Augie In Action! Augie In Action! - Ihrsa
Augie In Action! Augie In Action! - Ihrsa
Augie In Action! Augie In Action! - Ihrsa
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| News & Know How | News<br />
Exercise innovation<br />
Exergaming’s Newest Player<br />
Foundation’s grant supports development of interactive workouts<br />
Getting fit isn’t all fun and games—<br />
or is it? Electronic gaming—long<br />
a favorite pastime of couch potatoes,<br />
and often blamed for contributing<br />
to the obesity epidemic—has recently<br />
emerged as a new, interactive, heartpumping<br />
fitness activity. Now, a major<br />
$8.25-million grant may further spur<br />
the development of this growing<br />
phenomenon.<br />
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation,<br />
a philanthropic group committed to<br />
improving America’s health, is convinced<br />
that gaming holds promise for<br />
enhancing fitness and, as a result, has<br />
funded a new national program, Health<br />
Games Research. Its goal: “to support<br />
research to enhance the quality and<br />
effectiveness of interactive games that<br />
34 Club Business <strong>In</strong>ternational | MARCH 2008 | www.ihrsa.org<br />
are used to improve health.” The research<br />
center will be sited at the University of<br />
California, in Santa Barbara, and overseen<br />
by communication researcher<br />
Debra Lieberman, Ph.D.<br />
The $8.25-million grant will also<br />
support the Games for Health Project,<br />
an ongoing effort to bring together<br />
game creators and health experts.<br />
“This will only help speed up the<br />
process of taking our industry from<br />
a niche market to the main stream,”<br />
Mike Hansen, the CEO and president of<br />
iTech Fitness, an IHRSA-member firm<br />
that specializes in interactive fitness,<br />
exergaming, and entertainment services,<br />
told CBI. “It will help spur innovation,<br />
resulting in product improvements and<br />
new product developments.” —|<br />
Fitness Trends: Elderly Living Longer<br />
> Senior citizens are living longer, healthier lives, thanks in large part to their commitment<br />
to physical fitness. Between 1995 and 2004, life expectancy for Americans has increased by<br />
two years, to 77.8, according to the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS). Meanwhile,<br />
data from the National <strong>In</strong>stitute on Aging (NIA) reveals that, between 1982 and 2005, the<br />
disability rates for Americans 65 and older dropped from 26.5% to 19%. The improvements<br />
can be attributed, in part, to greater public awareness about the importance of exercise<br />
and sensible eating, Dr. Neil Resnick, the chief of geriatrics at the University of Pittsburgh<br />
Medical Center, told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.<br />
© 2006 Tyrone Turner<br />
><br />
Short Takes |<br />
Rhodes Racks Up<br />
Another Record<br />
Personal trainer Neil Rhodes<br />
knows more than his fair share<br />
about endurance. You may<br />
remember reading about him in<br />
the November, 2006, edition of<br />
CBI, after he successfully broke<br />
two world records on his Concept2<br />
rower in the North Pole at temperatures<br />
of minus 21 degrees<br />
centigrade, or minus 6 degrees<br />
Fahrenheit. (Concept2 is an<br />
IHRSA associate member.)<br />
Well, the extreme athlete has<br />
been at it again, racking up more<br />
unusual claims to sporting fame.<br />
Most recently, he completed the<br />
GORE-TEX TransAlpine Run, a<br />
150-mile run across the Alps, as<br />
well as the GORE-TEX TransRockies<br />
Run, a 110-mile stage trail run<br />
through the Colorado Rockies.<br />
“The GORE-TEX TransAlpine<br />
and TransRockies races were epic.<br />
To add to the beautiful scenery and<br />
challenging terrain, we had challenging<br />
weather for both races,”<br />
Neil Rhodes<br />
the 50-year-old Somerset, England,<br />
resident told CBI. “I made<br />
history as the only Englishman to<br />
have completed TransAlps and<br />
TransRockies, back to back. So, for<br />
at least a year, I hold that title.”<br />
To date, Rhodes holds four<br />
world records, including the highest<br />
climb in an hour on a VersaClimber<br />
while carrying a 40-pound pack on<br />
his back, and the highest climb in<br />
30 minutes on a VersaClimber.<br />
(VersaClimber is also an IHRSA<br />
associate member.) —|