The second emotional change involves the more stable positive changes in mood that are virtually assured within a couple of months of regular exercise (at virtually any intensity and duration). While exercise scientists debate the basis for this emotional improvement (hypotheses have ranged from endorphin, serotonin and norepinephrine changes, to simply an increased sense of mastery and removal from the day’s worries that go along with exercise), its effects are undeniable, and have been confirmed through hundreds of studies.14

Fitness professionals can usethe feelings associated with individual bouts of exercise, and the cumulative emotion-changing effects of exercise over time, to improve individuals’ exercise longevity. While certainly different from typical, physiologically driven methods, using emotional change as motivation can pay off throughreductions in exerciser dropout. Following is a brief outline of each method.

Immediate exercise-induced feelings.This type of emotionalchange involves having clients focus on “pairing” a prescribed exercise session with pleasant, rejuvenated feelings. An appropriate prescription (for adherence) will reduce, rather than increase, fatigue (that was present before exercise began), and help to promote a sense of elation. Before designing an exercise program for clients using emotional response methods, make sure that they are suitable candidates for this approach (most times they are). It will be helpful to discover people’s aversionsto physical stress and discomfort;their ability to be persistent with other important tasks; and their ability to accept progress in sequential stages. Research finds that the70 percent of new and returning exercisers whoare at-risk for early dropout can benefit from this method.3

The second step when prescribing an emotional-based exercise program involves developing a plan around a participant’s likes and dislikes. This alone can promote adherence.18 If racquetball or aquatics is favored over cardiovascular machines, find a way to fit it into a formal prescription. Tie together a variety of different exercise modalities using a consistent rate of perceived exertion (RPE) value.7 That way, when an intensity that fits is found, it can be generalized across exercise types.

The third step for this type ofmethod evaluates how elements of the exercise prescription serve to alter the participant’s feeling states.

First, administer the Exercise-Induced Feeling Inventory (EFI)10 (Figure 1) just before an exercise session, and note the results. After completion of exercise, administer the EFI again.

Observe how the scores have changed. Positive engagement, revitalization and tranquility should raise after completion of exercise, and physical exhaustion should decline. A deviation from this pattern should be a concern to you, and a revision (usually a reduction in intensity and/or duration) is advised.

The fourth stepgives participants the knowledge to similarly monitor any changes they makein their program. If regular follow-ups are part of your facility’s system, you and your staff may remain in control of EFI assessments.

This low rate of hormone use may be the result of physician failure to discuss the therapy with their patients, suggests a new study by Johns Hopkins researchers.

“Women are significantly more likely to use [hormone replacement therapy] if their healthcare provider has discussed the therapy with them,” said Jerilyn Allen, Sc.D., R.N., lead author of the study, which appears in the November/December issue of the journal Women’s Health Issues.

“Women cannot make educated decisions unless they have the proper information,” added Allen, an associate professor at Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing.

The new study was based on a survey of 215 predominantly black, low-income women. The participants had either not menstruated for at least a year, or showed signs of estrogen deficiency.

Allen and her colleagues asked participants about their menopausal symptoms, their HRT use, and their knowledge and attitudes about these issues. They also collected data on a variety of social and economic factors.

About 20 percent of the women reported using HRT at the time of the study — a high proportion considering the population surveyed, the researchers reported.

Women who had had hysterectomies were most likely to take hormone therapy. Researchers speculate that these women might seek HRT to treat the severe hormone-related symptoms that accompany hysterectomies in which the ovaries are removed.

HRT users were also more likely to be employed full-time. Familiarity with HRT was another key factor in determining its use. The study showed that women who scored highest on a scale of “menopause knowledge” were about 30 percent more likely to take the supplements than were poorly informed subjects.

Knowledge about menopause and hormone supplements was strongly tied to having discussed these issues with a healthcare provider. And as other studies have demonstrated, women were more likely to use HRT if their healthcare provider had discussed the therapy with them.

“This study and previous ones show low-income, African-American women lack knowledge about menopause, but have a high interest in learning more about it,” said Allen. “It’s our job as providers to teach them.”

When asked why physicians tend not to discuss HRT with these patients, Allen cited time constraints and a possible lack of knowledge about HRT among primary care physicians.

“Providers need assistance in giving women this information,” advised Allen. “They need up-to-date, culturally specific and relevant literature to give to women. “

Allen suggested using nursing professionals, who may be more comfortable providing counseling and information to patients, for this task.

“We are not implying in our study that all women should be on hormone replacement therapy,” Allen stressed. “But, all women should be informed about HRT and about menopause.”

When women enter menopause, typically in their early 50s, their estrogen levels decrease. This decline is often accompanied by uncomfortable symptoms, such as hot flashes and vaginal dryness. HRT, commonly taken as a combination of estrogen and progesterone, is effective in alleviating these signs.

Studies have also indicated that HRT use in post-menopausal women lowers the rate of bone loss — an important precursor to osteoporosis — and may even protect against heart disease, the leading cause of death among women.

HRT use, however, has a downside. Users may encounter some side effects, including resumed monthly bleeding. Long-term HRT use has also been associated with a slightly increased risk of breast cancer in some studies. And, estrogen, when taken without progesterone, can cause uterine cancer.

Considering hormone replacement therapy can be a confusing process. Because of this, experts urge women to discuss the benefits and potential risks with a healthcare provider.

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The dramatic increase in consumer demand for anything “mind/body” may be a boon to mat suppliers and alternative health practitioners.

But for fitness clubs wanting to capitalize on this demand, it may spell bust unless proper care is taken when hiring credible instructors and creating lasting programming.

This article will lay out the steps you need to take to bring Pilates-style programming to your club — from hiring qualified instructors to acquiring equipment and space to marketing the program to your members.

Staffing

Racquetball director. The person responsible for the development of the racquetball program needs to be motivated and enthusiastic and have strong organizational skills. He/she should have, or be willing to attain, some form of recognized racquetball professional training (AmPRO offers such programs). The racquetball director should only be responsible for racquetball programs — not three or four different club activities. Public relations skills and an ability to create press releases and coordinate a marketing program are helpful assets.

The director position commands a reasonable base salary with some type of stipend based on results. A good director can increase club income from lessons, leagues, court time, membership sales related to racquetball, membership retention related to racquetball, tournament revenues and pro shop racquetball-related sales. Take into account such income-increasing potential when hiring a racquetball director.

Support staff. The support staff should include certified teaching professionals and motivated assistants to help with programs and event operation. The part-time assistants can help with program planning, lead generation, program operational functions and event logistics. The support staff and the teaching professional staff can both derive income from soliciting tournament or event sponsorships from local businesses through commission-based agreements.

Team building. The final component of staffing is to create a team atmosphere. This involves making all staff members aware of every program offered, and knowledgeable enough to provide members with information on them. Far too many clubs lose opportunities simply because a staff member is unaware of an event or program.

Your staff must want to be proactive. If staff members feel that knowing about programs is a waste of their time, any initiative in this domain will be lost. The first step in team building is to be certain that you have a motivated staff with the desire to help in all aspects of your club.

Regularly scheduled staff meetings are good ways to motivate employees. Meetings should be used to update employees on progress and to train and plan for upcoming programs. Obviously some staff members will be less interested than others in attending these meetings. To motivate everyone, stress the positives related to attendance, and then make the meetings fun and interesting, and include refreshments. You may also want to give awards such as “employee of the week.”

Have handouts available at the meetings listing all programs to be discussed. Someone should take minutes to be published and distributed later. You may present new ideas and programs as final concepts or present them as a rough draft and seek input from the attending staff. This way, your staff may feel more “ownership” and be more enthusiastic about promoting new programs.

Be sure to leave time for questions, comments and new ideas. Your service staff may have some excellent suggestions since they are the ones “on the front line” every day.

Another key element to team building is to motivate your staff to play racquetball. If staff members actually play, they may be more interested in what’s happening with club programs and the sport in general. Someone who is participating in what they are promoting will make a much more genuine plea for the sport.

People helping people
Networking is not about manipulation or being dishonest. Rather, it’s a human process of people helping people succeed. The key to getting started in lifelong networking is to have a genuine interest in finding out what others think about your field, career building, or some other common interest. Trust me, most of us are flattered to be considered as a resource. You will generally find people want to help you succeed. Remember, these contacts may have been as reluctant as you are when they first started their career-building efforts, so don’t be afraid to ask for advice in networking as well.

Be informed
If you aren’t much of a “talker,” have some good open-ended questions ready when you call or have lunch with a contact. Listen to them as they describe their experiences in moving up. Do be prepared, however, to answer questions about what you are most interested in doing and why. Don’t just say, “Well, I heard that Startup.com has great stock options and no dress code.” Do some homework if you are talking to someone from your favorite company. Describe the talents you can bring to the table. But, remember: These networking contacts are not made in order to ask for a job. They’re for listening to and connecting with people who know yet more people in areas that interest you.

More strategies
The following are some other effective strategies for building strong professional relationships:
Go to industry conferences and talk to people. Get their business cards and drop them a handwritten note (no, not an e-mail, if you want to make a powerful impression) saying it was nice to meet them.
Go to lunch with your old boss (presuming you left on good terms) or with a previous co-worker.
Send a holiday card or a note to that person you met at a seminar who was from a company you’ve had your eye on. Say you are impressed with the work they do and ask him/her to keep an eye out for opportunities.
Think about people in your life who you would least expect to provide a networking contact. You may be surprised to find out that Aunt Wanda’s brother-in-law is the CEO of your favorite start-up.

Speak up
Sometimes it’s hard to ask for what we want, but to be successful in networking you have to push yourself to speak up. Force yourself to make that first call to someone you’ve identified as a good source of industry news or as a source of other contacts. As the old line from a famous John Donne poem says, “no man is an island.” We can grow and profit from creating a web of acquaintances as we move through experiences, even experiences that seem to have no positive attributes at the time.

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* Cross-training lectures — what your options are, how to do it and how to remain injury-free.

* Sport-specific conditioning for skiing, jumping, ball and racquet sports.

* Sports lessons, such as tennis, in-line skating, scuba diving, swimming, triathlons and cycling.

* Walking, running and hiking clubs.

* Sports camps for children and adults.

* Sports leagues, such as volleyball, basketball, racquetball and roller-hockey.

* Physiology and biomechanics lectures by local physical therapists.

* Nutrition seminars and diet counseling.

* Mental training workshops.

* Indoor cycling sessions for cyclists.

* Ballroom, western, African, hip hop and other types of dance classes.

* Traditional beginning ballet, tap, jazz and acrobatics for adults and children.

* Yoga and martial arts classes.

* Hiking, backpacking, ropes courses, rock climbing, ocean swimming, whitewater rafting and kayaking, skiing, snowboarding and snowshoeing group trips.

* Sporting clubs within the health club for runners, walkers, skaters and pre- and post-natal women.

* Community team competitions to benefit local charities.

* Family activities, such as games, fun races, pool parties, softball and volleyball games.

* Cooperative social events with no pressure to win, just to participate, stay in shape and play.

While the traditional entertainment industry talks about high-definition television as the wave of the future, the high-technology industry is making personal computers the centre of the TV universe.

Two Canadian companies are at the forefront of this revolution. Both ATI Technologies (http://www.ati.com) and Matrox (http://www.matrox.com) sell computer video cards that let you watch TV on your computer monitor.

It certainly changes the way you think about television. I’ve often found myself taking time off from a document that I’ve been working on in order to tune into CNN or CBC Newsworld to watch a breaking news story, all on my home office PC.

Such technology also lets you record TV shows directly to your PC, so that you can watch them later at your leisure.

The concept of computer as television doesn’t stop there. Many people have buying high-quality videocassette recorders and big-screen TVs to put in place a home theatre, but I’ve taken the computer-based approach.

I plug my IBM Thinkpad, which is equipped with a DVD-ROM, into an Epson projector. The projector is normally used for computerized slide shows at a meeting or conference. But at home, it makes for a fabulous 100-inch TV image, with a picture quality that is nothing less than stunning.

Computer companies have been quick to recognize that the PC can rival traditional home entertainment equipment, and many of these firms market a “home theatre PC.”

The fact that DVD is a format common to both entertainment and computer equipment is leading to some rather strange circumstances. On a recent cross- country flight, I brought along a few DVD movies to watch on my laptop, correctly guessing that I wouldn’t like what the airline was showing. I could see a few people around the cabin, fascinated that I had my own personal “movie machine.”

Astute observers of technology are aware that the role of computers in the world of entertainment is only beginning, and will become even more interesting as the massive bandwidth of the optical fibre world reaches into our home and offices.

Companies such as Nortel Networks and Lucent Technologies are working on fibre technology that allows the transmission of massive quantities of information. One recent study suggests that some of the leading-edge technology being researched at Lucent affiliate Bell Labs allows up to 500,000 movies to be transmitted simultaneously through a single optical fibre. When that type of capability emerges, the role of the computer in the entertainment world will be complete.

Of course, there is a downside: Entertainment companies are finding it increasingly difficult to protect their property.

Just a few weeks ago, instructions surfaced on the Internet as to how people can make copies of DVD movies. Although lawyers quickly managed to shut down a few of the sites that posted such information, the software is out there and readily available.

And so we see a giant global Whack-a-Mole game in progress. Just as lawyers slam one site containing the software, it pops up and becomes available in thousands of other locations.

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The fourth season of Happy Holidays Giving Trees is approaching, and some modifications to the program have been made. In the second year, employees were allowed to buy any gift they wanted for the children, rather than limiting themselves to fitness items. The shelter also provided a list of items that the children needed. If people bought items that were on a certain child’s wish list, a tag was attached to the gift so it was easily identified by the shelter staff when the presents were dropped off. So many children were on the list in 1995 that a paper tree on a bulletin board near the artificial pine tree was needed to accommodate all the tags. That year, gifts for almost 70 children were provided. One of our divisions that had ownership in a motion picture company provided each child with a cassette tape soundtrack from a popular kid’s movie.

Last year, a detailed wish list from the shelter was provided to us, and the items were written on the tree tags along with the child’s name and age. Again, the tags were attached to the gifts as they were received so that each child received the appropriate gift. Employees also started asking more detailed questions about each child so they could provide the child with a culturally appropriate gift. For example, an African American child might appreciate a black Barbie Doll instead of a white Barbie Doll. Close to 60 children received gifts that they wanted in 1996 through the program.

This year, we anticipate writing the child’s name, age and race on each tag, along with the gift wanted to make the gift buying easier for the employees. We hope to continue this program for as long as we are in operation. It doesn’t cost us much, just some time and construction paper!

Concluding Thoughts

The partnership with the shelter has worked well (we are even in their mentoring program), and it makes us feel good that we can give something back to the community. While most people don’t start community outreach programs for their own gain, starting such a program can benefit your health club whether it’s private or public. In addition to the internal satisfaction, you can build community among members, increase club loyalty and generate positive media exposure.

Reasons For Male Baldness: Hair loss and thinning hair have many possible triggers. Certain individuals might experience major levels of hair loss following a major surgery or after an illness. Although the level of it always seems extreme to the individual, it is actually just a reaction to a particular event and usually the lost hair is regained after a certain amount of time.

Likewise, some drugs bring unwanted side effects, including hair loss. A few anticoagulants and the majority of the chemotherapy treatments that are used throughout cancer treatments are known to cause extreme and sometimes total hair loss. Fortunately, hair regrowth typically occurs with cessation of the drug culprit. In addition, hair loss may be triggered by certain drugs used to fight depression. Excessive use of Vitamin A may also have this effect.

The more usual physical reasons are hormonal imbalances, an under or over-active thyroid and some fungal infections. Additionally, it must be understood that hair loss could be a symptom of a more serious problem, such as lupus or diabetes. There are so many reasons hair loss might occur that it’s really not possible to make an amateur diagnosis. You should see your doctor for a professional diagnosis.

Hair Loss Treatment: Medically, scientists are still researching and testing various options that might help slow down or possibly regrow lost hair. Currently, we have two prescription medicines, including Rogaine and Propecia that are commonly used for treating male pattern baldness. Each of these drugs has gained approval from the regulatory agency called the FDA.

Not categorized as an OTC drug, Propecia is successful as a weapon against male pattern baldness. The treatment works by lowering certain chemical levels, such as dihydrotestosterone (DHT), which causes a reduction in the growth of hair. Propecia is recognized to work in inhibiting the hormonal process that results in hair loss. Propecia inhibits the loss of hair, even if it doesn’t always restore hair to its fullest growth.

Side Effects: As with every prescription medicine, Propecia might also cause some side effects, but most individuals have none or experience mild side effects. Propecia use is not documented to cause any widespread side effects. Here are some of the side effects that users of Propecia have experienced: erectile dysfunction; testicular pain; nipple discharge; tenderness, pain, lumps and/or enlargement of the breast; swollen tongue, lips and/or mouth; tightness of the chest; shortness of breath; itching, hives, rash.

If you experience an allergic reaction to Propecia, you must see your doctor right away.

Methods Of Purchasing Propecia Over The Internet:

Even though a prescription is required to obtain Propecia Finasteride, you don’t actually have to go to a doctor to get the prescription. If you decide to buy Propecia online, your decision will save you time and money.

While public clubs can provide mentoring, tutoring and after-school programs for local youth, a corporate fitness facility has a harder time reaching this at-risk population due to geographic and operational barriers. (The corporate health club is usually located within a company’s building and is not open to outsiders.) To overcome the barriers at our corporate fitness facility, we provide assistance to this at-risk population through our annual giving tree program during the December holiday season. A description of how we started the program, how it is run and its success could help your facility develop a similar program.

The First Year

In 1994, the “Happy Holidays Giving Tree” program was begun based on similar programs at local stores, religious institutions and mega-malls. Due to the nature of our business, the gifts under our tree focused on fitness items such as steps, basketballs, sweats or fitness videos. A local shelter was asked if we could provide holiday gifts for the residents that year. They happily gave us a list of names and ages of the current residents, and sent us information about their program to post by the giving tree. The program was advertised to company employees through email and posted flyers.

After Thanksgiving, an artificial pine tree was placed in each of our two fitness facilities with tags on the tree listing the names and ages of the children from the shelter. People were asked to take a tag off the tree, buy a fitness gift and bring the gift back to the fitness center unwrapped.

(The shelter wanted the gifts unwrapped so they could monitor what was given to the children for security and age-appropriate reasons.) The fitness center staff then delivered the gifts to the shelter in mid-December, allowing the shelter staff time to sort through the gifts and wrap them before Christmas.

An overwhelming response was received from our company employees, with more than 50 children receiving a fitness gift. Some employees pooled their money together to buy one large gift for a child, but most employees bought gifts individually. One division of our company that owned a professional basketball team provided every child with an official game ball. A thank-you message was sent to all employees who participated in the program, and the thank you letter we received from the shelter was displayed.