Physical activity promotes health and well being across the life course and is pertinent to Australia's ageing population. However, more than half of Australian adults are insufficiently active for ...good health, and this proportion increases with age.
Background: Worldwide, studies have shown a high prevalence of hormones and nutritional supplement use by athletes and gym members. Many athletes consume unproven, potentially harmful or even banned ...supplements.
Objectives: To assess the prevalence of the use of hormones and nutritional supplements by people who exercise in gyms in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and the types of supplements they most commonly use and to obtain a general view of the main reasons for using these enhancements.
Materials And Methods: A cross-sectional study using a self-administered questionnaire was conducted at gyms in Riyadh that were selected randomly from different sectors of the city. The sample size was estimated at 289, but the actual number of randomly selected participants in the study was 457.
Results: The number of gym members who participated in this study was 457. Approximately 47.9% of the sample reported an intake of nutritional supplements and 7.9% reported that they took hormones. Protein powder was consumed by 83.1% of the participants. Approximately 16.8% of supplement users had noticed some side effects, and 25.7% of those who took hormones had stopped taking them because of adverse effects. Only half of the hormone users (54.2%) reported that they had had medical checkups. The major source of information on supplement and hormone use was non-health professionals; friends being major source (40%) of information on the use of hormones. The use of nutritional supplements was significantly associated with BMI (OR = 1.89, CI = 1.06-3.39), duration of daily exercise (OR = 4.23, CI = 2.06-8.68), and following a special diet (OR = 8.42, CI = 5.37-13.2). There was a very strong association between nutritional supplement consumption and hormone use (P < 0.001).
Conclusion: Approximately half of the participants who regularly exercised in gyms took nutritional supplements, and most had received their information from nonhealth professionals. There was an association between the duration of exercise and the use of hormones and supplements. Fewer than half of hormone users had obtained a health-care provider′s advice before taking it. The atmosphere in the gym can play an important role in members′ decisions. Educating gym employees and members may have a positive influence on the use of supplements and hormones.
"We focus on functional fitness," says Kishan Shah, president of Downsize Fitness, which also has locations in Illinois and Texas. "Most people are concerned with, 'Can I get up offthe floor? Can I ...bend down and touch the floor? Can I fit into an airplane seat without a seat belt extender? Can I keep up with my kids?' They don't want to look like bodybuilders." Promoting extreme weight loss is not the focus at the Canadian gym in Orléans, Ontario. "It's based on getting people healthy, and one of the side effects is weight loss," says Martin Charron, a manager at the new gym. "You go to the gym to get in shape. You don't lose the weight first so that you walk into the gym and look like everybody else," says Marc Robert, another manager at the gym.
Studies show that parks provide people with the opportunity to participate in physical activity and encourage social interactions. However, there are few studies on the role of outdoor gym equipment ...on physical activity and social interactions, despite the increasing trend of installing gym equipment in parks in Australia and overseas. This study aims to determine people's experiences of using outdoor gym equipment in relation to physical activity and social interactions.
Physical activity promotes health and well being across the life course and is pertinent to Australia's ageing population. However, more than half of Australian adults are insufficiently active for ...good health, and this proportion increases with age.
During the past decades, concerns about increased anabolic androgenic steroid (AAS) use among recreational sportspeople have been raised, yet there is a paucity of AAS prevention efforts targeting ...this group. Accordingly, doping prevention efforts aimed at gyms have been recommended. The overall objective of the present project is to examine a prevention programme named 100% Pure Hard Training (100% PHT), which targets AAS use among recreational sportspeople training in gyms. Specifically, the project aims to: 1) assess the prevalence of AAS, and its associations with alcohol, illicit drugs, and nutritional supplements use; 2) examine whether 100% PHT can decrease AAS use in gyms, and 3) provide insights into which factors facilitate and/or impede implementation of the programme.
The intervention group consists of 27 gyms, and 27 gyms serve as controls. Intervention gyms take part in 100% PHT, a community-based programme involving several components: (a) training of key stakeholders (i.e., gym staff, gym owners, local police, and municipal prevention coordinators) regarding AAS use; (b) developing an action plan for AAS prevention for each gym; (c) certification of gyms that follow 100% PHT; (d) cooperative relationship between stakeholders; (e) annual follow-up of gyms. The project consists of two studies: Study A will examine the prevalence of AAS use and the effectiveness of 100% PHT (aims 1 and 2), and data for Study A will be collected using questionnaires distributed to gym attendees at two assessment points: baseline (pre-intervention) and follow-up (post-intervention). Study B will evaluate the implementation of 100% PHT (aim 3), and semi-structured interviews with participating stakeholders will be carried out post-intervention.
Knowledge gained from the present project can be used to develop community-based doping prevention efforts aimed at recreational sportspeople training in gyms. Furthermore, it can provide insights into which factors are important for successful implementation of AAS prevention programmes that target gyms. Results are also expected to yield information on the prevalence of AAS use as well as associations between the use of AAS and other licit and illicit substances, including nutritional supplements, among recreational sportspeople.
The study was registered retrospectively at isrctn.com (Identifier: ISRCTN11655041; Registration date: 3 November 2016;).
Baba Ramdev's ashram in Hardwar called Patanjali Yogpith is the spiritual destination of large numbers of Indian and foreign devotees. It is 115 m/377 ft wide, 165 m/541 ft long and 13 m/42.6 ft ...high. While air conditioning the hall would perhaps give to the yoga practitioners physical comfort commensurate with the spiritual bliss they experience there, it would be rather an expensive proposition. But the salubrious climate of the holy city offered an affordable solution. Rather hot and dry in the summer, but moderate in the winter, the climate is ideally suited for evaporative cooling. The authors used 22 evaporative coolers, eleven on each side of the hall. Each cooler is ducted into a plenum in the hall. They achieved 85% efficiency of the coolers by using 20HP motors for each unit. Since they used pre-fabricated structure with hot air trap in the middle, they created a positive pressure of cool air so that hot air rises and is naturally exhausted from louvers placed at the centre and sides of the hall.
This study investigated the abuse of over-the-counter (OTC) products (e.g. proteins, dietary supplements) and prescription drugs (e.g. hormones) in gymnasiums in Amman by random distribution of a ...structured questionnaire to 375 gym clients (November 2012-February 2013). Data were analyzed using SPSS for Windows (version 17.0). A total of 31 (8.8%) clients admitted to using 21 products (mentioned 71 times) of anabolic steroids and other hormones (e.g., growth hormone and thyroxine) to increase muscular power at the gym or build muscle mass. Abuse of different prescription and OTC drugs among gymnasium clients is present in Jordan, but current methods for controlling the problem are ineffective. Better methods should be developed. The study's limitations are noted.
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