Since the inaugurallaunch of group cyclingin 1995, it has undergone bothridicule and praise. Group cycling has been praised as a fun and safe activity, yet it has been ridiculed due to the sometimes inappropriate use of the bikes.

Class members riding without seats, using hand weights and rubber bands, and using inappropriate intensities have brought negativeattention to group cycling.

If performed properly, however, and if catered to its participants, group cycling has many benefits.

How can a club maximize the success of group cycling? Points to consider when implementing a programinclude facilitation, physiology, biomechanics and kinematics.

“We thought, ‘how can we draw attention to ourselves in such a busy environment where we looked like everybody else?’” says Libby Donathan, Center for Health Promotion manager. “We knew this program would be time-consuming but that’s our job — health promotion is what we do.” Costumes represent monthly health-promotion themes. For example, during Family Health Month, wellness staff dressed as “The Flinstones” and distributed immunization guides; for Men’s and Women’s Health Issues, two staffers dressed as a bride and groom and passed out men’s and women’s health journals; and for Summer Safety Month, hospital employees were visited by crash-test dummies, who distributed literature on auto and boat safety, along with UV-protection sunglasses.

“The employees look forward to seeing us every month,” Donathan says. “They have even given us suggestions for future costumes and themes. They laugh and smile about wellness now, instead of grumbling.” In fact, the suggestion of dedicating April “Humor Month” came from hospital employees, Donathan says. For this theme, staffers dressed as the Riddler from Batman and distributed literature on stress management.

Since starting the program in September 1994, Donathan says 700 new members have joined the wellness center (a 133-percent increase), and overall health awareness has increased 20 percent.

In addition to having made wellness more entertaining, Donathan says the “Wellness Walk Thru” program has succeeded for one simple reason: “Most institutions rely on people coming in their front door. Instead of waiting for people to come see us, we take our programs to them.”

The elliptical study

Since research on elliptical trainers is so limited, a two-part study was conducted at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse to shed some light on the effectiveness of these new machines.4 The first portion of the study compared the intensity of a workout on an elliptical trainer to several other common exercise modalities. Specifically, the study compared exercising on the NordicTrack Ellipse to running or walking on a Trimline 1000 motorized treadmill, stepping on a Precor 921e hydraulic stepper and riding a Tunturi cycle ergometer. The second portion of the study involved documenting the vertical ground reaction forces in the feet while exercising on these modalities. One of the major problems with jogging and other high-impact aerobic activities is, because the body becomes airborne and has to land, forces equal to 24 times a person’s body weight must be absorbed on landing. These forces are initially absorbed by the foot and then are transmitted to the ankle, knee, hip or back, often resulting in injury.

Sixteen volunteers between the ages of 27 and 54 practiced on each machine until they were comfortable setting workloads and consistently exercising on them. The participants then completed a 20-minute exercise bout on each modality on a separate day.

Each bout was conducted at a self-selected intensity. This model is more realistic for the public, as most people who buy or use exercise equipment tend to exercise at their own pace. During each exercise bout, oxygen consumption, heart rate, ratings of perceived exertion and caloric expenditure were recorded.

On a separate day, the subjects completed a 5-minute bout of exercise on each modality and had vertical ground reaction (impact) forces measured in their feet. This was accomplished by placing a wafer-thin insert into both shoes. These inserts were interfaced with a computerized program that measured force production throughout the entire gait cycle. Peak forces were then determined, which were subsequently represented as a percentage of each subject’s body weight.

Since implementing the program in January 1995, “our service has never earned less than a 4.7 rating out of a possible 5.0,” Haskins says.

Spotlight on achievement
AlliedSignal Employee Health & Fitness Center
Morristown, N.J.
Fitness Achievers and Wall of Fame Program

Role models may not be easy to come by, but at the AlliedSignal Employee Health & Fitness Center in Morristown, N.J., the facility is full of them. After all, they’re the members.

Each month, the facility recognizes two members (male and female) by displaying their outstanding fitness accomplishments on the corporate fitness center’s Wall of Fame. Displays include member biographies, photos and personal fitness statistics, including improvements in upper-body strength, cardiovascular capacity, total cholesterol, body weight, body fat and more.

According to Program Manager Christine Kane Haskins, the Wall of Fame not only inspires fitness achievers to continue leading a healthful lifestyle, but motivates and attracts other members to make serious commitments to an exercise program. “Members are chosen based on facts and data, not popularity,” Haskins says. “Members enjoy reading the interesting biographies and often say, ‘What do I need to do to be chosen?’”

As of September, the program identified 20 outstanding achievers, all of whom received recognition on the Wall of Fame, as well as “Fitbucks” to be used to purchase items from the pro-shop.

In addition to spotlighting current fitness achievers, the Wall of Fame demonstrates ongoing recognition of all past achievers by continuing to post their names, photos and month of achievement. Bulletin boards are designed in a clean, professional manner, and are organized and color-coded. “Our creative displays attract many potential members and tours because of their professional appearance,” Haskins says. “Departments and work teams continuously tour the center to benchmark our visual displays.” Haskins says all displays are made in-house with materials purchased in bulk, keeping the cost of the program low.

Fee plan ‘charters’ retention
Aero-Fitness Health Center
Oklahoma City, Okla.
Sliding Fee Scale for Charter Members
Aero-Fitness, a newly opened commercial fitness facility, wanted to ensure long-term retention right from the beginning. To do so, it created an innovative reward program for its members. The “charter membership program” was promoted for three months, and guaranteed that the club would decrease fees each year of a four-year period for members who maintained monthly memberships without interruption.

The program enabled the club to stabilize its monthly dues revenue during normally low usage periods. Additionally, it allows Aero-Fitness to get the benefits of a long-term membership contract while its members are still on monthly membership contracts. Rich Burkholder, director for Aero-Fitness, emphasizes that this program is a “win/win situation financially for both [the] business and [the] clients.” Members were attracted to the program because it promised a minimum of $250 savings over the ensuing four-year period, while still allowing them to pay monthly and discontinue membership if the need arose. Creating a “charter membership” also allows Aero-Fitness to highlight these long-term members for other promotions and incentives, adding even more value to long-term memberships.

Did it work? Aero-Fitness claims to have increased new membership sales by an average of 26 percent during the three-month promotion, and the retention rate for “charter members” has held at about 88 percent.

Tracking customer satisfaction
AlliedSignal Employee Health & Fitness Center
Morristown, N.J.
Customers First, Last and Always!

Although committed to excellent customer service, a business cannot truly track visitor satisfaction without input from its patrons.

The management team at AlliedSignal Employee Health and Fitness Center begins with member surveys to evaluate satisfaction with its programs and services, and continues the dialogue by charting survey responses and sharing the results with both employees and members.

Customer satisfaction takes a multitiered approach at the Morristown, N.J., health and fitness center, explains Program Manager Christine Kane Haskins. Member response to service at the center is gathered through biannual surveys, class instructor evaluations, a suggestion box and quarterly focus groups, among other methods. “The emphasis on customer satisfaction is not perceived as a service,” Haskins says, “it is how we work.” Gathering information about members’ needs and perceptions has been dubbed “the discovery process” by employees who rotate the task of obtaining and analyzing the data.

For me, the end of softball season used to mean getting on with more personal items that were difficult to accomplish during the season. But the end of the season also meant slacking off on my strengthening exercises that I diligently performed throughout the season to improve my skills. Bear in mind, however, that now is the opportune time to start setting your goals for improving your skills for next season. Instead of trying to jam in those strengthening exercises one week before the first game, (which we all do) consider performing them in the off-season as well.

Remember, all the major muscle groups are used in softball. (We are reminded of this the day following our first practice). I tend to concentrate on my upper body workout as this happens to be the weakest part of my body (this is apparent when looking at my batting average).

What many people don’t know is that the power of your swing originates in your legs and continues upward.

Lower body strength is important and extra abdominal work is a must for softball players. Most players lose a great deal of power at the abdominals due to lack of strength.

The swing continues to the upper body and ends at the snap of the wrists. Strengthening my wrists was key for me. I combined grip squeezes with wrist exercises performed with light hand weights. Several years ago I sprained my wrist sliding during a game, so my wrist strengthening exercises not only provide me with more power in my bat but they also help prevent re-injury by building up the muscle surrounding the injury.

I also continue to run during the off-season to make sure I don’t lose my endurance. In the spring, I like to run faster for shorter distances to prepare for sprinting (in case that bat actually connects with the ball and I might have to run).

So go ahead and hang up those spikes, but consider taking advantage of the off-season to motivate yourself to improve your performance for next season. It’s a great time to set new goals and please, forget about that ground ball you let get through the infield and get on with your life!

Florida has some of the most beautiful rivers in the world. I have kayaked in England and in Africa. Whilst these countries may have heart pounding rapids and are set amongst dramatic scenery, none can calm the soul like the gentle, clear rivers of Florida as they wind their way through scenery that has not changed much since the mastodons roamed the trails nearby.

The Florida State Parks have aggressively saved many areas of swamplands and natural vegetation to preserve the purity of the rivers. The state relies on the water in the underground aquifer (a natural “water trap” underlying the state) for all its water needs. This has resulted in a bonus for naturalists and canoeists. To ensure a clean water supply for industry and tourism, the rivers must be kept pure. Consequently, the State Parks are a vital necessity to Florida’s survival.

Nearly all of Florida’s Rivers start off as natural springs shooting up from the ground with immense force. This incredibly pure and clear water slowly flows over white sand beds to the Gulf of Mexico or the Atlantic Ocean. In some places, it flows through heavily treed swamps. This gives the water a tea color, yet it is still clear enough to see through. Other springs flow crystal clear until they meet the sea. Smaller springs can be seen bubbling up from behind the rocks as you paddle down the river. These add to the flow of water and cause the original narrow river to widen as it meanders across the Florida Wetlands. Fish, looking as if you could just reach down and touch them, glide in the clear water amongst the natural grasses growing luxuriantly on the bottom. The grasses lean permanently south as the flowing water never ceases to move.

During the summer, many tourists lay supine on rubber tires, drifting with the current until they are burnt a glowing red by the sun! But, in winter, when the wildlife populations in Florida are at their peaks, the rivers are quiet and left to the real nature lovers.

As birds migrate to Florida in the winter, the rivers of Florida become a bird watcher’s paradise. You may be lucky enough to see the Roseate Spoonbill at the estuary of one of the rivers emptying into Tampa Bay. Or, as we did, you might witness a hawk tearing at its kill on an old log beside the river while paddling quietly on the tea colored Hillsborough River.

An abundance of manatees spend their winters in the Crystal Springs River, luxuriating in the warm sheltered waters too. The manatees accumulate algae and sea lice from the ocean and wash it off during the winter in the pure, fresh waters. They also escape to rivers to heal from their cuts and scars made by the propellers of pleasure boats in the busy Florida Bays. I have had the privilege of swimming with the manatees in the gulf off a Florida beach, however, while the manatees are in the river springs, visitors are requested not to interfere with them, so we just watch as they swim by majestically.

Turtles scuttle off floating logs as your canoe or kayak approaches, and butterflies abound, as winter is a flowering season for many of Florida’s plants.

One of our favorite rivers is the Rainbow River in the Rainbow Springs State Park near Dunnellon. We start near the headspring basin, where the river begins. We then paddle south enjoying the constant water temperature of 72 degrees Fahrenheit and the warm morning sun that takes the chill off the cool night.

By the time we are halfway to our pick up point, having seen many fish, birds, and turtles, our bodies are warm and we are again feeling the physical exhilaration that paddling in unison can bring. The crisp, oxygen rich air of the river has revitalized our blood and the natural beauties of the river have revitalized our spirits. We stop for lunch at our special spot, where the river divides and creates a small island. As we paddle on, the river becomes more civilized, fishermen and houses appear. Our pick up point approaches. Although we were only on the river for four hours, it feels as though we have left civilization for a substantial period of time. Refreshed, we pull our kayak up on the sand and wait for the pick up to take us back to civilization.

It is best to vary your training resistances and repetitions to prevent boredom and encourage results. Alternate your training among the following three categories:

* Light Resistance – up to 65% of your one rep maximum weight, 12 (or more) repetitions
* Medium Resistance – 60% to 80% of your one rep maximum weight, 8-12 repetitions
* Heavy Resistance – weights above 75% of your one rep maximum weight, 1-8 Repetitions.

Conclusion:

Think of your body as a whole first – then train its divided (muscular) categories accordingly. Understand your fitness and/or athletic requirements (such as shape, strength, flexibility, stamina, fat loss, speed, etc.) and train for all of these requirements on a regular (weekly) basis. Stress a complete and balanced program, and take each work-out as a whole. This means you should never over-emphasize strong areas or “favorite exercises.” Weak areas must be taken seriously and approached as Top Priority. The development of weak areas will enable you to become a complete athlete and build a balanced, symmetrical physique. And remember to apply correct technique to your training. Great success in all you do!

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Exercise should be a pleasurable, growing experience

In order to maintain a lifetime program, you must enjoy it.

Once aerobic fitness is established you will miss the days you cannot exercise because of scheduling conflicts or illness.

You are the accumulated product of the habits of a lifetime: years of activity or inactivity, years of an intelligent life-style or of abuse, years of emotional balance or stressed-out imbalance. To expect overnight reversals of lifetime patterns is not reasonable.

4. The First Step
There are several groups of people interested in health and fitness:
Those who are attempting to or are trying to optimize their situation or condition
Those who want to optimize their situation or condition.
Those who wish they wanted to optimize their situation or condition.

This manual is for the first two groups. All that is necessary to join the first two groups is to begin this, or any other, comprehensive health enhancement program.

Beginners: Tell your doctor, family, friends & / or co-workers of your exercise / health commitment. This communication to others will help with sticking with your commitment.

To expect overnight changes is silly. To strive for unreasonably quick results can be harmful.

Start out slowly and reasonably.

Enjoy.

In order to maintain a lifetime program, you must enjoy it.

Beginners tend to want to take on an impossible load of discipline at the outset. Sometimes it is hard to control your enthusiasm. But control and discipline also mean knowing how much is too much..

Your goals should be realistic.

Short-term goals and long -term objectives should be compatible and complementary. An example is the short-range goal of losing 3 pounds per week, combined with the long-range goal of losing 20 ( or 50 lbs ) pounds & maintaining the weight loss within predetermined parameters.

The first step is the hardest.

If you can get through the first 6 weeks of the Ultimate Aerobic Program, you will begin to see and feel many positive changes in both your body and your personality.

You will begin to achieve your goals of weight loss and weight redistribution.

You will experience increased levels of energy and vitality, better sleep, and easier stress control.

Plus you will notice a sense of pride over what you are doing for yourself.

These changes will provide the motivation you need to continue.

I workout for hedonistic purposes: It makes me feel good!

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Commit yourself to the Ultimate Aerobic complete fitness program, including exercise, diet, and life-style, for 6 weeks and take the first steps down the road to optimizing your personal, unique and individual level of health and fitness.

Firefighters, police officers, and military personnel all need a high degree of physical fitness. If you are interested in joining one of these professions, you should make sure you get into good shape before you apply.

Firefighters in particular need good physical strength, particularly upper body strength. It is especially important for women applicants, who tend to be lacking in upper body strength, to work hard to get stronger. The recommended routine involves working in the 6 to 10 repetition range, where you add more weight when you can do 10 reps and decrease weight if you can’t do 6. Emphasize multi-joint exercises, like pull-ups, pulldowns, and rowing motions for your back, and flat and incline bench presses and military presses for your chest and shoulders. For firefighting, you also need strong forearms and grip strength. Some biceps and triceps work is useful, but do not put your emphasis on your arms or on bodybuilding isolation exercises. Remember your goal is strength, not appearance. Work for strong abs, not necessarily a 6 pack. You will, of course, look better when you are strong, but you may not have extreme muscle definition.

You do well working out hard 3 days a week, but a split routine may be even better, if it fits into your schedule. Work the pushing muscles (chest, shoulders, triceps) one day and pulling muscles (back, forearms, biceps) the next. Take a day or two off and repeat, so you work out an average of 4 times a week. Do some leg work, like squats or leg presses plus stiff-leg deadlifts, on your back day, and do abs 3 times a week. Firefighters need cardio endurance, but too much cardio can compromise your strength training results. Limit running to 2 miles, and emphasize 20 minutes of hard stationary cycling or swimming a few times a week.

Police training typically requires more running than the firefighter routine, but upper body strength, including hand and forearm, is still important. If you’re just getting started, work up to running 5 miles, do push-ups, pull-ups, and ab crunches, then work on higher resistance strength exercises.

The military aims to get you in shape during basic training, and they do, but there is a minimum fitness level required before you can be accepted. Most importantly, being in good shape when you join will reduce the chance of injury during training. Again, this is of interest to women, who are more likely than men to be injured during training, but also tend to have a lower fitness level at induction.

Men, in general, are larger and stronger than women. There will probably always be more male than female firefighters, police, and soldiers. Women, however, can and do not only join but excel in these professions. If they have not been active and athletic, they have more work to do to get in shape, but many can do it. Sedentary men are also well advised to increase their strength and fitness before applying for any of these demanding professions.

Good nutrition and adequate rest are also necessary for you to get the most out of your fitness program.

Check with the agency you are interested in joining for their physical requirements and recommendations and give yourself plenty of time to get in shape. Men will not have the luxury of working on only their chest and biceps, and women will not be able to concentrate on “toning.” Hard work is called for, but if you have a strong desire for one of these or another profession that requires strength and fitness, it will be worth it. Always check with your doctor before starting a vigorous exercise program.