In collaboration with the American Council on Exercise, a nonprofit corporation, the fitness project is looking for 25 people at eight sites on the Navajo Nation. The trainees will attend a three-day session to learn to be instructors. Interested people can get registration forms from their chapter, she said, and the training is free provided participants teach classes voluntarily at their chapters. Beginning Oct. 25 at Ganado, Barton said the training is the first of many to help the trainees learn specialized areas of instruction including exercise physiology, anatomy, weight control, motivation, pregnancy and emergency procedures. Each trainee will also become a member of the Navajo Nation Fitness Association which will have its first meeting on Oct. 21.
Health professionals agree that exercise can prevent and control diabetes.
We want to have our own Navajo Nation training team. Barton is hoping for a five-year budget after that. There is no cure for diabetes, only through exercise can you prevent the disease. Tricia Baglio, special projects coordinator for the American Council on Exercise, said ACE has certified over 80,000 fitness professionals in 88 countries. Due to the high incidence of diabetes among Native Americans, ACE is trying to assist other tribes by providing training, trainers, and certification of fitness instructors.