Get Fit by Sandy Franco
“Working off the crazy” EACH NEW YEAR, the fitness industry scrambles to forecast the
2020. Aspirations for a sculpted physique took a backseat to, as
hottest trends. After the sucker-punch that 2020 gave us, making
one popular meme put it, “working off the crazy.” Study after study
predictions seems like tempting fate. Instead, let’s reflect, regroup
confirms that exercise reduces anxiety, depression and negative
and restart. In many ways, 2021 marks a new beginning and an
mood while improving self-esteem and cognitive function, but
opportunity to create rather than follow trends.
never has this hit home quite like it has in recent months. Stress,
We are all doing things a little differently these days. Never
fear, frustration, boredom and anxiety ran rampant in the time
before has there been such a sweeping awareness of health-
of Covid19 and reported rates of depression tripled. Exercise
related vulnerability and a simultaneous realization that self-
intervention is increasingly becoming a part of the solution.
protective measures involve trade-offs. Most of us, for example,
Exercise has also taken to the front-line of preventative
were faced in 2020 with the challenge of staying in place without
medicine. “It is paramount that we find creative ways to exercise
being sedentary. Most of us struggled.
while maintaining social distancing and proper hygienic
In a survey of four key global fitness markets, the International
countermeasures,” says Richard J. Simpson, Ph.D., FACSM, an
Health, Racquet & Sportsclub Association found that health club
associate professor in the Departments of Nutritional Sciences,
members across the globe reported decreased levels of physical
Pediatrics and Immunobiology at the University of Arizona. “While
activity when fitness facilities were closed by mandated shutdowns.
exercise may not prevent us from becoming infected if exposed,
An overwhelming majority said their exercise routine changed
it is likely that keeping active will boost our immune system to
during this time, with more than half reporting that their new fitness
help minimize the deleterious effects of the virus, ameliorate our
regimen was less challenging, less consistent or simply worse than
symptoms, expedite our recovery times and lower the likelihood
their previous routine. A separate study conducted by the Physical
that we can infect others with whom we come into contact.” Simpson
Activity Council found that 57 percent of health club users in the
goes on to explain that, “Each bout of exercise, particularly whole-
United States reported a decline in exercise and physical activity
body dynamic cardiorespiratory exercise, instantaneously mobilizes
during March and April 2020, the same months that health clubs
literally billions of immune cells, especially those cell types that are
were shut down in most states. This decline effectively diminished
capable of carrying out effector functions such as the recognition and
the presence of our greatest defense against chronic disease and
killing of virus-infected cells.”
acute illness. Physically active individuals have been shown to have a five-fold decrease in risk of respiratory Covid19.
Overwhelming evidence supporting the importance of exercise and the need for fitness facilities recently drove Franco’s Athletic Club to become one of the founding members of the
OUR “WHY”
While the past year and the ripples of hardship that it brought have revealed the fragility of life, it also gave us time and
new Louisiana Health and Fitness Alliance, part of a global initiative designed to set new standards of safety and excellence for fitness, athletic, and recreation businesses.
reason to reexamine our priorities and our purpose. It changed, or at least brought into focus, our “why.” Like many things, fitness took on new importance. Sanity replaced vanity as a primary motivator to exercise in 58
Inside Northside
LIVE AND LEARN
The past year has certainly taught us a few things. We learned that exercise frequency and intensity decline when people don’t have
