Exercise for brain health: Expertise

If you have clients diagnosed with or concerned about cognitive decline, it’s vital that you have the right skills to design fitness experiences that address not only physical health, but brain health as well. By incorporating memory exercises, movement-based games, and brain health coaching strategies, you can help clients move with purpose.

That’s why ACE is so proud to present the Alzheimer’s Fitness Specialist Programto authorize you to design programs and lead exercise sessions for clients experiencing cognitive decline or simply wanting to do what they can age with strength and confidence. We too wanted to provide practical tools, not just theory, which is why this program features memory exercises, based on movement games and brain-healthy coaching strategies that will position you and your clients for long term success.

Jonathan Ross, the creator and his instructor Alzheimer’s Fitness Specialist Program, is a multiple Personal Trainer of the Year Award winnerinternational brain fitness presenter and advocate known for translating neuroscience into strength training through his own Perfection program. He is one long-time ACE partner and has collaborateded join us in countless articles, online seminars and programs.

Here, Jonathan answers important questions about how movement affects brain health and how you can incorporate exercise that is positive conflict cognitive health in training your clientssmall.

How can movement and exercise support brain health? Reach both those diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease and clients who are simply concerned about their cognitive health.

Normally, movement increases blood flow to the brain and this enhances both fuel supply and waste removal. Movement also requires processing sensory input from the outside world, deciding what to do about it, and then doing it.

More specifically, research shows that exercise improves the function of both immune system cells in the hippocampus called microglia and cells called neurovascularrocells (NVAs) that enhance blood function–brain barrier.

These benefits occur regardless of the focus on disease prevention or management.

Are there specific types of physical activity that offer greater cognitive benefits?

In general, contracting muscles produce numerous myokines, short strings of amino acids that regulate various metabolic processes and allow muscles to communicate with other organs and body systems.

The type of exercise determines which myokines are produced (and there is considerable overlap in many modes of exercise). If people can potentially do something, then we should be trained for it. This means strength and aerobic training with elements such as reactivity, coordination and balance included at times.

Additionally, modalities such as high-intensity interval training (HIIT), for example, enhance processing speed and attention.

The main takeaway: All exercise is good for the brain, but comprehensive cognitive and physical fitness is better. For example, trail running is better for your brain than treadmill running. If each step is placed on a unique surface with different conditions, it requires more processing of sensory input and decisions about exactly how to move with each step taken.

Do clients concerned about brain health need to do additional exercise each week, or can cognitive ability be incorporated into what they already do? If it’s the latter, can you offer strategies on how to do it?

No extra exercise required! Cognitive ability not only can, but should be incorporated into some of the existing exercise pursuits.

Some simple examples:

• Use two exercises with different repetitions and alternating their: Dumbbell smallquat and smallshoulder pressos (using dumbbells)

  • Perform 3 reps of the squat for every 1 rep of the shoulder press, which requires more attention and use of short-term memory. (Also, this allows for an appropriately challenging resistance for the comparatively stronger leg muscles, which will perform more repetitions.)
  • Perform the two exercises using a sequential 4-3-2-1 countdown pattern, meaning 4 of each, then 3 of each, etc. You end up completing 10 reps of each. This can be done by counting down from 5 to 1 (for a total of 15 repetitions) or many other combinations of numbers.

• Count reps by 3 or 7 seconds (harder) or 2 seconds or 5 seconds (easier.)

IMPORTANT: Not only is no additional exercise required, but people are also not required need high-tech equipment or boutique studios dedicated to brain fitness. These are nice bells and whistles, but cost is a barrier to entry for these options, meaning they’ll never be a viable solution for the masses.

What inspired you to create the Alzheimer’s & Brain Fitness Specialist Course and what do you hope exercise professionals will take away from this course and apply to their work?

Most neurodegenerative diseases are caused—and preventable—by lifestyle factors within the scope of practice of exercise professionals and health coaches: physical activity, exercise, diet, stress management, sleep, and social connection.

Second, presenting a model of exercise and physical activity that is, by design, interactive and reactive creates a more enjoyable experience, and research shows that people work harder without reporting a subjective increase in intensity. In other words, the extra effort isn’t that hard.

The population is aging, and this cohort has both the means—in terms of time and money—and the incentives to boost brain function now and prevent disease later. This is a huge opportunity for professionals to make a living changing their lives by changing people’s minds about exercise.

Is there anything else you’d like to say about this topic that we haven’t covered?

For most of human history, we have had to solve problems directly related to survival in a changing and often threatening environment. This required us to think and move at the same time. Modern life is all about sitting still and thinking, thinking, thinking all day at work and then moving while we often turn off our brains and perform normal, uninterrupted exercise. We have separated thought from action, and we suffer for it.

Two final thoughts: Integrating physical and cognitive ability can also enhance one’s attitudes and feelings about exercise. This makes long-term compliance much more likely and easier to achieve. And, for anyone providing care for someone with a cognitive illness, the interactive strategies shared in the course provide the same benefits while also injecting some much-needed levity and fun into the caregiver-patient interaction.