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EA SPORTS Active - Will 2009 Ring In The Mainstream Adoption of Exergaming?

                                      

2009 is shaping up (pun intended) to be the year that exergames break into the mainstreams conscious as a legitimate source for deriving real exercise benefits. At the 2008 Club Industry trade show in Chicago, Fitspott met with a number of companies promoting some of these innovative exergaming solutions focused on both the in-home and health club markets.

During the show we were intrigued by the level of camaraderie that existed between these companies, in spite of the fact that they are competitors. After speaking with some of their representatives, we realized they are all bound by the common goal of achieving a mainstream adoption of their exergaming products and programs.     

The 2 questions that always seem to surround the topic of exergaming are as follows:

Are exergames capable of producing real physiological results?

Are exergames capable of keeping a users attention over a prolonged period of time or will a user lose interest after the novelty wears off?

If EA SPORTS Active (launching in the spring) has any say in the matter, these questions will be answered definitively once and for all.

About EA SPORTS Active

Developed in collaboration with fitness experts, including Bob Greene – renowned exercise physiologist, author and Oprah’s personal trainer – EA SPORTS Active is perfect for the whole family, though designed specifically for women seeking a simple, fun and cost-effective way to achieve a healthy lifestyle. The product will be the first in a new line of EA SPORTS fitness and sports performance products in development to improve the well-being of people of all ages.

“EA SPORTS Active and our entrance into the fitness space is an exciting and groundbreaking milestone for EA SPORTS,” said Peter Moore, president, EA SPORTS. “As we continue to expand our brand, we have a real opportunity to redefine the home fitness experience with a more Western cardiovascular approach and exercises that will appeal to a diverse audience, getting people off the couch and into shape while interacting with our products in a way never before possible. EA SPORTS Active costs less than a gym membership, it provides a variety of exercises unlike a one dimensional in-home fitness contraption, and it delivers an interactive experience that you don’t get from a DVD – this is a true fitness revolution and a space in which we intend to be leaders.”

EA SPORTS Active features a wide variety of interactive activities combined into a circuit that target both the upper and lower body as well as cardio, and supports two players to allow family or friends to get fit together. EA SPORTS Active provides a new level of motivation with on-screen, real-time feedback on your workout such as calories burned, while also allowing you to adjust intensity levels.  EA SPORTS Active ships with a specially-designed leg strap that hold the Wii’s Nunchuk controller to track lower body movements, as well as a resistance band to support a number of upper body strength training exercises.

 

Source: EA SPORTS Active press release

 

Fitspott will be testing out the EA SPORTS Active in the middle of February and will post a full report on our experience.

 

Over the next few months, Fitspott will review other promising exergaming products/programs and will interview experts in the field to get a pulse on how the mainstream adoption of exergaming is progressing.  

 

We are very optimistic about the role that exergaming will play in targeting the childhood obesity epidemic and are committed to promoting companies involved in these efforts.

 

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2009 Will Be Your Year Right? We Predict It Will.

It’s a new year and, as usual, one of the top resolutions for 2009 is to get in shape. With so many options available for getting fit, there’s no reason to let a workout grow stale and boring. Now, more than ever, there are ways to keep your workout routine fresh and interesting. Here are some of  Fitspott's predictions for the hottest exercise trends for 2009.

 

Exercise trends for 2009: Integrated workouts

 

While aerobics still play an important role for calorie burning and toning the heart, in 2009 you’re likely to see aerobic moves incorporated into muscle toning routines. Instead of thirty minutes of straight, heart pumping aerobics, you’ll see calorie burning moves such as plyometrics or jumping rope alternating with resistance moves using barbells or resistance bands. This back and forth action burns more calories while simultaneously toning muscles. It also saves time by combining aerobics and strength training into one comprehensive workout.

 

Exercise trends for 2009: Quick workouts

 

For busy people like me who have limited time to exercise, expect to see more "fast workouts" that still get the job done. Studies now show that high intensity exercise for short periods burns more calories and offers more cardiovascular benefits than longer, less intense exercise sessions. Expect the number of ten minute, intense workouts offered on DVD’s to increase as people strive to maximize their time as well as their workout benefits.

 

Exercise trends for 2009: Senior oriented workouts

 

With the baby boomers aging, they’ll be more demand for exercise options for seniors. This will mean more water aerobics classes, low impact aerobics, as well as stretching and balance classes. Water aerobic classes provide the perfect workout for older Americans with joint problems such as arthritis.

 

Exercise trends for 2009: Mind-body fitness workouts

 

Exercise for 2009 will be experiential for the mind as well as the body. Yoga classes which balance mind and body are gaining in popularity as people discover their stress relieving benefits. It also doesn’t hurt that a study conducted on middle aged adults showed that those who practiced yoga lost an average of five pounds over a decade without changing their diet. You can also expect to see more classes combining yoga and Pilates. An example of this type of exercise can be demonstrated by our friends new program Pitaiyo which is designed to soothe the mind as well as tone the abdominal core region.

 

Exercise trends for 2009: Focusing on fun

 

The fitness world now acknowledges that it’s easier to stick with an exercise routine if it’s something you enjoy. Expect to see more focus on fun fitness in 2009 with lots of exergamer options incorporating video and fun. These games can be played by yourself or with the entire family. With no more than the space in your living room, a gentle shove to the corner of your coffee table, a TV and a game console such as the Nintendo Wii, you can enjoy breaking a sweat while boxing, bowling (well maybe no sweat on this one) or even throwing lawn darts. The only real criteria is that you enjoy doing it.

 

Our 2009 Fitness trend predictions offers a lot of options for getting into great shape. So what’s holding you back?

Fitness Professionals - Are You A Twitter Taker or Giver?

I think that it is safe to say that by now, Twitter is starting to become as recognizable of a household name as Facebook. I know this because my 70+ year old parents, the human mainstream technology barometers, have heard of Twitter. 

Fitspott has actively been involved with Twitter for about 4 weeks and we are ADDICTED. Almost every day a new application is introduced that makes Twitter an even more valuable networking and communication tool. We have even heard rumors that some of the biggest online companies are developing applications to improve the Twitter experience. 

In short, Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that allows its users to send and read other users' updates (otherwise known as tweets), which are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length.Updates are displayed on the user's profile page and delivered to other users who have signed up to receive them. Senders can restrict delivery to those in their circle of friends (delivery to everyone being the default). Users can receive updates via the Twitter website as well as a host of other platforms.

Source: Wikipedia

To be honest when I first heard of Twitter I was skeptical. The mundane statements coming across my status updates on Facebook ("I just blinked", "i just made a cup of tea", "I just said goodnight to my fish") made it hard for me to believe that Twitter would be worth taking the time to learn. Boy was I wrong!

For me, the most suprising benefit of Twitter has been the constant stream of valuable information I actually GET from Twitter. In my 4 short weeks on Twitter, I have built a small, but growing network of fitness trainers, fitness leaders, exercise enthusiasts, social media gurus, bloggers, journalists, business consultants, exergamers, etc.

Using twhirl, a twitter client that automatically refreshes new tweets, I am delivered a constant stream of fascinating information (links, pics, video, music and more) from people that I am following.

Twitter offers fitness professionals a unique opportunity to share their expertise with a global, but even more important, captive audience. So here is the question of the day: Are you a Twitter Taker or Giver? Do you use Twitter to promote your training tips, techniques and products or are you happy sitting back and absorbing this information from others. There are no right answers here as I suspect it would include a little bit of both.

Fitspott will select a new fitness professional each month to describe his/her experiences with Twitter and how it has helped their business.

LightLane - A Concept To Make Nighttime Bike Riding a Little Safer

                                                                     As a lifelong NYC resident I am well aware of the hazards of trying to go for a bike ride at night. I am not talking about the kind of bike riding exhibited by the fearless city bike messengers, but the night time cardiovascular type bike ride in the suburbs. (yes I know I should not be wearing my ipod)

The little flashing lights that can be affixed to most bikes are hard to see, providing very little time for either the driver or the bike rider to react. Evan Gant & Alex Tee might have come up with a way to help to minimize this risk with their concept called LightLane. 

Fitspott came across the concept called LightLane on the Yanko Design website. Only a small fraction of streets have dedicated bike lanes, and with an installation cost of $5,000 - $50,000 per mile, we shouldn’t expect to find them everywhere anytime soon. LightLane projects a crisply defined virtual bike lane onto pavement, using a laser, providing the driver with a familiar boundary to avoid.

It appears based on Yanko Design that the concept has not yet been put into production. This is definitely one of those "Why didn't I think of that ideas" that will probably do very well if/when it hits the market. It will definitely come in handy in the summer as it will allow me to feel more comfortable about working late, knowing I can still get in my workout...and not having to fear for my life with every stroke of the pedal. 

Image and Content Source: Yanko Design

  

A Tip for Getting Skeptics To Embrace Social Media - Take a Page from EMINEM's Playbook

About a week ago, I re-watched the movie 8-Mile starring EMINEM. In the final scene, EMINEM must square off with another freestyle rapper looking to "dis" (discredit) him in front of the crowd. A few minutes before the battle, Eminem has a revelation. He realizes that if he proactively tells the crowd all the negative things his opponent is going to about to say about him, his opponent will have nothing shocking to say.

Sure enough, Eminem ends his rhyme with the statement "now go and tell these people something they don't know about me"...his competition is left speechless and Eminem wins the battle.

I have been noticing that when speaking with personal trainers, health clubs and organizations (both fitness and non-fitness related) that are skeptical about embracing social media, their objections are all starting to sound the same.

- My kids are on that "mybook" and "spaceface" or whatever they are called and I do not understand how it can help my business.

- I don't have the time or resources to devote to learning a new thing on the computer.

- Our customers, clients or audience do not embrace social media and therefore it would be a waste of time.

- We would rather not get involved than say the wrong thing and risk harming our brand. 

- Our customers, clients, audience and even our competitors will learn our secrets and use it as a forum to publicly "dis" us.

- Our upper management would never go for it so we do not suggest it.

- etc.

Just like Eminem was able to turn the tables on his competitor, you can potentially beat a social media skeptic to the punch by addressing some of their possible objections before they do. Eminem's character was able to use this technique successfully because he heard the same negative criticisms repeated his whole life and knew what exactly what his competition was going to say. You can do the same.

If you have the opportunity of doing a little research before meeting with a skeptic, you can blind side them with examples of their competitors already using social media. Here is a great article with specific tactics to address some of the objections mentioned above.

Fitspott  would love to hear from others within the health and fitness industry that are using social media to help grow their business.

You can now follow Fitspott on Twitter http://twitter.com/fitspott

Transitioning From a Personal Trainer To A Health Club/Studio Owner (Part 2)

Ok, Where was I? Right, I was going to report about my first hand experience with making the transition from a personal trainer to a health club owner. To be fair, I will admit that I did not build the club from scratch but took over from existing owners.

This had both its pros and cons.

On the plus side, I did not have to spend years dealing with the architects, contractors and vendors as they built the monster of a facility.

On the negative side, I adopted every facility (Did I mention the club had 6 pools and I never even owned a kiddie pool?), faculty and member issue with absolutely no operations manual.

I went from being a beloved trainer/therapist of the rich and famous to the reason for everything that was wrong in the world.

Examples:

No toilet paper - My Fault

Pools 1 degree to warm or too cold - My fault

Aerobic instructor cancelled -  My fault

Paychecks off by a nickel - My fault

Lightbulb is out - My fault

Are you noticing a pattern here? It took a solid 4-5 months before things were somewhat under control and I came to terms with my new role.

During these initial  challenging months I learned a few invaluable lessons:

1) Every employee values their area as the most important thing in the world. When a problem came up, my employees always demanded my immediate attention as the issue was the most important thing in the world to THEM. In such a big facility with so many moving parts, it quickly became clear that I needed to identify a way of dealing with this chaos. I decided to make it a rule that no employee could come to me with a significant issue unless they had researched 3 solutions on their own. This one little rule made all the difference in the world. The employees felt more of an ownership of their area and I did not have to deal with every issue from square 1.

2) It is important to identify the most responsible and accountable employees and put them in charge of their areas.

3) It is critical to make a detailed list of every vendor that could possibly be needed within a facility. It is a lot easier to make a quick phone call than thumb through the phone book while the water is draining out of the pool and we do not know where it is going.

4) Most importantly, it is imperative to fully understand the business model/funding requirements of running a health club. Whether it is a small personal training studio or a large health club, the overhead and responsibilities are much different than running a one man personal training business. If expenses exceed cash flow and there is not adequate funding, the grim reaper will be signing up for an all inclusive membership.   

Making the transition from a personal trainer to the managing partner of a health club was one of the best and most challenging experiences of my professional career. I felt like I was given a virtual masters degree in running a business.

In spite of its challenges, I would not discourage any personal trainer from doing the same. I would just strongly recommend that you do your homework in great detail beforehand.

If you have a story that could help a budding health and fitness entrepreneur, Fitspott would love to hear about it.

You can also now follow Fitspott on Twitter: http://twitter.com/fitspott

Transitioning From a Personal Trainer To A Health Club/Studio Owner (Part 1)

Tell me if this scenario sounds familiar:

1) You start out your career as a floor trainer in a local health picking up weights and giving orientations to new members. (you may or may not be in school for exercise physiology or one of the related sports sciences but you want to get your feet wet)

2) You make a decison to go the route of personal training.

3) You graduate with some sort of a degree and/or study for and pass one of the available personal training certifications.

4) You start with a few clients and suddenly you have enough clients to make it a full time gig.

5) You start thinking that if you hire some "newbie" trainer and provide them with clients, you can take a portion of the cut.

6) The "newbie" trainer is either not able to win the trust of YOUR clients, or they turn out to be very capable and business starts to pick up speed.

7) The very capable 'newbie" trainer starts to feel their oats and realizes they no longer need you to feed them clients. In addition they realize they could be making more money if they just go out on their own.

8) After an uncomfortable conversation you are back to square 1. A very busy one man show.

I know there are many variations of this story and it is is a tad over simplified but I have seen it play out many times with many trainers.

The logical next step, open your own place. Be honest, at some point most trainers have aspired to own their own place. It is probably right up there with owning a hotel or a bar in your college town.

In 2001, I left a 13 client a day/7 day a week schedule to become the managing partner in a 30,000 square foot health club, physical therapy practice. The club had 6 pools (olympic pool, whirlpool, therapy pool with underwater bikes and treadmills and 6 endless pools), indoor track, cardio equipment, free weights, full aerobic program, babysitting and a huge physical/occupational therapy practice.

Sound like a great opportunity? It was, but mostly from an educational standpoint.

I will tell you what I learned in Part 2 of Fitspott's Transitioning From a Personal Trainer To A Health Club/Studio Owner. Stay tuned. 

If you have a similar experience we would love to hear about it. You can also connect with us on Twitter. http://twitter.com/fitspott

Do You Know Which Muscle You Are Training?

Here is an interesting experiment for personal trainers that is very appropriate for this time of year. Go up to various people working out in your health club, specifically those on macines, and ask them which muscle group they are working. I bet you the majority of people have absolutely no idea beyond their upper vs. lower body.

The reason this experiment is appropriate this time of the year is because of the amount of New Year's revolutionists (opportunities) that are aimlessley wandering around the exercise floor. This lack of knowing which body part they are training is directly responsible for their lack of results, increases their chance for injury and ultimately is the reason why these revolutionists will stop going to the gym within the month.

Knowing which muscle group you are working coupled with an understanding of how to visualize the movement, can make a huge difference in results. It can help to train ALL the muscles of the body as opposed to few that are typically overworked.

As an example, most people overwork the front of their shoulders during a seated chess press. Reason, they do not keep their chest high and throw their deltoids forward during the movement.

Personal trainers should approach health club members that are working out incorrectly and correct them. You might prevent someone from dropping out of their exercise program prematurely as well as gaining a new client to boot. Is that low hanging fruit I smell?

Once we launch, Fitspott  will select trainers as guest bloggers. Each trainer will pick an exercise and give their best explantion of how to visualize the movement done correctly. If you are interested in becoming a guest blogger please drop us a line.

Government Targets Obesity Rates

With the nation facing a serious public health crisis from obesity, poor nutrition and physical inactivity, the federal government should follow Englands lead in the their efforts to halt and reverse the rising obesity epidemic. The United Kingdom has launched a healthy living campaign in a bid to stem rising obesity rates in England and Wales.

 

The strategy made clear the steps that government wants healthcare practitioners, alongside authorities, schools and the whole of public services to take, to ensure that not only are levels of obesity halted and reversed, but also that families and individuals are supported in a move towards adopting and sustaining healthier lifestyles. The challenges posed by an increasingly obesogenic environment are with us for the foreseeable future, and if left unchallenged will see levels of obesity rise to nine in ten adults and two thirds of children being obese by 2050.

 

Tesco, Kellogg's and Unilever are among the companies who will be promoting the "eat well, move more, live longer" message in the "Change4Life" strategy.

 

The initiative follows a Foresight report, published last year, which warned the government must act to stop Britain "sleepwalking" into a crisis.

The television adverts, which will run for three months, were put together by Aardman Animations, the people behind Wallace and Gromit, and are designed to appeal to families.

 

The Change4Life initiative branding will also be used by charities, local organizations and companies.

 

Unilever, the company behind Flora, will use the logo in its sponsorship of the London Marathon. The Co-op, National Convenience Stores and Tesco will have the branding in its shops and PepsiCo UK will run an advertising campaign to promote "active play" through sports personalities. The campaign will be running in Englandand Wales.

Scotland is already promoting similar messages through the Take Life On program.

Source BBC News

 

A program called “Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities” by a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) brings promise to the communities of America. The program places special emphasis on reaching children who are at highest risk for obesity on the basis of race/ethnicity, income and/or geographic location. This initiative will advance RWJF’s efforts to reverse the childhood obesity epidemic by 2015.

RWJF will award approximately 60 grants to help local community partnerships across the United States increase opportunities for physical activity and improve access to affordable healthy foods for children and families.

Approximately 60 grants of up to $360,000 each will be awarded for four years. Nine communities already have received funding from RWJF as leading sites for the Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities program.

 

Source: RWJF

 

Hopefully the program will be able to examine the nature, extent, and consequences of obesity in U.S.children and youth, including the social, environmental, and dietary factors responsible for its increased prevalence.  Fitspott will continue to explore the actions needed to initiate, support, and sustain the societal and lifestyle changes that can reverse the trend among our children and youth.

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Tennis Racquets For Kids

Fitspott is excited to report that one of our friends charities is starting to pick up momentum. The organization, Tennis Racquets For Kids collects old and outdated tennis racquets and donates them to under privledged individuals.

The idea was founded by Dr. Guy Mintz and his family as a result of a growing collection of Tennis Racquets in their garage. The kids, all avid tennis players realized that instead of just storing their old racquets, they would figure out a way to deliver them to those thay might not be as fortunate.

They were shocked to find close to 100 racquets overflowing one of their drop off boxes after a tournament...talk about validating your efforts. We will be following their progress as well as other inspiring charitable organizations throughout the upcoming months.

In today's tough times, with so much in the news about scandals perpetrated by a greedy few, it is nice to report on unselfish acts as Tennis Racquets for kids.

About                                                                                                                                          We are currently freshmen at a public high school in Long Island, New York. We have enjoyed playing tennis since we were in the fourth grade. In case you haven't realized, we are twins. We have also had the privilege of competing in many local, sectional, and national junior USTA tournaments. Recently, we have begun to play in the age 16 divisions. Over the past several years, we have switched the racquets that we have played with, a few times. We know many other players who have done the same thing. This practice had led us to the question, "What should we do with the old racquets, they are still good?" So, we decided to create a non-profit organization which channels racquets that players are no longer using, into the hands of children who need them. Many children and their families may be discouraged from playing tennis, because it is a costly sport. Tennis equipment and instruction are expensive. We would like all children who desire to begin playing, or to continue playing, to have the opportunity to do so. Tennis is a life-long sport that creates friendships, maintains good health, and promotes family fun. Tennis has enhanced our lives enormously, and we would like to spread our "love" of the game to all children. By distributing new and used racquets from other players and sponsors, we will be helping other children realize their dreams of playing tennis.