Fitness: Did you hear?…Lamar staffer gets assaulted in Denver, Life Fitness wins design award, plus Nautilus, Mike Cochrane, IHRSA, Tomahawk, and much more…

For the week of Aug. 23-29

>> As safe and neat as it seems, Denver ain’t always a walk in the park, as a product manager for Lamar Health, Fitness and Sports found out Friday night. Brent Galas, who manages the strength product, bravely came to the show despite having a puffy left eye and 10 stitches near his eyebrow. Turns out he was walking back to his hotel out near the streetcar tracks by the convention center late in the evening when a transient man asked him for some money. When Galas said he didn’t have any (which he didn’t), the man whacked him with full force on the eyebrow/forehead with a rock. Gushing blood, but not waiting to see what would happen next, Galas sprinted away and had teammates taking him to the emergency room. Luckily he was a strength (and pain) manager, it seems. At 6 a.m. he got out, was a bit groggy, but insisted on coming to the booth.

>> Life Fitness’ Signature Series selectorized strength line was awarded a 2005 Silver IDEA in the annual Industrial Design Excellence Awards. It was the only exercise equipment to receive an award, won in the Consumer Products category. Sponsored by BusinessWeek magazine and run independently by the Industrial Designers Society of America, these awards “represent the best of the best from the U.S., Asia and Europe,” according to the magazine. In 2005, a record 1,380 companies and design firms entered the competition, now in its fifth year. Of the 148 awards that were bestowed, 38 were gold, 59 were silver and 51 were bronze.

>> Nautilus (NYSE: NLS) has added two long-time business leaders to its board of directors: Ronald Badie and Marvin Siegert. Badie, 62, served more than 35 years with Deutsche Bank and its predecessor Bankers Trust Company, including retiring as vice chairman of Deutsche Bank Alex. Brown (now Deutsche Bank Securities), the firm’s investment banking subsidiary. Siegert, 56, is president and COO of The Pyle Group LLC, a private equity investment group, a position he has held since 1996. Prior to The Pyle Group, Siegert served 26 years with Rayovac Corp., where he held various positions including senior vice president and CFO.

>> Mike Cochrane, former national sales manager for Bodyguard, was seen on the floor of the Health & Fitness Business Show last week, smiling broadly, shaking hands, and exchanging hugs. Now the head of “MC Holdings” since he left Bodyguard nearly a year ago, he may just be evaluating a return to the fitness market. What do you think?

>> Turning 30 isn’t always a bad thing. Just ask the Yoga Journal which is celebrating its 30th-anniversary issue. Launched in September 1975, it was created in the hope that a few hundred people who loved yoga would read it. Guess it caught on — more than 16.5 million people reportedly practice yoga in the United States and more than 1 million read the publication. The magazine said that while the magazine has evolved and its readership grown, its purpose has remained the same — to publish the most medically accurate, socially relevant, best writing on yoga available today. The anniversary issue includes articles on dedicated yoga practitioners in small towns across the country and what yoga in America might look like in the year 2030.

>> Wanting to walk the sharp and thin line, IHRSA, along with Promo Partners on behalf of Schick-Wilkinson Sword, an Energizer Company, will launch a targeted product sampling promotion in approximately 250 health clubs in 10 markets this month. They say the promotion, which features the new Schick Quattro for Women razor, is designed to reinforce Schick’s position as a leader in providing high-quality consumer products. IHRSA is distributing the razors to female consumers in New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Chicago, Dallas, Tampa, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., Phoenix and Detroit.

>> UNITED KINGDOM — After a successful launch in the United States, Tomahawk Indoor Cycling and Reebok Fitness Equipment are extending their relationship to other markets, starting with the United Kingdom. “Both the new fleet and our collaboration with Reebok are gigantic and essential developments for Tomahawk in the U.K.,” Gary Warren, managing director of Tomahawk, said. “Our relationship with Reebok allows us to provide quality assurances to both the buyer and ultimately the consumer.” Tomahawk RBK will be releasing the E, S and X series in September, and it said with preorders already received, its new range looks set to make its mark on the UK market. The addition to the Reebok studio line means that operators can now get wall-to-wall studio packages. Teamed with Escape Fitness, the Reebok Studio Concept is claimed to be the only singular brand that can provide total product solutions to group fitness operators.

>> Forget 45- or 60-minute workouts, the 21-minute ilk is gaining momentum (why 21 and not 20? Curious minds want to know….). 21 Minute Convenience Fitness, a strength training fitness studio headquartered in Walnut Creek, Calif., said it has granted a four-unit area development franchise in the San Francisco East Bay Area. The first local franchise will open within 90 days of lease signing. All four studios will be up and running within 24 months. The new franchises will be owned and operated by Keith and Lori Bornholtz, husband and wife members of the original Walnut Creek studio. They’re targeting studio locations in Danville, San Ramon and Livermore, in the upper-and middle-class, burgeoning bedroom areas east of the San Francisco Bay.

>> Have desk, will learn. The American College of Sports Medicine’s latest “Deskside Learning Event” on Sept. 22 focuses on “e-Health Strategies to Change Physical Activity Behavior.” Presented by Paul Couzelis, Ph.D., and president of MediFit Corporate Services, the telecast, a combination of telephone conference and concurrent Power Point presentation, is designed to provide current, evidence-based health promotion information to practitioners across the country. The program will describe the adaptation of worksite physical activity behavior change strategies to the Internet through an online interactive tool, and focus on the use of technology gateways to integrate health promotion offerings. Registration deadline for the free session is Sept. 15 and is limited to 150. To register, click here and then go to “Deskside Learning: e-Health Strategies.” Direct questions to Heather Turner at hturner@acsm.org or 317-637-9200, ext. 138.  

>> With 15.5 percent of America’s youth considered seriously overweight, the maker of Sweet’N Low sweetener is teaming with Shape Up America!, a national non-profit obesity awareness and prevention group founded by former U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, in a new national campaign called “Get Hip & Get Fit.” The program encourages families to be more active and spend time together engaged in sports and other recreational activities. New sections are being added to the Shape Up America! and Sweet’N Low websites that remind parents to focus on healthy lifestyle choices for the whole family. Shape Up America! and Sweet’N Low are offering posters, along with recipes and other educational materials, to health professionals, educators and parents. In October, which is National Children’s Health Month, the program will continue to educate families on ways to adopt healthier lifestyles through sensible diet and family-friendly physical activities. The goal is to provide practical solutions that can be used by busy parents and caregivers who are interested in taking steps now to keep their kids healthy and active. For more information, check out http://www.shapeup.org and http://www.sweetnlow.com.  

>> A little courtesy can go a long way according to senior execs and managers polled in a NFI Research study. Sixty-five percent of them said that in conducting business today, people are “somewhat” courteous, while 27 percent said that people are more likely to be “not very” courteous. Only 5.4 percent said they were extremely courteous. An 85 percent majority of managers said that business would be better, i.e., easier, more pleasant and more manageable, if others would respect people’s time. What else would help? Running meetings efficiently (79 percent), being punctual (75 percent), thanking people (70 percent), and starting meetings on time (68 percent), just to name a few. One respondent said, “People are ‘too busy’ to be courteous. With email and instant messaging, everything is a shortcut. The part that is left out is the little things that tell people we respect them. In the very busy world we live in, a little common courtesy would go a long way toward helping us all work together in a less stressed more enjoyable way.” Amen.