FitnessZone 2.58

Welcome to FitnessZone!

My name is Sharon Vosco, I am an Exercise Physiology Specialist. I am a faculty member at the Zinman College, Wingate Institute (Israel). Since 2001 I have been coordinating and teaching the academic course of certified personal trainers as well as other courses conducted at the Zinman College such as weight raining, children and resistance training and other seminars.

I have been involved in the fitness industry for over 30 years. Fitness and the science of fitness & exercise are my passion. I have been doing strength and aerobic training for over three decades. As a scientist, Teacher, Health & Fitness instructor and as Personal Trainer I often come across people who are convinced that they exercise in an effective and safe manner, but are actually training ineffectively or sometimes even promoting injuries. The reason for this is that fitness training in recent decades has developed from a sport in small gyms practiced by bodybuilders, to a training or even lifestyle in high tech and luxurious fitness and health centers performed by all sorts of people. The theory behind much of the training, despite the professionalization of the industry, has sadly has not been able to keep up with the fitness industry, which often leads to people training in a less effective or even dangerous manner. This occurs even though a large body of research now confirms that fitness and exercise play very important role in maintaining a healthy lifestyle and/or improving performance. Much research has been published on more effective and safer training methods, but the translation into practice is still lacking.

The purpose of FitnessZone is to translate the latest scientific writings into effective and safe training advice, and to clarify or give extra background information about different methods of training. When applied properly, fitness training is one of the most effective tools in achieving a healthy body weight, in preventing or treating many chronic diseases and is therefore essential for a healthy lifestyle. Moreover, fitness can enhance performance in all sports and can be modified to suit each individual, resulting in an effective training for everyone.

About the author:

I have started training when I was 14 years old. As I was training and making progress I got increasingly interested in the sport, I wanted to know more about training methods and how they effected the human body and to learn how I can become stronger and gain muscle mass with training and proper nutrition. I bought magazines from the US like Muscle & Fitness, Flex, etc. to expand my knowledge but the studies regarding science and training conducted at that time were very limited and most of them were unavailable to the general public because in those days the internet was not yet available.

Over time, with many years of training under my belt as well as being a fitness instructor and personal trainer, and supported by all the courses I had the pleasure of attending during my studies, I had a much better understanding of what training can do for your health & fitness. Over the years I noticed that many (if not most) people used training methods which were shown to be ineffective or even counterproductive relaying on unsupported information provided over the web and/or based on myths or “advice” given by their training partners which sadly again is not supported by any scientific findings. Even many of the professional fitness instructors and personal trainers I come across are not up to date. So there is something wrong with the translation of science into practice.

As a passionate fitness professional, I want to implement the most effective training so that those who train perform optimally and stay as fit and healthy as possible. As a exercise physiology and personal trainer I strive after giving my clients the best and most effective training possible. I achieve this by using the latest scientific studies on training and translate theory into practice. To reach a larger audience, I created this site so are able to better understand why exercise is so important.


Education:

1998-2000 Master of Arts in Kinesiology - Exercise Physiology (The University of Texas at Austin)

1993-1997 Bachelor of Education Physical Education (Zinman College [Wingate Institute in Israel])

1995-1997 Cardiac & Pulmonary Rehabilitation (Zinman College)

1996 Fitness Instructor (Zinman College)

1996 Personal Trainer (Zinman College)