Fitness & Exercise

On the Trac to Success

In November, 1998, the California Governor's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, a volunteer organization that develops programs and participates in events promoting health and fitness, honored James McPartland, president and CEO of Star Trac[R] and head of the Governor's Council's Orange County office. The event, hosted by former California Governor Pete Wilson and Chairman Arnold Schwarzenegger, celebrated the 1998 Great California Workout and National Health and Fitness Day. In January, 1999, McPartland joined Schwarzenegger, Sugar Ray Leonard, Tracy Austin, Peter Vidmar and former governor Wilson at an auction at Planet Hollywood. As a council sponsor, Star Trac[R] donated a TR901 treadmill valued at $2,995 to the auction. Money raised was earmarked for council programs such as The Great California Workout and Operation FitKids.

Drowning the Urge

According to a recent study, cigarette smokers who take up swimming drastically reduce their need for cigarettes or stop smoking altogether. Dr. Phillip Whitten, author of The Complete Book of Swimming and editor-in-chief of SWIM and Swimming World magazines, studied 162 master swimmers (over 35 years of age). More than 25% smoked anywhere from a few cigarettes to a pack daily before they took up swimming. Five years later, only 5% of the women and 1% of the men still smoked.

"I didn't particularly try to stop smoking when I started swimming," says a 42-year-old participant. "I hurt my knee in college and swimming was just a way to help keep my weight down without applying stress on my knee. But after a few months, I just didn't seem to need to smoke anymore. No withdrawal pains, nothing."

According to Dr. Whitten's study, the swimmers who continued to smoke drastically reduced their daily number of cigarettes--most of them cutting their smoking by at least half.

"While other studies have found that those who participate in other sports still smoke, Dr. Whitten has found that swimming and smoking do not mix," says Roger Galvin of the National Spa & Pool Institute.

PAYING DUE ATTENTION

When Joe Cirulli, owner of the Gainesville Health and Fitness Center in Gainesville, Florida, read the November, 1998 study by Fitlinxx on why people quit their health clubs, he noted four conclusions:

1. SOME PEOPLE ARE JUST NOT CONNECTING WITH THEIR CLUB.

2. THE STAFF DOESN'T TAKE PERSONAL INTEREST IN MEMBERS.

3. SOME STAFF MEMBERS LACK PROPER TRAINING.

4. MANY PEOPLE WHO DON'T RENEW THEIR MEMBERSHIPS JOIN OTHER CLUBS.

Cirulli's fitness center already ranks high in membership renewal. However, the report made him realize just how proactive you need to be. "You have to acknowledge people at the front door and on the exercise floor as they work out," he says.

He also discovered staff members connected better with outgoing, friendly members because it was easier than connecting with quiet members who shied away from attention.

Cirulli says, "If I see someone using a machine incorrectly, it's an opportunity to interact. I'll go up to them and say, `Do you mind if I show you how to make this more miserable on yourself?' They laugh and then I can show them."

Cirulli also enhanced his already intense customer service training program and installed a retention team whose job is to call new members at least five times in the first 30 days to make sure their exercise program is going well and instructors are taking care of them. New members then receive monthly checkup calls. Former members receive follow-up letters each month for six months describing new programs. "Since the retention team was installed, our attrition rate has dropped five points, from 35 to 30%," Cirulli says.

COPYRIGHT 1999 Aerobics and Fitness Association of America
COPYRIGHT 2001 Gale Group