People
“I have a dream – and I believe the fitness industry has the ability to make my dream come true”
Dr Charles Eugster
Do you believe ‘exercise is medicine’? I’m a living example that functional training can prevent chronic disease and increase infection resistance in old age – I’m 94 years old, a competitive rower and bodybuilder, and have had no infections for the last four years. However, the concept of exercise as
medicine is being questioned because there’s no major benefit in exercise alone. Exercise cannot be prescribed generally for the treatment of disease, as everyone responds differently. In every exercise study there have been high, low or even adverse responders. This is mainly determined by genetics, but there are other factors involved such as nutrition and age. So more exercise is not better for
everyone. Some people need more, others less exercise. The major benefits of exercise can only be realised with nutrition tailored to type of exercise and to the genetics of the individual. In addition, although exercise has
been touted as the new wonder drug, medicaments require pre-clinical testing (three to six years), three-phase clinical trials (six to seven years), approval (six months to two years) and post-market surveillance. Even in physiotherapy, randomised trials are required. At the moment, exercise as medicine doesn’t seem to have been adequately researched or tested long-term. That’s not helped by the fact that
long-term exercise adherence for those with chronic disease remains low; exercise can’t be described as a wonder drug if patients struggle to take it.
What are your views on GP referral? GPs prescribing exercise to patients is the future, but the fitness industry isn’t ready. Coaches must have the right training, and the exercise treatment must be covered by health insurance.
10 Eugster has spoken on
wellness at TED and acts as a fitness ambassador
In the German-speaking world, the
relationship with the medical profession is on the right track: Medical Active offers co-operation between the medical profession and the fitness industry, whereby physicians prescribe exercise to be carried out in selected fitness clubs. However, in the UK the relationship remains poor, as do links to academia.
What do health clubs need to do better? Although the average age of a health club member is 40.6 years (SFGV Report 2013), most clubs sell ‘beach bodies’ for gentlemen and ‘Brazilian butts’ for the ladies, which often isn’t the key focus for 40-year-olds.
Read Health Club Management online at
healthclubmanagement.co.uk/digital
In addition, the training offered
is based on sport science, which is designed to improve athletic performance in a younger age group. The result is a huge loss of members. Perhaps the biggest missed
opportunity lies with the older age group. In five years’ time, 50 per cent of the US population will be aged over 50 – the age group with the highest retention rates and the most wealth. Yet most private health clubs do little or nothing to attract older people as members. That’s not helped by the fact that coaches are on average five years younger than their clients (SFGV Report 2013). In my opinion, client retention would be better if instructors were five years older.
July 2014 © Cybertrek 2014
PHOTO:
POTOCZNA.COM
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92