Clubindustry

Yesterday, I read a Reuters article about a study that showed that most people with Type 2 diabetes don‘t exercise like their doctors recommend. In fact, less than 40 percent actually exercise despite another study showing that 75 percent of those with diabetes had been advised by their doctors to exercise. What is worse is that the more health issues a person has related to their diabetes (therefore, those who would benefit the most from exercise), the less likely they are to be active.

I think the problem lies in that doctors don‘t go beyond advising their patients to exercise. They are too busy to set up an exercise plan or to take the time to recommend a workout routine. That‘s where clubs can come into play. It‘s so important for the fitness industry to continue to improve its reputation and for fitness facility owners, managers and personal trainers to develop a good rapport with the medical community. By doing so, doctors can recommend that their patients visit an “approved” list of facilities and choose one that best meets their needs and best helps them implement a program to curb their health issues. Of course, that means that our personal trainers and dieticians must know how to work with this population–but that‘s a whole other story. Perhaps this is good fodder for my next editorial in the magazine. If you have any suggestions about how to make this fitness/medical connection, let me know using the comment button below. -Pam

Mike Hansen, CEO and president of iTECH Fitness, contacted me more than a month ago about an interactive fitness research lab that was opening at the University of South Florida in Tampa, FL. Not much research has been done on interactive fitness in general (mostly just some research on individual equipment) so I was interested in hearing more about the lab. Mike let me know that the XRKade Research Lab in the university‘s School of Physical Education, Wellness and Sports Studies held an open house last Friday with about 100 Y operators, school district personnel, manufacturers and other interested parties on hand throughout the day.

Today, I spoke with Lisa Witherspoon, the doctoral student who is heading the lab. The lab started because of Lisa’s interest in interactive fitness (which includes exergaming or screen/video-based equipment). She has a background in physical education and had helped open a fitness facility in New Jersey that offered some interactive fitness equipment. She was amazed at the way the children played with the equipment, she said. Then, she met Dr. Steven Sanders, the chair of the School of Physical Education, Wellness and Sports Studies at USF, who encouraged her to come down to Tampa and do her doctorate in this area, promising that they‘d find space for a lab somewhere on campus.

Well, they certainly did. Now, Lisa is working with several other departments on campus (psychology, physiology, behavioral science, special education and others) to create studies related to interactive gaming. She hopes to publish the results in various journals.

Several Ys and school districts attended the open house on Friday, and several already expressed interest in installing some of the equipment in their facilities.

The XRKade lab was created through donations from iTECH Fitness and the company’s corporate partners. Equipment included in the lab (and used once a week by the 5th grade student subjects from three schools located on the campus of the university) are X-Board, Dance Dance Revolution, Game Bikes, 3-Kick, Trazer, iJoy, CoreTrainer and Korebalance.

Lisa hopes to develop curriculum around interactive fitness for schools, and she says that if her studies prove that interactive fitness keeps children motivated and energized about exercising, that fitness facilities will also become more interested in installing this equipment for children. In fact, they might even install the equipment for adults, since many of the parents of the children participating in the studies have visited the lab and want to use the equipment while their children are in school. Lisa even has difficulty keeping the college students who are helping her with the research off of the equipment.

I think some solid research in this area could help convince more Ys, JCCs, university and for-profit facilities that they should invest in more interactive fitness to help keep adult and children members motivated. What a great boost in the retention area if the research shows these products can help.

Do you have interactive fitness equipment installed at your facility? If so, what has the response been? If not, what would make you install the equipment? Use the comment button below to let us know your thoughts.

Read the February issue to find out more about the lab and the open house. - Pam

This past summer I had the amazing opportunity to visit Naval Station Norfolk. The Morale, Recreation and Welfare (MWR) department there showed me around air craft carriers, amphibious ships and plenty of other classes of ships that I can‘t remember the name of but are nonetheless remarkable (including the USS Eisenhower pictured at left). It was on this trip that I finally “got” what it meant to be a Navy fitness professional (reporting from your desk in Overland Park, KS, isn‘t always the easiest way to experience the beat you‘re covering). At the time of my trip, Naval Station Norfolk‘s MWR was working on a number of new initiatives, one of which was hiring Waterfront Fitness Specialists–fitness trainers who help bridge the gap between fitness on shore and at sea. Today, I was happy to learn that they introduced two people in this position: Jodie Byrkett and Susan Lowry. It‘s exciting and interesting to see what Navy fitness professionals can do in confined spaces (such as a small room on a ship in the middle of the ocean), and it will be fun to see how these waterfront fitness specialists can help keep our sailors in the best shape possible, no matter where they are.

You can read more about this in the Feb. 1 issue of Newsbeat or the February print issue. To read other news about military fitness, check out our dedicated government and miltitary page. -Jennipher

Usually I‘m not a fan of meetings, but today I was fortunate to participate in two productive meetings that I think will benefit you in the end. This morning, the editorial staff met with our online guru, Laurie Kokoruda, about how to spice up our Web site even further with more photos, tables and charts in our online versions of the feature articles. Our art director, Jen Ray, will be working diligently to add even more graphics to the site to make your time here more enjoyable and educational. If you have suggestions for other improvements we can make to the site, e-mail me at pkufahl@prismb2b.com.

In this afternoon‘s meeting, Amy, Jenn and I brainstormed with Zari Stahl, our show director, and Stacey Orlick, our conference director, about topics for sessions at the Club Industry National show, which will occur Oct. 10-13, 2007, in Chicago. Stacey and Zari will develop some of these ideas into all-day sessions and others will become 90-minute sessions. Look for the topics to appear on the show‘s Web site sometime in the next several months.

Putting together a show is a lot of work, and I‘m glad there‘s a whole unit of our company devoted to it. However, the editorial staff enjoys brainstorming with our show group, and I think that this year you‘ll see even more exciting topics and ideas at the Club Industry National show. Hope to see you there in the fall! - Pam

I spoke with Bret Blount at Nautilus Inc. at the end of the day yesterday about a new line of strength equipment that the company is introducing. They are keeping the details quiet until they introduce the line at the IHRSA show in late March. However, Bret invited the editors to Nautilus‘ headquarters in Vancouver, WA, in mid March to see the line. We hope to make it there. I‘ve promised not to reveal any details about the line until after the IHRSA unveiling, but as soon as I can give you more information, I will do so on this blog and in the pages of our magazine. From what Bret has told me so far, I think this line could have other strength manufacturers working hard to follow suit. - Pam

At the last Athletic Business show back in November, I attended an eye-opening session: “Legal Liability: Nutrition, Weight Management and Supplements.” The seminar was given by JoAnn Eickhoff-Shemek, University of South Florida professor and coordinator of the undergraduate exercise science program; and Cynthia Sass, American Dietetic Association spokesperson and registered dietitian (RD). And, my goodness was it eye opening.

See, everyone in this business knows that when it comes to being healthy, diet and nutrition go hand in hand, so it seems natural for personal trainers and other certified fitness staff to speak with their clients about healthy eating habits and supplements. However, it‘s a very fine line between what‘s okay and what‘s too much. In fact, most of the professionals in the room during that seminar didn‘t know that, legally, it‘s not okay for their personal trainers to “prescribe” their clients specific meal plans or supplements. In the February issue, I‘ll explore that issue (scope of practice) and its legal ramifications.

Thankfully both Eickhoff-Shemek and Sass agreed to an interview and lent their professional knowledge and expertise to the piece. I also have a few calls in to some health clubs with RDs on staff (if you‘d like to be contacted for the story feel free to e-mail me at jshaver@prismb2b.com), and just yesterday our Art Director Jennifer Ray and I visited AYC Fitness Personal Fitness Training in Prairie Village, KS. Owner Greg Justice gave us the full tour of his two-story personal training studio and graciously answered my questions on everything from industry trends to sports-specific training to (the reason of my visit) supplements and scope of practice. Like most facilities, AYC does sell supplements, but Justice is careful to not cross the line between personal trainer and nutritionist. He gives general advice not specifics.

To learn more about this topic check out the February issue. Thanks for reading, and feel free to post or e-mail me your comments! -Jennipher

I learned a lot about aquatics programming this morning when I interviewed John Spannuth, CEO and president of the U.S. Water Fitness Association in Boynton Beach, FL (www.uswfa.com). He was a wealth of information about aquatic trends. According to John, aquatic personal training is the hottest thing going. Some places are offering 200 or more aquatic personal training sessions each week. That’s a lot of revenue when you consider a facility can charge $35 to $150 per hour for aquatic personal training. He sees it as a growing revenue source for fitness facility owners just as land-based personal training has been.

“It’s just starting to build, but in five years, it could be the number one revenue-producing program for aquatics facilities,” he told me.

He is also pushing aquatics training for athletes at colleges and universities. Mississippi College in Clinton, MS, is one college that has made aquatics a part of athletic training for its track, basketball, football, tennis and other programs.

I’ll be sharing more of what he said in the February story on aquatics. Look for it soon! - Pam

For our February issue, I am writing an article about the Hispanic market, which has nearly $1 trillion in buying power, according to Hispanic USA, a consulting firm that helps corporate America understand the Hispanic market. I’ve interviewed many interesting sources such as Jay Hirschorn, the owner of J’s Big Gym, a 15,000-square-foot club in the “Little Santo Domingo” neighborhood of New York. About 80 percent of his 4,000 members are Latino, and all of his employees are bilingual. I’m also looking for other clubs that target the Hispanic market. Please send high-resolution photos of your club and information about your facility and its services to Amy Fischbach at afischbach@prismb2b.com.

Lots of exciting stuff coming your way with the February issue. I just completed an interview this morning with Howard Brodsky, CEO of New York Health & Racquet Clubs (NYHRC). An abbreviated version of the interview will appear as a Q&A in the February issue in our newly relaunched department, Five Minutes With. We plan to feature other top-level executives in future issues. A longer version of the interview will appear online. Brodsky addressed several issues that I think facility owners and managers will find interesting, including the company’s plans for expansion, his thoughts about competition and how he keeps each club fully staffed at a time when many club owners are finding that more difficult.

Amy Fischbach is working on a story about clubs that are reaching out to the Hispanic market. Although we continue to hear that the senior, Baby Boomer and youth markets are the groups to reach, the Hispanic population is exploding in this country, too. Some clubs are already targeting this group much to the pleasure of their pocketbooks. The story will definitely be worth the read.

I also participated in a conference call with our Club Industry show group this morning. We discussed some exciting ideas for the Club Industry East show this June in Orlando. I’ll be able to discuss some of those ideas in this blog at a future date. Orlando is a new location for the show, but one that will be an exciting change of pace (and space). It will allow the regional and local club companies, military fitness and university fitness groups located in Florida and the South to more easily attend the show, which previously had been in the Northeast. Of course, the location and the timing also makes it an opportune time to bring the family for a little vacation! If you want more details about the show, check out the Club Industry East Web site here. - Pam

Our first real post for this blog comes just a few days after sending our January issue to the printer. With the holidays, the January issue generally ends up going to the printer about a week later than normal. We’ve been working on the February issue as well, but now work on that issue begins in earnest so we can get back on track with the magazine production. Unfortunately, the company has been hit hard with a nasty computer virus that is affecting all of our computers. I’m glad I’m not one of our IT or Help Desk people right now!

Big news hit in the industry recently about Wellbridge Co. The co-founder and CEO, Ed Williams, along with COO Jay Kell and a company out of Japan purchased Wellbridge in late December. It had been well known that they were looking to be sold, and they had been slowly selling off a few clubs here and there. I hope to interview Williams or Kell soon about their plans for the company. I’ll let you know here if that happens and when you might expect to see it in the magazine and on our Web site. - Pam