Health club memberships in the U.S. have leveled out over the last 20-years while the obesity epidemic has ballooned. In light of this disparity, many health clubs are increasingly adopting unconventional programs to bolster their membership base and better motivate the marketplace to get fit, trim and healthy.
“Amid the growing rate of obesity in the U.S. , health clubs are continually challenged to drive new memberships and inspire current members to visit their facilities for workouts with some regularity to get, and keep, them on a healthy track,” notes Kelli Calabrese, international fitness, nutrition and lifestyle specialist twice named “Personal Trainer of the Year.” “I applaud the health club community for integrating new, exciting and innovative ways to attract and engage members to keep their fitness lifestyle fresh, fun and frequent…and even profitable!”
1. Whole-Life Training. Health club facilities are now looking beyond just the exercise component of fostering a healthy lifestyle. In addition to personal training staff, today’s progressive health clubs are boasting on-site nutritionists and other allied healthcare professionals like physical therapists and even psychologists. These value added services holistically address all areas of a member’s life that impact their overall well-being, health and happiness. Engaging and assisting members in this comprehensive way maximizes member results, retention and referrals.
2. Kicking Members Out. For outdoor fitness, that is. Some health clubs are utilizing their external real estate to promote fitness activities al fresco. Club owners are realizing that many people get bored with the indoor offerings—even depressed or deterred—so they are offering running and cycling clubs, parking lot boot camps and spin classes, and more.
3. Weight Loss Wagering. Diet contests and weight loss betting programs, like that offered by HealthyWage.com, are exploding in popularity as both individuals and employee groups from coast to coast “diet for dollars.” More than 4,500 health clubs nationwide now serve as “weigh in locations” for HealthyWage.com contest participants, with many opting to also purchase a club membership as they shed pounds with their eye on the $10,000 team prize. This financial weight loss incentive approach is so effective, Fortune 500 companies nationwide have integrated such program into their corporate wellness initiatives to benefit both employee groups and their own bottom line.
4. Clubs Go Retro. Nostalgia evokes emotion and emotion drives action. With this in mind throwback 80′s fitness classes, in which participants dress in period-inspired spandex and leg warmers and do aerobics to music by Michael Jackson, George Michael, and the like, are bringing the neon headband sporting, leotard-wearing enthusiasts to health clubs in droves. Originating in hipster ‘hoods like LA and NYC, this 80’s fitness craze is sweeping the nation, proving to be a fun, creative and, like, totally awesome way to attract new members – and keep current members coming back for more.
5. Social Media Stimulation. From small boutique gyms to large national chains, health clubs are tapping the social mediasphere in innovative ways to stay connected with current and prospective members. Informative and engaging Facebook fan pages rife with workout strategies, success stories and special product offers; up-to-the-minute Twitter announcements, training tips and topical tweet feeds; online virtual fitness coaching; un-lockable specials on Foursquare; VLOGs (video blogs) and a myriad of other social networking strategies are helping health club purveyors better connect with the marketplace—informing, motivating and helping them thwart those momentary chocolate cravings like never before.
6. Patriotism Personified. While military discounts are nothing new in the business landscape, full-scale, week-long national programs offering completely free benefits to any and all active, reserve and retired military members, and their families, throughout the U.S. is wonderfully above and beyond the norm. This is exactly what one large national change is doing, for five consecutive years having provided complimentary week-long club access to America’s extensive number of active, inactive and retired military personnel—and dependents—in observance of Veterans Day. This same sentiment-oriented national health club chain also celebrates “Active Aging Week” by offering free week-long workouts for older adults age 50 or above.
7. Club Crawl. In an effort to get members integrated to all areas of the health club and its services, at the time of registration some clubs are giving new members a card with goals to complete for a prize. The goals can include trying fitness classes, completing a personal training session, meeting certain staff members and using specific areas of the fitness center. This gives members the opportunity to experience all the club has to offer before getting pigeon-holed into only one or two areas like nautilus machines or heading right for the spin bike studio. The idea is that the more people the member meet and services they experience first hand, the more connected they will feel to the club and more likely they will be to try—or at least tell friends about—all of the club’s offerings.
8. Gamers Press Play! Video gamers take note: one private gym in Mountain View, California, Overtime Fitness Inc., has tailored its offerings to teenagers in a novel approach to address childhood obesity. This facility boasts an arcade filled with physical video games that require dancing, boxing, and jumping. Riders race against each other on stationary bikes networked to a server! Teen fitness has never been so fun – or effective at making health clubbing “cool!”
”While our nation’s obesity epidemic was top-of-mind at this month’s ‘Weight of the Nation’ Conference in Washington D.C. sponsored by the CDC, much of the dialogue proffered nothing new,” said David Roddenberry, HealthyWage.com co-founder. “Even in the report released by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) ‘Accelerating Process in Obesity Prevention’ cited strategies that, while sound, have been proposed in years past as obesity continued to run rampant. It’s time for fresh approaches, innovative thinking and even risk taking to trim America ’s collective waistline. Novel health club programs can tactically and effectively address obesity in new and compelling ways on the front line.”
According to the movie, the arc reactor that powers Tony Stark’s suit generates 3 GJ/sec, which is equivalent to 3000 megawatts — enough watts to power three million homes — per second. The idea of a bionic suit is not particularly new, and most of the aspects of Tony Stark’s creation are technically feasible. However, powering them all in a single suit would take more energy than is produced from a typical nuclear reactor, and it’s this detail that keeps Iron Man a work of science fiction. In the movie, however, the arc reactor is a cold-fusion device, possibly using a magnetic field to generate the requisite pressure.
Are you moving into a new home? It’s probably an exciting time for you and your family. You’ll be moving into a new place that has new sights and sounds. Unfortunately, there’s a lot of packing that needs to be done in a short amount of time.
Take some of the stress out of moving by having a plan to avoid problems that may pop up. Once you have a solid plan in place, the transition from your old home to your new one can be easier and will be more enjoyable for everyone.
Deciding What Stays and What Goes
Do you really need to take that beat-up couch in the basement to your new home? What about those garbage bags full of stuffed animals your teenage kids no longer play with? These are serious things to consider, because you can waste valuable time and money moving stuff you don’t need. Take the time before you pack to decide what things you’ll take with you and what things will be donated, put up for sale or given away to other family members or friends.
Be ruthless in your decisions. If you haven’t used something or looked at it for 12 months or more, it’s a safe bet that you don’t need it anymore. Try to base your decisions on several factors, such as:
• Will the item fit into your new decor plans?
• Do you have numerous similar items, and can you part with a few of them?
• Will large furniture pieces fit through the door openings or windows of your new home?
• Are the items run-down to the point where buying new items will be better?
If you truly can’t get rid of things, like that eight-track collection that’s been sitting in an attic box, consider putting it into storage. Place the items into durable containers that are airtight and waterproof. This will guarantee them to be in good condition when you want to dig them up again.
Taking Care of Money Matters
Don’t forget about taking care of your bills and finances while you’re packing. If you have bills due during the week of your move, make sure to pay them a week ahead of time. Call utility companies and schedule the day you want all your utilities turned on.
Also, have emergency cash on hand in case anything unexpected happens during the move. You’ll also want to have a bit of spending cash during the first couple of days of your move to order take-out or eat at a restaurant since cookware won’t be unpacked yet or you’ll be too tired to cook.
Moving Yourself or Having Helpers
The most important thing you have to decide is whether you’ll be moving all the items yourself, have family and friends help or hire a moving company. The most cost-effective approach is to move the items yourself, but you may not be able to do this because of the number of items you have or any health problems that hinder you.
Enlisting your family and friends is another option — just make sure to compensate them for all the hard work and time they took to help you out. If conflicting work schedules prevent friends from helping out, and you can’t get family members to lend a hand, consider hiring a moving company.
Moving companies are ideal if you’re involved in a long distance move. A moving company can ensure your items will be moved safely to your new place. Always research moving companies you’re interested in so you hire a legitimate business. Always check with the Better Business Bureau to see how many complaints were issued against the company.
Enjoy Your Move
Moving can be stressful, but if you give yourself enough time to plan and pack, you can enjoy it more. Don’t hesitate to ask for help from family and friends or hire a moving company to do the work. Try to make your move as easy as possible so you can start relaxing in your new home.
Jessica is interested in organization and DIY projects. She enjoys reading and spending time outdoors.
People wear glasses because of an eye condition or for style. They can be used to represent your personality and your social status apart from your style. Certain factors like color, decoration, shape and material used in eyewear can give away a lot of information about you to others.
Eyewear color
It is a known fact that colors convey certain attributes. In the case of your eyeglasses too, they play the same role. Grey, black and brown are the colors that generally express royalty and professionalism. So if you are of a royal clan or an expert at what you do, these are the perfect colors for you.
White and blue colors express calmness and peace. So people normally perceive you to be a relaxed person if you wear glasses with these color frames. Bright colors like light green or orange can give out a vibe that you are a fun person as they represent charm and liveliness. Red and dark green represent boldness and domination, which is why you can wear them if you are a boss of a company.
Eyeglass material
Frames made of certain materials can also be used to show the kind of person you are to the world. Frames made of metals can express professionalism, so if you want to show your boss that you are a thorough professionals use these frames!
If the frames are made of plastic, it only means that you are a person who takes things coolly and doesn’t fret over small matters. Again the opinions can also be based on the color of the plastic frames.
Eyeglass shape
The often used shapes are geometric, round, oval, rectangular, cat-eyes, butterfly and star shapes. Geometric shape, rectangular and round are the ones used to convey your intelligence to the people. Cat-eyes glasses are used mostly by celebrities and entertainment industry related people as it gives out a vibe that the person is fun and loves playing pranks.
Normally people who wear prescription glasses go with rectangular half-frames. These are said to convey professionalism. Nerd glasses in oval shape convey that you are a brainy person. Round shaped nerd glasses are famous amongst celebrities like George Clooney and Meryl Streep.
Star shaped glasses and butterfly are for purely party purposes as nobody wants to look professional in parties. This represents the crazy side of you and is used more by women folk.
Eyeglass decoration
Some people make use of dazzling sunglasses with gems and glitter. People, who are in fashion industry, use these kinds of glasses more often as they want to maintain the fashion aspect.
People who like partying also like to wear these funky glasses that depict a “devil may care” attitude. Female college students usually like wearing glasses that have attractive stickers and decals on the frames like that of birds, stars and some other feminine objects. On the other hand the male students keep them plain to show off their machismo.
Penny is an expert associated with Next Optical, an online store for eyewear products. The store has a huge collection of the latest high fashion sunglasses, daily contact lenses and prescription glasses.
Many people have heaps of junk piled up in the corners of their houses, in cupboards, drawers, under the bed and some more places. This junk material mostly comprises of clothes, furniture, books, magazine and many other things that are difficult to place suitably. If you look at these things carefully, you will see many useful items that you can still utilize or give to someone else who needs them.
The best way is to first collect all the supposed junk in one place. Now, collect all clothes and garments in one bag and other items of the same category in individual bags. Doing so will let you get rid of them easily. Sometimes it can be very panicking for you to manage the junk you have collected over the years. While classifying items, just check if there?s something that you would need again or make something useful out of it. The rest of the things can be donated or sold.
If you think some things are better discarded, do it, but never throw away books. You can donate them to a library or an old house, for they will surely be better utilized than anywhere else. You also have the option to sell some classic books at garage sales held over the weekend for great prices. This way you will be able to get rid of them and generate some easy cash as well.
Also, a lot of junk items can be reused by your children, for example, your expensive clothing, shoes, jackets, etc. Do not give them away to anyone right away since old is gold! If your children are not interested, reuse them yourself. If you still want to give it away, ensure that the person who receives them would use them appropriately.
On the other hand, just like you can sell books, you can also sell your expensive clothing and classic jewelry pieces, ornaments, brooches, wall pieces, decorative items, etc over a website or even at a garage sale.
The left over items should be carefully kept in box cartons until you find suitable people to give them to. A lot of things that we wish to discard today can be really worthy after some years, for example, old watches from high-end brands, sunglasses, time-pieces etc. These things make their way back after long times and are then resold at shops at even greater prices. You keep such items safely so you can utilize them at appropriate times.
Many times what we think is junk is actually not and can be utilized very efficiently with a little care. This also can save you from throwing away a lot of worthy items just because you did not feel like using them at some point in your life.
Andrew has been working in the removal and storage industry specialising in interstate removals and office moves. As part of his daily job, he has learnt how to deal with junk.
Who in the world wants to eat stale food and remain ill? No one! Because everyone knows the healthiest person is the wealthiest one. Healthy foods are the basis of solid nutritional foundation in your body and thus, require a balanced intake of all food elements. Healthy functions of all our body organs require ample amounts of nutritional elements daily.
There are a lot of toxins in your body that you must wash away through fresh foods and sufficient quantities of water. By following a healthy lifestyle, you can keep your vital body organs fresh and long serving year round. There are a lot of foods to spring clean your health, for example look at the following:
1. Leafy Green Vegetables
Leafy green vegetables are great to include as an ingredient in any foods. You can use them to prepare omelets, broth, juices, meals etc. The main content of chlorophyll inside these vegetables helps to remove environmental toxins and act as major liver detoxifier.
2. Fava Beans
Fava beans have a very terrific taste and are a rich addition to soups and main dishes and even salads. These are rich in fiber and protein content that keep you fuller for longer.
3. Lemons
Prepare fresh lemonade with filtered water and mint leaves. It contains lots of vitamin C that will flush away toxins by converting them into water soluble form. This drink will also keep you hydrated in hot summer days. To make this drink more concentrated of vitamin C, add some green purees from green leafy vegetables.
4. Cabbage
Your liver contains two different kinds of detoxifying enzymes and this leafy green vegetable helps to activate both of them. Cabbage comes from the Brassica veggie family and gives you plenty of vitamin C and colon cancer combating isothiocyanates. Eat it in coleslaw, add into your salad bowl or prepare juice; it?s beneficial in all forms.
5. Broccoli Sprouts
Broccoli sprouts contain plenty of cancer fighting enzymes and research says that it also kills H.Pylori bacteria which cause ulcers and stomach irritation.
6. Artichokes
Artichokes are an immense source of potassium, iron, folate, magnesium and vitamin C. Use them with baked goods, dips, salads and pastas. It is cultivated all round the year in larger and smaller sizes.
7. Psyllium
Psyllium is chockfull of soluble fiber that collects toxins and bad cholesterol and excretes from the body. Mix powdered psyllium into juice or consume fortified psyllium with cereal.
8. Sesame Seeds
Sesame seeds protect your liver cells from the harmful after effects of alcohol and various other chemicals. You can use these seeds to prepare foods, sauces, pastes, and even drinks.
Other than these natural, healthy foods, you need to exercise and drink plenty of water regularly to enjoy maximum health benefits.
Andrew is a health conscious individual. He has written numerous article on how to improve diet for a healhtier lifestyle. When he is not writing, Andrew works in the hospitality industry, distributing maki makers and nigiri machines
Long battery life is one of the most important things in the modern phones since none of us wants to charge their devices too often. There are many tips to increase battery life in phones, but they don’t give the expected results – whatever we do, our phones last for a day or two maximum. So any tips are useless here – if we want really long-lasting phones, they should come with brand new type of batteries and chargers.
Some companies are already trying to implement revolutionarytechnologies in their upcoming phones,and below we’ll try to introduce you two of them.
Fabric Charging
According to BBC, a new and revolutionary kind of fabric is now being developed: it’s made out of special threads that can conduct electricity, so if you put your phone in a pocket of a jacket or jeans made from that fabric, your phone’s battery will start charging as soon as it touches the fabric.
However, there’s a trick here, too – the fabric will also have its own battery, and you’ll have to charge it, too, so that it can later charge your phone (or any other device). But still, it’s much easier to charge some item from your clothes and then use it to charge a number of other gadgets – after all, the charged cloth will always be on you, and you won’t have to worry about charging your devices – they’ll be charged automatically when they’re in your pocket.
Such chargers, of course, won’t be available to all of us anytime soon, but the chances are big that in some 3-5 years manufacturers will really start producing such charger-clothes and phones that are compatible with them. Right now this cool fabric is being tested in the U.S., so let’s wait for more news about it soon.
Wireless Chargers
Another innovation is soon going to be introduced by Samsung in its upcoming Samsung Galaxy S3 – they say the phone will be charged wirelessly, being kept somewhere not far from the charger (in a radius of 2 meters or so). So your phone will automatically be charging almost all the time, and theoretically its battery will never die, and you won’t have to worry about plugging it in.
Of course, wireless charging is not actually something new, but what we had before is nothing compared to what we’ll see in the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S3, since the only chargers that have been available up to now worked only in 15-20cm from the phone, which is almost equal to using wires and not cool at all.
So very soon, in just a few years, the batteries of our phones and other devices will be charged using brand new technologies. The one from Samsung is expected to come this year, so keep an eye on it!
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Author bio
Amelia is a geek interested in comparing mobile phones and writing about them; she’s also a crazy gamer, loves traveling, sports and active lifestyle (though some people may think that the interest in technologies and sports are mutually exclusive things).
When compared to the Apple App Store and Google Play, applications for Windows Phone Marketplace obviously just lost in the type and number of applications. However, sustained growth is eventually gave birth to 70 000 applications for their app store.
This is a success for Windows Phone Marketplace after reportedly reached 60,000 applications in January.
If calculated on the average, each day there are 300 new and additional applications are available for Marketplace. Interestingly, there are reportedly listed 100.ooo developers to develop applications on Windows Phone. Of course, this makes the Windows Marketplace to develop and remain optimistic that someday may be able to compete with Apple’s App Store and Google Play. However, Microsoft does not want to rush too and they think if they want more emphasis on the quality of apps rather than quantity of applications.
The online market is becoming increasingly competitive as websites are becoming easier to create, set up, and maintain. The main concern of most webmasters is to increase site traffic, but what many of them fail to consider is what happens after they reach the level of traffic that they had hoped to get. It’s important to remember that driving up traffic is just one part of the process; the next step to take should be to convert on this traffic by driving up sales or by having more of these users sign up for your services.
In order to do this, you must present customers with a pleasing website that has been optimized and tweaked according to their preferences. An optimized website isn’t just one that’s easy or pleasing on the eyes; rather, it’s one that presents information clearly to the user so that navigation and interaction will be a breeze. Fortunately, a number of online tools and services have been developed to help webmasters and site designers assess their domains so that they can come up with ways to optimize their websites.
Understanding Users with Behavioral Targeting
The user plays a central role in the process of optimization. This is because they have to let their preferences be known so that content that is targeted specifically for them will be created. One way to do this is by employing methods that are classified under behavioral targeting.
Behavioral targeting is a set of techniques and processes that will allow site owners, webmasters, and publishers to make their campaigns more effective. They do so by creating user profiles based on data that has been gathered from actual site visitors. This way, only relevant content is pushed to the user when he or she visits the site again. These profiles also come in handy when new visitors access the site,because they will also be classified into one of these profiles based on their search and browsing history and be served accordingly with relevant ads and content.
Getting More with Multivariate Testing
One of the specific methods under behavioral targeting is multivariate testing. Multivariate tests allow webmasters to assess how effective their campaigns are so that they can implement changes that are deemed to increase the success of their campaigns. During these tests, variations of a number of elements on these sites are changed and modified. All of these versions will then be served to actual site visitors and their responses to each of the page versions will be recorded.
The effectiveness of the changes will be measured according to certain metrics that have been set into place by the webmaster. This often includes the conversion rate or the number of sales recorded from the campaigns.
Multivariate Testing vs. Split Testing
Split testing or A/B testing is also a popular method that can be used to drive conversions and increase sales. The main difference between the two techniques is that only one element is to be modified per test run for A/B testing. You could thus think of multivariate tests as being several A/B tests conducted simultaneously on a single web page. The advantage of multivariate tests is that fewer runs need to be conducted in order to come up with a highly optimized site in a shorter amount of time. The main disadvantage is that the specific element that caused the results to vary between the two versions cannot be determined anymore.
For this reason, A/B tests are generally recommended for small sites or for web pages that have fewer elements to be tested, while multivariate tests are better suited for bigger sites that have more elements.
