Industry Issues/Trends Articles

Walking the talk is the name of the game in Western Pennsylvania. For the second consecutive year, Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield has awarded $125,000 in grants to nine area schools to help fight childhood obesity. The “Highmark Challenge for Healthier Schools” funds school programs that address better nutrition choices and physical activity among children. The grants were aw...

Nintendo has taken Donkey Kong up a notch or two. One of the company’s latest product concepts, revealed during the E3 Media & Business Summit in July, might just put some personal fitness trainers out of business (or be a new profit center). The Wii Fit™ Balance Board (name not final) is a pressure-sensitive controller that users manipulate with their feet. The devic...

Nothing fires up fitness professionals more than the thought of helping others discover the joy of living healthy, active lives. Individually, we do phenomenal work to make a difference in our communities. Universally, however, we can’t do it all alone: we need to connect with each other to share knowledge and information and to brainstorm new ways to reach the people we want to serve. The fabu...

Many people might say that group fitness became part of our culture back in the early 1970s, when Judi Sheppard Missett introduced Jazzercise® and Jacki Sorensen launched Aerobic Dancing. Others might argue that our awareness of group “aerobics” began when Jamie Lee Curtis showed her Perfect body in the 1985 movie. And there is no denying the impact Richa...

Spanning 25 Years: IDEA & FITNESS INDUSTRY MILESTONES 1982-2007 1984 1982 Peter and Kathie Davis found IDEA, and the first IDEALetter is sent to a membership of 300. Reebok designs and mass-produces a shoe for high-impact aerobics. Jane Fonda releases her first workout video IDEA holds its first international convention in San Diego to a sold-out crowd. The first edition of IDEA's magazine, Dance ...

When health club chains announce they are coming to town, what happens to the business of local, independently owned facilities? How can any small business compete when its resources and staff are dwarfed by those of larger outfits? Is there any way to prepare or to level the playing field when dealing with such formidable competition? Be Prepared

25 Future Deliverables in the Fitness Industry By Amanda Vogel, MA A As an IDEA member, you probably have your finger on the pulse of this year's hottest fitness deliverables, those products and services that are all the buzz with fitness consumers. But what's in store for the future? As part of IDEA's 25th anniversary celebrations, we invite you to join us in looking toward the next 25 years. H...

Cooking Light magazine has taken a look at American attitudes to lifestyle. More than 1,000 adults across the country responded to the 2007 Cooking Light Insight survey, which gauged nutrition and exercise knowledge. Here’s what the survey uncovered regarding fitness habits: 6% of American adults get 30 minutes of exercise a day. 22% exerci...

Americans are stressed out, and it’s costing billions. Consumers are spending more money than ever to combat the effects of stress, and companies are struggling with how to manage the business-related costs. Next year, according to Market Data, Americans will pay out an estimated $14 billion on products and services to reduce stress—up $3 billion from the amount consumers s...

If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em! That’s the attitude Mayo Clinic researchers took when they measured how much energy kids expended playing video games. The findings were published in the December issue of Pediatrics (2006; 118 [6], 1831–35). The study is the first to scientifically measure the energy spent playing video games. Subjects included 15 ...