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How to Respond When Your Health Club is Blasted Away By A Natural Disaster….Tornado, Flood or Earth Quake!

Q: “With natural disasters occurring around the world in Japan, New Zealand and, most recently, the American South, what steps should a health club that’s been affected by such a disaster take to begin the recovery process?”

A: Responding to a national disaster is all about prioritization. The extent of the damage to both the club and the regions infrastructure will determine what these priorities are. You may have to go through a simple clean up or find new premises.

One thing that should be at the top of the list in all circumstances is staff. Make sure that they feel safe and their home life is as secure as possible. Not only will every staff member’s situation be different (some may be relatively unaffected, others may have lost their homes, or loved ones), but how they react to this will vary considerably. We all know how home life issues can distract people at work, and a natural disaster is an extreme case of this. Until people feel safe in their home life, their ability to constructively add value to any recovery process of a club is hindered, and the workplace may be one of the few places where any scene of normality takes place for some months.

Another important consideration is preparing for an insurance claim. Before starting any remedial work, photos should be taken and as much evidence recorded to support any insurance claim. For business more significantly affected, a loss of business, or business interruption claim may also need to be prepared, and this will often require substantial financial calculations to be made before a claim can be. Of course this assumes that the club has the correct type and level insurance – and it is a timely reminder to all to ensure that the club is insured for not only the likely, but the unlikely, and potentially catastrophic events. (After all until 2010 everyone knew that Christchurch was not on a fault line, and did not have large earthquakes. Oh how wrong we all were!)

Most clubs insure physical assets well, but many do not fully insure business interruption and more significantly, depopulation insurance (the terms used in different countries may vary – but any insurance broker should know these terms) – and unfortunately it’s too late once the disaster strikes.

A: From an insurance standpoint, be sure your facility is covered for disasters, before they strike.

If your club is in a flood zone, you will need to secure flood insurance. If your club is not in a flood zone you still have the ability to purchase flood insurance through the NFIP (National Flood Insurance Program). If your club is in an earthquake zone, you will want earthquake coverage. For wind damage caused by storms or tornadoes, ensure that your existing property and casualty insurance provides wind and hail coverage.

Property insurance covers building repair or replacement when damage is caused by the stated covered causes of loss. If your building is badly damaged or destroyed, it can take months to get running again. So be sure to secure business interruption insurance to pay your ongoing expenses while you get your business back on track.

Another disaster planning coverage is contingent business income coverage. This covers you for business income loss caused by the inability of a service you depend on to provide such service, such as a local power or water supply company.

Be sure that all your insurance is with an A+ rated company with the resources to actually pay your claim. There have been instances where lower-rated companies have been so burdened by claims that their ability to pay claims is jeopardized. This is not the case with an A+ rated company. It has the resources necessary to pay all claims.

A: The best way to emerge from a disaster is to prepare ahead of time. All membership and accounting data should be backed up at an off-site, secure location; you should have an up-to-date list of all your FFE items, especially fitness equipment (photos or videos are helpful); have an email data-base for your entire membership; assure adequate insurance to cover loss of income while you are rebuilding; have a Facebook Fans page, Twitter, and LinkedIn accounts. After a disaster, communication with your staff, members and the community is critical. Use email, phone chains, your social networking and local media to frequently update your plans.

How to Respond When Your Health Club is Blasted Away By A Natural Disaster….Tornado, Flood or Earth Quake!

A: From an insurance standpoint, be sure your facility is covered for disasters, before they strike.

Buff, tough and feminine: Women’s body building

Months of dieting, countless hours in the gym and weekends spent at home to avoid drinking temptations are sacrifices University of Idaho senior Angel Sigman has to endure for a few minutes of competitive-fitness fame.

In less than a month Sigman will compete in her first National Gym Association fitness competition in the bikini division. As it is her first competition, she said it can be difficult to balance all the while in college.

“It’s hard as a college student because there’s not a lot of students who watch what they eat or work out like I do … I really don’t have much (of) a social life. I stay home on the weekends to avoid the temptation of the bars and drinking,” Sigman said.

Sigman said it’s hard because her friends normally have free time on the weekends and they want to go out to the bars, but said she still goes to movies with them or has gym dates to get in social time. The temptations of beer, pizza and other college staples aren’t the end of the struggles Sigman faces. The price of competing without sponsorship is high and difficult for a college student to afford.

“It’s hard in college because it’s hard to afford rent without working your butt off, but to balance it out with school, work and everything else, that’s tough,” Sigman said.

The price of women’s bodybuilding competitions vary depending on entrance fees, lodging and travel, but some of the essentials necessary for catching the judges’ eyes are also pricey. Spray tanning that will show under the bright stage lights is approximately $100, and Sigman’s custom-fit bikini cost $200.

“I’m hoping that maybe someone will see me in the audience, like a supplement company or just a really nice, generous person that’s like, ‘I want to make your dream come true,’” Sigman said.

One of those dreams, Sigman said, is becoming a professional model for the International Federation of Body Building and to appear on the cover of Oxygen, a women’s fitness magazine.

Sigman said competing in events such as the Northwest Natural Pro-Atlas Bodybuilding and Figure Championships April 30 are opportunities to make her known in the fitness world.

“Competing opens so many door because if a photographer sees you, and maybe will go up to you later on about a shoot,” Sigman said.

Getting the attention of sponsors or photographers is always a goal for Sigman when competing because she said they would help her fitness career.

“It’s who you know and who you meet, you have to pretty much be your own agent when you start out in this sport,” Sigman said. “You have to sell yourself because in the fitness industry it’s a very dog-eat-dog world.”

There are four different categories in the competition Sigman is entering: Women’s body-building, figure, fitness and bikini.

“Figure is not as muscular as the women body building. They wear five-inch heels and have two-piece suites. They’re symmetrical and you can see their muscles,” Sigman said.

The fitness category is almost exactly like figure but contestants do gymnastic routines on stage to music.

“Bikini is the last category and they’re not as muscular as figure or fitness, but they still have that tone,” Sigman said. “They look like fitness models and it’s pretty much like a fitness pageant.”

Sigman said the fitness and body building categories have poses to do in order to show off their muscles where as the bikini contestants do a “model walk” across the stage.

In order to get ready for the stage Sigman said she works out two hours a day, six days a week.

Sigman also eats a strict diet consisting of six to eight healthy meals a day. She said she prepares these meals on Sunday so they are packed and ready to go for her busy week. Currently Sigman is carbohydrate-cycling, which means she rotates between a day of high-carb intake, normally around 120 grams, and low-carb days, around 60 grams of carbs. Sigman said she will adjust her workouts to her diet so she has more energy for the days she works large muscle groups like legs.

“Today is a low-carb day and I feel sluggish, fatigued — well more than usual,” Sigman said. “Sometimes I’ll get confused, just have slower thinking.”

High protein, low-carb diets are proven to shed fat, but Sigman said it alternates every day, and fluctuating between high and low carbs helps so the body doesn’t get used to a certain way and hit a plateau.

Sigman encourages anyone who has a passion for fitness to give body building a try.

“If you have the drive, compassion dedication and discipline then go for it. Because not only will you be happy with how you look but you’ll be so much more confident as an end result,” Sigman said.

Sigman said the change has to come from within, and no amount of nagging from a spouse, family or friends can change someone.

“It’s your competing against yourself. It’s being the best you can be,” Sigman said. “Husbands telling their wives, ‘You’re fat, go work out’ won’t work, you have to want it for yourself.”