Certified Fitness Nursing™

A day in the life of a Certified Fitness Nurse™Coach trying to create distinction for fitness nurses.

If Dr. Oz asked you, “So, what do you do?”

I’m serious.  If you are reading this and saying, “When will I ever meet Dr. Oz?”, I say why don’t you think that would ever happen?  Here’s my example, this is what’s actually happening to me right now:

 

A few posts back I wrote how I have partnered with a Manhattan firm that is in a position to introduce me virtually and personally to nutritional medicine, preventative-minded physicians and will show me how to offer them something these physician’s will find valuable when CFNC’s are looking for referrals from them.  Well, David from that very same firm, just asked me last week if I was available to go NYC, Radio City Music Hall, next month, to A “Health & Happiness” Summit with Dr. Oz.  Of course, I was so excited about it and said “yes”, (I didn’t even check my calendar.  Because whatever I had scheduled that day would be canceled.  Yes, that means if I was scheduled to work, I would be sick that day… without guilt), but then when he told me that he actually spoke to Dr. Oz and said there’s an opportunity to attend an after the summit event with Dr. Oz, I’m glad I was on the phone because I know I looked a crazy person, like the ‘Joker’, with this huge smile on my face.  I will get more details next week.

So immediately as I got off the phone, I begin thinking to myself, “What would I say when I meet Dr. Oz?”  Not if I meet Dr. Oz… I expect to meet him. I plan to.  I can visualize it.  So I practice it.  And I want to be ready when he asks me, “So, Lori what do you do?” It would go something like this:

 

David, the President of the Manhattan firm says, “Dr. Oz, this is Lori Radcliffe.  Lori is an RN, one of our partners in promoting nutritional medicine”…
“Lori, this is Dr. Mehmet Oz.”
I say, “Hello Dr. Oz I’m so thrilled to meet you.”
Dr. Oz says, “Hello Lori, It’s very nice to meet you and what do you do?”
Without hesitation and with enthusiasm I say…

 

“I am a Certified Fitness Nurse™ Coach.”

 

“Really, what does that entail?”

 

“Well Dr. Oz, I train other nurses interested in fitness to show the 79 million pre-diabetics out there sustainable methods to reduce their waists and improve their health by finding their minimum effective dose of exercise, diet and supplementation through the computer, coaching and fitness nursing assessment.”

 

Then I pause.  And smile. It’s over.  He’s a busy, popular man.  That’s all I get.

 

It doesn’t matter if he says something or not.  Hopefully he’s so stunned and intrigued, we’ll meet again.  But it’s o.k. if he doesn’t.  I said what I had to say. 

 

And if I can say it to Dr. Oz… then I can say it to a social worker in the cafeteria or an old high school friend I run into at the grocery store or to a physician I work with in the O.R. or another nurse who I see at a seminar.  Even you ‘nay- sayers’ and ‘non-believers’ of me meeting Dr. Oz  or you meeting Dr. Oz and of ‘luck’, have to realize that even if I didn’t meet Dr. Oz, I am prepared for the best luck when someone influential, someone who can provide leverage that I need, is impressed when meeting me.  Luck is when preparation meets opportunity.

 

If you are interested in being a ‘fitness nurse’ are you confident in what you do?  Do you know what you want to do?  If you answer “no” or are “not sure” to both of these questions, how would you tell Dr. Oz what you do?  I’ve always suggested, since the original fitness nursing website, that you call yourself a specific (specialty) type of fitness nurse and develop a client list with health concerns in that specialty, who you want to help with exercise.  Are any of you doing that?  Are you still putting Certified Pilates Instructor, RN or CPT, RN behind your name?  I did that for years.  When I worked in fitness, no one cared about the RN part; when I worked in healthcare, no one cared about the CPT part.  I just got tired of being in 2 different venues.  Do you feel you will ever be doing these two at the same time?  Being rewarded for both skill sets at the same time?  If you feel like “yes”, then answer the question “how?”.  Once you answer that ’how’ question, then develop your programs accordingly, tell your story, so you can answer proudly, ‘your Dr. Oz’ when someone, anyone asks, “so, what do you do?”.

 

In other words, who’s ‘your Dr. Oz’?  Many of you have followed me and have witnessed the changing of my titles and websites, etc., so you can see first hand how I keep defining and redefining what I do.  It’s not easy trying to merge 2 professions, stay in healthhcare, with NO roadmap or template for me to follow.  I’m learning as I go.  I’ve learned so much just over the last 3 months.  And I’ll continue to learn more.  If you are interested in learning from my mistakes and not taking such a convoluted path like I did and want to work with all kinds of the 79 million pre-diabetics (ie: kids, seniors, working moms over 40, stressed out men over 45 who commute, etc.); you can become a Certified Fitness Nurse™ Coach and then you would answer ‘your Dr. Oz’:

 

“I’m a Certified Fitness Nurse™ Coach.  I provide pre-diabetics with sustainable methods to reduce their waists and improve their health by finding their minimum effective dose of exercise, diet and supplementation through the computer, coaching and fitness nursing assessment.”

 

I realize that it’s my job to get you excited about this new area of nursing and my Certified Fitness Nurse™ Coaching course.  But it’s your job to see yourself doing it.  The point I’m trying to make is that you have to be able to see yourself doing what you say you want to do even if you are just starting out.  If you can’t visualize yourself doing it; then you won’t do it.  Period.  Whether it’s a Certified Fitness Nurse™ Coach or another kind of fitness nurse.  Get it?  Great.

 

On Tuesday, January 24th, 2012, at 7pm EST, I will be giving my information webinar on my personal Certified Fitness Nurse™ Coaching program called, WeightlossPRN.  Here is the phone number and access code below if you want to listen in.  If you are on the CertifiedFitnessNurse.com e-mail list you will get the webinar (slides) link sent to you the day of the webinar, Tuesday, Jan. 24th.

Phone number:  (201) 793-0051  Access code:  704896#
Yours in Fitness & Nursing,
Lori

 

Do you believe in supplements? Food addiction?

Nutritional supplements.  What’s your feeling about them?

I remember when I competed in bodybuilding back in the early 1980′s, not like today, I was on stage with women who were quite muscular; but still had visible cellulite on those “trouble areas”.  I also remember having a large gym bag full of supplements.  I was eating tuna out of the can and high protein bread and 2 gallons of water, ahh youth, your liver and kidneys could handle a lot.  I remember that as soon as that competition was over I replaced that gym bag full of supplements, with the same amount of weight of Twizzlers (red) and ate the whole gym bag full till I passed out at about 3 in the morning.

 

I had lost another 7 or 8 lbs. after this photo. I was down to about 11% body fat. Not sustainable but that wasn't my goal. Today my goal is sustainability when maintaining my weight.

Since those days, over the years, I’ve been on and off supplementation.  I’d take them when the mood struck me for about 3 or 4 months, then I’d stop.  Then I’d start again.  I, like many of you, feel that you should get your nutrition from your food.  Everybody says that, but many  people who say that today are just robots speaking to you from a place that sounds good; but unfortunately is not an accurate place any longer.  Today, unless you live in a biosphere and/or have a cow and chickens in your backyard, you have to get your food supply from the grocery stores, like the rest of us.  And that supply is not what is was 50, 25, even 10 years ago as far as nutrition content in concerned. 

Never mind grain-fed meat and soy-pellet fish, let’s just talk fruits and vegetables, o.k.?  I learned about 4 years ago, when I started my Jersey Shore Chapter of the Weston A. Price Foundation, that there was more vitamin C in liver than an orange and I learned the value of raw milk.   So in those subsequent years after, I really looked at and tried my best to eat ‘real food’.  WAPF doesn’t advocate taking of any supplements, so I stopped taking them and ate ‘real food’ and drove to PA for raw milk.  I even wrote old blog posts about having ‘expensive urine’. 
It worked out for a while, I could even afford the organic stuff, because it was just the 2 of us.  But then slowly, things started to get harder and harder to do.  I began teaching more and I didn’t feel as vibrant as I thought I should with all the ‘real foods’ I was now eating, you know a lot of fruits and vegetables, soaking grains and severely limiting processed foods. 

Then within the last year, I came across more literature that I wanted to avoid, because it was contradictory to what I wanted to believe… you know how we all do that.  The headlines that I kept seeing were along lines of the ones below:

“Food grown in nutrient deficient soil lacks the nutrients needed to keep people healthy.”

“You can’t expect the exact nutrition of a fruit, that’s written in a nutrition book, according to what should be, to be representative of what nutrition is really in that fruit if you have to have cherries in February in Minnesota.”

“The alarming fact is that foods – fruits, vegetables and grains – now being raised on millions of acres of land that no longer contains enough of certain nutrients, are starving us — no matter how much we eat of them.”  
~US Senate Document 264-1936

This was from a white paper I was reading.  So, I decided to go back to what I used to do, back in the 1980′s, when I didn’t care about ‘expensive urine’.  I cared about giving my body an option, it could use the various supplementation or it could piss them out. 

If you want to take supplements or already are taking supplements are they listed in this book below?  They should be, mine are.  Chances are if you buy them at Costco or your local supermarket, they wont be.  I recommend you buy this book:

 

Can be found on Amazon or on www.CertifiedFitnessNurse.com/Affiliate-products.html

There’s no way to get all the nutrients you need today without supplementation, especially with calorie restriction, that’s needed to reduce your waist.  That’s my opinion, what’s yours?  I’d really like to know…

 

Food Addiction

I’ve mentioned in the past about The Institute for the Psychology of Eating (IPE) and their programs.  I am certified as a Food Psychology Coach that was taught by the Founder Marc David.  Author of “The Slow Down Diet” and “Nourishing Wisdom” and anything written by him is worth reading.  One of the sections in my FP coach training started out by Marc stating that there is no such thing as food addiction.  At first I got a little annoyed, then he said this, “You simply cannot be addicted to something that your body needs.”

Wow.  That was profound to me.  He continued on to say,
“Saying that someone is addicted to food is like saying they’re addicted to oxygen.  You just can’t be addicted to something that your body needs to live.”

Nuff said?  Now we all know that you can be addicted to sweets or carbs, but not ‘food’ in general.  And I agree, how about you?

Mark your calendar for Janurary 24th at 7pm if you want to observe ‘my pitch’ to my prospects and my new WeightlossPRN (models CFNC course) program. Please look for the e-mail with the webinar link.

Thanks and please leave you comments below or on the CFN facebook page.
Lori

Sample exercise video, Body by Science

Hi all,
Sample Exercise Video

I just completed my 12-week fitness nursing program called “WeightlossPRN”.  This program follows the Certified Fitness Nurse™Coaching course model.  The one thing that I didn’t do was have most of the participants come from physicians.  Most were previous clients, 4 were from physicians.  In the next session, beginning in January, I will have more clients directly from physicians.  I wanted to share with you an example of the videos that I send my clients.  I film them in my basement with a Flip camera, usually, and I keep them short.  I also work out with my pug, PangPang, and all my clients look forward to seeing him in the videos:

 

This video I used early in my program where I have my clients do only 60-90 second exercises during a fasted-state in the morning.  This is delivered via the internet to a group of ‘ideal clients’ who qualify to do this with my coaching and on their own.

 

Body by Science

There are only 4 things that I teach to my ideal clients:

  1. Intermittent Fasting (IF)
  2. Calorie Restriction (CR)
  3. Resistance Training (RT)
  4. Occasional Bingeing (OB)

These 4 principles all have to delivered under the 3 Rights of the Certified Fitness NurseCoach.  As I am writing this program, one of the books I came across, amazed me… I new in the first 3 pages, that I had to finish it in one day.  They were talking the same prinicples as I was and to my pleasant surprise one of the authors is a M.D.  I have read Dr. McGuff”s writings before, very technical, but this time I just like the way the writing flowed. 
The book is called:  “Body by Science”

It just can't be argued anymore. To help people heal, reduce their waists and turn around pre-diabetes, and inflammation, you only need to exercise for ~15 minutes once, maybe twice a week overloading your muscles through strength training.

Well, I guess it can be argued, but I’m not interested in arguing.  I also know you can find any research to support your position. What you have to decide is does it make sense to you.  I love to see any M.D. write and preach anything that is somewhat unconventional and just simply makes sense (to me and hopefully you).  The medical establishment is usually the last to accept new ideas, even when they make common sense.  Probably because they have the most to lose. 
 
I know it’s hard to swallow after being taught that you MUST exercise 5-6 days a week doing hours of ‘cardio’ and then 2-3 days of multiple sets of weight lifting.  Hey, I wasn’t immune to teaching this to clients over the years. 
 
People exercise way too much.  People eat way too much.  It’s all too much.  My soap box:  I really HATE IT when people waste their time in the gym or anywhere else from endless, repetitive ‘steady-state’ movement.  (In my program I don’t consider walking exercise, it’s physical activity that can be done daily.  In my world, exercise is focused and it ain’t fun, it has purpose and then it’s done with.)  Because these people ‘show up’, which is the hardest part, but then they don’t get the results they expected or they get hurt, so they drop out or even worse for you, can’t justify paying you again for more sessions or classes. 
 
You simply cannot run, jog, take butt-blasing body pump classes for hours, 5-6 times a week and expect to NOT cause harm to your body. Your body is breaking down.  What happens when that calorie burn disappears and you’re too hurt or burned out to continue?  I’m the first to say to someone that athletes are not the healthiest people.  They perform.  Then they live like the rest of us, in pain, in their 40′s, 50′s and beyond. (some sooner)
If you are on that ‘overuse bandwagon’ and refuse to budge, well then this Certified Fitness Nurse Coaching course is probably not for you.  Actually it’s designed with the client in mind to simplify the process and to end the exercise mind clutter and to empower the client to do this on their own.  I know you may think a lot of people would be out of work if they (potential clients) only exercised  for 15 minutes twice a week.  But there are so many people who believe the “2 aspirin are good, 6 are better” philosophy in everything they do.  So there still will be plenty of money to be made in that world of excess, anxiety and in my opinion, borderline insanity.  Isn’t there a program sold on t.v. called “Insanity”? 
But again, I am concerned with the pre-diabetic client and will continue to focus most of my energy with other nurses enthusiastic about fitness, who get this position of minimum effective dosing, sustainability and empowerment.  (Which is NOT a popular position in a fitness setting, of course.  Not only is “more is better” taught there, the people who go there, expect it.)
Well, off my soapbox.  Do you have one?  If not,you should. 

The book is great and it is available here:
http://www.certifiedfitnessnursecoach.com/Affiliate-Products.html

You will also see the other products I recommend to my clients and books required for the CFN course in the Spring of 2012.
 
Damn You Look Good!
 
I will be presenting my “Damn You Look Good!” WeightlossPRN infomation webinar on January 24th, 2012 at 7pm to prospective clients.  I am inviting you to observe, please mark your calendars.  You can observe and take notes on how I promote this program (similar to what I present to physicians, but shorter) which models the CFNC program, but is adapted to my beliefs.  Which is what you will do also, if you take the CFNC course in the Spring 2012.   In other words you learn the CFNC program, but can ‘adapt’ some areas to match your beliefs. 
This webinar will be the Monthly CFNC Preview call for January.
Here is the link:
http://InstantTeleseminar.com/?eventid=25219560
No opt-in necessary, unless you want the recording.  You can opt-in here:
http://www.certifiedfitnessnursecoach.com/ for the recording.  If you are already on the Certified Fitness Nurse Coach list you will automatically get the recording.  The recording will have an access code to view it.
I hope you’ll join me.
Lori

 

Doctor asks WIIFM?

Some exciting news just happened to Certified Fitness Nurse™ Coaching last week.  Over the past 3 weeks, I have been communicating and negotiating with a new partner in my business.  This new and only partner, named David, has given me something that I so desperately need… LEVERAGE!

 

I had to give him a presentation of what I present to physicians to get them on board with working with Certified Fitness Nurse™ Coaches.  I know that it is vital that those of you who sign up to take the Certified Fitness Nurse™ Coaching course in Spring 2012, want to know that there are physicians and other healthcare professionals ready to work with you and use your CFNC program with their patients.

You see David, used to work on Wall Street and the companies he researched in the market were health and wellness companies.  After he made his money, he decided to help his father, a physician and his father’s colleagues, to make recurring, passive income while promoting health and wellness with their patients.  So what’s the leverage?  Once David saw my presentation and researched my company and my mission, he could put me in front of hundreds of preventative-minded physicians, GLOBALLY.  (Think BIG, never-mind bothering the physician up the street who you feel like you’re bugging with your CFNC program)  These physicians are already qualified.  I could never get in front of so many prevention-minded physicians so quickly and properly without him. 
I was quite nervous with my presentation, but David liked it.  Whew! He gave me some constructive criticism but what he said next floored me…

“How does the physician make money?”, David asked.
“Huh?” I uttered.
He said, “Lori there will be some physicians who will like your presentation and help you because they want their patients to improve their health through your methods.  But more physicians would be open to helping you and other CFNC’s knowing that there is a monetary benefit for them because they are tuned into that radio station, WIIFM, just like anybody else.”

 

WIIFM means, “What’s In It For Me”.

 

I actually did think that I was a little “light” on the benefit to physician part.  But it’s that “nurse-mindset” that kept creeping into my mind.  You know that mind-set that nurses, teachers, social workers, homemakers, etc. have.  That people should do things out of the “goodness of their hearts” and that making money, lots of money means that your heart is not in the right place.

I realized that I was still holding on to that ‘limited belief’, even though I thought I accepted that making money is necessary to carry on my mission.  Nothing like a successful Wall Street investment broker to set you straight about human behavior and money.

 

So on Wednesday, I have to give him my presentation again with the changes he suggested.  David has coached me over these past 3 weeks.  When I asked him “Why? Why are you helping me?”, he answered, “I like building things.  I can see your vision and potential.  I just spoke to 3 physicians today and when I asked them what do they say when patients ask for alternatives to medication, they said, ‘Oh, I send them to Weight Watchers or I tell them to ‘cut back’ on food or I give them a 1200 calorie diet and tell them to walk.’  Your Certified Fitness Nurse™ Coaching program is just what they need.  If you show them the benefit (financial) vs. risk (lower risk working with a nurse) ratio, they are on board.”

David will coach me on how to help physician’s and help you to make recurring, residual income that is in alignment with the CFNC course principles.  

Of course not every physician is going to buy into the CFNC program.  But I am excited to let you know that I am trying very hard to establish Certified Fitness Nurse™ Coaching among preventative-minded physicians and other healthcare professionals and also provide a distinction between the CFNC and the fitness professional.  I want to make that difference so distinct that when a physician wants to offer an exercise and diet alternative to their pre-diabetic, hypertensive patients, they automatically think Certified Fitness Nurse™ Coach and the benefits of working with one.

So you may be thinking ‘WIIFM’, for yourself…

  • You can work from home, part-time
  • You can make full time money working part-time
  • You can reach more people, globally in a group setting through the computer, easy video and phone
  • You get that autonomy that you so desperately need and deserve
  • You can be part of a unique tribe who really cares about empowering people and sustainable waist management through the fitness nursing assessment
  • People like the “new and shiny” object.  You will be that “object”
  • You will discover that you don’t have to “get” people, your own personal tribe, once defined, will come to you and will look forward to working with you!

Till next time.  I will be putting up the details (dates, time and price) of the Certified Fitness Nurse™ Coaching course in February 2012, for launch in Spring 2012.
Due to grave illness in FL, the entire course will now be over the internet.  The same information will be presented via video stream.

Yours in Fitness & Nursing,
Lori
http://www.certifiedfitnessnursecoach.com/
(732) 620-2193

 

Physician letter; Client letter

First, here is the letter that I sent to Physicians, CLICK HERE!  I sent this letter to only 2 physicians.  The first one replied rather quickly by e-mail, we decided on a mutual agreement and he ended up sending me more than 20 patients.  I had to call him and ask him to stop!  The 2nd physician I never followed up with.  (You should NOT do that.  Always follow up!)

Second, the letter below is a letter I received from one of my group coaching clients.  This, I’m sure you will agree, is why we do what we do.  To empower people… NOT keep them dependent on us!  Please make a comment below.  

Amazing Lifechanging Insight You Give – Thank You… Wednesday, October 05, 2011 11:15:57 PM

 

From: ——ry@yahoo.com
To: minky@certifiedfitnessnurse.com
Reply To: ——ry@yahoo.com

 

Hello Lori:
 
Thank you for such an informative session.  I did happen to connect to the teleconference call via the web address and it worked well aside from the disconnect that happened around 8:30ish so I do not know what time the teleconference actually ended.  Also I  submitted a comment through the question box. 
 
I really appreciate the knowledge and information and giving of your life to make such an incredible difference into the lives of others!  A lot of devotion goes into the splendor of helping and imparting and giving to others; particularly to make others better.  Such a selfless and wonderful gift of love.  Thank you so much.  
 
I have and will begin my fast this evening for 24 hours.  Your insight of sharing the wisdom you do actually enlightens one to see the aspects of being able to do something that previously I never thought I could do.   I can and I will.  Thank you! 
 
Also in regard to the question about listing the foods on the questionnaire.  I actually felt that when I read the question you were asking for foods, even though I felt like you wanted to know things like junk food and the like.  Ha!  I would have listed ongoing cookies, and donuts and candy bars, etc., etc., etc., that I regularly crave and consume.  But because the question said food, It threw me off.   
 
Also, thanks for sharing the insight about the heart rate monitor and the importance of knowing how to do it oneself aside from having the heart monitor. 
 
Your right stepping up and taking responsibility in ways that have been stagnant and lax which in my life has created this lifestyle of being overweight and unhealthy and then being immobile for several years added to the fire of a dangerous and now deadly combination.  Receiving this invigorating wisdom from you puts such purpose in your words that it automatically signals a sense of change and a “can do it” mentality to what I need to do and how I need to change my life.  Thank you so much!
 
Today, I went to take a brief walk by the ocean and I kept seeing this beautiful butterfly.  I’ve signal this amazing sight of the butterfly today to transition to the ”New Beginning’s” because of this program and how my whole life can change!
 
You are helping me to learn how to take care of my body and my family for life!  We can each break the bondage of being ignorant and stop the lifestyles that are destroying our lives.
 
Thank you so much!
 
M—- L—

————————————————————————–
Please don’t forget to tune into the next CFN preview call.  Saturday, November 12th, 2011 at 11:00am EST / 8:00am PST.  We will discuss the physician letter and tips on how to write yours!
You will receive the phone number wthin a couple days before the call.  If you are on either e-mail list, you will get the number. 

Till then, yours in Fitness & Nursing,
Lori

How Unique Are You?

How unique are you?

So, you want to be a fitness nurse or you call yourself one now.  How unique are you?  Here are 3 questions to ask yourself if you wonder, “Why am I not getting paid for my nursing expertise in fitness?:

1.  How are you different than the personal trainers/ fitness professionals, your competition, when it comes to bringing in clients?

2.  What industry/market are you in? 

3.  Do you find yourself taking other people’s re-hashed diet and exercise information then re-hashing it yourself?
Here are my responses, in my business and my life:

1.  How are you different than personal trainers / fitness professionals, your competition, when it comes to bringing in clients?
    As much as I don’t like to say this, “Exercise is overrated”.  Especially when it comes to the population of people who I want to help.     Even though I personally like to exercise, my clients don’t.  So, I actually take the emphasis off exercise and use it as a way to help with blood sugar regulation, fat-burning hormone production and increased strength and energy.  And this only requires about 15 minutes 2X a week.  Of course, I give them the exercises and the timing and intensity of these exercises. I also believe an overweight person who physically exerts themselves and is physically active daily is better than a normal weight or underweight person who is sedentary.  I know this better than you may think.  This was largely part of my mother’s demise.  Your mind and body needs to know that bone and muscle is needed for survival.  Remember the old adage, “Use it or Lose it”.
However, I try to avoid personal trainer related lingo like, “butt-burning bootcamp, burn 1,000 calories in 1 hour, etc.”, when I talk exercise and in my marketing.  (What happens when your client or you get injured and you have to take away the calorie burn?) I also charge by packages; not by the session or hour. I create independence and empowerment; not dependency and PIA (Pains In Ass) cling-ons. (You know who I mean) I actually have heard personal trainers say, “I can’t tell my clients all my best secrets, I need to pay my rent, you know.”  They want their clients to be ‘dependent’ on them, so they keep coming back.  In my world of fitness nursing, we know that an excellent, professional Fitness Nurse works themselves out of a job.  The return and referrals from giving that client the total package and confidence they need to do to keep their waist size down, forever, on their own, is priceless. Not only do I give my clients my best stuff to move towards a fat-burning state, I use a fitness nursing assessment that a personal trainer wouldn’t touch and am in conjuction with my Nurse Practice Act. I am confident and am functioning as a nurse first and involving other health care professionals (HCP’s) in collaboration, if necessary.  Finally, I do my group coaching over the internet/phone, so I can work from anywhere and can have clients from anywhere.  Is that enough for now?  ‘Cause I can go on and on.  If you are working in a gym/club setting or want to work in a gym or club setting and calling yourself a Fitness Nurse, how do clients easily know the difference between you and the other personal trainers?  How do the other staff members describe you when asked by other customers what you do?  How do you describe them?  Is it the same description? 

2.  What industry/market are you in?
I’m in the healthcare industry/ pre-diabetic market.  Not interested in managing diabetes.  There are professionals who already do that.  Besides diabetics (Type 2) are notoriously non-compliant. I only help people who want to help themselves not to get sicker; not because they have a wedding in 4-5 weeks and she wants to fit into a dress.  If someone wants that, I actually will refer her to a personal trainer and/or a gym or an exercise class or tape.  (As fitness nurses’ we’re not going to be stupid though; we know that people want to slim down quick)  And we help them do that to, when appropriate for motivational purposes.

I target physicians (you only need 1 or 2) and nurse practitioners and even other HCP’s when looking for clients.  Sometimes, I target individulas who meet my ‘ideal client’ criteria.  I turn away people if they don’t meet this criteria.  So I work with only who I know/feel I can actually help, not just anyone who will pay. I DO NOT try to get clients from gyms, clubs, and exercise classes – it’s very crowded there.  To be honest many are finding me, are attracted to me, because they have injured themselves in the past or don’t have the time and/or can’t keep up the grueling “Biggest-Loser” type exercise sessions.  They are looking for some compassion to their barriers to a total picture of health (yet they do admit to liking the vanity part) The fitness industry is well-established as to who they want (people who are already in decent shape, not the 79 million pre-diabetics) and what credentials you need to work, minimally, in their industry…
Most personal trainer certifications, even the “so-called” gold standard ones, are only a full weekend.  Many without a practical and only require fitness experience to take it.  There are lots of them out there…hence, there are lots of personal trainers out there.  As a nurse, you could easily qualify to take any of these certifications.  But remember, when you practice as a nurse, (like calling yourself a fitness nurse) you have more to lose and are held to a higher standard in the eyes of the law than someone who just has a weekend certification or even a college degree in an exercise science.  They don’t have to worry about a license like you (we) do. 
So, if you want to be a personal trainer, I recommend you put your nursing license on hold and go for it in the adult/child/sports training/senior/fitness market.  You must love oversaturation and not being unique.  So I feel that you should stop calling yourself a fitness nurse,  think about it… are you really a personal trainer who takes blood pressures? You can’t just rename yourself and emerge in an established market, with lots of competition, and expect people to respect that name when they don’t know how you are different than them.  You must create a new market or work in one that already exists and understands/sees your potential for greatness in their industry.  Start slowly with just 1 or 2 clients.  Think more holistic (nursing assessment), embrace the client’s physician; don’t alienate them like other fitness professionals do because they don’t want to lose the sale.  Talk “fitness nurse” to those people who “get” the nurse piece.  They will not likely be in the body pump class.  I know that’s a strong opinion, but it is my experience and my blog.

3.  Do you find yourself taking other people’s re-hashed diet and exercise information then re-hashing it yourself?
Hey, it’s o.k.  I’ve done it.  Everybody does it.  Remember in health and fitness there’s “nothing new under the sun”.  I was talking to a newbie, Master’s prepared, Registered Dietitian last week who was describing a very low fat diet she was developing.  I said, “Oh that sounds like Pritikin.”  To my amazement, she never heard of Pritikin.  Too young?  I didn’t mean to deflate her entreprenial idea.  But I did tell her that there is no copyright on “low-fat” diet, so just change some things around, add your own ideas/principles and rewrite a low-fat diet that will resemble who you are, not Nathan Pritikin, MD.  Basically, do more research. And give credit where credit is due.  Even if you think you’ve thought of it first.
Some of you may say, “Well Lori, aren’t you just re-hashing the idea of positioning yourself between the physician and the fitness professsional with your Certified Fitness Nurse™ course?”  Not exactly.  What’s been done before and continues to be done today, is more the place where the client was seeing the physical therapist and they need/want to continue exercising.  Then, the personal trainer would serve this client.  Not very popular.  Hasn’t taken off.  Why?  Many PT’s don’t trust personal trainers.  It’s confusing to physicians and other healthcare professionals to work with personal trainers/gyms.  They (HCP’s) have no idea of what actually the personal trainers/fitness people are going to do with their patients. 
Many personal trainers recommend nutritional advice.  The HCP worries about interactions with their patients meds, how much does this personal trainer at the gym up the street know about, comfortable with pharmacology, physician protocols and long term holistic goals that are client/patient centered… many are just anxious to show off their latest kettle bell workshop certification moves on Aunt Mary.
A physician actually said to me, “I’d much rather send my pre-diabetic patients to you than the gym up the street from my office… I don’t know what the hell they are doing there.  Are my patients even going?  I never hear from anyone until there’s a crisis.  I get calls from patients who actually want me to write prescriptions for them as to why they medically can’t exercise anymore so they can give to the gym so they can get a refund”.
If you’re like me, you’ve probably got shelves of diet, exercise books, periodicals, specialty trade journal and tapes, downloads of 100′s of teleseminars at your disposal.
There is nothing wrong with re-hashing what someone else has just re-hashed themselves.  But don’t just outright copy it.  Read it, study it and learn from it.  How would you do things differently?  Quote the source.  Create your own fitness nursing program.  That’s what I’ve done and it’s called “Certified Fitness Nurse™”  and the program I’m using to model in this course is my personal FN program called, WeightlossPRN.  A 12-week (minimum) waist reduction program for pre-diabetics that I market to physicians and targeted consumers. 
If you want to learn my blueprint, you have to wait until Spring 2012, anticipated time CFN course will be ready or if you need assistance in creating your own fitness nurse identity you can sign up for one of my mentoring classes in November, for a day, actually 90min. – 2 hours or for 3 days and a more intensive mentoring class in January 2012.

Whatever you decide, remember to be unique as you can, to stand out and ask yourself, “What does a being fitness nurse mean to me?” “Who will it allow me to be/to do?” and “How can I be different than everybody else?”

Til next time,
Yours in Fitness & Nursing,
Lori
P.S.  Please leave a comment below…

Great, inspirational interview from one of my mentors!

Hi future Certified Fitness Nurses™,

I just had to post this interview that was sent to me by Dr. John Spencer Ellis, of NESTA and The Spencer Institute.  I am not receiving any money from John by promoting him.  I have been following him for over 10 years.  I have my Food Psychology Coach Certification from the Spencer Institute.  The teacher, who I loved, was Mark David, of the Institute of the Psychology of Eating.  I will post some of his stuff on this blog soon.  But today I am talking about this guy, Thom Zwawa, who JSE is interviewing.  With the foundation NESTA and Spencer Institute certifications and a vision he is on track to make 100 million dollars next year.  Amazing!  What I love is the enthusiasm and passion they have for doing something they love. 

This is my hope with the development of the Certified Fitness Nurse™ course.  That you will continue to use the principles in this course, make money and take it further into what you see this training will do for you and those who you choose to serve.  You don’t have to exactly be me; but be passionate and use my model as a base to help you get going on the road to Certified Fitness Nursing™!

Please enjoy the interview and look for this great product from Thom Zwawa in Walmart!:

Also don’t forget about tomorrow great call with Cheryl Lloyd, about insurance and fitness nursing/certified fitness nursing™.
11am EST and 8am PST, Sat., Sept. 17th, 2011
Phone number:
(201) 793-0051
Access code:
704896#
Also you can listen through your computer here:
http://InstantTeleseminar.com/?eventID=22518120

For the recording (after the event, of course) go to:
www.CertifiedFitnessNurse.com and please opt-in, if you haven’t already.

Thank you for your interest and continued support,
The advisory board is complete go to:
http://www.certifiedfitnessnurse.com/CFN-Advisory-Committee.html

These dedicated health care professionals can see the vision where there needs to be a qualified, compassionate and knowledgeable HCP professional who the physician/APN can trust.  Not to just refer, but collaborate with their patient’s plan of care of improved health, by improving their pre-diabetes and inflammatory state through tried & true, sustainable waist reduction methods.

I’m looking forward to talking with you on 9/17!

Yours in Fitness & Nursing,
Lori (a.k.a. Minky)

9/11, Insurance questions?

Hello fitness nurses!

I celebrate summer all the way through here at the seasonal Jersey Shore.  I have about 2-3 more weeks of sun and fun left.  I like this time of year here because it’s quiet and I can bring PangPang.

9/11
Yesterday was the 10th anniversay of the 9/11 attacks.  I made a point of watching until my accountant’s husband’s name was read.  He worked for Cantor-Fitzgerald, floors 101-105 at WTC 1, over 650 people of that company died.  She showed such grace in the years that followed.  I remember how many people did not retreive their cars from the marinas, where they took the ferries from Atlantic Highlands into lower Manhattan to go to work, as they usually did.  For me, it was the day my mother was discharged from the hospital after her heart attack days earlier.

Her physician discharged her at 8:30am, little did we know that within an hour, no one else would be discharged or admitted on that day.  Later, I tried to imagine the anguish that those people felt, looking for their loved ones in lower Manhattan.  I said to myself over and over again, “Thank God I have my mother”.  9/11 to me marks the day that I felt blessed when there was anarchy and anguish for others.

My appreciation and amazement of my mother’s survival of a heart event was cut short by only 6 more years.  In 6 years of going to cardiac rehab, the gym MWF for 6 years, religiously following her endocrinologist’s orders, and trying to do the best she could… she died on a treadmill, November 2007, trying to live.  She had “the big one”.

But why?  The more I found out what happened to her the more I started to hate these 3 popular terms, “healthy diet”, “cardio” and “low-fat or fat free”.  So vague and subjective, yet so many people feel they are doing “their right thing”, just trying to live, like my mother but it wasn’t safe.  Like newsman, Tim Russert, my mom and many people like them could have avoided that fate of losing 20 years off their life.  Could a nurse trained in fitness as their specialty help people avoid that same fate by utilizing the tried and true waist reduction techniques used in conjuction with the skills of a professional nurse?

This began my journey into what is now the Certified Fitness Nurse™ course.
I reflected on that at the beach today:

"Time to finish up the CFN modules and check PangPang..."

Contemplation is good sometimes.  PangPang is good most of the time…

Is that PangPang in the bag or on the sand? (Ha!)

I got to work and finished up the CFN course modules and started planning this call on Saturday about insurance questions and Fitness Nursing.  I had to answer these questions myself, hence the switch to Certified Fitness Nurse™ when I give out advice.

I was having fun, making the people fit into my fingers.

Insurance
I wondered if I developed a fitness and waist reduction course, specific to what nurses do in our Nurse Practice Act, then give myself a title, can I be insured?  The answer is yes.

But can I get insurance calling myself a “fitness nurse” and not doing what nurses do in our Nurse Practice Act?  Not so sure.  Probably not as a professional nurse.  But you could get liability insurance as a “fitness professional” with a sports insurance company.  This is what I used to tell nurses who were working in fitness to do.  BECAUSE, you are working as a fitness professional.

We will being having a discussion on insurance and Fitness Nursing with Cheryl Lloyd, RN, this during this Saturday, on the CFN Preview call.
To get the recording go here:
www.CertifiedFitnessNurse.com

The call, “Insurance & Fitness Nursing”, is Saturday, September 17th, 11am EST, 8am PST.
Phone number:  (201) 793-0051
Access code:  704896# 
If you are on my Fitness Nursing mailing list you will receive the call information,
but not the recording.  Recording is sent to CFN lists only. 

I hope I haven’t done all this hard work at the beach for nothing, please call in with your questions or just listen and take notes.  I love to hear your feedback and what’s going on with you.
Yours in Fitness & Nursing,
Lori

No, I haven’t abandoned fitness nursing

So, you’ve noticed the new name of this blog.  No, I haven’t abandoned ‘fitness nursing’.  I’ve just stepped back from it. 

At the Jersey Shore, we have to have beach passes. I've done a lot of writing and researching for CFN over this summer. A lot more to go and I'm loving every minute of it!

I think that it’s great that nurses from all over, who are interested in fitness, have contacted me and have, many have, asked me for help.  Over the summer, here at the Jersey Shore, I’ve noticed a pattern of the e-mails that I have been getting.  The general title “fitness nurse” can be and is used by any nurse who works in fitness, wants to work in fitness and/or is looking to find a nurse-type job in fitness.  I didn’t invent the ‘fitness nursing’ title.  Actually, I first heard the title back in 1995 from, one of my mentors, Donna Cardillo, RN, of Cardillo & Associates.  Which brings me to why I am taking a step back from the general ‘fitness nursing’ title and promotion of that title.

Here’s the reason – It’s NOT me.  I hate to utter that stupid phrase, but hear goes, “Been there, done that.”  Not as gratifying for me anymore.  Maybe if I was just starting out, but not now.  It’s just not who I want to be, not anymore.  I don’t want to work in fitness; I want to work in nursing!  I feel that more specificity is needed, if I am going to put in the hours that I already am and work from my heart and passion in my soul.  Basically, I can’t control what all of you who call yourselves or want to call yourselves (fitness nurses) do.  For me to give guidance and help spread my message of halting metabolic syndrome and prediabetes through nursing skills and exercise, I have to do it my way.  Once you hear that message, you (fitness nurse or interested in fitness nursing) have to decide if you want to be a part of a specific group of fitness nurses who will become certified to do that (help me deliver that message) or develop your own fitness nursing career with your own rules; not mine.

I hope you get this.

I am NOT abandoning you!  If you want and need some mentoring or advice on how to get started doing ‘your own thing’ as a fitness nurse, I can still assist you.  I still will offer mentoring classes and private coaching.  And, when I am able, answer your e-mail questions as much as I can.  But to make myself clear, I am focusing on the development of this Certified Fitness Nurse™ course with a group of other healthcare professionals, in an collaborative effort to bring about the best client outcomes.

I will still send those of you have are on the general fitness nursing e-mail list, my monthly fitness nursing e-newsletter, with tips, announcements and recommendations.  But that’s pretty much it.  You may say, well, Lori, I haven’t gotten much from you anyway.  That’s because I have been writing curriculum all summer for this one-of-a-kind incredible and exciting course!  It took 4 weeks of writing, getting approvals, reviewing and editing, just for the CFN Standards of Practice alone!  Those of you who are on the Certified Fitness Nurse™ e-mail list will receive more often and more current updates with fresh, more focused and even hotter business tips for being a Certified Fitness Nurse™, because you have decided to take another step towards distinction of a profession that we are developing.

As far as the fitnessnursing.com website, I will still post your photos and businesses, if you want to still send them to me.  That website can serve as a place/platform for all fitness nurses to show yourselves and what your goals are.

If you haven’t figured it out yet, you can go to www.certifiedfitnessnurse.com and read more about our philosophy and the course.  As always, I welcome your comments.  By the way, most of you who comment on this blog are already of the Certified Fitness Nurse™ e-mail list.  Goes to my point of… I only want to market and spread my ideas to those who want to receive them.  If that’s 10 of you or 1,000 or more of you. 

Thank you for understanding and continued support please let me know if I can be of assistance to you as we all move forward into a new world of fitness and nursing!

Yours in Fitness & Nursing,
Lori

Principles of Certified Fitness Nurse™ Course

Hello fellow Fitness Nurses,

First let me say that you can see by my sparingly-entered posts that trying to handle everyone’s individual questions and concerns with fitness nursing is becoming overwhelming.  As much as I enjoy the e-mails and appreciate the support…afterall, I still can’t do it (expand the field of fitness nursing) alone…I am beginning to realize that then again, I can’t do it for you either.  Here’s what I’ve been up to:

Here I am traveling to 2 health fairs promoting my Restorative Fitness Nursing Business:  Do I look professional enough?  I collected a lot of e-mails and made some great contacts!

I have been feeling great since I changed my diet. No more bloat, fogginess, digestive disorders or allergies. Easy weight maintenance too. Best of all, I only exercise 2X a week. Really,the compliments are best of all!

Here’s the deal.  I have decided to standardized what I think would be the best route for the Certified Fitness Nurse™ in the venue of healthcare.  I am not asking for your approval.  If you do not agree with the principles below, that’s o.k.  You can develop your own fitness nurse description.  Over the past few months, I realized that since so many of you have different goals, places where you want to work, certifications that you want to take, that the best I can do is guide you along your path.  Which is what I intend to do with my mentoring classes on www.fitnessnurseonduty.com.  But for those of you who want a “Fitness Nurse in a Box” approach to starting, growing and working as a Certified Fitness Nurse™, I will be offering a Certified Fitness Nurse™ course (Spring 2012, maybe earlier) based on much of the audio below.  It is an interview with Dr. Kurt Harris, MD (Archevore) and “The Healthy Skeptic” on the best way to eat without causing more damage.  They talk a lot about irritable bowel, auto-immune diseases, leaky gut, diabetes, cholesterol, Vitamin D, meditation and much more:

[audio http://fitnessnursing.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/the_healthy_skeptic_podcast_episode_61.mp3]

Also if you want to hear a great lecture, from a Professor at Yale on evolutionary medicine, click on Evolutionary Medicine Review link under the blog roll , up and to the right.

The Certified Fitness Nurse™ course will focus on the best way to reverse the number one preventable health problem, metabolic disease and inflammation, as quickly and effectively as possible, which is to reduce your client’s body’s need for insulin.  To do that is to drastically reduce your client’s grain intake. 
The backbone diet and exercise general principles of the Certified Fitness Nurse™ program are:

  1. Psychosocial assessment/Building stress resistance/ Financial availability / Empowerment
  2. Drastic reduction in grains.  Wild rice and corn are allowed with certain individuals.  Limited tubers (sweet potatoes).  This way of eating is gluten-free and then some.
  3. Pastured eggs (if available), fermented dairy (full fat yogurt, sour cream, cottage, raw cheese, hard cheeses), oh, heavy cream and cod liver oil.
  4. Grass-fed/finished beef, lamb and other organ meats (limit factory-farm meats, income and availability considered), bacon, chicken, turkey, wild salmon and other fishes, nut butters, limited beans (like coffee, no refried!).
  5. All vegetable and fruits.  (Most carbohydrates come from here and the fermented dairy).  Not Atkins because you can have as many vegetables as carbs as you want.
  6. Cook only with butter, ghee, coconut oil, olive oil (low heat).  No vegetable oils (No processed soy, corn, canola, peanut, etc., these are oxidized PUFA’s, listen to recording for PUFA explanation and how they increase omega 6 inflammation)
  7. Use sweeteners rarely – raw honey (small amounts), xylitol and stevia.  No HFCS or artificial sweeteners like aspartame (most diet drinks), sucralose or nutrasweet.
  8. Exercise hard for twice a week.  (But briefly)  This is where you use your exercise modality for your tribe.
  9. Walk  daily (or as close to daily) for long distances; think about your walking in minutes rather than miles.
  10. Only eat 3-4 times a day (Eating 6 mini-meals a day is a diabetes starter kit, especially if you eat a lot of grains).
  11. Medication checklist (including supplements).  Can be included in FNA.
  12. Fitness Nursing Assessment (FNA) utilizing the nursing process.
  13. Increasing sleep and water (as necessary).
  14. Best lab tests to be ordered by physicians.
  15. Marketing to physicians and other healthcare professionals/legal issues/locations/length of programs/what & how to charge.
  16. Identifying your tribe and attracting them to you and your FN services.

(I am currently putting together an advisory board consisting of  3 RN’s, a registered dietitian with a holistic health background, a personal trainer with 40+ years experience, a physical therapist, a Pharm.D., and 2 physicians for this course.)

The goal of this program is to reduce your client’s need for insulin and to reduce inflammation.  This way of eating and exercising has been proven to be the best, safest and easiest way to get your client’s system to start to heal itself, naturally lose weight and maintain the weight loss effortlessly, lower all critical health tests.  It is close to a Paleo-Inspired way of eating.  But beans and legumes, corn and wild rice, fermented dairy and xylitol/stevia were not Paleo foods.
If you listen to the audio and like what you hear stay tuned, because this Certified Fitness Nurse™ program will be for you.  If you are not in agreement with the principles of the program (ie: vegan, long chronic cardio), then you can by all means develop your own program based on your research.  This program best serves the most chronically, not-feeling-so-great people, who as nurses, we can help the most.  Please don’t write me with your arguments, I will NOT change my view.  After over 25 years in fitness & nursing, I feel that I have tried and heard it all, I have a little  big chip on my shoulder, in other words…  I know best ;)   I do, however, respect your opinion, even if you profoundly disagree, you can write about it in detail on your own blog, then send me an e-mail and invite me to read it.  There, I’ve said it. 
Now let’s move on to what else you will need in the upcoming months to qualify for the course. 

You will need to be a licensed RN or LPN, have a current fitness certification (any) and/or college degree in an exercise science (this may change),
current CPR, proof of your intention of working as a fitness nurse:  business card, title you have given yourself as a fitness nurse, website, blog, facebook page, or even letterhead.

Keep in mind that you can work as a fitness nurse now!  If you want to get some help in how to do so NOW go to http://www.certifiedfitnessnurse.com/ for the next FREE Preview call is.  It’s like a Q & A on Certified Fitness Nursing, Fitness Nursing and developing your plan for fitness nursing success.
I hope this news excites most of you nurses who are fitness enthusiasts and are eager to explore where I have been for the past few years, working as a bonafide Fitness Nurse, within the healthcare realm, soon to be Certified Fitness Nurse™!

Yours in Fitness & Nursing,
Lori