Antronette (Toni) Yancey, M.D., was born in Kansas City, Kansas, in 1957. She studied biochemistry and molecular biology at Northwestern University before attending Duke University for her M.D. and going on to pursue a long and successful career in public health and public health education. Dr. Yancey received a posthumous ACSM Citation Award in 2014. 

In her letter in support of Dr. Yancey’s nomination for the award, ACSM Past President NiCole Keith, wrote, “Dr. Yancey was certainly a luminary whose influence will continue to span decades. She was, to my knowledge, the only African American female physical activity researcher who also was a full professor at her academic institution. She mentored a core group of us to continue to strive for leadership opportunities that would put ourselves in positions to be decision makers to help make the world a better place — just as she did. Her creative inspiration spread through us and beyond us.” 

While serving as the director of public health for the city of Richmond, Virginia, Dr. Yancey championed a campaign called Rock! Richmond to encourage physical activity throughout the city. Then as director of chronic disease prevention and health promotion for Los Angeles County, she initiated LA Liftoff, which encouraged overweight and sedentary workers to take a 10-minute exercise break based on low-impact dance. The program later evolved into the concept of “Instant Recess,” which Dr. Yancey ultimately outlined in her 2010 book Instant Recess: Building a Nation 10 Minutes at a Time, focused on the nation’s health and fitness, particularly obesity and sedentary behavior, and the policies she laid out in it have been adopted at least 37 cities. Instant Recess earned Dr. Yancey a number of awards, in particular the 2012 Pioneering Innovation Award from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

Dr. Yancey, a professor in the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, was a co-founder of the school’s UCLA Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Equity, which promotes social justice and whose mission “focuses on eliminating disparities in incidence, prevalence, mortality and burden of disease experienced by disadvantaged and underserved populations.” 

Dr. Yancey’s passions extended far beyond her work, and she lived an interesting and multifaceted life: She was variously a D1 basketball player at Northwestern, a poet and a fashion model. And among other awards, she received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Association of Black Women Physicians; the California State Assembly 47th District's Woman of the Year honor; an Award for Excellence from the American Public Health Association; a WNBA Los Angeles Sparks Lisa Leslie Inspiring Women Award; a Women Who Dared Award from the California Black Women’s Health Project; a Champions of Health Professions Diversity Award from the California Wellness Foundation; a Joint Health Promotion Award from the California Public Health Association; a Lifetime Achievement Award from the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition; and a Health Education Achievement and Leadership Award from the Henry Ford Health System. 

Dr. Yancey passed away in 2013 at the age of 55 after a fight with lung cancer, but her legacy lives on in the communities she served and in the careers and achievements of those she mentored and inspired. 

We hear the phrase “It’s not what you know, but who you know.”  

This couldn’t be any truer when we’re talking about networking.  

I’m Dane Robinson, certified fitness professional, TV fitness coach and ACSM Health & Fitness Summit presenter. If you want to take your career further and faster, it’s all about networking. And here are my top three reasons why it works to network: 

No. 1 

Networking helps create ideas and turn them into action: When you’re thinking about a program you weren’t too sure about starting. Maybe you’re thinking about a career move. You need a little bit more insight. There’s always somebody that can help validate and create a little bit more insight to those ideas that you're ready to take action on, but only if you network! 

No. 2 

Networking creates so many opportunities you would never imagine you’re the perfect fit for! You are the ideal person for somebody’s program, for their leadership conference — heck, for their company! I wouldn’t have so many opportunities to educate, present and motivate fitness professionals across the country if I didn’t network at premiere events like the health and fitness summit. And that is not opinion — that is a fact! 

No. 3 

Networking undoubtedly creates collaboration. When we share our successes and we share our failures, we share our aspirations for where we hope to take the fitness industry. It allows us to make bigger and bolder moves. But we can only do that together when, yes, you guessed it: we network. 

Are you ready to take your networking to the next level? Join industry leaders like Dane at ACSM’s International Health & Fitness Summit!

Persistent pain is among the most common adverse effects to breast cancer and its treatments. It affects 25-60% of patients and can linger for several years as a source of considerable physical and psychological distress. Among other things, pain after breast cancer is a primary source of upper limb dysfunction and has been associated with greater levels of depression. These and other persistent pain-related issues collectively reduce the quality of life and perceived physical function of the patient, which is associated with increased breast cancer-related mortality. Unfortunately, there is currently a lack of knowledge on optimal management of persistent pain after breast cancer treatment. Consequently, the development of new and effective treatment strategies is of major clinical importance. 

In our study conducted at Aalborg University, published in the February 2023 issue of Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise^®, we performed a randomized controlled trial to investigate the effect of a 12-week supervised resistance training program using free weights on persistent pain after treatment for breast cancer. We randomly allocated 20 survivors of breast cancer with self-reported pain into either a control group or an experimental group. The time frame for this study was six months (three-month intervention and three-month follow up). We assessed muscular strength, pain intensity during everyday life and mechanical pain sensitivity at baseline, three and six months. Participants allocated to the experimental group trained twice a week, in groups of two to four individuals, supervised by a certified strength and conditioning coach. They performed five multi-joint free weight exercises in sequential order, each for 2-4 sets separated by 3-5 minutes of rest. The number of repetitions decreased from 10-12 down to 2-4 over the course of the 12 weeks, while load started at 60% of 1RM and increased according to the individual training response. 

The most important observations in this study were that our 12-week supervised resistance training program resulted in a 48% increase in 1RM, along with a 35% decrease in pain sensitivity. In addition, half the participants reported a decrease in everyday pain intensity of 20% or more. We found the gains in maximum strength largely remained following three months of detraining; however, the positive effects on pain had disappeared. Most notably, this suggests that resistance training can provide a clinically relevant improvement in persistent pain after breast cancer treatment. However, these benefits also appear to require consistent exposure and emphasize that resistance training for pain management is most likely a long-term commitment. 

In short, resistance training is a valuable tool in the arsenal of clinical professionals to combat persistent pain after breast cancer. As previously highlighted by the American College of Sports Medicine, it is a safe and well tolerated exercise modality for this population, with an ever-growing base of evidence for its potential. For all these reasons, investigators at Aalborg University and elsewhere will continue to pursue this work in other clinical populations. 

Gorm Henrik Fogh Rasmussen, Ph.D., is originally trained as a sports scientist with emphasis on biomechanics and neuroscience at Aalborg University, Denmark. His research area focuses on the clinical application of resistance exercise for managing adverse effects of cancer and its treatments, with a special emphasis on resistance training and pain. Dr. Rasmussen utilizes both qualitative and quantitative research methods in his work and completed his Ph.D. with supervision from Professor Pascal Madeleine (Dr. Scient, Ph.D.) and Associate Professor Mathias Kristiansen (Ph.D.). 

For new students walking into a group exercise class or group training session, intimidation can be brought on for a number of reasons. Feeling uncomfortable in the exercise setting, for any reason, can reduce the student’s enjoyment of the exercise, decrease the benefits of the exercise and can cause the student to become upset and even decide to leave the class or not return to the next class. It’s important for instructors and coaches to know why this intimidation may occur and be prepared with proactive strategies to combat it.  

Intimidation and Behavior Change 

Certified fitness professionals should be familiar with the transtheoretical model of behavior change and its phases of action. When a new client enters your class, they are likely in the action phase, where they are actively making behavior changes (for less than 6 months)*, and intimidation can be closely tied to the newness of, or the return to, the exercise environment. 

Some key points of intimidation can be: 

Start before the class/session 

Depending on the type of facility in with you teach/coach, you may or may not have access to a completed pre-participation screening form for your students ahead of the scheduled start time. Especially if you do not, making the time to seek out new students and have a brief conversation with them prior to hitting your “go” button will go a LONG way.  

Say hello to new students when you see them enter the class, and thank them for joining you. Introduce yourself, ask them their name and ask what brought them to class today. Apply your active listening skills* to interpret and anticipate their needs. This can help you to gauge where this person may be on their fitness journey and what, if any, experience they have with the format you are teaching. 

If you have not been able to review a pre-participation screening form, ask the student if they have any injuries or restrictions of which you should be aware before getting started. If they do mention anything, do a mental check of your class plan: Are there exercises or movements that will need to be modified for them? Depending on their response, you may need to follow up by asking for confirmation that they have received medical clearance to participate. (Moving forward from here, we will assume that they have been cleared to participate.) If they will require significant modifications or will need to use the assistance of equipment, let them know ahead of time when in the class to expect to look to you for modifications or assistance. You may even want to demonstrate those modifications for them ahead of the start of the class. Whether or not they mention any restrictions, assure them that they can look to you at any time during the class for modifications or assistance. Finally, direct them to collect any equipment they may need and where they can get set up for the start of the class. 

Check out part two, Cueing for Confidence: How to Keep New and/or Struggling Students on Pace for a Successful Class for tips on cueing throughout a class or group sessions in a way that help new students feel comfortable and engaged. COMING SOON!

*You can learn more about behavior change and active listening skills in the ACSM premium resources found here and in ACSM’s Resources for the Personal Trainer, 6th edition, chapters 7 and 9. 

Related Content: 
Blog | Music that Moves: Building a Playlist that Hits
Certification | Become an ACSM Certified Group Exercise Instructor^®

Caitlin Kinser, M.S., has been teaching group exercise classes since 2010. She’s taught in a variety of settings including fitness studios, large gyms, college campuses, youth/community centers and virtually. She has taught multiple formats, but her heart belongs to dance fitness. Caitlin owned and operated a boutique fitness studio for two years prior to joining the professional staff at the American College of Sports Medicine®, where she serves as the director of digital strategy.