November Academic News – November 2007

Welcome to the November edition of Academic News. This semester has flown by and it is hard to believe we are nearly at the end of the 2007! As we approach the new semester you may be thinking of re-stocking your bookshelves and updating your university libraries and with a generous Christmas discount you have even more reason to do so, as we are offering 10% discount on all of our books and DVDs until the 31st December 2007. Please read on for more details.

This month’s issue continues to keep you up-to-date with all the latest in the sporting arena, including the latest on the 2012 Olympics and why Britain has another reason to celebrate as Glasgow will be hosting the 2014 Commonwealth Games!

In Academic News this month…
	Bold new book addresses the state of black sport participation London Olympic stadium design unveiled Glasgow to stage 2014 Commonwealth Games Lack of time, off-putting PE lessons, social pressure … why women face a fitness crisis Woodward unveils £20m vision for 2012 Olympians Working Group established to aid doping battle Christmas is coming… Notice of Changes to Inspection Copy Policy

Bold new book addresses the state of black sport participation

Written 40 years after the American Civil Rights Movement took place, which set the stage for greater participation and integration of black people in sport, distinguished, award-winning American author Shaun Powell releases his fantastic new book, Souled Out? How Blacks are Winning and Losing in Sports. A book that dares to answer tough questions concerning the state of black sports participation today. In this brutally honest portrayal, Powell boldly address a number of dilemmas that black athletes still face, including: The reluctance of black athletes to engage in black activism or their indifference to larger black community concerns, The representation of black athletes among the media and how black athletes conform to the persona assigned to them, Why with tremendous role models such as Serena Williams, participation by black females is not more widely encouraged. Ultimately this book challenges black sports figures to take greater responsibility and action, and prompts all readers to re-examine their views to become less preoccupied with difference, and more focused on mutual respect and hard-earned achievement. Souled Out? How Blacks are Winning and Losing in Sport is also available online in an E-version. PRICE: £13.99 (20.99 Euros) Read more about the book!

London Olympic stadium design unveiled

Dubbed the ’stadium bowl,’ the new Olympic home has a track and field area and a lower tier of permanent seating for 25,000 people, sunk into the ground. A further 55,000 temporary seats will make up the higher covered section. The temporary seating will be removed after the Games. Furthermore, the roof will be lifted off, reconfigured and replaced to cover the remaining 25,000 seat bowl. Construction is due to start three months ahead of schedule in April 2008, the stadium will also be designed to be sustainable and attract other businesses and investment to the communities surrounding the Olympic Park. Appointed by the ODA, the team submitted their designs a few months later than the forecasted date of February 2007. ‘Team Stadium’ is a joint project between Sir Robert McAlpine, HOK Sport and Buro Happold. Scenta, November 8th 2007

Glasgow to stage 2014 Commonwealth Games

Britain’s run of success in securing major sporting events was maintained as Glasgow earned the right to stage the 2014 Commonwealth Games with a clear victory over its only rival, the Nigerian capital of Abuja. The 2010 Ryder Cup is already destined for Wales and due a return to British shores four years later at Gleneagles. London will host the 2012 Olympics and the Rugby Football Union intends to bid for the 2015 Rugby World Cup. The Football Association has officially announced that it will bid to host the 2018 Fifa World Cup and a year later the cricket version will again be held in England. Welcoming yesterday’s result, the prime minister Gordon Brown said: “It’s looking like a great sporting decade for our country.” The Glasgow bid secured 47 votes against Abuja’s 24 at the Commonwealth Games Federation’s general assembly in Colombo to decide the location of the 20th edition of this quadrennial event and set off noisy celebrations both in the Sri Lankan capital and the victorious city itself. The Independent, November 10th 2007 Read the full story…

Lack of time, off-putting PE lessons, social pressure … why women face a fitness crisis

Women’s fitness is in crisis in the UK, with fewer than one in five doing enough exercise to be healthy, a report will has revealed, prompting Gordon Brown to call for a cultural change to transform girls’ attitudes to sport. Social pressures which portray sport as unfeminine and encourage girls to be thin rather than fit are an important barrier preventing girls and women from taking part in exercise, according to the study by the Women’s Sport and Fitness Foundation. Negative experiences of sport in school and low body confidence also put women off exercise, the research found. The prime minister, in a recorded address at the report’s launch, warned of a “critical under-representation of women and girls in sport” at all levels, and will urge “a cultural change that allows girls to see sport and physical activity as aspirational”. “Sport needs to change so that it becomes as much a place for women and girls as it is for men and boys,” he will say, telling sports bodies to “work harder to understand women’s lives”. The Guardian, November 15th 2007 Read the full story…

Woodward unveils £20m vision for 2012 Olympians

Up to 25 British Olympians will receive bespoke support from as many as 10 specialist coaches in a £20m programme announced by Sir Clive Woodward yesterday. Woodward, the British Olympic Association’s elite performance director, has assembled a team of specialists in nutrition, physiology, medicine, conditioning, motor skills and sports science who will work with those selected at a cost of £150,000 per athlete a year. Among the specialists who will work under Woodward are several who played a part in England’s 2003 Rugby World Cup campaign, including Jonny Wilkinson’s kicking and performance coach Dave Alred, the vision specialist Sherylle Calder, who worked for South Africa at the recent World Cup, and Dave Reddin, England’s former conditioning coach. The BOA hopes the cost of the scheme, which has caused some tension with the government’s elite sport funding body, UK Sport, will come from existing London 2012 or International Olympic Committee sponsors. UK Sport had feared Woodward’s programme might duplicate or overlap with work already being done by performance directors in individual sports, but after a series of meetings this week and the intervention of the sports minister, Gerry Sutcliffe, both parties insisted they would work in harmony. Athletes will be selected to join the Woodward programme only with the approval of their sports’ performance director, and the final decision will be taken by UK Sport’s Mission 2012 panel, of which Woodward is a member. The Guardian, November 9th 2007 Read the full story…

Working Group established to aid doping battle

On the second day of the World Conference on Doping in Sport, Sports Minister Gerry Sutcliffe announced the establishment of a Working Group to consider how law enforcement agencies can work with UK Sport to combat drugs in sport. The Working Group will focus on how relevant organisations can work together to help investigate ‘non-analytical’ doping offences, such as trafficking, possession and supply. It was set up following a recent meeting Sutcliffe chaired with the Home Office, UK Sport, the Association of Chief Police Offices, Revenue and Customs and the Serious Organised Crime Agency in attendance. All parties are expected to be represented in the Working Group. “It is increasingly the case that testing alone isn’t enough to prevent doping in sport,” said Sutcliffe. “We have seen in other counties how partnerships between law enforcement agencies, other relevant public authorities and sports bodies can be effective in getting to the root of doping, namely the possession and supply of prohibited substances. It is timely for us to assess how such partnerships could work in the UK, how existing legislation can be used, and any potential gaps that might need addressing.” UK Sport, November 16th 2007 Read the full story…

Christmas is coming…

Human Kinetics is pleased to announce a fantastic 10% discount off all books and DVDs until December 31st 2007! If you want to give something useful, practical, educational, interesting and fun to your loved ones this Christmas, or if you need to replenish your academic books for the new semester, then look no further, as Human Kinetics has thousands of fantastic books and DVDs, with something to suit every academic need within the sport and fitness arena. DON’T FORGET – If you’re ordering Christmas gifts, the last order date to guarantee delivery in the UK is Tuesday 18th December. The last day for Western Europe is Friday 7th December and Eastern Europe Friday 30th November. To claim your 10% discount you MUST quote Mail Code R586 when ordering. We need this to process your discount – you’ll be prompted for the Mail Code at the very top of the shopping cart page. Alternatively, call our order hotline on 0113 255 5665. Visit humankinetics.com to browse our fantastic books and DVDs…

Notice of Changes to Inspection Copy Policy

On 1st January 2008, Human Kinetics will be making a change to its Inspection Copy policy.Any books supplied after this date will become liable for payment after 90 days, if we do not receive a completed evaluation form or the book returned in good condition. Rest assured that if you do complete the form the invoice will be cancelled and nothing will be payable. All that we ask is for a few minutes of your time so that we get valuable feedback on our products and know whether to work with the bookshops in your vicinity to stock the books for students to buy. We will send several reminders before the invoice becomes due. Any books that do become payable will be at a lecturer’s special discount of 20% off the RRP. We have made it even easier to evaluate the books with our new online evaluation form – simply visit http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=vc9twgcab.0.0.hwxnmxn6.0&ts=S0293&p=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.humankinetics.com%2Ffaculty&associate=4747 and click on ‘Online Evaluation Form’. You must log-in, or register to use this facility. If you have any questions about this change, please contact Paul Mills at paulm@hkeurope.com.

FitNews – November 2007

FitNews from humankinetics.com >

November 07Issue

				Welcome to the November issue of FitNews. Whether you love it or you hate it, there is no denying that Christmas is fast approaching. That doesn’t mean that the news stops though, and this month we bring to you all the latest in fitness and health. We also continue to bring you our latest products and in this month’s newsletter we bring you two new books that would make excellent presents for all the fitness fanatics out there. We also thought we would bring some Christmas cheer so we are offering a 10% discount on ALL books and DVDs for ALL of our customers. Read below for more more details and enjoy your Christmas shopping! In FitNews this month… Achieve excellence in 2008 through mental training Excess weight to blame for one in 20 cases of cancer in women Computer manufacturers create ‘healthy software’ with games designed to give you a workout ‘Fit towns’ plan to tackle child obesity Government likely to announce 9pm watershed ad ban Christmas is coming… Yoga Pages Achieve excellence in 2008 through mental training Start afresh for the year ahead and make 2008 the year to achieve any goal with In Pursuit of Excellence, 4th Edition, an inspirational new book by top sports psychologist, Terry Orlick PhD. Whether seeking success in sport, work, school or relationships, In Pursuit of Excellence, 4th Edition provides the expert advice and proven techniques to help fulfil anyone’s aspirations. Terry Orlick has helped hundreds of Olympic and professional athletes maximise their performances and achieve their goals, but says the principles that work for those athletes’ goals also apply to business and everyday goals and in this fantastic book, Orlick outlines the lessons appropriate for anyone striving to achieve a goal. There is no better book to help achieve any goal and no better time to start then the New Year. To attain greater personal and professional satisfaction read In Pursuit of Excellence, both practical and inspirational, this book is a guide to daily living and motivation, as well as a road map to long-term achievement, for anyone in any walk of life. PRICE: £11.99 (17.99 Euros) Read more about the book! Excess weight to blame for one in 20 cases of cancer in women Women who are overweight are at a greater risk of contracting a wide range of cancers, a study has shown. The authors calculate that 6,000 cancers a year – 5 per cent of all cancers in women – can be attributed to being overweight or obese. The effect is greatest in cancers of the oesophagus (gullet) and endometrium (lining of the womb), where the risks are more than doubled. But there are also significant increases in the risks of contracting kidney cancer, leukaemia, multiple myeloma, pancreatic cancer, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, ovarian cancer, breast cancer in older women and colorectal cancer in younger ones. The team, led by Gillian Reeves of the Cancer Epidemiology Unit at Oxford, analysed data from the Million Women Study. This is the largest study of the cancer risk for women, funded by Cancer Research UK. It involved 1.2 million women who were aged between 50 and 64 when they joined the study between 1996 and 2001, and who were monitored for an average of more than five years. Information provided by the women at the start of the study included their height and weight, There were more than 45,000 cases of cancer and 17,203 deaths. The data allowed correlations to be observed between body mass index and cancer risk. The report, published in the British Medical Journal, showed that greater weight increased the risk of ten of the 17 cancers studied. The Times, 7th November 2007 Read the full story… Computer manufacturers create ‘healthy software’ with games designed to give you a workout The next generation of computer games will offer a workout for more than just our thumbs. Perhaps fearing a backlash over the obesity crisis, manufacturers are working on “healthy” software. Some exercise-based computer games are already on the market – but the new range is designed to make us work even harder. Nintendo recently unveiled a range that will operate with its handheld DS console and the Wii machine that plugs into a television. One system consists of a platform – a Wii Balance Board. This allows users to weigh themselves and get a Body Mass Index rating to establish whether they are a healthy weight. Players can then take part in up to 40 different exercises, such as jogging or yoga poses, and tasks designed to improve balance. The product, which will be available next year, builds on the Wii Play game which allows users to play virtual tennis, baseball and golf. The Daily Mail, 30th October 2007 Read the full story… ‘Fit towns’ plan to tackle child obesity The government is planning to tackle the growing obesity epidemic in Britain by broadening its plans for eco towns and turning them into healthy or fit towns, the Guardian can reveal. The health secretary, Alan Johnson, is convinced that two great challenges facing Britain – climate change and obesity – are linked. He believes it makes sense that 10 eco towns already being planned by the government should now be built and designed to confront the UK’s obesity crisis, drawing on pioneering schemes already producing results in Australia, France and Finland. Mr Johnson wants Britain to follow the example of 10 French towns which have focused on young children and seen substantial cuts in obesity. The initiatives in France led to the proportion of overweight boys aged seven to 12 falling from 19% to 10% and in the girls from 10% to 7%. He is convinced only a comprehensive rather than the current fragmented approach will work. Practical measures in new healthy towns being considered by ministers include: Regular weigh-ins for children starting as they leave Increasing the number of cycle lanes Designing safe walking routes to schools and from Programmes in schools to inspire children to eat Ensuring GP practices are on the high street so Larger parks, modern playgrounds and improved Details of the policy emerged as an authoritative five- year cancer study yesterday warned that one third of cancers are linked to our diets and lack of exercise. The report from the World Cancer Research Fund says obesity is a major factor in cancer and people should fight to keep their weight down throughout their lives. The Guardian, 1st November 2007 Read the full story… Government likely to announce 9pm watershed ad ban Prime minister Gordon Brown is believed to be plotting to announce a statutory 9pm-watershed blanket ban on food and alcohol advertising later this year. The Advertising Association (AA) says that the omission of any mention of public-health issues in relation to communications and advertising in Gordon Brown’s first Queen Speech as Prime Minister has “raised suspicions.” It is understood that the government is getting ready to announce the restrictions in an attempt to meet its public health goals on issues such as obesity, smoking and alcohol. It is believed the Department of Health secretary of state Alan Johnson, is set to announce its proposals to ban all food advertising and alcohol advertising pre- 9pm as early as December. AA chief executive Peta Buscombe says: “We cannot sit back and do nothing. Just because the Queen’s Speech did not touch on the issue of advertising and marketing, or how best to tackle the issue of obesity or alcohol abuse does not mean the government is not thinking about it. I am not confident that there will be no further restrictions.” Harpers, 7th November 2007 Christmas is coming… Human Kinetics is pleased to announce a fantastic 10% discount off all books and DVDs until December 31st 2007! If you want to give something useful, practical, educational, interesting and fun to your loved ones this Christmas, then look no further, as Human Kinetics has thousands of fantastic sport and fitness books and much more, with something to suit every sporting enthusiast.We all know how stressful and expensive Christmas shopping can be, that is why we are here to help with inspirational gifts and a fantastic discount, and after all the stress of Christmas you won’t feel guilty about treating yourself to one or two of our products either, especially with 10% off everything, you can afford to!DON’T FORGET – If you’re ordering Christmas gifts, the last order date to guarantee delivery in the UK is Tuesday 18th December. The last day for Western Europe is Friday 7th December and Eastern Europe Friday 30th November. To claim your 10% discount you MUST quote Mail Code R586 when ordering. We need this to process your discount – you’ll be prompted for the Mail Code at the very top of the shopping cart page. Alternatively, call our order hotline on 0113 255 5665. Yoga Pages We have a new link on our UKPE website. Yoga Pages is the UK’s premier online yoga resource, helping you to maintain and develop your yoga practice. Use Yoga Pages to make new friends through the Yoga Discussion Forum, keep a Yoga Journal, post your pictures on the Picture Gallery, and keep up to date with Yoga News. Yoga Pages also has a Directory of Yoga Teachers and details of Retreats & Holidays world wide, aiding your future yoga path.To visit Yoga Pages click here, or to visit our UKPE website links page click here.

UKPE Newsletter – November 2007

UKPE Newsletter

November 07Issue

				Welcome to the November edition of the UKPE newsletter! In the news this month we have seen a big focus on childhood obesity as recent reports indicate that half the population could be obese in the next 25 years! In response to this the government announced that schools should be doing more to convince teenage girls to take part in sport by scrapping “embarrassing” gym kits and offering alternative activities. Of course, we have all the help you need to keep kids fit and active with our fantastic products, and as usual we feature some of the most up-to-date in this newsletter. And its not all doom and gloom, as we bring you some more positive news as the government have recently announced that it has met it school sports targets a year early! (And we also have Christmas to look forward to!) In the UKPE Newsletter this month… Teach fitness skills with fun and exciting games Change your game with great moves and smart play Schools told to tackle teenage obesity crisis Schools meet sports targets, survey shows Parents of fat children to be given a warning Computer that says no to obesity Coventry City players push pupils into premier league Christmas postal dates UKPE Catalogue 2008 Teach fitness skills with fun and exciting games Fun, Fitness and Skills: The Powerful Games Approach features 93 games with countless choices and variations, which allow students of all abilities to work together. The book, featuring a field tested collection of games, will ensure that teachers never run out of fresh ideas for fun and exciting games that teach fitness concepts and skills. Created by a former teacher and current physical education mentor and staff developer with the Department of Education in New York City, Fun, Fitness, and Skills, gives teachers: easy-to-follow games that allow teachers to concentrate on children being active and having fun; clearly written educational objectives for each game that help teachers focus on key fitness concepts and skills to be learned; a game finder that makes selecting the right game quick and easy; tips and suggestions for teaching and classroom management; and variations to keep the games fresh and interesting. The games include warm-ups, fitness and skill games, as well as tag games. The book focuses on activity that is fun, while also building skills for activities that students can enjoy for life. Through Fun, Fitness, and Skills, children have fun and learn while practicing skills and fitness concepts, and teachers discover exciting new ways to teach or improve their students’ skills and fitness. PRICE: £12.00 (18.00 Euros) Read more! Change your game with great moves and smart play Basketball Skills and Drills is about learning the fundamental skills of basketball that coaches teach and players learn. This book, now in its 3rd Edition, provides a perfect blueprint for building the foundation that every well-rounded player needs. A significant improvement on previous editions, Basketball Skills and Drills, 3rd Edition is accompanied with a new DVD to demonstrate skills including: Player positioning Moving without the ball Shooting Passing, catching and dribbling Perimeter moves Post moves Defence Rebounding The book contains 90 drills, as well as coaching tips also covers key team principles for offence and defence. To become a player who can change the game with great moves and smart play, get Basketball Skills & Drills - your guide to becoming a complete player. PRICE: £16.99 (25.49 Euros) Read more! Schools told to tackle teenage obesity crisis Schools should be doing more to convince teenage girls to take part in sport including scrapping “embarrassing” gym kits and offering alternative activities such as Frisbee and yoga sessions in an effort to halt the growing obesity crisis, the secretary of state for families has told the Guardian. Ed Balls said it was also up to parents to do more to tackle their children’s obesity and academic underachievement, and the government cannot improve children’s lives without their help. An official study to be published on Wednesday will predict that half the population could be obese within the next 25 years. The Foresight report is also expected to say the epidemic will cost the country £45bn a year by 2050 if the loss of productivity from people who suffer obesity-related healthcare problems is added to the cost of treating them. Mr Balls told a Guardian conference, the Healthy Kids Summit, that the government is ahead of a 2008 target to get 85% of pupils doing at least two hours of sports a week. But secondary schools are lagging behind primaries and girls are the least active once they hit adolescence. Education Guardian, 15th October 2007 Read the full story Schools meet sports targets, survey shows The government has met its schools sports targets a year early, the education department has announced. The findings of its 2006-07 school sport survey found that 86% of pupils now participate in at least two hours of PE and school sport each week – one percentage point more than the 2008 target. However, the Liberal Democrats questioned the validity of the government’s figures. According to the report, which is based on a survey of more than 21,700 state schools, participation in competitive sport is on the increase. Almost all schools (98%) reported that they held at least one sports day during 2006-07, while a further 58% of schools hold other intra-school competitions. And more than a third (35%) of pupils were involved in inter-school competitions last year. Participation rates in inter-school competitions vary by age, reaching a peak of 61% among 10 to 11 year-olds. All comparable figures show rises in the proportion playing competitive sport. The variety of sports offered at schools is rising – secondary schools now offer an average of 21.7 different sports, ranging from mountaineering to kabaddi, as well as traditional sports. The average number of sports offered by primary schools has increased to 16. Guardian Unlimited, October 15th 2007 Read the full story… Parents of fat children to be given a warning Parents of 5-year-olds are to be sent official warning letters if their child is found to be obese, as part of a national programme to weigh children in schools. Ministers are bracing themselves for charges that they will stigmatise fat children when they publish proposals to tackle rising levels of obesity, The Times has learnt. Alan Johnson, the Health Secretary, is understood to have been persuaded that it is in children’s best interest if their weight is brought formally to the attention of their parents. The routine weighing of primary school pupils was reintroduced in England and Wales two years ago in response to obesity fears. The National Child Measurement programme aims to collect data on every child twice, when they start school and when they leave. Parents of 5 and 10-year-olds can request the measurements but are not informed automatically, even if the child is severely overweight. Ministers resisted the plan of warning letters last year, amid fears that they would cause a boycott of the scheme, the main purpose of which is supposed to be to identify national and regional trends. Times Online, October 22nd 2007 Read the full story… Computer that says no to obesity A machine is helping obese teenagers to lose weight by encouraging them to eat more slowly and chiding them if they eat too fast. Doctors believe that some young people eat so fast that their brains do not have time to work out whether they are full or not. The machine, called a mandometer, weighs their food and encourages them to eat it one mouthful at a time. Among those who have tried the device is Laurence Willshire, who had a 52-inch waist and weighed 21 stone by the time he was 15. In the year since he started eating more slowly, he has lost four stone and is well on his way to achieving his target of 15st 5lb. He is one of 120 young people taking part in trials of the machine being conducted by the Childhood Obesity Clinic at the Bristol Royal Hospital for Children. The mandometer is a computer connected to a set of scales with a plate that is filled with food to a predetermined level. The computer records the weight loss from the plate as Laurence eats and tells him when he is eating more than he should. It also tells him when he is eating too quickly and when he can have his next mouthful. An electronic voice chides him if he eats too quickly. If he carries on eating after it has decided that he has had enough it asks him: “Are you still hungry?” The Times, 26th October 2007 Read the full story… Coventry City players push pupils into premier league Coventry City FC and Coventry West Sports Partnership have come together to encourage over 50 city primary schools and over 10,000 children to be more active. As a reward for good performance, one lucky school was paid a visit by Goalkeeper Dimitrios Konstantopoulos and Midfielder Jay Tabb. Both joined in with lessons and talked about the benefits of exercise. Coventry City produced boards with football shirts numbered 1-12 for all classrooms in the partnership to record how many minutes of activity they undertook in a week. Each shirt represented ten minutes of exercise. When a class was physically active, a counter moved around the shirts to log the minutes completed. Figures were then collected by School Sport Co-ordinators and classes who were consistently active won a visit from two Coventry City FC players. Youth Sport Trust, 2nd November 2007 Read the full story… Christmas postal dates As it is fast approaching Christmas once again, we have provided you with the Christmas postal dates below. This will help you out if you are expecting any deliveries from Human Kinetics around the Christmas period and also if you need to send anything to us. These are not guaranteed services (with exception of Special Delivery).UK 17th December – 2nd class 20th December – 1st class 20th December – DHL 21st December – Special DeliveryInternational 3rd December – Eastern Europe, ROW 10th December – Western Europe UKPE Catalogue 2008 By now you should have received our new UKPE catalogue 2008, a fantastic source of information about all of our products, with information about our great value packs too. If you haven’t receieved your copy, click here to request a catalogue.

Immerse yourself in a wonderful water workout

We all know how important it is to exercise regularly to keep in shape, and with the growing threat of obesity forcing us to be aware of our physical activity levels, we are constantly looking for ways to keep fit. Swimming is an excellent way to exercise. It offers numerous benefits that not only include keeping in shape and burning calories.  

If you are looking for a way to exercise that you can stick to, one that will benefit your mind as well as your body and a workout that is great for cardiovascular exercise and toning muscle, then swimming in the could be the physical activity choice for you.

 

 Read on to find our the benefits of swimming and working out in the water: 

•  Regular swimming builds endurance, muscle strength and cardio-vascular fitness
• Swimming can be used as a form of meditation that can help you gain a feeling of well-being
•  Swimming is a great way to lose weight as it can burn over 400 calories an hour
•   Swimming tones both your upper and lower body
• Exercising in water means there is no stress on your bones, joints or connective tissues
• Swimming can help improve and prevent high blood pressure
• Swimming can help reduce stress
• Swimming strengthens your heart muscle and improves delivery of oxygen to muscles 
• Swimming is a great low-impact exercise for pregnant women
• Swimming is fun!

With all these benefits it’s hard to see why anyone wouldn’t give swimming a go.

For books, DVDs and more resources on swimming and water workouts visit www.humankinetics.com

Is child gym membership the answer to keeping children more active?

Almost everybody who watches the news and reads the newspapers will be aware of the obesity crisis we are now facing in this country and childhood obesity seems to be at the centre of the problem. Every month we publish articles in our newsletters relating to the growing rates of obesity in young people and the health problems this is causing them, such as diabetes and heart problems.

Recently Human Kinetics received an email from a reader of one of our newsletters, highlighting an issue, which we thought deserved further investigation. In the email our reader pointed out the following:“I took my daughter (who is 13 years of age) down to the local gym. I was surprised to be told for health and safety reasons that she was too young to use the equipment. Bearing in mind all the exposure to recent events in childhood obesity, we are looking at the introduction of habit forming at a young age particularly in health related fitness. I myself ran an under-sixteen gym club ten years ago at a private health club, supervising and producing appropriate programmes for the young adults. For those who participated found it very enjoyable, safe and certainly not detrimental to their well being.”

We spoke to Chris Hudson, the Associate Dean of the Faculty of Health at Leeds Metropolitan University. Chris believes that recreation providers must adapt to appeal to young people, and their changing needs. He stated: “The long-term declining involvement of young people in active recreation and sport we have seen, along with the increase in obesity and diabetes in young people, means sport and recreation providers must adapt in order to appeal to youngsters – anything that can get them more active is welcome.

He continued “On a personal level my view is that children should be encouraged to be active in a more informal and interactive way than gym training, but professionally, if there is demand from youngsters to be active in this setting, then the industry needs to respond. After all, these could be their members of the future.”  

However, the issues surrounding child gym memberships are far more concerned with health and safety matters such as litigation and untrained or inexperienced staff. After speaking to Glen Beaumont, Health and Safety Officer at the Association for PE (AfPE), who does not wish to discourage young adults from using specialised fitness training equipment, we discovered some of the health and safety precautions that need to be in place:

• The equipment itself in terms of its size and manageability should be compatible with the stature and physique of the children involved,
• Light loadings should be used – particularly with pre-pubescent children – with the emphasis upon efficient and safe technique rather than strength building,
• The activity should embrace wider learning outcomes, leading children towards a better understanding of the components of physical fitness,
• Appropriately qualified and experienced staff should always directly supervise the activity.

Many gyms, such as Esporta and Virgin Active, have already cashed in on the growing demand for child membership, but not everyone believes this is the best way to keep children active and the Fitness Industry Association (FIA) express gratitude to those gyms that refuse membership for health and safety reasons.

Andree Deane, CEO of the Fitness Industry Association said: “Encouraging more children to be more active, more often is a priority for the Government, teachers, health and fitness professionals (such as FIA members) and of course parents. It is a cornerstone of the FIA, which is why we developed and are running two very successful government funded activity programmes for school children. “

However, if individual gyms feel that they can not provide the right environment for children (for health and safety reasons, as well as because they do not believe that they have the right resources in place), then we applaud the fact that they chose to behave responsibly and, in doing so, forgo income rather then put a child at risk.”

Although it seems that those gyms who refuse children membership may not be encouraging children to keep active, it appears that their reasons are warranted and their interests lie with the safety of participants. So what do you think? If you have an opinion on this issue or suggestions for future articles, please leave a comment.