Health & Fitness
Fitech Comes to America
Leading UK-based Fitness Company Expands into North America
By Richard Miles
Featuring “Health & Fitness” writer Cheryl Alker
Global wellness company Fitech has appointed Wellington resident, Cheryl Alker, to head up its expansion into North America. The company was founded over 25 years ago in the UK to measure police and uniform service fitness levels. Today, they are the leader in measuring health and wellness in 38 countries across the globe. Fitech’s products support the fitness, leisure, occupational health, educational and private medical sectors, providing invaluable fitness testing information and education for consumers and corporations.
Fitech V5 is a Web-based tool that is nationally and globally accredited for benchmarking physical, lifestyle, emotional, nutritional and exercise performance. The tool highlights areas of health and wellness concern in easy-to-read reports, enabling users to track progress.
Alker, who has over twenty years’ experience in the health and wellness sector in both the UK and the United States said, “I am delighted to have the opportunity to lead Fitech’s growth in such a major market as North America. We have started the recruitment process and plan on maintaining a team of twenty Regional Distributors across North America. The key task is to introduce our very affordable and industry leading technology to personal trainers, gyms, chiropractors, physical therapists and corporate offices all over the continent, giving consumers from all walks of life easy access to all manner of data about their fitness and well-being, including cholesterol, aerobic capacity, body fat, flexibility, strength and so much more. All the testing is 100% scientific and consumers receive easy-to-understand reports that use traffic signal indicators of green, amber and red to highlight existing levels and areas of concern.”
What could a fitness assessment do for you?
Many of us have heard of the saying “knowledge is power” and nothing could be more true when that knowledge is applied to your health and well-being. We are all aware that we should be exercising regularly and eating a healthy and balanced diet, but how do we know that the exercise regime and eating plan we have chosen is right for us and will deliver the results we are looking for?
A full fitness assessment will take the guess work out of these important decisions by testing:
· Percentage body fat
· Cardiorespiratory system
· Strength
· Flexibility
· Lung capacity and functionality
· Blood pressure
· Resting heart rate
· Body Mass Index (BMI)
Not only should the above components be tested, but the results should be relative to your age, height, weight and sex.
When asked how a fitness assessment using Fitech technology could accurately determine results, Alker had this to say: “The Fitech system tests the five components of physical fitness; therefore, we can easily pinpoint your strengths and weaknesses. Let’s face it, the majority of us will gravitate to the things we do well as opposed to the things we find difficult. Apply this principle to your fitness regime and you get better at one component and worse at another. This can cause major imbalances and, in time, will start to work against you resulting in pain, discomfort, poor functionality and less than pleasing results.” Alker went on to point out that she deals with many people who work out daily and still do not have the body or fitness levels they desire.
For new exercisers who have no idea where to start, a fitness assessment is essential, as it will most definitely take the guess work out of your plan and give you a focused program on the type of training you should be doing. Another benefit to a non-exerciser is that you have a benchmark to gauge your progress. Statistics prove that the fall-out rate of new exercisers will be 50% in the first four to eight weeks and 75%/80% by week ten to twelve. Scientifically proving progress will give any new exerciser the incentive to continue.
“Seasoned exercisers and athletes also benefit from regular fitness assessments,” said Alker. “A runner for instance will quite happily spend hours a day focusing upon their times and distances run, and will undoubtedly score very highly on lung function and the cardiovascular part of the test, but at least 90% of the runners I test will score well below average in the flexibility section. Athletes will often find it very difficult to cope with the fact that they are not the perfect athlete they thought they were, and it often encourages them to pay attention to all the components of physical fitness. The upside of this recognition of weakness is often improved functionality, less injuries and improved times.”
We are what we eat
A fitness assessment will no doubt give you the answers with regard to fitness levels, but the Fitech system doesn’t just stop there. Fitech also offers cholesterol testing. “We all understand that we should get our cholesterol levels checked regularly,” said Alker. “But why and what do all the figures mean? How do our cholesterol levels affect our health and well-being? If we are told our levels are high, how do we bring them down?”
“High cholesterol is one of the major controllable risk factors for coronary heart disease, heart attack and stroke. As your blood cholesterol rises, so does your risk of coronary heart disease. If you have other risk factors (such as high blood pressure or diabetes) as well as high cholesterol, this risk increases even more. The more risk factors you have, the greater your chance of developing coronary heart disease. Also, the greater the level of each risk factor, the more that factor affects your overall risk.”
“When too much LDL (bad) cholesterol circulates in the blood, it can slowly build up in the inner walls of the arteries that feed the heart and brain. Together with other substances, it can form plaque, a thick, hard deposit that can narrow the arteries and make them less flexible.”
The test can be performed by your doctor, but doing so is often expensive with long wait times, and the results are very rarely given to you immediately. The Fitech test will provide results immediately, takes only ten minutes and advice is given on any areas of concern.
Will the health and well-being of your employees make or break your business?
The Fitech systems has been hugely successful in corporate wellness, and let’s face it – the future of your company is primarily dependent upon your employees. American industry loses $32 billion and 132 million workdays due to premature employee deaths related to cardio-vascular disease (high blood pressure, heart stroke, diabetes and obesity). Billions more are lost as a result of absenteeism and decreased productivity related to sickness and disability. The numbers are daunting to say the least.
For more than a decade, consistent research has demonstrated the effectiveness of an investment in employee wellness and corporate fitness programs. For every dollar spent on a corporate wellness program, a return in the form of cost savings of between $2.30 and $10.10 stemming from decreased absenteeism, fewer sick days, reduced worker’s comp claims, lowered health and insurance costs, and improvements to employee performance and productivity.
Why do business with Fitech?
· Obese employees increase medical care and pharmacy costs 75% more than non-obese employees.
· An estimated one million workers are absent every day due to stress.
· Unanticipated absenteeism is estimated to cost $602 per worker per year, and the price tag for large companies could approach 3.5 million dollars annually.
· Premiums for employer-sponsored health insurance rose 6.1% in 2007.
· Medical costs for obese employees are seven times higher than for non-obese employees.
Don’t leave yourself in the dark when it comes to your health or your employee’s well-being; arm yourself with the power of knowledge, Fitech knowledge.
The results will speak for themselves.
Cheryl Alker specializes in flexibility training, core strength, facial exercises and postural alignment. Her 27-year career began as a group fitness and personal trainer. She has lectured and directed fitness training programs in both Europe and the USA and, using the Fitech system, was an advisor for a British governmental health promotion program. Alker and her company continue to work with a select clientele, certifying health professionals in her results-based stretching program, educating consumers through public speaking and offering consultation to clients who wish to lose their muscular pain and gain flexibility to achieve full and active lifestyles. Her program has been accredited with the National Association of Sports Medicine, American Council of Exercise, National Strength and Conditioning Association and Florida Physical Therapy Association. In 2010 she was appointed the North American Representative for Fitech heading up a team of representatives who in 2011 will deliver the Fitech program across North America. For more information, please call (561) 889-3738 or visit www.stretchresults.com and www.fitechglobal.com.