Applied Health Fitness Psychology

Applied Health Fitness Psychology considers behavioral issues regarding exercise and nutrition using a research-to-practice approach. This comprehensive text explains how health fitness psychology has emerged from other parent disciplines to become a wide-ranging discipline that can be addressed in various exercise, fitness, and health settings, allowing both current and future professionals to assist their patients or clients in adopting healthier lifestyles. Applied Health Fitness Psychology uses contributions from sport and exercise psychology, counseling and clinical psychology, exercise science, sports medicine, and behavioral medicine to provide a scientific basis for presenting strategies for behavior change. Unique to this text is a critical consideration of cultural, spiritual, and religious components as a factor in initiating and maintaining exercise behavior. The evidence-based approach will help readers use techniques and interventions that promote positive changes among various populations. Students will grasp the scope of this emerging field by studying the following topics: • The theoretical foundation of health behavior change and motivational theories • Physical, cognitive, and motivational obstacles to adopting a healthy lifestyle • Use of cognitive and behavioral strategies and interventions to promote exercise adherence, set goals, and improve fitness and exercise performance • Steps that will help students become professionals in health fitness psychology • Considerations in working with special populations, such as older adults, pregnant women, individuals recovering from injuries, and individuals with chronic conditions or dysfunctional eating behaviors Chapter objectives at the start and a summary, review of key concepts, and student activity at the end of each chapter help students and instructors stay focused on understanding the main concepts and putting this information into practice. Highlight boxes, tables, and figures throughout the book keep readers engaged with the material. From Research to Real World sidebars show students how the information in the text can be used in multiple professions and illustrate the many applications for health fitness psychology in today’s society. For instructors, Applied Health Fitness Psychology includes online access to a presentation package and test package. While modifying a person’s—or a culture’s—disdain for exercise will not happen quickly, Applied Health Fitness Psychology equips aspiring and practicing professionals working in a variety of health, fitness, and allied health fields with strategies to help people make the shift to more active and healthy lifestyles. Earn continuing education credits/units! A continuing education course and exam that uses this book is also available. It may be purchased separately or as part of a package that includes all the course materials and exam.

Applied Health Fitness Psychology considers behavioral issues regarding exercise and nutrition using a research-to-practice approach. This comprehensive text explains how health fitness psychology has emerged from other parent disciplines to become a wide-ranging discipline that can be addressed in various exercise, fitness, and health settings, allowing both current and future professionals to assist their patients or clients in adopting healthier lifestyles. Applied Health Fitness Psychology uses contributions from sport and exercise psychology, counseling and clinical psychology, exercise science, sports medicine, and behavioral medicine to provide a scientific basis for presenting strategies for behavior change. Unique to this text is a critical consideration of cultural, spiritual, and religious components as a factor in initiating and maintaining exercise behavior. The evidence-based approach will help readers use techniques and interventions that promote positive changes among various populations. Students will grasp the scope of this emerging field by studying the following topics: The theoretical foundation of health behavior change and motivational theories; Physical, cognitive, and motivational obstacles to adopting a healthy lifestyle; Use of cognitive and behavioral strategies and interventions to promote exercise adherence, set goals, and improve fitness and exercise performance; Steps that will help students become professionals in health fitness psychology; Considerations in working with special populations, such as older adults, pregnant women, individuals recovering from injuries, and individuals with chronic conditions or dysfunctional eating behaviors. Chapter objectives at the start and a summary, review of key concepts, and student activity at the end of each chapter help students and instructors stay focused on understanding the main concepts and putting this information into practice. Highlight boxes, tables, and figures throughout the book keep readers engaged with the material. From Research to Real World sidebars show students how the information in the text can be used in multiple professions and illustrate the many applications for health fitness psychology in today's society. For instructors, Applied Health Fitness Psychology includes online access to a presentation package and test package. While modifying a person's--or a culture's--disdain for exercise will not happen quickly, Applied Health Fitness Psychology equips aspiring and practicing professionals working in a variety of health, fitness, and allied health fields with strategies to help people make the shift to more active and healthy lifestyles.

Biller integrates research about exercise, nutrition, and health within an applied developmental psychological framework. Readers are presented with ways of making fitness an enjoyable and positive force in their daily lives. Although a major focus is on how to get in shape, Biller's primary mission is to encourage a healthy lifestyle that enriches self-awareness and personal growth. The goal is not just to facilitate physical fitness, but to enhance overall life satisfaction. The book's uniqueness, accordingly, lies in its ability to help individuals develop a creative, playful approach to fitness in all spheres of their lives. While some readers are just beginning to think about fitness because of a desire to lose weight and improve their appearance, others are more interested in refining their athletic skills or achieving a greater balance in their daily activities. Dedicated exercisers often are striving for new routines and ways to prevent burnout. Many parents, moreover, are searching for activities to help their children, as well as themselves, become more fit. Older individuals are especially likely to be concerned about staying healthy and avoiding physical dependence as they age. Biller speaks to all these concerns—and all these groups—by providing an approach to getting in shape that enriches self-understanding and mental vitality.

This is the first applied handbook for practitioners who want to help patients begin and maintain an exercise program as a lifestyle change. Mental health practitioners (MHPs) often earn a trust that not many other professionals do with their patients. It is with this trust that MHPs are able to encourage and help their clients begin a healthy and active lifestyle through exercise programs. This book, with easy to understand language, provides a simple introduction for mental health practitioners and clinicians to help their clients achieve better mental and physical health through exercise and learn how effective the psychological aspects of exercise can be. The book helps MHPs obtain the background of ways to achieve proper fitness, and to go through the process of obtaining information about the client's individual needs, and finally to prescribe an exercise program that is compatible with those needs. A fundamental knowledge of applied principles of exercise physiology provides additional credibility to the prescribed exercise regimen. Coverage includes: Applied exercise psychology Motivation technique Theories and models in health psychology Fundamental applied exercise physiology Specific cognitive and behavioral strategies Program interventions Recommended books and journals List of exercise and health organizations Exercise checklist This book will be of use to all mental health providers, including psychiatrists, psychologists, therapists, counselors, and consultants, whose relationship with clients provides a unique opportunity to gain entry for proposing lifestyle changes. For further information on Dr. Anshel, please Click Here.

Learn how to apply the psychology of health and fitness to your exercise programs and to solve the motivational and behavioral problems you’ll encounter every day in practice. You’ll explore the scientific principles and variables that influence behavior as you develop the confidence to design effective lifestyle interventions for disease prevention and develop individualized exercise programs that promote optimal health.

Applied Exercise Psychology emphasizes the application of evidence-based knowledge drawn from the fields of exercise psychology, health psychology, clinical and counseling psychology, and exercise physiology for physical activity behavior change. The book provides readers with: theoretical bases for understanding and promoting physical activity behavior; interventions to use for facilitating physical activity behavior change and the tools for measuring the effectiveness of these interventions; cross-cultural considerations for practitioners to ensure multicultural competency; considerations to guide best practices with special populations (e.g., persons with medical conditions and persons with mental health conditions); overall applied implications and future directions. The collection builds a bridge between up-to-date research findings, relevant field experiences, and applied implications. This is the first book to cover such breadth of topics in applied exercise psychology, with chapters bringing often overlooked issues to the attention of practitioners to promote not only evidence-based practice but also responsible ethics and referral.

Changing habits, particularly habits that are self-destructive and unhealthy, is among the most challenging goals of therapists and coaches who work with clients in promoting a healthier lifestyle. The purpose of this book is to "help the helper," that is, to assist the person whose professional mission it is to provide a service that enables clients or patients to acknowledge their unhealthy habits and to replace them with more desirable, healthier routines. It focuses on the power of helping clients identify: (1) the inconsistency between their core values – what they consider most important in life – with one or more unhealthy habits, (2) the costs and long-term consequences of this inconsistency, called a "disconnect" in the model, and (3) their willingness to conclude that the consequences of this inconsistency is unacceptable. At that stage, (4) clients should be prepared to work with a coach in developing and carrying out an action plan that aims to remove the disconnect between the client’s values and at least one of their unhealthy habits.

The new edition of Sport and Exercise Psychology asks four fundamental questions that get to the heart of this flourishing discipline: What inner states influence what people think, feel, and behave? How can people manage or self-regulate their own inner states? How can sport and exercise psychology professionals help people manage their inner states? Is sport psychology just a placebo effect? Taking an applied perspective that bridges the gap between sport and exercise, the book answers these questions by covering the key topics in the field, including confidence, anxiety, self-regulation, stress and self-esteem. There are also chapters on the role of music in performance, imagery and exercise addiction. Each chapter is written by an expert in that field, and includes a range of features illustrating specific issues, either within the research literature or their practical application. This is a comprehensive and engaging overview of an evolving discipline, and will be essential reading to any student of sport and exercise psychology. It will also be of huge interest to athletes and coaches seeking an accessible understanding of the role of psychology in sport.