More and more insurance companies are offering discounts on health and fitness club memberships in the Dallas and Houston areas and throughout Texas, so it may be a good time to join a health club to stay in shape and continue to improve upon your overall health. But be careful. If your health club cuts corners when it comes to safety, sanitation and staff training, you may actually be jeopardizing your health by working out there. Now that you know that you should keep your eyes open, here’s what you should expect from a health club:
1. Instruction on the proper use of equipment and facilities.
When you join a health club, someone from the club’s staff should ask you to fill out a health history questionnaire. If you have a serious health problem (e.g., a heart condition or a bad back), the club should require that you obtain medical clearance before starting an exercise program. You should also be invited to a new member orientation session, which is usually a one-on-one session to learn club rules and how to properly use the exercise equipment. Staff members should also work with you to design an exercise program that meets your needs, taking into account any health problems or physical limitations you might have.
2. Staff members who test your fitness when you start an exercise program.
Staff members should check on you periodically after your initial consultation. Even after you’ve been there for a few months, they should be readily available to answer questions and teach you proper exercise techniques. This is possible only if there’s an adequate instructor-to-member ratio. If there are only a few staff members on duty, they may not be able to give you the personal attention you need to exercise safely.
3. Qualified and well-trained staff members.
All staff members should know about health and fitness issues and should be trained in CPR and first aid. In addition, exercise instructors should be certified by a nationally or internationally recognized organization such as the Aerobics and Fitness Association of America or the American College of Sports Medicine.
4. Equipment and facilities are clean and safe to use.
Check out the condition of the equipment and the cleanliness of the facility. Even though state and/or local governments must license health clubs, there’s a chance they may not be closely regulated. However, they may be certified by a national organization, such as the International Health, Racquet and Sports Club Association, which requires members to maintain clean, safe facilities and adhere to a strict code of ethics. So dirty locker rooms and broken equipment can sometimes signal that the club is in financial trouble, especially if the condition inside the club has recently taken a turn for the worse.
These are signs that your health club is adequately maintained:
- The club should have routine sanitation procedures.
- Members should be instructed to clean off machines after use. So look for adequate paper towels and spray bottles of disinfectant.
- The facility should be big enough to accommodate members, even during peak periods. Find out if the club limits memberships to keep crowding to a minimum.
- Exercise equipment should be relatively new, not outdated.
- All equipment should be clean and in good repair. Worn or torn equipment may be a safety hazard.
- Instructions for use should be attached to each machine.
- Mats and flooring should be clean and resilient enough to protect against injury.
- Showers and locker rooms should look and smell clean, with absolutely no mold or mildew visible.
- The pool and hot tub should be sanitized regularly. Signs of inadequate sanitation include pool water that burns your eyes or foam in the hot tub.
- Rules of use should be posted in the pool or hot tub area.
- First aid kits should be well stocked and readily accessible to both staff and members.
5. Adequate security in and around the club.
Health clubs often post signs warning members not to leave valuables in their lockers. Because lockers are notoriously easy to jimmy open, petty thieves often target them. This doesn’t necessarily mean that the health club has lax security, but it does mean that you should find out if the health club is going the extra mile to protect you and your possessions. Determine if your club has:
Security measures in place to ensure that only members or their guests can enter or leave the building, such as membership cards, surveillance cameras or gates.
- Well-lit parking areas.
- Security guards, if the area is especially dangerous.
- A well-attended child-care facility, if the health club offers childcare.
If you notice that your health club is not as clean or safe as it should be, talk to the club’s director. If your concerns aren’t resolved or if serious health violations exist, contact the local or state authority responsible for monitoring business or sanitary practices in your area, such as Texas Attorney General’s office or your city’s Health Department.
Whether you go to a health club or work out on your own, make exercise a high priority in your daily routine because staying active contributes to lasting health.
Here this nice Video about health department
This was created in the Summer of 2007 for the Two Rivers Public Health Department. It’s only a demo, you view the full version if you look through my videos. … pandemic Influenza bird flu avian H5N1 Flu seasonal health department spanish two rivers
Find your answer for your own question related to health department
Does the state health department work at the national or state level?I know this is a stupid question, but just because something is at the level of a state department it doesn't always mean they work for the state. So does the state health department work to protect health at the national, or state level?
I’ve been serving in Iraq for the last few years working as a translator with the multi-national coalition forces & military intelligence. My dad is Greek/Armenian but my mom is from Lebanon, which is how I learned how to speak Arabic naturally. So that’s why I’ve been over here for the last few years.
A letter from MY HERO!
Hello from Iraq…
Hey Eric,
I’m a 34 year old serving in Iraq right now. and I have to tell you you’re videos brought great joy & fond memorial tears to my eyes. Being a native from Astoria, Queens who grew up on Ditmars Blvd. & shopping on Steinway street I couldn’t help but be reminded of the innocent times of my youth every summer hoping to hear that favorite Mr. Softee’s jingle. And for this YOU are my new HERO!!
Thanks for the support everyone. Eric (aka Mister Softee)
don’t worry about what other people think, i don’t think you are doing anything wrong, maybe the person that reported you was just being an a** hole
Yes… XL4U is an idiot! Glad we all see that. Softee rules!
Well you can always get out and go for a n ice walk everyday.
You should also contact your local rec center. Here in Los Angeles some of the rec centers have equipment and some of the outside parks have a workout area. All is free to the public, but it can get crowded in the mornings.
Hi!
Me and a couple of others coworker are setting up a health program to be implemented in many organizations. The program so far looks very appealing for non-profit organization… Email me if you want to know more about it.
Here are steps you can do to lose weight healthy.
Breakfast: whole grain cereals, toast (whole grain bread), fruit, multivitamins and minerals (great for overall health) and 2 glasses of water.
coffee breaks: fruit, vegetables, protein snacks (protein helps you feel fuller), herbal tea (great for energy and weightloss) and 1 glass of water. (if your a coffee drinker cut down to 2 a day).
Lunch: soup is always good nutrition, sandwich made with whole grain bread stacked high with greens and your choice of lean meat. Grilled cheese is good too. Don't forget fruit. 2 glasses of water. multivitamins and minerals.
coffee breaks: fruit, vegetables, protein snacks (protein helps you feel fuller), herbal tea (great for energy and weightloss) and 1 glass of water. (if your a coffee drinker cut down to 2 a day).
Dinner: a regular meal just cutting a bit each time and add fruits and vegetables, multivitamins and minerals (great for overall health) and 2 glasses of water. Make your favourite salad skip the dressing and add diced grapes…Mmmmmm.
Exercise: Get out and be active, go for a brisk walk, bike ride, swim, skate, rollerblade, go outside and play, if your take the bus home get off a few stops earlier the important thing is to be ACTIVE and do more than you normally do.
Evenings: fruit, protein snacks, (Herbalife has great protein snacks like Vanilla Almond Protein Bar, so delicious and my favourite).
Important: Never skip a meal, snack more with healthier choices, drink plenty of water, take your multivitamins and minerals and exercise. And most important take care of yourself PLEASE.
With Herbalife’s total health and nutrition, following a daily plan like the one above and an exercise program I lost 56 lbs.
Understand that everything you've done up to now, everything that you have produced in your life came from you. Where you are right now is the result of YOUR choices and YOUR thinking. If you are not where you want to be then you are the only one that can make the change.
Good luck, hope to hear your success story someday.
1. D
2. C
No question 3
4. A
5. C??
Great job on the videos….. Keep it up.
in order to keep your heart, brain, and other organs working well you need nutrients such as vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. while vitamins can provide some nutrients, the best form to get them from is natural foods such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains, etc.
So please keep up the great videos because believe it or not this REALLY helps us over here cope with the homesickness & feelings of loneliness we get sometimes when we are missing everything & everyone & wishing to be with our friends & family.
Pure laziness………………
no because that is the most retarded thing i have heard of !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
For starters, you can start scheduling in exercise like you schedule in everything else. Stop signing on for new events and start putting in place a training schedule that you do EVERY week and never cancel. I have a very busy schedule (as well as being a personal trainer, I also teach full-time at a local Ivy League University, teach latin dance, play in a rock band on the weekends, and manage a family at home) but I always train every week, 4x a week, at the same time. I never cancel — it is in my appointment book and I never break it. You will need to sit down with your appt. book and say "this is when I will train" and never break that schedule.
For eating, it just takes preparation. Bring a cooler with you everywhere and have it filled to the rim with good food so you never have to resort to food not on your diet.
Thanks once again Eric for bringing a much needed smile to my face & a few other guys in my group who are all from the NYC metro area…
In our books you represent what all of us NY guys here were brought up with: WORKING CLASS VALUES & you Eric are Our WORKING CLASS HERO and we are very PROUD to say that here…
May God bless you & your family,
Elias
Your situation is a big change for you and there are unique problems associated with it.
First, I suggest you join a divorced support group. Many churches have them for free. You can find out how others have dealt with the issues including diet. Find the best one even if it is not associated with your practices. If they are worth anything, they will not care and you should not either.
Some tv dinners have better nutrition than others. Read the labels because they will tell you the sodium content and many other things like vitamins and protein. Generally speaking fresh fruit would be the simplest way for you to improve your vitamin intake. You might try some various cafeterias. Some upper end grocery stores like Whole Foods Market have really nutritious organic food available within the store.
Get yourself to the health club! Daily if you can. Get yourself an IPod or whatever to make it more palatable. Exercise solves a lot of problems and not all of them are physical.
Begin to look more carefully at your spiritual life. Many push that aside in stressful times when it is the most valuable resource.
Best Wishes in your journey.
The problem is that Americans keep buying it so there is no one to force companies to stop. Kind of like the oil industry. We keep buying it and prices keep going up — no one is doing anything about it to help us out.
Keep educating other about it and go to your local lawmaker.
I am in the wellness business and hope there are more people like you around!
Her hair doesn't look real to me… But if you want shiny, take a look at these sites:)
http://www.womanjunction.com/topic/hair/how-tos/shiny-hair/
http://www.girl.com.au/healthyshinyhair.htm
this one includes how to get thick hair too
http://www.harpersbazaar.com/beauty/beauty-articles/thick-shiny-hair-0907
http://www.ehow.com/how_2028984_impossibly-shiny-hair.html
I hope your hair shines like the sun!!! lol:) good luck!
Sorry to tell you this, but that's not possible short of liposuction or taking something like meth.
To lose that kind of weight you need to be very active and I'm talking 6 days a week, every week doing 1 hour of cardio each day. You need to get your heart rate up and keep it there for a long time.
Then you need to eat properly. As I don't know your diet, I'll give you a few suggestions.
The first is to eat clean. This means cut out the junk. I know it tastes good, but don't eat it because it's bad for you. You need to eat lean meats, green leafy veggies, whole grains and fresh fruits. You should also be drinking a lot of water every day, at least 2 litres of it.
Edit:
Whatever you do, don't fast and don't listen to the poster saying to cut out 1000 calories from your diet. That's too much and you could wind up working against yourself in doing that.
Fasting is bad, cutting calories is good.
Oh man. This is so wrong. What kind of paranoia is that?
man that ice cream sure looks good
I think you are doing a great service for the community, I just wish they had Mister Softee here in hot Florida, it would really help cool things off.
Heh….those were funny! Thanks for sharing!!
and yes… People do come down from the 10th floor for ice cream! I agree your driver is inconsiderate. Like I said, we are not all like that.
Once again, totally false. When I go back to work, I’ll copy the ingredients (from the mix carton) here for all to see.
I agree with you.
Mister Softee can not legally be advertised or sold as an ice cream product. According to the FDA the Mister Softee product does not contain enough milk and cream to be considered real ice cream. It’s mostly water. You will never see the words ‘ICE CREAM’ on the Mister Softee truck. If the person that sells you Mister Softee tells you it is ‘ice cream’ then thats a lie. Legally the product can be called Softee, Twisty, Soft Serve, Frozen Custurd, Cone, Cup, etc.
D, C, B, A. Good luck.
I stick by my factual story. The Mister Softee products can not legally be called ice cream. You will never see the words ‘ice cream’ on a Mister Softee truck. There is a reason for that, because the product contains mostly a gooey mix of tasty sugar, water, chemicals, and lots of air.
I think finding foods to replace junk food but that are still tasty would be an interesting activity
a mountain
Restate the thesis, give a short summary of all the paragraphs, and leave a final statement that makes people think about what they read.
Acai berries are a fruit high in anti-oxidants and vitamin C but there are lots of berries that are high in anti-oxidants so there is nothing special about Acai berries that the others don't have. I hear they are yummy though. Much of the goodness is lost if they are dried or juiced (and don't even get me started on ground up in a pill) so it's best to eat them fresh. If you can't find them, blueberries or another berry will provide the same benefits.
If you eat a well balanced diet full of a variety of fruits and vegetables, spend a little time outside each day (for vitamin D) and take too care of yourself, you shouldn't need all the vitamin supplements and you might well be wasting your money on them.
Otherwise, it sounds like you've got things in good shape.
you can be proud of your song, share your joy with others by letting children sing it…
but to me the Softee Truck around Flushing is the worst kind of noise pollution.
Funny you ask! I did this very thing yesterday!
Hey, XL4U is an idiot.. he would rather complain instead of making a living himself. I think you are doing Mr. Softee a favor for advertising. You are obviously doing it for the love of it. Quit wasting your time responding to it. Just my opinion.
That’s a nice story, however completely untrue. Mister Softee is The Very Best Soft ICE CREAM. While there is some water in it I would imagine, butterfat is what makes it expensive (as well as so darn good.) Made with REAL CREAM AND PURE CANE SUGAR as stated in the Mister Softee Swirly Movie (with David Caruso) the ‘mix’ that I buy is very heavy and thick. Have one…. You’ll see!
Thats ridiculous.
im an expat member but still dont understand
I think Bally's is a franchise operation, like its major competitors. I suspect that the franchisees are perpetually squeezed (financially) betwen the costs of getting people to sign contracts and the franchise fees they have to pay to use the Bally's name.
Yes, there is value for people who travel frequently to be able to use facilities in cities away from home. I doubt it is worth the amounts of the franchise fees though.
Everytime I’d say “daddy I want an ice cream cone” my father would say to me “shut up and drink your beer”.
A lot of this is common sense and I don't think you should ask us to do your coursework for you.
The Olympics inspires me to become an Olympian
There are hundreds of ways to lose weight. Everyone claims to have the best plan. The truth is that many of them work. The key is that you stick with whatever you start. Here what worked really well for me.
http://pattyhahne.4idiots.hop.clickbank….
I hope you succeed and become very healthy and fit, but don't let this get you hooked into the anorexia disease. Don't overwhelm your body. Slowly ease into the process. Be careful. Right when you start thinking your too fat or too imperfect, get some help.
* be careful not to overdose on the pills either!
BTW:Please, anyone reading this, help me and my friend out with our school assignments. Just answer my two questions! THANKS A TON!