"One Life, Live it Well"

Dear Members,

Within the same treatment area is the wonderful Miss Alia’s Sports Therapy & Remedial Massage, probably the strongest pair of feminine hands you are every likely to go under the care of!

Alia is also a GFI for Free Spinning under the LeMond system & will eventually cover some classes here at HLFCH too, that said you would be well advised to try out her magical hands first; Alia can be reached via reception or directly on her mobile 0404 228 044.

Liz will be offering every specialist service to all you lovely girls & ladies in the best possible conditions with the latest lotions, potions, gels & creams. In addition Liz has set out a range of men’s grooming services so you chaps can also get your metro-male bodyworks up to speed. Liz will open her new Ladies Beauty & Men’s Grooming room in the latter weeks of February.

All rooms have true reverse cycle air conditioning & so are probably the most comfortable rooms in the club to actually spend quality time in. Bookings with Liz can be made directly on her mobile 0414 887 919.

Really hope that you all make the most of the professionals onsite now & very much an integral part of your holistic health, fitness, conditioning, wellbeing & general feel-good-factor.

Chiropractor: 08 9403 3999 / Remedial Sports Massage: 0404 228 044

Ladies Beauty Therapy / Treatments & Gents Grooming: 041 488 7919

So, now that we have successfully rescued the Chiropractor from the noise pollution of the functional training zone & the thumping free weights upstairs it is at last time to transfer the Free Cycle Zone to a dedicated sealed Spinning room downstairs with true air conditioning. This will happen over the coming month & we look forward to opening the new dedicated Spinning Zone in March. The Spin Zone will have reverse cycle air conditioning, mood lighting, surround sound, stage & all the accoutrements expected to be found in a professionally constructed Spinning Zone.

The old make-do spinning zone that you manfully put up with for all those years upstairs will at long last become a part of the main gym area & will be an area dedicated to functional training on MARPO Kinetics, additional rope work, ball work, sandbag work, boxing, bag, focus pad & mitt work. So all in all a safer more professionally laid out zone for all the weird & wonderful exercises that we all like to get up to from time to time.

Lots of change as ever & we hope to keep ringing in the changes as much as we can because change means development & evolution both of which are essential in what just 12 months ago was one of the oldest, most neglected clubs I have ever seen.

Today we are on a fabulous journey into modern day, state of the art exercise prescription offered up in a fitness club that is focused on the latest trends & traits ensuring the very best conditioning programming in 2012 & beyond.

We aim to constantly upgrade, improve, develop & bring the latest equipment & training apparatus to your home-town gym all to ensure you continue to experience varied workouts & the most exciting forms of training so as to keep you on track.

Happy training,

Daniel

Happy New Year Healthy Life,

Twelve months on this old club with its legions of loyal long time members & the new joiners are all part of a completely new chapter. The club is looking a whole lot brighter but thankfully with the same trusty old soul & spirit that is the very essence of Healthy Life Fitness Centre.

Yes, all the crew hope that you like the alterations, from  the essential refurbishment to more elective improvements & most significantly the entire upgrade of the resistance, strength & conditioning  equipment & most of the cardiovascular equipment; of course in conjunction with the new cardio theatre. All cooled by the refurbished A/C throughout the workout zones. Mood lighting seems to have been met with positive feedback so the old fabric of the building although not changed in its’ integrity is painted, shored up & then washed with a softer hue of colour to bury the 1970’s starkness that previously glared so obtusely at you as you trained.

There is plenty more to come & I do appreciate the excitement, enthusiasm & positively upbeat vibe all the sweeping changes have been met with by the vast majority of members. Indeed there are certain aspects of the alterations, modus operandi & general upgrade that have doubtless caused concern & even consternation at times, after all change is always met with indifference at best. However, I just want you to know that every change we make to the facilities, the services, the design, the layout, the equipment & the product at large are all aimed at making your workouts, your visits & your leisure time more enjoyable & more rewarding in every aspect.

Sometimes health & safety in alliance with best practice just have to take precedence over old habits, it is the way of this modern world & Australia’s governance are no exception. I suppose the best way to look at the less palatable OH&S changes is to take them for what they are & understand that they are in place for the greater good of all. Ultimately we are all here to get healthier, fitter, stronger or whatever adjective we choose; so long as they make you all as individuals & as a club membership happier, well, we will have succeeded. 

2012 will be as exciting & ever upward as 2011 was, the team will continue to focus on your happiness in your hometown club, we will continue to aim to retain the family friendly feel while seeking to bring the club into line with cutting edge training systems & techniques delivered on state of the art equipment. All in good time & I hope that you remain with us on the journey while bringing family, friends, colleagues & acquaintances to share in the fun along the way.

Wishing you a fantastic year ahead,

Daniel

Dear Members,

Festive season is upon us & gluttony is bound to occur, if not gluttony then certainly over-indulgence. All the excesses we humans tend to enjoy have a somewhat negative impact on our health & therefore our wellbeing.

So, try & remember that your local sanctuary is here for your respite from all the over-indulgence & we will remain operational & at your disposal for you to sweat out the alcohol, burn off some extra calories or simply maintain your general well-being if you are a sensible festive season celebrator.

The club will remain operational aside from the days that the Westfield Shopping Centre states we should be closed, thus Christmas day, Boxing day & New Year’s Day we will officially be closed but I will be in the club & I will happily open the doors to one & all between the hours of 0900am & 1100am. I will most likely be here working away throughout most of the entire day on each of the stated closed days, so just ring first & I’ll try & answer or if passing by knock on the door & I’ll let you in.

Unlike many of the larger chains & government clubs who are closing & operating half days etc. we will open normal hours right up to Christmas Eve & then between Christmas & New Year for 12 hours a day. The opening times will be posted online & at the club entrance.

The official group fitness schedule is being tapered sensibly so as to optimise the classes available to all the members while ensuring the classes Leanne does select with her team of GFI’s are well attended. After all there is nothing worse than participating in a class that has 2 – 6 people rattling around the studio & no atmosphere. Far better that we have less classes with 20 – 40 people in them all buzzing along with a great vibe.

Leanne is highly experienced in all she does on the group fitness management & she has years of instructing experience to draw upon but even more significant than that? Leanne knows the region & the area well so she knows what time slots to place classes in better than most. Leanne also knows the members well having taught here for many years & having managed many clubs she is used to designing reduced festive season time tables.

There are bound to be classes each individual wants that have been sacrificed for a more appropriate or popular session, please do try & bear with us & perhaps use the tapered schedule to try a class that in normal weeks you would might not have tried. This often turns up previously undiscovered likes & change to one’s training regime is always a good thing, even enforced change. Remember classes you had preconceived ideas about often prove to be stimulating & enjoyable so please do remain open to such possibilities. Thank you.

And so to those much said words ‘HAPPY CHRISTMAS’ what does that phrase mean to you? Perhaps a time to think about others & those less fortunate than ourselves? Even those not celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ tend to reflect upon the needy. So how about we here at Healthy Life think of the following sentiment when we say the words Happy Christmas:

Healthylife Asks Perth Please Yell Can Humanity Remember Impoverished Starving Tortured Massacred Anguished Society.

I believe that a small part of this Xmas season can be taken by us all to remember others, think of the souls within our world who are the have-nots. It does all mankind some good & helps us appreciate what each have.

Thank you & Happy Christmas,

Daniel

For the first step into heart rate-based training we are encouraging you to purchase the cost-price subsidized FT1 POLAR HR individually coded chest transmitter & watch.

• Shows heart rate on large and easy-to-read display
• Helps improve your fitness with manual heart rate target zone
• Displays a summary of your latest workout
• Offers one-button functionality and coded heart rate transmission to avoid cross-talk
• This entry level series of HR monitoring / guidance systems is subsidised & available to HLFCH members at below cost so a mere $60 a unit inclusive of GST.

I hope that you are all enjoying the new Free Motion Functional Trainers that have been set up in the cabled FT zone & those of you still learning about the MARPO Kinetics manage to get into the ultimate training zone sooner rather than later.

Remember that the more diverse the range of equipment that you use during your training programs the more likely you are to keep coming on a regular basis. Your workouts will actually be more enjoyable & engaging the more varied they are, so do try out the new equipment. Come December I will be running weekly seminars on various training techniques & how the apparatus lend themselves to different types of training & achieving very specific goals.

Have an invigorating November on all the new equipment & please do treat the equipment as though it were your own, this includes the new water fountain which has already been hammered by some strangely rough treatment. After all it is your own club, your home away from home.

I trust that you will all be in agreement with the club observing Remembrance Day on 11/11/11 & we will play the Last Post from a live recording in the Gulf back in 2003 by Her Majesty’s Blues & Royals Regiment of The Household Cavalry. In addition we will then stand in silence for one minute before a second sounding of the bugle & finally recommencing our day’s activities.

Train hard,

Daniel

For the first step into heart rate-based training we are encouraging you to purchase the cost-price subsidized FT1 POLAR HR individually coded chest transmitter & watch.

• Shows heart rate on large and easy-to-read display
• Helps improve your fitness with manual heart rate target zone
• Displays a summary of your latest workout
• Offers one-button functionality and coded heart rate transmission to avoid cross-talk
• This entry level series of HR monitoring / guidance systems is subsidised & available to HLFCH members at below cost so a mere $60 a unit inclusive of GST.

Dear Members,

At last TRUE TRAINING, no more of this perceived rate of excursion during your exercise regime; be that weights, cardio, group fitness, spinning, cross training, boxing, whatever – let your target heart rate training zones guide you 100% as to how hard you should be pushing yourself or whether in fact you should be easing up & reducing your output measured in watts as an example.

Each person’s personal target heart rate is different, very much an individual calculation that can be calculated specifically & individually just for you & should be re-evaluated every 6 months & for elite athletes or those aiming at a periodised training program leading to a specific event should have their target training zones re-evaluated anything from weekly to monthly.

Initially it is vital that you appreciate that the maximum HR in any individual can vary greatly, by as much as 20 – 50 beats per minute (bpm), in addition VO2 Max is not always taken into consideration, in fact hardly ever. Allowing for the standard variations of the above & other more sports medically based criteria there are now 4 basic methods accepted

There are a number of formulae (43 to be exact & none are considered perfect) that can be used to work out one’s various target heart rate training zones (THR or THRTZ) with. The two I like to use & most commonly shared are Karvonen (Finnish in the 1950’s) & Zoladz (Polish in 1970’s). Karvone’s Advanced Method is even better.

1. Karvonen’s Advanced Method

• (MaxHR - Age - TRHR x % of Intensity + TRHR = Zone).

2. Zoladz Method (not named after myself, but looks like it doesn’t it).

• (Maximum HR subtracting 50/40/30/20/10 bpm into 5 zones)

This is what we use in the extreme MMA conditioning & Para-military PTI training systems. It is the age old Karvonen Method but advanced so using minus your age but including your true basal resting heart rate as a vital factor in the calculation. These stats are not used in the standard Karvonen’s method.

The Target Heart Rate or Training Heart Rate (THR) is a desired range of heart rate reached during aerobic exercise which enables one's heart & lungs to receive the most benefit from a workout. This theoretical range varies based mostly on age; however, a person's physical condition, gender & previous training also are used in the calculation. There are many ways to calculate one's THR. In each of these methods, there is an element called "intensity" which is expressed as a percentage. The THR can be calculated as a range of 65% (Fat burning begins) – 85% (just before going anaerobic) intensity. However, it is crucial to derive an accurate HR_max to ensure these calculations are meaningful.

I will be running a series of POLAR HR training seminars on calculating your true basal resting HR & then working out the Karvonen’s Advanced Method for each of you & then setting you the amazing new & inspiring method for guiding, measuring & running your own THR training based program within anyone’s class, session, workout or any physical activity all the while targeting your optimum & required training zones, be they based on Zoladz or Karvonen.

New gym program cards will soon be available with a dedicated POLAR HR section just for you to log & then monitor your own bespoke training zones.

Thanks,

Dear Members,

Hello there good members, at last the true mood lighting filters arrived from Europe, hope that you all like the gentle colours & the fact that they hide a myriad of superficial building defects that you have long put up with! That aside the theory behind the mood lighting is that each colour enhances a specific area & creates an emotion within a specific area or workout zone.

In Cardio Theatre the whole idea is to have a movie theatre ambience to the workout zone & enable you to watch the various television screens with greater ease. It also assists in ensuring privacy is maintained by those not wishing to be viewed in glaring bright white light by all & sundry. There is a stepped range of blue hues from Tokyo blue through Berry blue finally to the front row which is lit in Mikkel blue. The abdominal & stretch zone is lit in Regal blue which is supposed to be a gentle relaxing blue-mauve to enhance one’s relaxation within that zone.

The spa area & the entrance to the cardio theatre are lit in Lagoon turquoise so as to provide a relaxing but lighter glow to those areas. Of course the main strength zones are predominantly natural daylight white with the club’s signature Tokyo blue edges along the main thoroughfare & matching along the far mirrored side of the strength zones.

Finally the group fitness area is in hot pink or shimmering pink so as to prepare for the long awaited alliance with Lorna Jane apparel which that particular area is supposed to be given over to as a corporate partner. That aspect is presently under review but the hot pink hue to the rear part of the studio will remain in place even during the more robust boxing & contact classes.

On the equipment side of the club we still await a series of new strength lines from the United States of America but in the interim I am very pleased to announce that the Cybex Plate Loading converging flat chest & incline chest presses have arrived along with your own Olympic Power Lifting Platform. The Nautilus Smith Machine is due in next week along with the associated wide cable cross over & the long awaited power cage. The rest of the Cybex, Free Motion & Hammer strength pieces will be somewhere over the ocean I trust?

More exciting news is the fact that we will be the very first health club in the entire state of West Australia & only one of 3 clubs in the entire nation of Australia to have the amazing functional training & core stability range of unique & futuristically designed MARPO Kinetics. This series of functional trainers combines core strength with resistance training across the entire musculoskeletal system while the body also works the major muscle groups in what physiologist’s term a compound manner, all this combined with as much or as little cardiovascular pulmonary training as the individual sets the particular machine for.

So resistance, weight, traction, height, angle, motion, targeted muscle group or groups as well as particular action be it climbing normally, seated, kneeling, standing, sideways, legs & feet, abseiling, rappelling, inverted or otherwise are all variables on these 3 different styles of equipment. There is a 4^th more basic version but we are only purchasing the main 3 systems & they will make up the major components within this unparalleled functional training zone.

Plenty more equipment news to follow but for now, I will leave the exciting re-equipping aspect of the club at that. The personal trainers will have their hands full demonstrating the systems to you & instructing you all on how best to use the equipment.

Congratulations to Aaron Cooper who was selected by Cycle Australia to go to the 2012 London Olympics. Aaron will be pedalling in the indoor Velodrome for Cycle Australia in the Cycle Australia Sprint Team at the next Olympics!  Aaron also broke a world record in Adelaide just last week while qualifying for the Olympic team. Any cyclists looking for tips & training technique, why not book in with our very own Olympian to be here on the Healthy Life personal training team.

Remember that September sees the launch of the new Les Mills program releases & the new sound tracks & various adjustments to all the Les Mills programs will be displayed to you all throughout September. If you really want to get into the spirit of the events, ask your Les Mills qualified instructor what colour should be worn for each of the very different Les Mills programs.

On a more laborious note of maintaining our ever-improving club, could I please ask you all to try & look after the facilities as though they were your own, after all they are your own. They are only as pleasant to be in as you make them & keep them.

A few exceedingly disappointing remarks that I have to make are as follows: Chewing gum is regularly being found stuck on cardio & strength machine frames & recently on the group fitness studio floor. Mud & external dirt is being dragged across the workout areas, while free weight benches & apparatus is increasingly being inappropriately moved & left out,

None of this is really fair on your fellow members, neither is sabotaging the sauna wood & stove, not least how about not splashing litres of water across the spa area floor?

Consideration for your fellow member ensures this now heavily invested in club of yours continues to evolve into a harmonious, comfortable & ambient workout zone for each & every one of you. Please do your bit & help each other maintain the feel good factor.

Have a great September & see you after my next rotation overseas,

Daniel

Dear Members,

A rather belated August equipment exchange has commenced. Apologies for the removal of some of your favourite pieces of resistance equipment from the strength areas but timing has gone slightly awry regarding the arrival of the new gear & the selling off of the old Cal Gym equipment.

The original equipment specification due over from the USA has hit a sticky patch & we have had to re-order the apparatus from within Australia in order to meet the demand of immediacy. None the less a few additional pieces will remain on order from California USA & arrive later in the year. The wait will be worth it as the equipment on order is superior to what we had.

When all said & done there is not a single exercise, not a single muscle group & not a single routine that you cannot complete with the equipment that we have in-situ. If you are struggling to find your favourite piece of equipment the PTs & I will happily show & then demonstrate an alternative exercise on a similar station, perhaps an even better one as I have only sold off out-dated, out-moded defunct equipment.

In fact regarding back exercises in general I am amazed that so few of you have been using the wonderful Cybex VR2 pin loaded stations all this time. VR2 simply means Variable Resistance on two plains as opposed to most isokinetic apparatus which works the specific muscle group on a single plain. It also surprises me that many of you elect to train on the old Cal Gym Seated Row pin loaded instead of the similar but infinitely better & more accurate Cybex VR2 Seated Row.

Remember with VR 2 range of Cybex you can hit the targeted muscle group twice as accurately with a cam that has been designed to optimise the muscle fibres engaged throughout the full range of motion on that particular exercise. The muscle is being worked through its optimum range of motion with the resistance increasing as the strength curve increases.

In simple terms the cam on each station has been designed around the natural strength curve of each muscle group as opposed to lesser equipment that operates on straight forward bearing, pulley & circular disc systems.

You can also use VR2 pin loaded equipment as per single plain VR1 & so keep it easy or engage the second plain & increase the results during each exercise. So, your workouts should be enhanced by the use of the historically much ignored Cybex VR2 equipment.

The cable work that requires more functional training, core work & the engaging of the associated muscio-skeletal system for stability is still available via the old Vortex Cable Cross & the new Multi Adjustable Pulley system. Yes you can still execute chest on either of these two cable systems no matter how tall & / or wide you think you are. If unsure ask for assistance.

The new pin-loaded Pectoral / Reverse Fly has had its new Super-Heavy stack put in place & is now an extra 40 kilos heavier than it was.

While we await the arrival of the new dozen or so resistance training stations I have re-designed the gym area to allow for free space around the red strike bag on the wall. Please use that area for your boxing workouts until the new equipment arrives. It will make a pleasant change for you, I hope.

Talking of boxing there are 2 more free-swinging boxing bags in the GFA now & one is permanently hung for you to use whenever the studio is empty & you feel like having a hit. If using the bags please remember to use your professional hand wraps under your 10 – 12 – 14 ounce gloves. This is a must when boxing in the club. If using club equipment re-stow it & always remember to tie the hanging bag back against the pillar so that the GFA remains user friendly for the ladies doing all their classes – thank you.

On staffing front we welcome Frances on board as your new reception team member. Jayne & Ken Lucas are now back from their month long holiday in the USA, welcome home guys.

If you have friends, family or colleagues thinking of joining you here at Healthy Life please see Ash, Ashleigh or Jayne for a complimentary pass for them to try the club out.

Last but by no means least, there is a new all singing, all dancing bookings system for the personal trainers & other appointments. The online program is also being implemented for the Group Fitness Schedule.

The innovation & ease of facilitation has been researched, chosen & implemented by none other than our own receptionist Laura Baines who has won herself an innovation of the year award for this great addition to the club’s operating system.

Thank you Laura, from the entire PT team who now have no excuse for not knowing what, who & where is when, ditto the GFI’s & their class schedules & cover lists.

Daniel

Dear Members,

Hello again members, at last the delayed Life Fitness Cardio Vascular equipment, all 12 pieces have arrived from over on the East Coast. July 1^st has to be a lucky arrival date the first of the month & all that.

A rather long & entertaining story but thankfully they are now here in West Australia with us. We really hope that you enjoy the new stations & that they make your vigorous or leisurely cardio sessions that much more comfortable with their modern up to date biomechanics, smooth ergonomics & electronic gadgetry.

In addition we have our first two new Plate Loading dual axis Cybex free weight stations, one flat bench & one incline bench, your chest workouts will never be quite the same ever again. Just ask one of the personal trainers or myself for a session or at least a couple of pointers on how to get the optimal workout on these two biomechanically awesome machines.

With the increasing arrival of exciting new gym equipment & apparatus space in the active areas is ever tightening. So could the Persona; Trainer’s, GFI’s & the crew remind you once again to endeavour to workout with just your good-self, your water bottle & your towel! Please leave the rest of your belongings safely locked up in the changing room lockers. There just is not the space for everyone to take their brolly, rain coats, backpacks & handbags into the active areas.

The new boxing class on Friday evenings at 1800 commenced with great attendance & we hope that it grows weekly. Remember this is a boxing craft, skills session with qualified martial artist strike fighters & / or boxing coaches. So you can actually learn how to stand properly, gain the correct stance, make a decent fist, accurately & safely strike a punching bag, focus pads & if you spar, then your opponent properly & not damage yourself in the process. There is an element of conditioning & fitness to the session but by & large in the early stages this session is to teach you good form for future training.

Talking of boxing there will be more free-swinging boxing bags arriving in the near future. These can be hung within the group fitness area & used when the studio is not being used in a formal class set up, also during dedicated boxing sessions. The hope is to increase the number of boxing classes to two per week eventually. We know how popular boxing is & we want to accommodate you with your needs so we are in the process of finding the right class slots to switch to boxing sessions, feel free to fill out a form & advise what slots you would like to see changed to boxing sessions in the group fitness area.

On the weekend of July 16^th & 17^th Mike Barton Master Free Spinning Trainer & LeMond course director for Australia is again running a two day training course in the Spin Cycle Room 0900am – 1600 Saturday & 0930 – 1400 on the Sunday. If there are any interested members wanting to participate please see poster on reception, Daniel or Leanne.

We are very pleased & proud to announce the arrival of Ashley Simmonds as the club’s new membership marketing & sales director. Ashley brings with him a wealth of experience from his many years in the health & fitness industry in the UK in such clubs as LA Fitness, 5^th Dimension to mention but two while here in Australia he has worked wonders for Goodlife Clubs & of course your sister club as was Healthy Life Fitness Cottesloe.

Ashley will be launching some wonderful member care programs & releasing some very innovative membership referral schemes that will reward you & your friends & family as we grow our circle of friends here in Healthy Life. Ashley is a keen gym junkie himself so you are bound to see him working out while his wife Kelly is a Les Mills instructor & will also be training here with us. Sadly she won’t be instructing right now as she is expecting their first child.

We welcome Lisa McRoberts back to all her classes post her successful surgery & she looks forward to seeing you all in her Thursday morning Zumba & her Pilates classes too.

Jayne our club manager & Ken the indomitable spin instructor are taking a well earned holiday in the USA so you won’t see Jayne’s smiling face for July but rest assured she is coming back & Ken will be sorely missed in the saddle where he usually leads some manic spinning sessions, again Ken will be back 6^th August too. His first class back will be on that Saturday morning jet lag or not Ken says he will be leading you all in the Spin room.

All that remains is for me to wish you all a great July & like you, hope it is not too chilly & wind-swept,

Daniel

Dear Members,

As promised more strength & conditioning equipment arrived in the month of May & it is great to see so many of you enjoying the new apparatus & testing your skills-set along with new techniques on the range of equipment. Remember if you are unfamiliar with any of the new stations just see reception & ask for some guidance & one of our personal trainers is bound to be able to assist even if only for a few minutes.

If you are thinking of taking up some personal training sessions in the future most of the PT’s will happily give you a short complimentary introductory session to permit you to experience as to how they train their clients. So you get to try them out before you buy their services as it were. I know that John, Luke, Aaron, Ben & Christina are very happy to offer such free trials subject to availability, sure the others are too.

Regarding some of the new stations, those who feel more weight is required on some of the pin-loaded weight stacks can rest easy, we have placed an additional order for super heavy weight stacks which will be exchanged for the present standard weight stacks in June when further equipment arrives.

Mel V-Z has suggested a beginners Yoga course be run in June over 3 weeks 3 times per week. This idea has been received with great interest & those who noted their interest on paper have been e mailed & called. Remember we do need at least 8 participants to get this Yoga course for beginners rolled out so try & ensure you revert to reception as soon as possible confirming your participation.

As to the soon to arrive boxing craft sessions on Friday nights, Daryl & his stable of coaches hope to roll these out commencing 3^rd week of June, i.e. Friday 24^th June. Keep an eye open on the notice boards for latest up dates.

As to the new Super Circuit on Thursday mornings at 0600am for 45 minutes through to 0645am this commenced Thursday 2^nd June with 8 participants. The next two weeks are being led by Luke Valente & then we will commence a rotation of various PT’s leading you on a cross-training type of Super Circuit. Make sure you come in bright & early to join in the rampage.

Last group fitness news is the soon to be trialled Sh’bam which is sweeping the clubs rather like Zumba did a year or so ago. It is apparently the new Zumba & Leanne & her team are rolling out some trials thanks to les Mills so again, keep your eye on the notice boards for the time slots being offered.

Great news for Sunday & public holiday opening hours! We have taken onboard all your comments & reviewed the one hour between 0700am & 0800am on Sundays & indeed acknowledge this is a very poorly attended time frame with an average of 3 members visiting every Sunday before 0800am. So, we have started to open Sundays & bank / public holidays from 0800am & will extend the club’s available hours through to 1400hrs, as conversely, there are all too often 12 – 30 people still working out come midday closing on Sundays. Hopefully you will all enjoy the extended opening hours & the later closing while perhaps 2 – 4 of you will from time to time have to start your workouts at 0800am sharp instead of 0730am odd.

Regarding air flows in the group fitness & spin rooms, please do remember that the newly refurbished air conditioners & air cycle pumps ensure an even flow of air to every area of each room. This means that if you feel the chill of outside temperature fresh air when working out, just ask the instructor not to flick the switch on for air intake. That said, the air flow is set to ambient with the air flow velocity on low; thus ensuring fresh air in but not cooled & not billowing, unlike in summer when we have it set at cooled & high velocity.

Our congratulations to long standing member Claire Van Der Wildekamp on successfully attaining gold in the WA NABBA Body Building Championships & Gold in the national NABBA championships; both at veterans i.e.+35 year olds.

On a sad note we all extend our sympathies to Ian Sillar’s children Amanda, Mark, Laura & Sam along with his extended family. Ian sadly passed away unexpectedly on Monday the 23^rd of May & Ian will be greatly missed by both crew & members alike.

Have a healthy month in June & remember to bring in a friend for free on Fridays,

Daniel

Dear Members,

Welcome to May & let us hope that your club continues to develop onwards & upwards under your generous patronage. Great to have seen so very many of you training in all areas of the club during April, traditionally one of the club’s quieter months but actually April 2011 was a boomer for feet through the door. Great to have seen so many of you committing yourselves so diligently to your own well-being programs here at HLFCH.

The Wednesday Zumba is flying high again thanks to Daryl’s great moves while Mel’s Yoga’s are ever more popular. Talking of which Mel thought it a great idea that the club ran a special beginners course for Yoga starters, a 3 week program of 3 yoga sessions per week specially designed & run for beginners.

Please do register your interest with reception where there is a sheet for you to state whether you would be interested in signing up to the $100 course that will consist of 9 Yoga classes. It is a great idea & we thought we would run it by the members & if you have guests that may also be interested in the same 9-session yoga course? It is available to them at $150 for each participant.

On new classes the Personal Trainers are looking into instructing a new 0600am Super Circuit class on Thursday mornings for 45 minutes. We hope to have this new class up & running in June 2011, until then Ben Hoffman continues to run a cross-training circuit which is well worth giving a shot at 0600am & his is a full 60 minutes of exercise.

The last Group Fitness news is Leanne was wondering how many of you would be interested in a white-collar boxing class? Daryl (your Zumba man) is also a Thump instructor & a Muay Thai Martial Artists & is prepared to run the boxing focused class if there is enough interest. The available slot is Friday evening, traditionally a going out night I know, but we’d be interested to know how many of you would be inclined to attend a boxing class of this ilk on a Friday evening?

Group fitness ladies, I’d like to thank you for helping us keep your workout environment safe by leaving your handbags & giant handbags in the lockers or at reception. A marked improvement & the majority of all members are all pulling together, thank you from all the GFI’s & PT’s to each & every one of you.

The work out zones in the gym, cardio theatre, spinning, stretch & group fitness areas are all looking much clearer & safer for everyone’s benefit – thank you again, good to see.

Two new personal trainers on board in Luke Valente (joining us from Goodlife / Fitness First) & Christina Davini who is moving across from Group Fitness into some personal training as well. Both are available to you via reception & well worth a chat to.

Kim is well & truly back in the saddle & now regularly takes the Wednesday morning class at 0915hrs & the Wednesday evening at 1800hrs, while Caitlyn is regularly instructing the 1800hrs Spin class on a Tuesday evenings. Support both ladies with gusto & turn up for the sessions & enjoy their diverse Free Spin programs.

In respect to your gymnasium & it’s ongoing up grades? I am pleased to announce a huge order of cardiovascular equipment from Life Fitness which will see 6 new Recumbent Cycles & 6 new Cross Trainers in situ by the end of May. To add to this exciting news we have a range of new strength equipment arriving at the end of the month too. Your workouts will never again be the same & each week that passes your club is modernizing as pledged when we started out on this new chapter of Healthy Life Fitness Centre.

Have a great month of May,

Daniel

Group Fitness ladies, I’d like to use this month’s April news letter to address you en mass as to various concerns you have within the group fitness area. I hope that I can explain the seemingly ongoing member confusion & some member disharmony hereunder.

I would like to clarify this qualification / insurance requirement leading to your safety & well-being in addition to industry best practice. As you are all too aware some instructors do not hold the required national standard of qualifications for the classes they have instructed over the years. Thus some instructors are prevented from leading your classes until they are up to speed with nationally recognized qualifications. Others are limited to how they instruct & / or what they instruct for the time being.

Rest assured that all the action being taken is in your own best interest & your personal well-being, safety & in line with all Australian governing bodies like Kinect Australia, FIRE Australia & the largest of all Fitness Australia’s national guidelines for best practice.

We as a health club have a responsibility for your safety, well-being & health, after all we are a health club & although we want you to have a great time here & enjoy all the activities we provide & all the classes & equipment we have at your disposal we have a responsibility & a duty of care to mitigate as much exposure to risk of injury & accident as we possibly can.

This leads me to the wonderful work that our Group Fitness Manager Leanne Mansfield has done & is doing on a daily basis for you & for her team of instructors. Leanne is batting in our instructor’s corner & batting hard.

She has helped all the instructors get into line, up to speed & suitably qualified & insured as efficiently & fairly as she can. Contrary to some rumours neither Leanne nor the club have been or are penalizing any instructor for being unqualified, far from it, we have bent over backwards putting on Senior First Aid courses, Free-Cycle Spinning courses & sourcing external courses relevant to each under-qualified instructor’s particular needs. Leanne is also mentoring a number of instructors to reach the required level of competency.

Health & fitness instruction is a professional role & a science & one that requires requisite qualifications. Those instructors still absent from the usual classes or limited in what or how they instruct are under the careful, helpful & educational eye of Leanne Mansfield & other professionals as they meet necessary standards before being permitted free rein with you, our valued members again. It is totally for your benefit & safety, no other reason at all.

On a personal note I am surprised & disappointed to hear of this on-going boycotting of certain class slots to endeavour to bring back an instructor into a certain slot. Your actions will not fast track anyone’s return & are probably not even desired by the instructor you are supposedly trying to help. All classes are led by suitably qualified, experienced instructors who will hopefully provide inspirational, motivational, fun & safe exercise prescription for you. Please do respect Leanne’s professional integrity & her laudable endeavours to do the right thing by the members. Leanne has over 25 years leading group fitness & is a highly regarded group fitness manager with requisite experience, skills set & a sterling track record in national & state wide clubs – we are lucky to have her onboard & helping improve the group fitness product, very lucky.

Onto handbags & giant handbags in the work out zones be that gym, cardio theatre, spinning, stretch or group fitness areas. It is again standard across the industry & in line with Fitness Australia who in turn take their edicts from IHRSA (International Health Racquet Sports Association) that bags, personal hold-alls & other personal clobber in workout zones is dangerous & unnecessary on a number of levels.

This has always been the policy in your club, perhaps just not enforced properly in the past. It is not a new edict, far from it. Again for your personal safety, comfort & well-being bags are prohibited in all workout zones. There should be no need for anyone to carry & leave bags strewn around the floor, draped over cycles, hanging off cardio equipment or dangerously positioned for another unsuspecting member to trip over.

If you need personal inhaler, ventilator, medication, personal hygiene apparel, or a mobile phone with you? Then by all means get yourself a small draw-string pouch & carry your ‘mini-pack’ with you into your workout zone. But handbags, hold-alls, back packs, sports bags, kitchen-sinks are not permitted into any workout areas, sorry.

Please use the lockers provided in the changing rooms or if you must, leave a small personal handbag with reception, but lockers are best & safest. This is so basic & so standard across any club in the country that I am slightly bemused that it is causing such consternation amongst some members.

Yoga & Pilates does permit the individual to take their personal relevant equipment into that particular class with them. These classes are sedentary & safe to have one’s blocks, belts, stretch mat & other apparel next to them for personal use during the class, so safe & indeed encouraged to workout with. Those of you with personal boxing gloves, again you can take your equipment into the workout area you are using them in & do so in a clear netted boxing bag (which is what boxing equipment should be kept in to enable it to breathe).

Gym towels & water bottles are encouraged & the former is a must for hygiene reasons, obviously.

I & the crew wish you happy, enjoyable & indeed safe workouts here at Healthy Life & really hope that the above explanation suitably justifies the rationale of the club. It is part of our ongoing attempt to encourage best practice at every level of the operation. All policies are set to facilitate comfort & safety for you the members, no other reason at all.

Have a safe month as you exercise,

Daniel

Dear Members,

‘Beware the ides of March’ should have been a mid-January warning for us in modern WA. By March 11^th the original Ides of March, we will have nothing to fear I am sure. It is official according to C7, C9, C10 & ABC News, this has been Perth’s hottest most humid consecutive period since official Australian weather records began, no wonder everyone was a tad uncomfortable. The newly refurbished A/C’s coped admirably when one reflects back on the statistics involved. Here is wishing you all cooler times ahead.

I note that not many of you are using your I-Phones, Android System Phones, not even your older Nokia, Ericsson, Samsung styled mobiles that all offer you free ‘digital radio’ reception in the cardio theatre zone.

Please remember that you can use your mobile phone to receive individual audio of your preferred channel of choice when exercising. You can listen to the news, watch a soap, a game show or your favourite TV program while working out. If you do not have a mobile phone with an FM receiver then you can purchase digital receivers from reception for a mere $30 (great value as they retail at $59.99 in the stores.

Folks, please do remember to look up at the two large plasma screens in the cardio theatre & the other in the main reception area. Silent though they may be, they have plenty of relevant health club information that is useful for you to keep abreast of & may also save you asking questions as to what is next, when, where or with whom?

The new cycle podium will be in place by the end of the month so your view of the instructor should be 100% clear line & they of you too, so no more slacking in the back row of the peloton anymore. Good to see some newly HLFCH blooded Spin instructors appealing to you & thank you for the positive feedback about Michael Batskos, Tina Howard & Aaron’s spin cycle classes. It appears that Michael was a huge hit with you all & Leanne is trying to get him to instruct more but he is in high demand around the region.

While on the Group Fitness Area please do give the Monday evening Yoga a shot with Sharryn, still not firing up & the same with the brilliant Christina’s Thursday Body Combat at 1830. Christina is a leading Les Mills instructor & you are missing out by not joining her in her powerfully led Body Combat session on Thursday evenings.

Hope you are all geared up for Saturday 19^th March 2011 at 1400hrs as Ian Crawford will be leading an enlightening life skills / motivational public oratory session in the GFA room for an hour & fifteen minutes. This will be the first of 5 such sessions this year so make the most of this inspirational public speaker’s knowledge; it is free to members, guests & family. Well worth turning up for & it is free to boot!

More good news on the Personal Training front, we are very happy to welcome Aaron Cooper Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) Junior World Championship gold & silver medallist for Australia in the velodrome in Manchester England earlier last month. Aaron joins our team of valued PT’s. Aaron is also instructing Spin Cycle classes & presently has a permanent class on Wednesday mornings.

Last but not least, please do remember the club’s etiquette when training; use a towel at all times, replace all equipment to where it belongs – all Olympic discs back onto the wall racks, this is vital for health & safety reasons. In addition please remember no bags to be taken into any workout areas, safety & security reasons take precedent – use the lockers, thank you.

Have a happy & healthy month of March.

Dear Members,

January 2011 has flown by & we are into an equally hot February, indeed the humidity has been un-seasonally high or so I am told & I must confess during my limited exposure to Perth weather I have never known it so humid for so long. The discomfort is over within the club as you now have 6 fully operational A/C units bellowing out cooled air to enhance your comfort while exercising; these refurbished units along with 12 75cm blade commercial fans should keep you cooler.

The final touches will be completed regarding the 5 missing diffusers later this month but the volume of cold air flowing into the active areas is at full-bore & you should feel the difference every workout. Once those diffusers are in place there should be no frozen spots & neither any hot spots, for now certain areas will be cooler than others.

 The ongoing refurbishment of your club gathers pace & you will notice the nice bright white walls in the active areas & the changing rooms (courtesy of Wes & his team of decorator’s), so your workouts should be all the more invigorating, the mood lighting will follow in March & so lessen the brightness or clinical look some of you have mentioned.

 You now have 10-channel choice audio visual in the cardio-theatre area. All you need do is bring any FM receiver & tune it into your preferred TV channel that you wish to watch while exercising. The channels are set as follows from left to right. C7 Two / C7 Mate / C Go / Gem99 / ABC1 then the right hand bank of TV’s run from left to right again as ABC24 News / C7 / C9 / C10 / SBS1. Those are your 10 channels with crystal clear audio for your personal viewing & listening all with brand new commercial transmitters & a twin aerial mast with requisite power boosted receivers for clearer pictures & to mitigate the pixilation that was going on.

 Please remember to use the newly built stretch & abdominal area adjacent to the cardio theatre, it is far more relaxing & much safer than doing your floor work up stairs in the main gym. The Fit ball racks will arrive in February for neatness.

 New sound systems are on order for the Group Fitness Studio & the Spinning Cycle Studio too. Talking of the Spinning area we hope you like the new fan shape floor plan. It is better than the straight line peloton, abridged peloton that were on trial for a few days, I hope?

 The original square layout, though exceedingly useful for abs & stretching did not lend itself to safe, controlled & professional Cycle Fit conditions. It was not easy for some instructors to monitor, motivate & lead the Spinning sessions from. Some of the participants were obscured from the instructor’s vision & the feeling of cycling in a peloton was completely lost to the environment.

 I know most of you are used to the old layout but try & give the new design a chance before decrying it as hopeless, hopeless just because it is now & a change. We all dislike change to an extent, it makes us uncomfortable & we are, by & large creatures of habit.

 That said, change is essential in our lives & the changes we are endeavouring to implement here are supposed to improve your workouts, assist in your goal setting & attainment & enhance your time in the club. We are not making changes just for the sake of them & not making changes just to give you a new challenger either. Every alteration both structural & operational is made with the best of intentions to improve the standards of operation & seek ‘best practice’ at every given juncture.

 On Saturday February the 12^th at 0800am Mike Barton a Master Trainer of LeMond Free Spinning & prodigy of the great founder of Spin ‘Johnny G’ is instructing a 1 hour master class & there are limited places at $10 each, please book & pay at reception if you wish to attend. Mike is here for 2 days while training our spin Instructors & we all hope to graduate all the wiser, with new energy & improved ideas as to how to optimise your Spin sessions in the club.

 At 1400 on the same Saturday there is the club’s 2^nd Open Forum for you to air your views & chat to one another about the direction of your health club, your likes & dislikes etc. The session is limited to one hour (sorry but I too am on the same Mike Barton Spin Course & have just one hour off) but any subjects requiring longer discussion can be set as an agenda for a later day in February within any focus group you wish to have.

 In late January 3 of your PT’s also completed the new Lift For Life course delivered by Fitness Australia & are now qualified to assist & instruct anyone suffering from Type 2 Diabetes. If you or any of your relatives, friends or associates have issues with Type 2 Diabetes please do ask for Ben Hoffman, Enrique Gonzales or myself & we will happily discuss a safe, precise program tailored to your special requirements pertaining to Type 2 Diabetes complications.

 Mark your diaries for Saturday 19^th March 2011 at 1400hrs as Ian Crawford will be leading an enlightening life skills / motivational public oratory session in the GFA room for an hour & fifteen minutes. This will be the first of 5 such sessions this year so make the most of this inspirational public speaker’s knowledge, it is free to members, guests & family. Well worth turning up for & it is free to boot!

 Great news on the staffing front, we are very happy to welcome back the ever-smiling Miss. Ally Hickman to your loyal HLFCH team. Ally has agreed to rejoin the membership consultant’s team & will be on-board, ready, willing, able & happy to assist with all with your membership needs & enquiries from February 11^th onwards.

 On that happy note, I wish you all a great February & thank you for remaining loyal through the humid times with minimal A/C, now a distant memory I hope.

 Stay cool, Daniel

Dear Members,

Happy New Year to you & your families, we all take this opportunity to wish you a wonderful, happy & healthy 2011 with plenty of energizing fitness & well-being programs here at your neighbourhood club.

Our apologies for the slow development of the web display & the untidy presentation of the newsletters & member announcements, this is due to the web hosting being operated out of Canada & we can only assume the web-master takes exceedingly long festive season breaks. I’d hope that a new format & tab drop down menu system; ergo a more orderly presentation is available to you by the end of January 2011.

Doubtless you will have seen a great many changes in the club over the festive season, if nothing else a cleaner, neater, tidier facility with a huge amount of older / unused apparatus discarded to create new free workout space, while all broken equipment has been repaired & is now in-service. Full services have been carried out on all cardiovascular equipment & it should all be running true & silently gliding along.

The neat, tidy & safe presentation of the club’s active areas, especially in the free weights is namely thanks to your good-selves! The seed as to a new culture of safe & considerate training was sewn by the staff & you have now taken the culture forward to new heights, great to see, thank you.

We really appreciate you all training with courtesy & due care for one another & re-stowing your discs, barbells, dumbbells & moveable apparatus to their respective stowage. In this humid weather please do remember to bring & use your personal towel at all times, it is fairest on all your fellow members & yourself too.

The new group fitness schedule is ready to roll out on January 10^th with the team of instructors new & old now being led by the experienced Leanne Mansfield. We have added a new yoga class with the mega-popular Mel on Thursday evenings & in February, yet another yoga on Monday evenings too. An exciting high-energy Body Combat with a top BC instructor Christina on Thursday evenings, while Reesh commences her innovative freestyle Aero-Fit class on Monday & Wednesday mornings. You will notice Leanne making innovative changes to the group fitness area increasingly as the year progresses.

As to your facility we have opened up what was an off-limits PT office area to you for a dedicated abdominal & stretch zone. This new area should be ready by the end of January, complete with new fit balls, wall stretch bars, mats, mood lighting etc. At last, somewhere to stretch, tone & hit those abs in peace & quiet without fear of someone dropping a weight or tripping over your head.

In January the cardio theatre is also being upgraded with additional brand new flat screen TV’s & new FM transmitters for individual audio to your chosen channel of preference. Mood lighting will also be cast in this area as time evolves so as to provide a more theatrical feel to the cardio equipment zone.

The entire active areas in the main gym is due a lick of paint as are your beleaguered changing rooms & a team of professional painters will be coating your environs with a new bright & clean wash of white to lighten the mood. The humidity has not gone unnoticed by any of us & so 12 brand new 75cm industrial turbine fans are being strategically positioned around the club in the second week of January to increase that air flow & supplement the soon to be installed gleaming, all-singing, all-dancing air-conditioning due in late January. The two should combine to combat the heavy humidity recently experienced by everyone & so provide you with an even cooler club for you to train in.

More exciting changes to your infrastructure will take place in January & the months to follow but far too much to list it all here & so we will save some for February’s news letter. Remember that anything you notice with regard to being unserviceable, out of order or not to your liking, be sure to bring it to our attention & we will endeavour to put it right.

On the service front we are very pleased to welcome two new personal trainers in Rob Dixon from New Zealand, an ex-rugby player & experienced past gym owner / operator & of course Enrique Gonzalez Australian Defence ex-regiment who brings with him a wealth of experience from being a military athlete. We are also very happy to welcome back the now fit, strong & well John Duncalf who is back to his best & all three gentlemen are available to book in with at your convenience & assist you with your personal goal setting & attainment. Elise, Catlin, Chris & Ben are still very much with us & also on board should you wish to train with your steadfast crew.

There will be another member’s open forum with me for you to discuss your views & express your opinions with each other & with us in a large group next month. Again it looks like a Saturday afternoon is the most popular time & day but if anyone has a preference for a weekday evening or other time do let reception know. Otherwise Saturday 12^th February at 1400 looks most likely for an opportune get-together.

Other than that all that remains is for everyone on the Healthy Life staff to wish you a fantastic 2011 & hope that you continue to work out here with us as a new & exciting chapter for the original Hillarys club unfolds.

Happy 2011,

Allow me to introduce myself to you, after all it is you the members who are the core of what makes this health club what it is today. You are the foundation of Healthy Life Fitness Centre Hillarys & it is for you the members that Louise operated the club for the last decade & for you the members that I have the pleasure of taking over the reins from Louise in 2011 & thereafter.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Louise & her team for permitting me to purchase her club & indeed for permitting me to continue to run the club under the successful & respected Healthy Life Fitness Centre banner. I will endeavour to carry on their efforts to date & take the health club forward, onward & upward to even greater heights.

In the beginning Louise saved your club from certain collapse & is handing it over to me in far better shape than she inherited it, for that we should all be grateful to her. I know that she would have continued to improve, develop & foster a Healthy Life environment for you all, but for her new focus in life – a family & her commitment to your sister club Cottesloe Healthy Life Fitness Centre just down the tracks from here.

So, it is my pleasure to now be able to arrive into Australia, a country I have visited & even periodically lived in since 1989 & work alongside the loyal Hillary’s team in providing you all with an ever-improving oasis of well-being, health, fitness & exercise. It is our focus to work in a dedicated harmonious manner, with you the members, to provide you the members with what will eventually be as near to a state of the art facility as we can realistically afford & in the interim to provide the best client care & member services we can.

Without wishing to bore you with a CV, I will summarise a little of my health & fitness back ground in order to give you confidence that your club is in the capable hands of an experienced health, fitness & well-being operational director. I have been in the health & fitness industry since my time as a martial arts instructor & a physical training instructor while at university & thereafter in one capacity or another. My passion is strength & fitness conditioning for sports specific training as well as rehabilitation work post sports injury. This while providing any membership base I am responsible for with the optimal facilities / service so as to enable them to attain new heights of physical goals in the shortest possible time.

Even when working in the government security sector I have always maintained an investment as well as an interest in the health, fitness & well-being fields. I have to admit that for the last decade I have primarily been working in the government security sector but still managed to part-own & operate two major London health clubs, an Abu Dhabi & a Dubai club on my rotations of stand-down. All continue on successfully to this day under new ownership.

My door is always open to anyone wishing to proffer a view, opinion, make a request about our club or to simply have a chat on any subject from third world poverty & conflict zones to our own luxury lives of Australian riches in what this amazing & fruitful country offers us all. This is after all the leisure industry & your free time is as valuable a commodity as anything else in your world.

They call this the lucky country & I remember being a 12 year old when I first heard those words, also back in the 1980’s it was termed as the land of milk & honey, I hankered to live in Australia since way back then & finally in 2011 I have made it my base. Far from it my place to tell you how lucky you are being Australians, living where you do, but I will anyway & this nation of yours is something to behold.

A large part of that Australian spirit comes from you as a people being fit & healthy, out-doors & active types, in some small way I hope that we here at Healthy Life Fitness Hillarys can contribute to you, your family’s & your friend’s lives. How? By being the engine room where you recharge your minds, hone your physical skills, refine your motor-neurons, limber up your joints & generally ensure your bodies are fit, ready & able to carry your minds to where the body has to go.

There will be many open forums along the way, the first being this Saturday 18^th December 2010 at 1200 midday, make sure you turn up to vocalize your wants, needs & opinions. I cannot promise all will be met, far from it, but at least I & my team will know them & bear them in mind as we strive to afford you that which you seek most.

To a happy, healthy future in unison, I trust.

Daniel

Director