis on balance. Our purpose in life is not solely to exercise; rather exercise is one small lifestyle piece which enables humans to remain healthy.
If you are already an athlete and an eating disorder has distorted your body image, continuing to participate in regular physical activity or a reasonable fitness routine represents respect for one’s body and the desire to live in balance. When we use our bodies as they were intended, we are rewarded with increased health, vitality, and even longevity. Athletes and eating disorders do not have to be analogous; eating disorder residential programs across the nation seek to prove this.
Goals of Personal Training and Functional Fitness
People vary in degrees of health, inactivity, overtraining, “over-exercising” and/or obsession with body image. Many athletes today struggle with eating disorders and deserve relief from their constant battle with body image. Functional fitness emphasizes overall fitness instead of focusing on a few main muscle groups. Personal training and functional fitness benefits one’s everyday life rather than merely developing toned muscles. Through the help of various personal trainers (located in various eating disorder treatment clinics), anyone, whether they be a fitness guru, or completely new to fitness, can benefit.
Fitness goals both for individuals and personal trainers:
- Focus on improving overall movement rather than specific muscle groups
- Address each person’s own potential based on previous athletic experience, genetics and additional factors such as eating disorders to find the best workout program for them
- Desire to make life easier through overall health improvements
- Develop effective exercising habits based on the desire to create a healthy body
- Workout techniques constantly vary to create an interest in physical activity
- Create a healthier self image for those with eating disorders and eliminate negative behaviors
Benefits of Personal Training and Functional Fitness
Various benefits include:
- Improved overall strength and endurance
- Energy level increased
- Greater control over balance (helpful in the elderly)
- Increased coordination (beneficial to athletes)
- Determination and stamina
- Improved posture
- Athletes with eating disorders benefit from recovery
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