Fitness Australia has agreed to enter into a mediated negotiation with the Phonographic Performance Company of Australia (PPCA) regarding the Fitness Class Tariff and the recent decision in the Copyright Tribunal in order to attempt to reach a commercial agreement and avoid further court proceedings.

This will take place in Sydney on Wednesday 1 September 2010. Fitness Australia will be represented by the following people at the negotiation:
Lauretta Stace, CEO
Susan Kingsmill, Director
Mark Forrest, Director
Minter Ellison Lawyers

"We anticipate that the PPCA will provide Fitness Australia with a position paper by the end of this week with regard to the negotiation agenda. The negotiation will be mediated by an independent third party," says Lauretta Stace, Chief Executive Officer of Fitness Australia. "Should these negotiations fail to reach a mutually acceptable resolution, the Appeal in the Federal Court will proceed and is scheduled for Friday 26 November 2010." For more information about this industry fight visit www.operationmusic.org.au

We will update this story as more information becomes available.

Can-Fit-Pro, an organization dedicated to Canadian fitness professionals, has honored Colin Milner, founder and CEO, of the International Council on Active Aging® (ICAA) with its 2010 Lifetime Achievement Award. One of Can-Fit-Pro’s Delegates’ Choice Awards, the Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes Milner’s many accomplishments in health and fitness—particularly his efforts to advance active aging. The ICAA leader received this award on August 13 at the opening ceremonies of this year’s Can-Fit-Pro International Fitness and Club Business Conference and Trade Show in Toronto, Ontario.

“I’m honored and privileged to be presented with Can-Fit-Pro’s Lifetime Achievement Award,” says Milner, who serves on the Can-Fit-Pro Professional Advisory Panel. “This award is really a reflection of all those who, over the years, have dedicated themselves to the mission of Changing the way we age. I’m grateful for their extraordinary support.”

As the U.S. launches its first-ever National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month today, scientists say the problem may be even more widespread than was thought. Researchers have found that parents tend to underreport their children’s weight. Estimates of obesity and body mass index (BMI) based on parent-supplied data may miss one in five obese children.

This sobering news underscores the need for National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month. Congress established the observance in a resolution passed unanimously earlier this year, seeking to “raise public awareness and mobilize the country to address childhood obesity.” A wide array of organizations have joined together as the National Council on Childhood Obesity Awareness Month, educating parents, policy makers and others about the problem and encouraging preventive action on childhood obesity. The new website www.HealthierKidsBrighterFutures.org includes a toolkit with fact sheets, sample letters to the editor, scripts for public service announcements and other resources.

Anytime Fitness announced the launch of a new nationwide media campaign claiming, "There is no childhood obesity epidemic." The campaign suggests that the primary reason so many children struggle with weight is because they have poor role models: overweight adults.

Chuck Runyon, Anytime Fitness CEO says, "Too much blame is being placed on the kids." "Adults need to step up and be better role models if we want our kids to be healthy. That's what this is all about."

The campaign will feature an organization called COAK - the Coalition of Angry Kids. The kids are "angry" because adults aren't doing enough to help children lead healthy lifestyles.

The campaign is launching in September, which is also the first "National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month." Beginning in September, Anytime Fitness will help adults get started on the road to healthy lifestyles and become better role models for children by offering adults free 30-day memberships, free 30-minute personal training sessions and free 30-day access to online support via AnytimeHealth.com

"IHRSA's May Index shows that club operators have achieved performance growth and nearly 90 percent of respondents are optimistic about future revenue," said Jay Ablondi, executive vice president of global products at IHRSA. "Non-dues programs at participating clubs have been particularly profitable, contributing to overall increased revenue."

Membership dues revenue was up for 37.8 percent of respondents in May 2010 relative to May 2009. Nearly four out of 10 (37.8 percent) club operators reported an increase in the number of accounts added, while one out of four (25.0 percent) respondents indicated an increase in the number of account dropped. Member and non-member club visits were about the same or up for a majority of responding clubs (77.1 percent). Total number of tours were up for 34.3 percent of clubs and down for 42.9 percent of facilities.

"Club operators appear to be engaging current members as evident by consistent club and non-dues spending," said Melissa Rodriguez, research manager at IHRSA. "To continue growing, managers may need to seek opportunities to increase tours in efforts to bolster membership."

by Brenda Abdilla
Companies have many legitimate reasons for not wanting to reveal themselves or job specifics to job applicants. Chief among these reasons is that the position may not be open yet and the company is discreetly trying to see who is out there as a potential replacement should the position become available. Other reasons may be to cut down on the overwhelming response that job ads cause, or to hide information from competitors or from current employees who may see the job ad and disagree with the timing. All good reasons to run a blind ad.

What has changed?
In the past, this was a very effective strategy. There was an unspoken agreement between company and candidate that the candidate was on a need-to-know basis and many, many quality candidates responded to this type of job ad. Unfortunately, a blind ad now can mean something entirely different to candidates.

Johnson Health Tech North America (JHTNA) recently named Nathan Pyles as its new President. Pyles, who has been with the company for 17 years, takes over for the departing Chris Clawson who was appointed president of Life Fitness. In addition, Bob Zande has been promoted to chief operating officer/chief financial officer.

Pyles was the co-founder and president of Vision Fitness, one of JHTNA's home and commercial fitness brands, and was president of Matrix Fitness where he helped increase commercial sales in North America four-fold in just three years. Pyles led JHTNA's research and development division for eight years, and prior to accepting his new position, he served on its Board of Directors.

Researchers at the University of Campinas Exercise in Brazil discovered that physical activity restores the sensitivity of neurons that help to control satiety (feeling full), which in turn contributes to reduced food intake. These findings, besides reinforcing the necessity for regular exercise to prevent obesity, also change the current paradigm established between physical activity and weight loss.

The study, led by Jose Barreto C. Carvalheira found that obese rodents who exercised had signs of restored satiety in their hypothalamic neurons as well as decreased food intake. "In obese animals, exercise increased IL-6 and IL-10 protein levels in the hypothalamus, and these molecules were crucial for increasing the sensitivity of the most important hormones, insulin and leptin, which control appetite," Carvalheira said.

Obesity is one the leading causes of preventable deaths in Pacific countries and now Australian scientists have made a breakthrough in establishing a link between obesity and diabetes. A four year study between the Royal Melbourne Hospital and the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute has found inflammation in fat stores could be responsible for diabetes.

"We've known obesity is associated with diabetes and that if you lose weight it improves type-2 diabetes, but we haven't really understood how obesity causes the problem, said Dr. John Wentworth, Royal Melbourne Hospital and Eliza Hall Institute. "We've been investigating or following up a lead that suggested that inflammation in the fat tissue was a cause or a link, and we have some strong laboratory data using human tissue as our starting material, human fat tissue taken from surgery, that suggests a certain type of inflammation is causing diabetes. And this is exciting because it opens other treatment options up to us, particularly an anti-inflammatory approach to treating diabetes."

Fitness Business Canada (FBC) is the trade magazine for owners, managers, directors and staff of health and fitness facilities in Canada. FBC is the primary trade publication for health and fitness facilities across Canada. Since its first issue FBC has earned outstanding reviews and respect from facility operators to its first issue in January 2000.

To get your copy, call our office at 888-920-6537 or email us at fbc@fitnet.ca.