Fitness
How Fitness Guru Grace Albin Uses Instagram To Make Workouts More Accessible And Inclusive Than Ever
![How Fitness Guru Grace Albin Uses Instagram To Make Workouts More Accessible And Inclusive Than Ever How Fitness Guru Grace Albin Uses Instagram To Make Workouts More Accessible And Inclusive Than Ever](https://imageio.forbes.com/specials-images/imageserve/63f6bae5b5caa3b4118ba856/0x0.jpg?format=jpg&width=1200)
Health teacher Grace Albin teaches pilates, amongst different exercises.
For Florida-based Grace Albin, health and expertise have a pure synergy.
The pilates teacher and health guru, who has over 300,000 Instagram followers, has gained a formidable following by serving to folks—largely girls ages 25 to 55—embrace a wholesome way of life by way of train. In an interview with me carried out by way of videoconference late final month, Albin defined the ubiquitousness of social media has enabled her to succeed in much more folks, with much more ease, than she ever did educating out of a standard brick-and-mortar gymnasium or studio setting. After all, the pandemic proved to be the driving drive behind Albin’s embrace of digital health; nevertheless compelled the variation was at first, she “type of didn’t wish to return” to the pre-COVID establishment.
“I really like the best way that educating on social media… simply opens you as much as a complete completely different bunch of individuals from from everywhere in the world,” Albin stated of the advantages she reaps from educating lessons just about. “And it’s not simply extra versatile for me—I get to listen to about why [people] began exercising that approach, by way of their Instagram app. I discover it a bit ironic, since you’re not in particular person with them.”
For Albin, the shift in direction of digital health isn’t a fad or short-term stopgap. She really believes the arrival of internet-based health instruments is right here to remain—its legs are lengthy and its stride lengthy. One massive cause for that is the way it makes train extra egalitarian and democratizes entry to lecturers like Albin. Particularly for individuals who could have a incapacity of some kind, the prices, each logistically and monetarily, of attending to a gymnasium are excessive and sometimes insurmountable. The actual fact of the matter is, not everybody has the means to pay for a gymnasium membership, not to mention get to a 24-Hour Health or Metropolis Sports activities Membership within the first place. (It’s additionally the case gymnasium gear could also be bodily inaccessible; at-home exercises means folks can select their very own journey, gear-wise.) Albin, amongst different folks, acknowledge the hardships on this regard. They’ve harnessed expertise’s formidable energy to wield a extra accessible answer for all folks, no matter (in)skills.
Albin gave examples of many individuals who’ve appreciated the service she offers, akin to younger moms who can’t afford a gymnasium membership or childcare with a purpose to get a exercise in. Likewise, Albin cited faculty college students who don’t have time to go to the gymnasium as a result of their strenuous class schedules and finding out. And the consequences are as emotional as they’re sensible: Albin shared an anecdote a couple of younger lady who was self-conscious about understanding in a public area like a gymnasium as a result of she was apprehensive about how others would understand her physique in her tight-fitting exercise garments. “She doesn’t need boys to see her within the tight leggings and the sports activities bras like different ladies,” Albin stated of the lady’s expertise. “She’s like, ‘You recognize, so I do that, I’m exercising in my dorm room. As soon as I really feel extra assured, then I’ll begin going to the gymnasium like the opposite ladies do.’”
Albin is empathetic to the sentiments of embarrassment, telling me she thinks the privateness facet of digital health work removes an essential barrier to dwelling more healthy. For her half, Albin appreciates the do-it-yourself part of understanding from dwelling, saying she typically will use display screen mirroring to challenge the Instagram consumer interface onto her massive display screen tv for simpler viewing as she strikes.
{That a} TV makes for a neater expertise is an apropos segue into Albin’s different cause for committing to digital train. Utilizing Instagram, she instructed me, is appreciably simpler and extra approachable to make use of. She’s used different platforms akin to YouTube, which she instructed me “are nice,” however Instagram has caught together with her. It’s fast and easy for her to hit the bottom working, particularly since there aren’t some other folks to dump the technical parts of lessons. “For me, Instagram is simply a lot simpler to make use of,“ Albin stated. “I’m not [into] techie stuff and electronics. So I’ve different instructors, and what’s the one factor about switching [to] educating just about just isn’t having the group that I had in a studio.”
After all, the flip aspect of that ease-of-use coin is, as Albin stated, instructors like herself are “on the mercy” of platform house owners like Instagram, TikTok, and others. Albin and her friends don’t have any management over infrastructure or the principles underpinning the companies, so it’s a little bit of a precarious place. They might kick her and everybody like her off at anytime, for any cause in any respect—or, worse come to worst, go stomach up.
“I completely perceive why, whether or not it’s Instagram or TikTok or YouTube or no matter, all of them are at all times experimenting with the algorithms and what they present they usually’re attempting to make one of the best expertise for his or her entire viewers or for his or her advertisers or no matter they should do,” Albin stated of being always underfoot of giants. “That half I feel is at all times a frustration—that we really feel like, what we do, may work for a very long time. It’s nice for us and for our group, however then one thing on the platform adjustments that has nothing to do with us. After which we’re type of scrambling… we don’t get instructed about it forward of time.”
Albin added: “The shortage of transparency is unquestionably irritating.”
The work Albin and others like her do by way of social media are significantly smaller scale variations of what corporations like Apple and Peloton have in the marketplace. Notably for Apple, the Bay Space-based titan of tech has seemingly limitless assets to put money into the manufacturing values of its Health+ subscription service, which launched in 2020. The corporate has instructors understanding of an opulent 23,000-square foot studio situated in Santa Monica, California. Plus, owing to the vertical integration of Tim Prepare dinner’s oft-spoken “{hardware}, software program and companies working seamlessly collectively” boilerplate mantra, Apple is ready to up the accessibility ante with facilities like audio hints for Blind and low imaginative and prescient customers.
Albin is not any Apple, nor does she essentially aspire to be, however the juxtaposition is apt if solely as a sign of the place the health trade goes technologically. Wanting in direction of the longer term, she stated it’ll be “fascinating” to see how the enterprise dynamics of the myriad subscription companies play out. The costs of all these companies, in addition to the size of the movies and the way they’re introduced, all fluctuate to wild levels in comparison with setups sometimes seen at a standard gymnasium or studio setting.
Enterprise however, Albin acknowledges her privilege of having the ability to go to a gymnasium if she selected that route. Proper now, she’s selecting to go the opposite approach in bringing the gymnasium to the (relative) plenty. It’s accessibility in its truest type.
“It’s superb how folks have so simply found out easy methods to make it [exercising] work for them and easy methods to make it much more helpful than in [a] studio,” she stated. “Some folks can do each, in order that they’ll have days the place they nonetheless go in studio and days that they only work out from their social media. And for some folks, that’s not an possibility. I simply love at all times getting the [direct messages] as to why and the way they got here to start out exercising this fashion—they completely preserve me going.”
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Fitness
Staying fit as you age isn't just about exercise. Experts say to prioritize these 4 habits
![Staying fit as you age isn't just about exercise. Experts say to prioritize these 4 habits Staying fit as you age isn't just about exercise. Experts say to prioritize these 4 habits](https://fortune.com/img-assets/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/GettyImages-1912106674-e1725058770144.jpg?resize=1200,600)
Dr. Bill Dorfman, a 64-year-old cosmetic dentist in Southern California, prides himself on looking years younger, a characteristic he attributes to good genes and a daily workout regimen.
Three days a week he focuses on abs and cardio; the other days are for lifting light weights at high reps.
Dorfman says he got serious about exercise following a lull during dental school when he found himself frequently in pain. That’s when he realized his fitness had taken a back seat following years as a high school swimmer and gymnast. “What I found was the more I exercised, the better I felt,” he says.
Outside of the gym, he credits his daily Words With Friends habit with keeping his mind sharp. He also makes nightly dinner plans with various friends to stay connected.
Dorfman’s wellness habits underscore that one key to a longer life is a fitness regimen—but one that incorporates mental and emotional fitness as well.
“We really need to look at the life of an older adult with a holistic lens—if they’re really happy, healthy and whole,” says Dor Skuler, cofounder and CEO of Intuition Robotics and an expert on loneliness in aging adults.
Here’s are four ways to focus on whole-body fitness as you age.
1. Exercise for the body and brain
Staying physically active can prevent injuries and help the body heal faster when they happen, plus it’s also strongly linked to good mental health and brain function.
Kirk Erickson, Ph.D., director of Translational Neurosciences at AdventHealth Central Florida, where he studies the plasticity and modifiability of the brain systems, has found physical activity to be one of the best ways to keep the brain healthy throughout its life span.
Erickson’s research shows that as we age, the brain shrinks, specifically the hippocampus, which is responsible for memory formation. Exercise can help maintain this portion of the brain and, in some cases, increase the size. There’s much to be learned about how and why this is, but Erickson says the effects are better the longer you engage in these habits, so it’s good to start young.
Of course you can still reap the benefits if you start later in life, he says. You might find that with time, you can recall memories and information more easily and have better executive function and a longer attention span when your brain is at its best, he says.
He recommends moderate exercise, like walking, five days a week for 30 minutes.
Aside from walking, Dr. Gary Small, chair of psychiatry at Hackensack Meridian Health, says strength training helps combat age-related muscle loss and can lead to a longer life span. Additionally, balance exercises can help prevent slips and falls—the leading cause of injuries in adults ages 65 and older.
Jasmine Marcus, a physical therapist at Cayuga Medical Center at Ithaca, where she works with patients of all ages and physical activity levels, recommends tiptoeing into exercise if you’re new to it. She suggests starting with some kind of group fitness class like Zumba—anything that elevates your heart rate. It helps, too, if you have a partner to hold you accountable, she says.
2. Strive for mental fitness
Small also recommends doing activities that keep the brain in shape. One study showed the simple act of reading articles online and searching topics on Google offered valuable mental stimulation. Doing crossword puzzles, reading books, playing games, practicing hobbies, and daydreaming all contribute to mental sharpness.
Stress management is also a critical part of maintaining mental fitness. Just 10 minutes of meditation a day can improve mood and cognitive agility, says Small, rewiring the brain and strengthening neural circuits.
“You don’t have to go to a retreat in Nepal or India to meditate, but you can learn the skills,” he says.
3. Stay social
The U.S. surgeon general issued an advisory last year warning of the nation’s loneliness epidemic, which negatively impacts health. One study equated lack of social connection to smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day. Other studies show social connection reduces the risk of premature death. It’s clear that social and emotional fitness is key to aging well.
Skuler, whose company makes A.I.-powered social companions for aging adults aimed at keeping them active and engaged, says major life changes, such as the death of a spouse, often trigger loneliness.
“That is by far a watershed moment,” he says. Suddenly no one is asking how you slept or what you have planned for the day. A similar problem happens with asynchronous aging, where one spouse has a decline with dementia, for example. Other events such as retiring or sending the kids off to college might have similar impacts on social well-being, Skuler says.
ElliQ, the robot companions Skuler’s company makes, is one way to help aging adults stay connected, but he encourages all people to maintain friendships and relationships with family members. Volunteering, he says, can also add purpose and connection to your life.
4. Develop good sleep hygiene
There’s a myth that seniors need less sleep as they age, but Jamie Zeitzer, Ph.D., advisor and scientific reviewer at Rise Science, says the reality is sleep becomes more difficult with age. The result is that many seniors find themselves going to bed later and rising earlier.
“Humans are programmed to stay awake 16 [hours] and sleep eight hours,” he says. “An older person’s ability to do that diminishes, so they have to work a little harder at it.”
The causes for poor sleep can be both social and physical. We become more sensitive to sounds and temperatures as we age, says Zeitzer. So the garbage truck that never woke you on its weekly route might now rouse you at 6 a.m., he says. Similarly, a bedroom that’s too hot or cold might make it difficult to sleep.
As we age we also become more sensitive to caffeine. So if you used to be able to drink a cup of coffee in the evening, you could find you now have trouble falling asleep hours later.
There’s also a major shift that happens once we retire, when the social constraints around sleep are suddenly lifted. Seniors who don’t have social obligations early in the morning might find they’re less inclined to sleep at typical hours. A nap during the day, for example, may “cannibalize their sleep at night,” Zeitzer says.
Older adults might find that sleeping too little or having a fragmented night of sleep can lead to acute problems with cognition the following day, Zeitzer adds. Poor sleep over the long term is linked to health conditions including depression, Alzheimer’s disease, and cancer.
A good routine can solve some sleep problems. To start, avoid caffeine later in the day. And be mindful that you adjust the temperature in your sleep environment to encourage rest.
And he recommends finding a way to wind down before bed. While some experts warn against the use of electronics before you grab some shut-eye, Zeitzer says watching a TV show can be helpful if it means you feel more relaxed and ready for bed afterward.
“It’s always good to aspire to closing your eyes and falling asleep, but other people need more kinds of wind-down routines,” he says.
More on aging well:
Fitness
3 great fitness hacks for a quick and effective workout | Mint
![3 great fitness hacks for a quick and effective workout | Mint 3 great fitness hacks for a quick and effective workout | Mint](https://www.livemint.com/lm-img/img/2024/08/30/1600x900/Pulasta_fitness_hacks_1725004534591_1725004541745.jpg)
It has been a long month with five Saturdays and an extended weekend bang in the middle of it all. Workouts may have taken a back seat with plans to spend time with family and friends, and to go out. Every minute of a vacation counts as much as every minute in the gym and this is where the best gym hacks come into play.
Over the course of this longer-than-usual month, I have used three tricks to make my workouts better to squeeze something meaningful out of every rep. The muscle groups involved are the entire lower body, the biceps, and the back and shoulders, focusing more on growth and strength over cardio.
The leg-press formula that works everything: Having had the access to a leg press machine for an extended period has made me realise how its usefulness extends far beyond that of the conventional press. Just by changing the placement of your feet, you could do an entire workout comprising different exercises, using just one machine.
Consider the leg press platform as a tool of change and curiosity. Try these four foot placements with a comfortable load and see how the lower body reacts. The first would be to target the glutes by placing the heels central but the toes touching the upper lips of the pressing platform. Without getting off the machine, change the placement to the heels touching the bottom edge of the platform to target the quads.
The third exercise would be to angle the toes away like you would in a sumo squat with a slightly wider stance, and in the centre of the platform, to target the adductors. The last one, and the most exciting, would be to place the toes on the bottom edge with the heel—unsupported—to push the weight away using only your calves. These are called leg press calf raises as shown in the video below.
I tend to do five reps on each of these placements for three sets. In just a few minutes, you have now worked your entire lower body with an option to scale and overload according to your strength.
Run-the-rack biceps workout: In case you haven’t heard the term run-the-rack, it basically means going through as many weights of dumbbells as you can with a single exercise. You could choose to go from light-to-heavy or vice versa, depending on the exercise and your level of fitness. In the case of bicep curls, my preference is to always do sitting one-armed concentration curls with a suggestion on the positioning of the arm.
“The way to alter the exercise to get this to work in your favor is to reposition the arm directly in your groin. You can see how the forearm now becomes much more perpendicular to the force of gravity and you can feel the impact this has on your biceps on every rep,” says Athlean-X founder Jeff Cavaliere in a video titled Concentration Curls Aren’t Working for You (here’s why).
You could choose any other biceps exercise as well. Once the choice is made, decide the formula—doing a particular number of reps (I do ten) works better when working your way up the weights. Doing as many reps as possible on each weight works better when you are working your way down the weights. The former works better for me because biceps have always been a weakness and having a set goal makes sure that form is not sacrificed.
My last workout was done with dumbbells of 3kg, 5kg, 7.5kg and 10kg, with ten reps on each arm with no breaks. Then switch arms, and repeat. One set is enough, but if you are feeling adventurous, feel free to do another one.
Derick Ansah’s shoulders-and-back dumbbell workout: The Ghanaian fitness trainer’s 1.8 million followers on Instagram are never disappointed and that is because of his smart routines. And out of many of those, my favourite is his shoulders-and-back dumbbell workout. It consists of four exercises which you can do for a set amount of time or reps, with the caveat that they need to be done one after the other.
I used just 5kg dumbbells and was absolutely torched. The workout starts with circular raises, and ends with a rowing motion, so make sure to start with very light weights before you work your way up. His third exercise is especially brutal, as it forces you to do a sitting high pull and a front chest press. This is a follow along, so enjoy the burn.
Pulasta Dhar is a football commentator, podcaster and writer.
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Fitness
HYROX, Zepp Health partner on wearable technology for athletes
![HYROX, Zepp Health partner on wearable technology for athletes HYROX, Zepp Health partner on wearable technology for athletes](https://www.mobihealthnews.com/sites/default/files/Zepp943001054.jpg)
Hyrox, a global fitness race for competitors, announced it is partnering with Zepp Health, a health technology company that manufactures smart wearable products, including its flagship wearable brand, Amazfit.
Under the two-year partnership Amazfit will act as the official wearable and timekeeping partner of HYROX. The aim is to assist athletes’ training regime and supply them with a user-friendly wearable device that provides health and fitness monitoring capabilities 24/7.
Hyrox is a global fitness race that links running and functional exercises designed to challenge strength, endurance and cardiovascular fitness. It consists of eight rounds, each with a 1 km run followed by a different functional exercise.
Amazfit’s partnership with HYROX events will continue until 2026 with live experiences and dedicated consumer shops.
Additionally, the company will support athletes by outfitting them with Amazfit Cheetah Pro, Falcon, T-Rex Ultra, Balance and Active smartwatches and its Helio Ring.
Data from Zepp Health’s Helio Ring and Amazfit smartwatches is integrated within the Zepp App giving athletes a holistic view of their health metrics during workouts and recovery periods.
Amazfit is scheduled to unveil software updates to its smartwatches soon, including a HYROX race mode and integration into HYROX365, enabling HYROX Training Clubs and Coaches with smart digital solutions.
“I am delighted to announce our partnership with HYROX, aligning two forces dedicated to pushing the boundaries of athletic achievement and unlocking human potential,” Wayne Huang, chief executive officer of Zepp Health, said in a statement.
“Through our smartwatches and fitness wearables, we aim to empower athletes to reach their peak performance and transform their everyday lives.”
THE LARGER TREND
In July, Zepp Health released the newest version of its smartwatch operating system, Zepp OS, which runs on OpenAI’s latest GPT model. Integrated with ChatGPT-4o, Zepp
OS includes an upgraded Zepp Flow voice assistant, enabling users to control their devices via voice commands without using specific keywords or physical touch.
In 2021, Zepp Health unveiled new product offerings, including its AI wearable chip for health devices, smartwatch operating system and blood pressure measurement feature on its smartwatch brand.
The Zepp OS will not only be an operating system for its smartwatch but also the core of an open health management platform. The company also announced that it would open the framework of its “Mini Program” for developers to create new apps that leverage Zepp Health’s data and intelligence.
The HIMSS AI in Healthcare Forum is scheduled to take place September 5-6 in Boston. Learn more and register.
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