Tammy Petersen Founder and Managing Partner Tammy Petersen is the Founder and Managing Partner for the American Academy of Health and Fitness. She has written two books on older adult fitness and designed corresponding training programs. Her manual, SrFit, is used nationwide as the textbook for a college based course for personal trainers who wish to work with older adults. SrFit is also the basis for an advanced training home study course that qualifies for up to 20 contact hours of CEU credit with the major personal trainer certification organizations and 24 hours with the athletic training Board of Certification. Tammy’s educational background includes Bachelor of Science degrees in marketing and economics from Pittsburg State University, Pittsburg, Kansas. She holds a Master of Science in Education in the area of health and fitness, with an emphasis in geriatrics, from the University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas. Her professional associations include serving as an adjunct faculty member of the National Exercise and Sports Trainer's Association (NESTA), an American Council on Exercise (ACE) faculty member, and a member of the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM). She is an author for Personal Training on the Net. Additionally, her articles have appeared in IHRSA’s Club Business for Entrepreneurs, Personal Fitness Professional and Club Industry’s Fitness Business Pro. She also volunteers her expertise in the area of developing billing codes for insurance reimbursement for ABC Coding Solutions (formerly Alternative Link).

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My husband is an Internist and Geriatrician. Unhappy with partners that did not share his passion for working with seniors, he started his own practice and now he also manages the practices of five other providers who strictly serve the geriatric population. Working with him over the years as the group’s Executive Director, I was responsible for everything from credentialing with insurance companies, to billing, to working with patients in a customer service role and at the clinic. I also attended conferences like the American Medical Directors Association with my husband and spent time in skilled nursing facilities. This gave me experience and contacts in many areas.

Prior to the opening of my husband’s geriatric practice, and before taking a break to raise three children, I was employed as a credit and fraud analyst for Mobil Oil. And later I worked as a manager for DST, a large company that provided financial and management services for the majority of mutual funds and annuities in the United States. After deciding to become an around the clock mom, I worked on a volunteer basis to raise awareness of the need for retirement and assisted living facilities in addition to our community’s long-term care facility. Beverly Enterprises, one of the nation’s largest nursing home corporations, enlisted my help in construction of a BBOP (Beverly Business Opportunity Plan). Statistical market analysis of surrounding communities, along with surveys of local businesses, resulted in a 300-page document that guided development of a proposal to corporate officers. That proposal suggested expansion of the existing nursing home campus to include an assisted living facility, daycare center and fitness center.

This project made me realize what a need there was for people to rally for our seniors (and, as fate would have it, this is also when my husband realized he needed an executive director!). I was extremely busy for a few years, but I went back to school to get the education that I needed to meet my goal of making a difference in the lives of seniors. I feel that I now have a background and perspective that allows for a unique opportunity to design programs that can help bring about the cultural changes we so desperately need for seniors at all levels of health and independence. I also believe that I can use much of this same experience to build a bridge between the medical and fitness industries that will benefit all age groups. So I decided to put my knowledge to work and founded the American Academy of Health and Fitness.

The missions of AAHF are: (1) Through correspondence course, workshops and website, provide advanced training and education for Certified Personal Trainers who are serious about ensuring safe and effective programs for the older adult. (2) Link the fitness and medical communities’ proactive health efforts via a lifestyle change program for physicians’ patients. And, (3) Provide easily accessible, relevant on-line training for Certified Nurses Assistances/Aides that focuses on increasing the functionality of nursing home residents.

I also want to help insure that the job of personal training grows into a true allied health profession and I would like my website and consequently the American Academy of Health and Fitness, to be the "portal" of senior fitness for the personal trainer. Personal trainers will find the AAHF to be a valuable resource that provides access to training programs, tools from other industry experts, industry news, and links to an extensive list of resources. My dream is for personal trainers to associate my name with senior fitness like they do Phil Kaplan’s for successful business or Wayne Westcott’s with strength training—and to deserve that distinction.