FEDWW in Italy!

(source: http://www.ihrsa.org)

Last month our very own John Greeley and Jose Talledo traveled to Italy to represent FEDWW as sponsors for the 11th Annual IHRSA European Congress in Milan.  The economic capital of Italy and one of Europe's largest cities played host to the fitness industry this fall on October 27-30th.

For four days health club owners and operators congregated at the ATA Hotel Expo Fiera for educational seminars, networking sessions, exercise classes and tours of health clubs across the city led by experts from outside and inside the health club industry.

 John and Jose also took the time to eat grapes and behead some soldiers in Rome!

For more information about IHRSA and upcoming meetings visit www.ihrsa.org

New Years Resolutions

The New Year is quickly creeping up on us. Do you have a New Year’s Resolution? Well, if you’re like most Americans (88 percent in 2001 according to a General Nutrition Centers poll), you have at least one resolution. And, if you are like the majority of these promise-makers, your resolution is probably related to health and fitness. In 2001 (according to GNC), 55 percent promised to eat healthier, 50 percent resolved to exercise more, and 38 percent wanted to lose weight.

While resolutions are well-intentioned, unfortunately most people fail at keeping them. With all the hype surrounding these promises, it’s easy to get caught up in them without really taking them seriously.

We live in a throw-away society and even our resolutions, I’m afraid, are not immune. However, especially for promises that include improving our health it’s in our best interest to not take them lightly.

• Choose an obtainable goal. Resolving to look like a super model is not realistic for the majority of us, but promising to include daily physical activity in our lives is very possible.

• Avoid choosing a resolution that you’ve been unsuccessful at achieving year after year. This will only set you up for failure, frustration and disappointment. If you are still tempted to make a promise that you’ve made before, then try altering it. For example, instead of stating that you are going to lose 30 pounds, try promising to eat healthier and increase your weekly exercise.

• Create a game plan. At the beginning of January, write a comprehensive plan. All successful businesses start with a business plan that describes their mission and specifics on how they will achieve it. Write your own personal plan and you’ll be more likely to succeed as well.

• Break it down and make it less intimidating. Rather than one BIG end goal, dissect it into smaller pieces. Set several smaller goals to achieve throughout the year that will help you to reach the ultimate goal. Then even if you aren’t able to reach your final goal, you will have many smaller, but still significant, achievements along the way. For example, if your goal is to complete a 10K race, your smaller goals could be running a 5K in less than 30 minutes, adding upper and lower body strength training to increase your muscular endurance, and running 2 miles with a personal best completion time.

• Ask friends and family members to help you so you have someone to be accountable to. Just be sure to set limits so that this doesn’t backfire and become more irritating than helpful. For example, if you resolve to be more positive ask them to gently remind you when you start talking negatively.
Reward yourself with each milestone. If you’ve stuck with your resolution for 2 months, treat yourself to something special. But, be careful of your reward type. If you’ve lost 5 pounds, don’t give yourself a piece of cake as an award. Instead, treat yourself to a something non-food related, like a professional massage.

• Don’t go it alone! Get professional assistance. Everyone needs help and sometimes a friend just isn’t enough. Sometimes you need the help of a trained professional. Don’t feel that seeking help is a way of copping out. Especially when it comes to fitness, research studies have shown that assistance from a fitness professional greatly improves peoples success rate.

• Limit your number of promises. You’ll spread yourself too thin trying to make multiple changes in your life. This will just lead to failure of all of the resolutions.
On average only about 20% of us keep our New Year’s resolutions. Unfortunately, some of the biggest failures are found in fitness resolutions. But don’t let the statistics get you down. By following the tips above you’ll be better equipped to fall into the successful 20% category. 


For great deals on fitness equipment to start your year right visit www.FitnessPlus.com!

Company Outing!

Last Thursday night our awesome boss, FEDWW President, John took us all out on the town and we had our company outing in NYC! We went to Swing 46 for dinner and out to see Traces, an off Broadway, mixed arts acrobatic show. It was great to spend some time with everyone outside of work, what a fun bunch of people! :) A great time was had by all, thank you John!

And special thanks to Prakash for photographing the evening! :)

Cross Training For A Complete Body Workout

Hey everyone, here is an interesting article I found online about the benefits of cross training. Enjoy!

There is plenty of publicity to make us aware that our fitness level is an area we should improve. The motivation to start working out is often not there despite the health problems that are associated with being inactive. It could be that you have not found exercising to be pleasant or that you are uncertain what is right for you. One way to overcome this is to try out cross training which involves many different forms of exercising. We will now examine how your fitness can get better by cross training and why you might want to make this a part of your everyday life.

In engaging in any form of exercise, one of the primary obstacles to overcome is to remain motivated because there is a point when you can start to get bored with your usual workout. At the start of every new year, there is a growth in gym memberships as men and women get that initial urge to modify the way they look and feel. The problem is that boredom begins to cut in once that initial surge of excitement has passed and it is more trying then to get yourself into the gym. This is where cross training can help as you will alter the form of exercise you do and where you actually do it.

A full body workout is another advantage of cross training since every activity has a separate intent. Cardiovascular or aerobic exercising is great for burning fat and gets your heart pumping while enhancing the condition of your lungs. In cross training, for instance, this might mean that you go for a run one day and go for a swim on another or anything else you are interested to do. As no gym equipment is necessary for this type of exercise it is not difficult to do and it has the added advantage of making you livelier. You may see that if you are currently unhealthy or are inexperienced that you want to build up slowly by just walking more initially.


Working out to grow muscle and be stronger generally is accomplished by way of separate workouts to your cardio training. This can be especially beneficial as we get older because some forms of weight training have been discovered to reverse the effects of aging which many of us consider unavoidable. Fitness centers usually have a lot of exercise gear available for this form of fitness training. Lifting weights or utilizing a kettle bell is an alternative option especially if you prefer to do your workouts in your own house. The fact that developing muscle improves your appearance is one more advantage of resistance training and makes you feel confident about yourself.

No area of your body will become too overworked since cross training makes use of so many different exercises. A totally healthy lifestyle is possible if you can mix all of this training with improvements in what you eat.

There are Many Excellent Reasons for Getting Your Own Home Gym Equipment

Virtually everyone in the US would welcome the opportunity of becoming more fit. On top of that, they would also love to remain in good shape. Well, having the ability to exercise in your own home at least twice a week can help you build up your muscles and help you stay in good physical condition. You get more of a reward from home workouts than you would visiting a gym. Many people have found out that exercising at home is an excellent alternative and can even top a gym workout in some ways. Among other advantages, it is more expedient than awaiting your turn for the gym equipment, the fewer stumbling blocks you have in your way, the more likely you are to stay with your exercise program. Here are more of the many reasons why having your own home gym equipment is often more successful than using gym or fitness center equipment.

Home Gym Equipment Ideal for Your Health and More Cost-Efficient

Strength training is needed to achieve a healthy body and to upkeep it. When you are performing a habitual strength training program, it would be very beneficial to have your own home gym. It’s well known that routine strength training can promote weight loss, protect the back and joints, fortify the muscles, help prevent bone loss, and help develop your heart rate.

Home gyms are less expensive and leave you more spare time. Dependent upon the grade of equipment, a home gym can be purchased for several hundreds or a few thousand dollars, but you will have saved money over the time you incorporate the equipment. Getting a membership in a fitness club or a gym is quite expensive, not counting the cost of travel.

All of us are aware of how time consuming it can be driving back and forth to the gym. If you include time to get there, it can accumulate quickly. You have other things you have to take care of and don’t need the hassle of constantly traveling. Furthermore, such things as traveling distance to the gym along with backed up traffic, can really make an impact on your decision to continue on in a gym or fitness center. So, its understandable that workouts on your own home gym can be a considerable time saver.

Home Gym Equipment: More Great Benefits

In spite of the fact that public gyms underline the value of maintaining the fitness equipment by applying antibacterial cleaning products behind each employment, we actually can’t discern if this safeguarding step is carried through each time. When this step is not being performed, there’s a likelihood that viruses and bacteria are being passed on to even more gym customers via the same equipment. If you have a home gym, at least you have the satisfaction of knowing who has used it.

With all these advantages to having your own gym equipment it’s easy to appreciate why countless people are willingly put money into one.

 For great deals on all home fitness equipment visit www.FitnessPlus.com!