Hi All
The Exercise Right educational and social session on Wednesday May 23 may have been a short, sharp two-hour event, but it was really packed solid with value according to all the feedback provided to me. I was there of course and I thought it went well however it is your opinion I seek once it is all over because we use that feedback for the next time we provide a similar Green Apple event. Later this year we will be having a Wellness Day and Petrina and Nessa are plotting and planning what they want to do for you already.
There was very little lead in time to organise our Exercise Right event and Petrina and Nessa, the organisers, did a fantastic job pulling it all together. We would like to thank the people who helped on the day, particularly staff who came in in their time off, Sonya, volunteer Cheryl Ivory, and the luncheon guru, Shirley McGregor. Staff on duty helped facilitate everything also which made it a happy, festive occasion.
Bridie was the first presenter on Wednesday and her topic was “progression and overload and why do we need it”. This is a critical topic because it is applying this principle that makes the difference between you reaching your innermost goals or skating along the surface of what you could be achieving. Our body is capable of adapting to anything so unless we challenge it to make it change, it will get into a groove and stay the same, resisting the efforts we think we are making to lose weight, get stronger, move better etc.
As I explained as part of my talk, it is for this reason I introduced “new program sessions” for all full members to be done every 8 weeks or so. This service is a unique one in our industry now. Elsewhere it is all about 24/7 attendance opportunities without any actual programming help (unless you pay significant additional fees). This caring, tailored programming at Green Apple is built into your membership fees; is very, very valuable and should be used to address YOUR progression and overload needs.
My presentation centred around total knee replacements and what we need to do prior to surgery and then the best ways to recover after surgery. I shared some of my challenges and what I did so the whole experience was as positive as I could make it. After the presentations, when Bridie and I did our “follow up speed-dating” session during the luncheon, two of the members whom came to talk one-on-one with me were going in for their knee replacements in the next two weeks so we were able to have a good talk about management strategies.
Our final speaker was truly inspirational. Neva Sultana spoke about “culling your life to make time for gym”. Neva spoke with conviction. She was gracious rather than dictatorial in her exhortations to the audience to make the cut through life in general to choose what to keep and what to discard. I can tell you that Neva had a profound effect on many members whom were listening. One member even shared with me that they were fed up with everything at present and came to the Exercise Right event to put their membership on HOLD for three months. They told me that, in listening to Neva, they completely changed their mindset and resolved to address negative influences and people in their life to put themselves first for a change.
Thank you to everyone involved in this event, the organisers, the speakers, the helpers. It was wonderful to be involved.
Next event, the Biggest Morning Tea, will be held on Monday May 28 and we look forward to sharing how it all went in next week’s newsletter.
Cheers
