INSIGHT
News, views and lessons learnt
Rural PT wins acclaim for ‘making the impossible possible’
Queensland personal trainer and sheep and cattle grazier, Joy McClymont, was
recently named the 2016 #ActiveAchievers Award winner at Fitness Australia’s
Awards Dinner in Sydney.
Proudly supported by Australian Fitness Network, the awards showcased a
genuinely inspiring and diverse group of fitness professionals from all over Australia.
As the nominee from each State and Territory was introduced, and their story
told, it became increasingly hard for those in the audience to decide who the most
deserving recipient was. There, on stage, was a snapshot of the people at the
coalface of our industry, putting in the hard yards all over Australia to increase the
reach of the benefits of physical activity.
In the end, Network’s CEO, Ryan Hogan, presented the award to Joy in front
of a room full of industry peers, the judges having been incredibly impressed with
Joy’s effort to bring people in remote and rural communities together to train with
the help of technology.
As she commented, ‘We make the impossible become possible by reaching people
that can’t access gyms because of location, lifestyle or time, with live workouts’.
After winning, Joy reflected: ‘I was humbled to be on stage with all of those
other finalists. To be announced as the national winner was a total shock, but a
huge honour.’
Network congratulates Joy, and all the other incredibly worthy nominees, for
their remarkable achievements and tireless great work.
What you pay for fitness you more than save in
medical costs
Recent research from the US found that patients with heart
disease who undertook regular exercise saved considerable sums
in healthcare costs – more than enough, in fact, to pay for a gym
membership.
The study authors reviewed data from a 2012 national survey of
over 26,000 Americans, a percentage of whom had cardiovascular
disease. Those with coronary artery disease, stroke, heart
attack, arrhythmias or peripheral artery disease had higher than
average healthcare costs – but those who met weekly guidelines
for moderate to vigorous exercise paid around $2,500 USD less in
healthcare costs than their sedentary counterparts.
The benefits weren’t only evident among those with heart disease,
however. Even the healthiest individuals in the study, who exercised
regularly, spent around $500 less per year on medical expenses.
Dr Khurram Nasir, senior author of the study, said ‘The message
to the patient is clear: there is no better pill in reducing the risk of
disease and healthcare costs than optimising physical activity.’
Source: Journal of the American Heart Association
8 | NETWORK SUMMER 2016