Exercise in a Pill

What would it mean for the fitness industry if exercise could be gotten from a pill? Well, we might just find out some time in the future. Two drugs are being developed by a group of researchers at the Salk Institute in San Diego. The group is led by Dr. Ronald Evans, an expert on how hormones work in cells, and who has won the Lasker Award, which often tops the Nobel Prize.

The pills trick the muscles into thinking that they have been working out furiously. The first, Aicar, generates more high-endurance Type 1 muscle fibers (those that generate the cell’s energy and are resistant to fatigue) without any exercise. It is hoped that this drug will help people who are too frail to exercise, and those with health problems such as diabetes.

The second drug, GW1516, generates more Type 1 fibers during exercise, allowing exercisers to perform twice as long as they were previously able. Obviously, this one is of great interest to athletes, but it should be known that Evans has already devised a test to detect whether an athlete has taken the drug, and he has made it available to the World Anti-Doping Agency.

Could pharmaceutical exercise be a good thing for our industry? It will give people who take the drugs more energy. And, more energy usually translates into a desire to be more active. On the other hand, the drugs could be used as an excuse for not needing to be more active.

Either way, it’s something we need to start thinking about, as an “exercise pill” is most certainly on the horizon.

Are You Selling Steroids?

If a member asked you that question, you’d probably laugh. “Of course not!” you’d say. “Our pro shop sells supplements, not steroids.”

But what if they had the Dec. 5, 2007, edition of USA Today in their hands, which reports about a study showing that “13 of the 52 supplements (25 percent) purchased at various U.S. retailers contained small amounts of steroids, and six (11.5 percent) had banned stimulants”? Well, then you might do something else.

Supplements are a tricky business. In my opinion, getting into the supplement game just isn’t worth it for a fitness facility. Why compete with the corner drug store, where it can sell supplements for much less to a lot more people? Why preach the long, hard road of exercise while simultaneously hawking quick-fix aids like protein powders and “energy” drinks? Sticking to one message is the safer bet.

But there are many fitness centers out there that sell supplements. And, if you’re one of them, you probably want to look a little more closely at your products. Are they FDA approved? Most supplements aren’t.

The researchers didn’t release the names of the supplements tested, and only allowed that they are “best-selling brands.” That doesn’t do much for concerned retailers/fitness center managers who want to clear their shelves of tainted supplements. How exactly can you stand behind your supplements when confronted by that member angrily waiving a newspaper? And how can you continue to dabble in supplement sales when they are, thanks to being largely unregulated, essentially indefensible?