Our Health & Wellness Foundations course is available in the US, Canada, UK and all EU countries.
Learn the fundamentals of health and wellness through beginner-friendly, evidence-based education. This self-paced online course explains nutrition, sustainable weight loss, chronic disease prevention, and how to design a workout routine that fits your current fitness level. You will learn the principles behind strength training, also called resistance training, and cardio workouts, including how to build a beginner workout plan at home with little or no equipment. Complex health science is translated into practical lessons you can use whether you are starting from scratch at 25 or starting over at 60.
Instead of handing you another meal plan or one-size-fits-all workout plan, this course teaches the principles behind healthy eating, strength training, cardio workouts, calories and chronic disease prevention. You will learn how to make informed decisions and build a workout routine that can change as your health, schedule and goals change.
No formal science background, gym experience or previous health education is required.
If two or three of those describe you, the free preview lessons are the fastest way to find out whether the teaching style fits.
The goal is not to memorize health terminology. It is to make better-informed decisions about food, exercise and your own health numbers in everyday life.
Evaluate nutrition, fitness and supplement claims by weighing the source, evidence, context and limitations, so fad diets and marketing are easier to spot.
Set realistic weight-loss goals using a sustainable calorie deficit instead of extreme dieting, cleanses or unsustainable challenges.
Understand heart disease and diabetes risk factors including blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar and the lifestyle behaviors that influence them.
Build a beginner strength-training workout routine for home or the gym using sensible exercise selection, sets, repetitions, training volume and progressive overload.
Structure cardio workouts around your current fitness level, schedule, heart rate and recovery needs.
Interpret common health numbers such as blood pressure, BMI, BMR and TDEE, including what each one does and does not tell you.
Plan meals and read food labels with practical attention to protein, fiber, added sugar, portion sizes, ultra-processed foods and your grocery budget.
Use AI tools such as ChatGPT more safely for health research and planning, while recognizing hallucinations and verifying what matters.
Each module combines concise instruction with practical activities. Open a module below to view its main outcomes and included activity.
Related: Chronic Disease Prevention and Why Muscle Mass Matters for Seniors .
Related: Free Cardiovascular Disease Awareness Mini-Course .
Related: Free Type 2 Diabetes Awareness Mini-Course Type 2 Diabetes Causes, Risks and Prevention .
Use the BMR Calculator . Related: The 80/20 Rule and How To Protect Your Muscle Mass During Weight Loss With GLP-1 Medications Mini-Course .
Use the Macronutrient Calculator . Related: Healthy Eating on a Budget , Optimal Protein Intake and Creatine Research Review .
Use the 1RM Calculator . Related: Full-Body Training vs. Body-Part Splits .
Related: The Truth About Cardio and Weight Loss .
Related: Truth in Fitness Marketing Mini-Course .
More than a collection of reading material. The course includes practical tools that help you apply, review and revisit what you learn.
Concise, beginner-friendly lessons on nutrition, strength training, cardio workouts, weight loss and disease prevention, organized into nine modules.
Guided exercises for goal setting, meal planning, building a workout routine and reviewing your progress.
Printable logs for habits, sleep, stress and blood pressure.
Hypothetical scenarios that help you apply course concepts and practice real decision-making.
Guided investigations for evaluating health evidence, sources and viral claims.
Receive a certificate of completion after finishing the course.
Return whenever you need a refresher and receive future course updates at no extra cost.
Health science is not static, and neither is this course. Your enrollment includes lifetime access to future revisions and course updates at no additional cost.
You can move through the course at your own pace and return whenever you are ready to work on a different area of your health, whether that is nutrition this month and strength training next year.
See our curriculum updates
Chris has more than 14 years of experience teaching health, kinesiology and exercise science at the college level at Bryan University. He created this course to translate foundational nutrition and exercise science into an accessible, structured format for adult beginners.
Rather than promoting a particular diet, exercise trend or proprietary wellness system, the course focuses on durable, time-tested principles, practical decision-making and health literacy. There are no supplements to buy and no coaching upsell.
Founder and owner of Innova Vita Fitness
You do not need to use AI to complete the course. The core lessons, explanations and learning outcomes stand on their own.
Optional activities show you how free AI assistants such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Grok, Copilot or Meta AI can help you explore a concept, draft a starting point for a meal or workout plan, get feedback on a hypothetical case study, or organize questions before a doctor's appointment.
Just as importantly, the course covers where these tools fail: what AI hallucinations are, why an AI chatbot is not a substitute for a doctor or dietitian, what health information you should never paste into a chat window, and how to fact-check an answer before you act on it.
Optional prompt templates are included. No paid AI subscription is required, since they work with the free tier of most large language models.
This course is designed for adult beginners who want a structured, evidence-based way to understand nutrition, exercise, weight loss and long-term health.
It is especially useful if you feel overwhelmed by conflicting advice, are tired of piecing together isolated tips from social media, or are starting over at 40, 50 or 60.
No. The course begins with foundational concepts and explains nutrition and exercise science in beginner-friendly language.
There are no academic prerequisites, and you do not need previous fitness or health-education experience.
No. You can use the course principles to build an at-home workout routine with little or no equipment, using body weight, resistance bands or a pair of dumbbells.
The same strength-training principles transfer directly to a gym if you have access to one. The course explains how to adapt your workout plan to machines, free weights and different experience levels.
Yes. The chronic disease modules cover heart disease risk factors, high blood pressure, also called hypertension, cholesterol, blood sugar, insulin resistance, prediabetes and type 2 diabetes risk.
These modules are educational. They are designed to help you understand your own numbers and prepare better questions for your healthcare provider, not to diagnose or treat any condition.
No. The course assumes no fitness background and begins with conservative starting points. It is appropriate for older beginners, including adults starting over at 50, 60 or beyond.
The course discusses strength training for older adults and seniors, including why muscle mass, strength and protein intake become more important with age and how to progress while respecting joints, mobility and recovery.
The course discusses GLP-1 medications such as semaglutide in the context of accelerated weight loss, with particular attention to why protein intake and strength training matter for preserving muscle mass.
The course does not provide medical advice about starting, stopping or dosing any medication. Those decisions belong with your prescribing clinician.
The estimated course workload is approximately 20 hours, but the course is completely self-paced. Most individual lessons take about 5 to 10 minutes to read.
Worksheets and case studies may take longer, while some tracking activities are designed to be completed over several days or weeks. Lifetime access means there is no deadline.
The course is hosted on Thinkific and works on desktop, tablet and mobile devices.
The curriculum primarily uses concise text lessons supported by short video module introductions, worksheets, habit-tracking logs, case studies and other guided activities.
Yes, as an optional track. The course includes prompt templates and beginner guidance for using free AI assistants such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Grok, Copilot or Meta AI to explore health concepts and organize research.
It also teaches the part most people skip: recognizing AI hallucinations, protecting your health privacy, and verifying an answer before you act on it.
No. AI activities are optional and are not required to learn the course's core health concepts.
Every learning outcome can be completed without opening an AI tool. Using one can make optional activities more interactive by allowing you to ask follow-up questions, compare explanations and organize your ideas.
Enrollment includes all nine modules and more than 80 learning resources, including lessons, worksheets, workout-planning activities, habit trackers, case studies, guided research activities, optional AI prompt templates and a certificate of completion.
You also receive lifetime access and future course updates at no additional cost.
No. This course is intended for personal health education. It does not provide a professional fitness, nutrition, medical or healthcare credential.
The certificate confirms course completion but does not confer a professional license or scope of practice. The course is also not a substitute for individualized care from a qualified healthcare professional.
Certifications from organizations such as NASM, ACE or NBHWC are built to qualify you to work with clients, and they are priced and structured around that goal.
This course is built for your own health, not a career. It teaches underlying nutrition and exercise science in plain language, without exam preparation, coaching-business content or a professional scope of practice.
Due to the digital nature of the course and the proprietary materials made available immediately after enrollment, refunds are not offered.
Free preview lessons are available so you can review the teaching style, platform and course format before purchasing. We also have a course-readiness guide so you can assess how well the course fits your needs.
If you are an adult beginner who wants to understand nutrition, exercise, weight loss and long-term health without following another extreme program, this course gives you a structured place to begin.
$250 one-time payment • Self-paced • Lifetime access
Prefer installments? Make five payments of $50
Secure checkout through Thinkific. Both payment options include lifetime access.
