Brain Health and Exercise

Discover the brain benefits of exercise.

Brain Health and Exercise is one of the first professional resources to integrate current neuroscience with practical approaches to dual-task training and exercise programming. Designed for fitness and health professionals, this guide outlines how exercise sessions can incorporate cognitive demands to target attention, memory, executive function, and processing speed.

This book introduces the principles of brain health and the role of movement in cognition. Readers will explore the concept of dual-task training, which involves performing cognitive and physical tasks simultaneously, and how it can be used to challenge multiple domains of brain function. The scientific foundations of this approach are presented alongside real-world strategies to train both the brain and body.

Featured are over 70 dual-tasking drills and exercises designed to do the following:

• Focus attention
• Involve executive function
• Challenge memory
• Target processing speed

Each exercise includes step-by-step instructions, along with descriptions of the primary physical skill and cognitive domain it may target. In addition to drills, the guide outlines strategies to support the design of individualized programs.

Chapters also explore how variables such as exercise type (aerobic, resistance, and neuromotor exercise), frequency, duration, and intensity may affect aspects of brain function and behavior in various ways.

Brain Health and Exercise: A Professional’s Guide to Dual-Tasking Techniques and Programming is designed to support professionals in creating movement-based programs that incorporate cognitive demands while promoting brain health goals that clients may have. This guide provides a foundation for promoting brain health through exercise and the integration of dual-task training techniques.

Earn continuing education credits/units! A continuing education exam that uses this book is also available. It may be purchased separately or as part of a package that includes both the book and exam.

Audience

Personal trainers, group fitness instructors, and other fitness and allied health professionals.

Foreword
Introduction
Drill Finder

Part I. Principles of Cognitive Health
Chapter 1. Fundamentals of Applied Neuroscience
Chapter 2. Exercise and the Brain
Chapter 3. Science-Based Applications of Exercise Modalities and Dual-Tasking

Part II. Program Design
Chapter 4. Developing Brain Health-Oriented Exercise Programs 
Chapter 5. Applying Cognitive Tasks to Exercise
Chapter 6. Building an Allied Health Professional Network

Part III. Dual-Tasking Techniques
Chapter 7. Attention Drills
Chapter 8. Executive Functioning Techniques
Chapter 9. Memory Techniques
Chapter 10. Processing Speed Techniques

References
Index

Ryan Glatt, MSc, CPT, MES, NBC-HWC, is a certified personal trainer and a board-certified health and wellness coach with over a decade of experience. He focuses his exercise and health coaching strategies on brain health, personalizing lifestyle interventions for individuals with brain and cognitive health goals.

Glatt has studied at the Amen Clinics, the BrainFirst Institute, the Neuroscience Academy, and the Academy for Brain Health and Performance. He has a master’s of applied neuroscience from King’s College of London and is currently enrolled in a PhD program in leadership, with a minor in gerontology, through Concordia University of Chicago.

Glatt is a senior brain health coach and the director of the FitBrain program at Pacific Neuroscience Institute. As the developer of the program, he combines brain and body training (also called dual-task training) through “serious exergaming” (purposeful, goal-oriented games that involve physical movement), which utilizes innovative technologies to train cognitive and physical skills simultaneously. His passion for “games for good” has continued into the realm of brain health, and he actively consults for several technology companies in clinical exergaming, gamified rehabilitation, and dual-task training.

He also has a passion for continued education; he developed the first comprehensive course on brain health and exercise for health and fitness professionals, the Brain Health Trainer course, which is distributed by the American Council on Exercise (ACE). He is an experienced international speaker on the topic of brain health and exercise and enjoys educating professionals in a variety of settings.

Aimee Nicotera, MS, ACSM-EP, ACE-GFI, AFAA PFT, AHHPS Level 3, AFAA – GFI, is an international fitness presenter and owner of her own personal training business, with over 30 years of experience. She has served in roles such as health coach, high school health educator, corporate wellness advisor, and fitness director. With extensive experience creating and developing group fitness programs and consulting, researching, and writing for fitness companies—including Spartan, Life Time, and MOSSA—she is always exploring ways to create innovative fitness and wellness experiences.

Nicotera holds a bachelor’s degree in nutrition science, a master’s degree in health education, and numerous certifications, including ACSM’s Exercise Physiologist certification, ACE’s Group Fitness Instructor certification, and AFAA’s Personal Fitness Trainer credential. She holds the Institute of Motion’s Level 3 Applied Health and Human Performance Specialist credential, and she is creator of the fitness DVD series 2×2 Conditioning and Take 20! as well as the E5 Collective training format. Nicotera was the 2024 IDEA Fitness Instructor of the Year.