How can you assess the quality of fitness studios?

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The positive influence of sport and exercise on health and well-being is undisputed. However, sport can also have negative effects on health. Just think of the many sports injuries, especially in “martial arts”.

Even in popular sports, in sports without opposing influences, injuries due to overloading and incorrect loading are not uncommon; even when visiting a fitness studio, where there should be instruction from trainers, complaints caused by sporting activity occur again and again. That is why it is important for you to pay attention to the qualifications of the gym, especially its trainers, when choosing a gym.

Why has this become so important?

Physical fitness has never been more diverse than it is today. The spectrum ranges from marathon runners to people who no longer do any sport and spend most of their day sitting at their desk, in the car or in front of the TV.

Offering all these people the same training – using the zero-eight-fifteen – 08/15 method – will completely underchallenge the marathon runner, but completely overchallenge the person who realizes that they do far too little exercise! In an interesting study (details to follow), the authors were able to show that overtaxing fitness beginners is the main reason why many of them immediately stop their efforts to exercise more.

What should you expect in a gym?

Without knowing what your goals are when you visit the gym, it is not possible to give you sensible advice and training recommendations. If the person who instructs you fails to ask about your illnesses and complaints, if he or she does not want to know whether you are taking any medication and if so, what medication you are taking, then your skepticism should increase. A blood pressure measurement at rest and during exercise is an absolute must, at least for newcomers, before starting training for the first time.

An individualized recommendation on how you should structure your endurance training requires a stress test, if possible with a lactate test. As described in the lactate chapter, endurance training should take place in a heart rate corridor that ensures a slight increase in lactate of 0.5 to 1.5 mmol/l above the baseline value. Your training heart rate can then be determined from this. If a studio also offers to measure your lactate under load a few weeks after you start training, your training heart rate can be optimally adjusted.

Patients with coronary artery disease in particular should discuss with their GP or cardiologist the heart rate up to which they are allowed to exercise. If this examination is carried out without determining the lactate, an additional exercise test with determination of the lactate very often indicates that the heart rates possible on the part of the heart already lead to much too intense increases in lactate. The training heart rate should then be set according to the result of the lactate test.

You can read here what an individualized adjustment of the training heart rate can achieve in a short time.

What can apps do? What happens to the data?

The number of wearables and fitness apps has risen rapidly in recent years. In addition to measuring the distance you have covered, you can also log your route and record your heart rate. You are even reminded that you haven’t managed to take your 10,000 steps today. Measuring and recording heart rate variability allows certain conclusions to be drawn about the quality of your sleep and your stress level.

Some apps also make recommendations on what and how you should train. But where do the stored algorithms come from? Can it be right if the fitness watch recommends that a 70-year-old should run at a heart rate of 140 beats per minute? Even if there are good algorithms, what health-related data do you have to “entrust” to the network in order to get reasonably sensible advice?

Since May 15, 2018, data protection has been on everyone’s lips. Small businesses and associations, in particular, are complaining about the additional work necessitated by the data protection regulation.
However, the timing could hardly have been better chosen; it coincides with the public discussion about Facebook’s scandalous handling of personal data. Illegally obtained personal data was used to manipulate voters through targeted messages!

Of course, children used to be told that they shouldn’t simply post their selfies online. However, it’s astonishing when you consider how many people are “more than naked” online today: a large number of adults even entrust health-related, personal data to the internet!

The magic word for this behavior is “free”! The number of wearables and fitness apps has risen rapidly in recent years. You can simply download them from the internet. Mostly for free‼

Ok; in the past you had to watch all the horrible advertising that simply appeared on the screen without being asked. That was perhaps a way of financing the free software development. Today, you can even switch them off. But how do the app manufacturers finance themselves? With your data!

Of course personal data is needed – especially data that indicates your state of health in order to give you the best possible tips on your training. But what do the app manufacturers do with your data? Especially if you have consented without reading the more than 6000 words in the privacy policy – for what purpose? Or what happens when Zuckerberg swallows the small company? Will such data then also go to Facebook, just like the data from Whatsapp?

The fact that you are constantly bad-tempered, can’t sleep, use an app for cancer sufferers, could make decisions easier in an HR department, increase your bank’s interest claims, decide whether you get the apartment or someone else.

There’s no such thing as free in business! If not advertising, then please your personal data!
A study by consumer protection agencies as part of the Digital World Market Watch project showed already in 2016 that 78% of respondents are concerned that their personal information is being shared with other companies without their permission.
https://ssl.marktwaechter.de/sites/default/files/downloads/infografiken.pdf

Ok; in the past you had to watch all the horrible advertising that simply appeared on the screen without being asked. That was perhaps a way of financing the free software development. Today, you can even switch them off. But how do the app manufacturers finance themselves? With your data!

Of course personal data is needed – especially data that indicates your state of health in order to give you the best possible tips on your training. But what do the app manufacturers do with your data? Especially if you have consented without reading the more than 6000 words in the privacy policy – for what purpose? Or what happens if Zuckerberg swallows the small company? Will such data then also go to Facebook, just like the data from Whatsapp?

The fact that you are constantly in a bad mood, can’t sleep, use an app for cancer patients, could make decisions easier in some HR departments, increase your bank’s interest demands, determine how high the premium of your life insurance will be, whether you get the apartment or someone else.
There’s no such thing as free in business! If not advertising, then please your personal data!

A study by consumer protection agencies as part of the Digital World Market Watch project showed already in 2016 that 78% of respondents are concerned that their personal information is being shared with other companies without their permission.
https://ssl.marktwaechter.de/sites/default/files/downloads/infografiken.pdf

When deciding which gym you want to train at, you should also be interested in how the gym staff, especially the trainers to whom you have disclosed your personal data, handle it.