Attention Fitness Center Managers!

Ahem. I have an annoucement.

Attention fitness center managers! Your services are no longer needed. Please proceed in an orderly fashion toward the exit, and best of luck in your future professional pursuits.

If this announcement doesn’t fill you with joy — if, in fact, it makes you just the slightest bit angry — don’t shoot the messenger. I only realized fitness center managers were on their way out the door after reading an article about a new kind of manager — the non-human kind — making its debut in one of the largest chains in the business. 24 Hour Fitness, San Ramon, Calif., purchased RetailAction, a software application manufactured by Reflexis Systems Inc., Dedham, Mass., that promises to “boost operational productivity and consistently execute its corporate strategy in all of its more than 375 clubs in 14 states.”

24 Hour Fitness also believes its new, automated managers will actually help make members happier and more satisfied. “We are confident that integrating labor scheduling, task management and compliance management will enhance customer experience significantly at our clubs,” says Dan Benning, senior vice president of operations for 24 Hour Fitness Worldwide.

In light of the renewed focus on making fitness centers a hub of social activity that extends beyond sets and reps, am I alone in thinking that this is a strange step for an industry leader to take? How can a bunch of fitness center employees working at the beck and call of a computer effectively serve the needs of a notoriously unpredicatable group of fitness center members? Call me crazy, or just old-fashioned, but I have a hard time imagining a workforce happy to be micromanaged by a computer chip.

Will ‘Roid Rage’ Happen at Your Facility?

With two recent deaths in the pro wrestling world related to steroid use, and the scandals in baseball and the Tour de France, the fitness industry should get a wake-up call. Although most fitness center members don’t use steroids, human growth hormone or testosterone, some do — especially athletes and serious weightlifters. Even child athletes have been known to use steroids to increase athletic performance. Some estimates suggest as many as 7 percent of high school students have used steroids.

This number should shock you, especially if you work with child athletes. And, a quick search on the Internet reveals that it is surprisingly easy to buy steroids without a prescription.

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the major side effects from abusing anabolic steroids can include liver tumors and cancer, jaundice, fluid retention, high blood pressure, increases in LDL (bad cholesterol) and decreases in HDL (good cholesterol). Other side-effects include kidney tumors, severe acne and trembling. In addition, there are some gender-specific side effects. For men, shrinking of the testicles, reduced sperm count, infertility, baldness, development of breasts and increased risk for prostate cancer. For women, growth of facial hair, male-pattern baldness, changes in or cessation of the menstrual cycle, and a deepened voice. For adolescents, growth can be halted prematurely. This means that adolescents risk remaining short for the remainder of their lives if they take anabolic steroids before the typical adolescent growth spurt. Scientific research also shows that aggression and other psychiatric side effects may result, including extreme mood swings and manic-like symptoms leading to violence.

While these symptoms and statistics may seem out there for the mainstream fitness industry, I assure you they are not. I know at least one woman at my fitness center has taken some sort of male hormone in her life. (Either that, or she is a post-op sex-change patient.)

So what are fitness professionals to do? To start, your facility should have clear and posted rules about selling steroids while on your property. You can also post warning signs in your locker room about the dangers of taking anything for enhanced athletic performance. Your trainers should also know the signs of steroid abuse, and warn clients about taking them. The last thing your facility needs is a member harming themselves or others because of “roid rage.”

Let the Fun Begin! If It’s Practical...

The idea of making fitness fun has been talked about for years. Many companies have taken note of the trend, and in the past several years, many entertainment products have been brought to the market and featured in FM. Playstations and Xboxes were added to some cardio equipment in the past several years. And, products like Konami’s Dance Dance Revolution, Cateye’s Game Bike and Cybex’s Trazer were introduced. But, while these products are great, most are single stations which make them impractical — providing a workout to one member at a time vs. to a group. Could that be changing?

Recently, Nintendo joined the ranks of those companies that are offering fitness entertainment products. An MSNBC article, Tired of spin classes? Try Wii workout station, published July 24, featured a Canadian health club, Studio 55, in Vancouver, B.C., which now has a Wii workout station. “Clients at the health club are encouraged to use the Wii as part of circuit training, warm-up or cool-down, with the system set up in a 400-square-foot theater room with a large projection screen,” says the MSNBC article.

Now, Ninento is developing a new system called Wii Fit, which the company plans to release in 2008. Wii Fit is a video game that allows individuals to perform different forms of activities, from yoga to aerobics. From the looks of it, facilities could house this system in a group exercise setting, and allow members to follow along.

As people become more in tune to being entertained during their workouts, fitness facility operators need to bring these types of products to their members, just to stay competitive. But, manufacturers will need to start looking at how these types of products can be most cost-effective and practical for fitness facilities. So, for those of you who have wanted to add the entertainment element to your menu of exercise options, the future could be promising, and practical.

Dangerous Trash

Do you like to dig in the trash? Me neither, but if you had some time on your hands, lived in North Texas and didn’t mind the smell, you could have found enough personal information to steal the identities of dozens of people. If you’re in to that sort of thing.

And you’d owe it all to one company: Life Time Fitness Inc.

Life Time Fitness in Fort Worth, Texas, was hit with a lawsuit after investigators found more than 100 records with customers' personal information that were dumped in publicly accessible trash bins in six different North Texas locations.

It seems Life Time Fitness discarded the personal information of people who had discontinued their memberships by simply tossing them in the trash. Nothing was shredded. Nothing was blacked out. No effort was made to protect (or respect) the sensitive information contained on those discarded documents.

Now Life Time Fitness says it intends to work with the Texas Attorney General's office to ensure that members' sensitive personal information is properly protected. Sounds like too little, too late, to me.

What is your club’s process for discarding (or, better yet, destroying) personal information? Identity theft isn’t just the subject of a techno thriller coming to a theater near you. It’s a real concern for people who put their personal information into your hands — whether or not they’re still paying dues.