Breaking Health Club News: Personal Trainer Sues Life Time Fitness for Sexual Harassment

A former Life Time Fitness trainer is suing the Chanhassen, MN-based company on the grounds of sexual harassment and retaliation.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Lisa Ryan Flores of Cypress, TX, on May 19 in Harris County (TX) District Court against Life Time and Todd Buckland, a Life Time employee who was Flores’s team leader. Flores accuses Buckland of inappropriate and unwanted sexual behavior.In July 2009, Flores was transferred from Life Time’s Cinco Ranch location to its Houston City Centre location, where the alleged behavior took place, according to the complaint. Among other accusations, Flores claims Buckland put his hand down her pants and would send her unwanted text messages outside of work late at night.After reporting the alleged sexual advances around Sept. 1, 2009, Flores claims Life Time led a campaign of retaliation against her, and that led to her wrongful termination. The tactics, Flores claims, included demoting her, which reduced her income. She claims Life Time’s corporate human resources department scolded her because she asked club managers about Buckland’s status at the club.On Oct. 21, 2009, Flores filed claims of harassment and subsequent retaliation with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Civil Rights Division of the Texas Workforce Commission. During mediation, Flores was fired by Leslie Simoneau, general counsel for Life Time Fitness, according to the complaint.In addition to sexual harassment and retaliation, Flores is suing on the grounds of assault and intentional infliction of emotional distress. She is seeking damages that include back pay, punitive damages and attorneys’ fees.Fife Time says it does not comment on legal matters.

Breaking Health Club News: Personal Trainer Sues Life Time Fitness for Sexual Harassment

A former Life Time Fitness trainer is suing the Chanhassen, MN-based company on the grounds of sexual harassment and retaliation.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Lisa Ryan Flores of Cypress, TX, on May 19 in Harris County (TX) District Court against Life Time and Todd Buckland, a Life Time employee who was Flores’s team leader. Flores accuses Buckland of inappropriate and unwanted sexual behavior.In July 2009, Flores was transferred from Life Time’s Cinco Ranch location to its Houston City Centre location, where the alleged behavior took place, according to the complaint. Among other accusations, Flores claims Buckland put his hand down her pants and would send her unwanted text messages outside of work late at night.After reporting the alleged sexual advances around Sept. 1, 2009, Flores claims Life Time led a campaign of retaliation against her, and that led to her wrongful termination. The tactics, Flores claims, included demoting her, which reduced her income. She claims Life Time’s corporate human resources department scolded her because she asked club managers about Buckland’s status at the club.On Oct. 21, 2009, Flores filed claims of harassment and subsequent retaliation with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Civil Rights Division of the Texas Workforce Commission. During mediation, Flores was fired by Leslie Simoneau, general counsel for Life Time Fitness, according to the complaint.In addition to sexual harassment and retaliation, Flores is suing on the grounds of assault and intentional infliction of emotional distress. She is seeking damages that include back pay, punitive damages and attorneys’ fees.Fife Time says it does not comment on legal matters.

Are Weight-Loss TV Shows Too Extreme?

On the heels of “The Biggest Loser” season finale, a new weight-loss reality TV show premiered Monday night: “Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition.”
The new show (10 p.m. Eastern, 9 p.m. Central on ABC) chronicles eight morbidly obese people as they lose weight over the span of a year. The star of the show is trainer Chris Powell, who guides one individual per show through his or her struggles, both physically and emotionally.We touched on the topic of weight-loss reality TV shows last month in our praise of the fitness industry’s ties to TV, which included Anytime Fitness’ work on A&E’s “Heavy” as well as a note on one of Anytime’s trainers, Kelli Calabrese, who auditioned to replace Jillian Michaels as the head trainer on “The Biggest Loser.” (As you may know by now, that job went to Anna Kournikova, a curious choice given that her fame came as a tennis player.)
We were planning to address the recent wave of weight-loss reality shows until we saw this story written by Sandy Cohen of the Associated Press, which blew our idea out of the water. Cohen successfully lists all of the weight-loss reality shows currently on TV and presents a case study of the pros and cons of the genre.
This article and this topic raise a ton of questions: Do these shows paint the fitness industry in a positive light? Is this the best way to represent what personal trainers can do? Are these shows focusing too much on the morbidly obese? Are those individuals losing too much weight in too short of time? In short, are these shows too extreme?

Are Weight-Loss TV Shows Too Extreme?

On the heels of “The Biggest Loser” season finale, a new weight-loss reality TV show premiered Monday night: “Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition.”
The new show (10 p.m. Eastern, 9 p.m. Central on ABC) chronicles eight morbidly obese people as they lose weight over the span of a year. The star of the show is trainer Chris Powell, who guides one individual per show through his or her struggles, both physically and emotionally.We touched on the topic of weight-loss reality TV shows last month in our praise of the fitness industry’s ties to TV, which included Anytime Fitness’ work on A&E’s “Heavy” as well as a note on one of Anytime’s trainers, Kelli Calabrese, who auditioned to replace Jillian Michaels as the head trainer on “The Biggest Loser.” (As you may know by now, that job went to Anna Kournikova, a curious choice given that her fame came as a tennis player.)
We were planning to address the recent wave of weight-loss reality shows until we saw this story written by Sandy Cohen of the Associated Press, which blew our idea out of the water. Cohen successfully lists all of the weight-loss reality shows currently on TV and presents a case study of the pros and cons of the genre.
This article and this topic raise a ton of questions: Do these shows paint the fitness industry in a positive light? Is this the best way to represent what personal trainers can do? Are these shows focusing too much on the morbidly obese? Are those individuals losing too much weight in too short of time? In short, are these shows too extreme?

Can a Health Club Fire It’s Members?

The thought of actually asking a member or client to leave your business spits right in the face of retention. However, a happy, productive membership base is more valuable than the problem members you face everyday.

Every business has one, the dreaded problem member. They spend more time complaining about the facility then they do working out and are constantly taking you and your staff’s time away from providing service to your core clients. This type of member represents somewhere around 2 percent of your membership base, and assuming you have done everything reasonably possible to satisfy these members needs inherently — there are always a few that just cannot be satisfied. Word of mouth marketing is the leading driver of small business growth and in the case of your membership base; one bad apple can really spoil the bunch.

Did you know that a patron who feels they are under serviced will tell eight times more people than someone who feels they are well serviced? Now, just think of all the times these “bad apples” in your club have felt under serviced and how many different people they would have told. When you identify a member whose demands cannot be reasonably satisfied by your service, then your service is not for that member. In most cases, you will be able to transfer that member to another facility close by to make sure their fitness goals are still met, but taking a stand and protecting your business and staff from these “bad apples” will benefit you in the long run.

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