There was good news last week about the war against foodborne illness. Tyson Foods, the nation’s largest poultry producer, announced that it plans to test-market irradiated chicken.
In doing so, it will markedly reduce the number of potentially harmful bacteria in its poultry with a process that uses electron beams. Read more
How we can borrow from this research material to empower clients to adhere to their exercise routines is clearly a large part of the future of successful fitness center management. Let’s take a look at how theory can move to practice. Possibly, solving the retention problem deserves a fresh look. Read more
Many studies have focused on the impact of social support (or “cohesion” as it is referred to by social psychologists) on exercise success. A comprehensive review of 113 studies on the effects of social support systems (which varied from simple approval to an active role in helping with the behavior), foundthat interpersonal support helps people maintain their exercise programs over time.5Also, it was found that who delivered the support impacted the degree of positive effect. For example, support provided by a spouse or bypeers had more effect on exercise success than support provided byanexercise class leader.In addition, it was found that other exercisers who were pursuing similar tasks (succeeding with their new programs, making a physical change in their bodies) had considerably more impact on adherence than the participants’ families. When new exercisers felt that they werepart of a group centered around social interests, results were not as favorable as when group members came together around exercise-related goals. Read more
So the author of many business plans wrote another. Justice began sketching out a payment model built for “extreme” user friendliness, speed, and volume: The idea was to create an electronic transaction hub, invisible for the most part to the consumer, that would allow Net shoppers to piggyback small purchases to their ISP account-without downloading software or tokens, and without entering credit information. Read more
Setting goals and monitoring progress is done with regularity in the weight room, but how about the aerobics room? Establishing short-term (one- to six-month) and long-term (longer than six-month) goals are significant to all exercise prescriptions. Students are more likely to stay with the program if they perceive their participation in aerobics classes is essential for reaching a desirable goal. Read more
When members are always on the go, convenient programming may be the only way to get them to exercise. At Merck Health & Fitness Center, a corporate-based facility, the Group Customer Service program offers members the convenience of “express” workout classes during lunch breaks, with telephone and Internet schedules that can be accessed at any time. “[These conveniences] demonstrate to our members how much we value their time,” says Jen Alderfer, program manager. Read more
“The pace of technical change is so fast now that we must be prepared for a man to change not only his job, but his entire skills, three or four times in a lifetime.”
That observation by Futurist magazine in 1996 is good to keep in mind as you tune up your career skills. You need to think about what you should do to ensure your digital survival.
How many times are you interrupted during your workday? Just imagine what you could accomplish if those interruptions were eliminated, or at least drastically reduced.
This is a question April Brendli can answer. Brendli is the assistant program manager at PaineWebber Health & Fitness Exchange. She also is the mastermind behind a comprehensive operations manual introduced last January that has already proven its worth. The manual has saved the Exchange more than $2,400 a year, Brendli estimates. Read more
As a manager, ever feel like most of your day is spent drafting memos and sitting in meetings? At LifeQuest Fitness & Aerobics Club in Charleston, S.C., management found that running a growing business can sometimes mean having large chunks of time eaten up by staff communications — leaving little time for other key responsibilities. To streamline the organizational structure of the company, LifeQuest implemented a staff voice-mail system that provides employees with a consistent flow of information, education, motivation and recognition, without interrupting the flow of the day. Read more
In every aspect of the energy production cycle, from the vastly smaller amounts of material to be mined and transported, to the disposal mechanisms (a significant amount of fossil fuel waste products are “disposed” of in our lungs), to the effects of human and mechanical error, nuclear power is superior. Read more