FITNESS SPORT No 1 year 2007

THE 4 th STRENFLEX FITNESS SPORT WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS in AARAU 72-year old wins title by Sylvia Gattiker , photos: Marco Rickenbach In Japan there are over 1,600 Power Gyms where people aged 70 and above can benefit by using muscle training equipment. Fol lowing the 4th World Championships Strenflex Fitness Sport has reacted by introducing age group V – 70+!

REPORT

Following Rimini, Kiev und Zurich, almost 50 enthusiastic Strenflex Fitness Sport athletes gathered on 7th October 2006 at the Schachenhalle in Aarau to compete in 4 age groups. The competi tors came from 9 nations (Switzerland, Germany, Italy, France, Austria, Hungary, Turkey, Ukraine, Belarus) of which the Germans and Swiss were represented in the highest numbers, Check-in and weighing commenced at 10am and the competitors then had a while to prepare and warm up before the official opening of the 4th World Cham pionships and National Championships of the participating nations. Included for the first time was the “strength” category where competitors had to achieve a minimum point score in order to progress to the next round. The fact that Strenflex Fitness Sport places particular emphasis on this category is a result of the conviction that controlled muscle/strength training is the basis for health, physical ability and agility. Thanks only to our muscle activity are we able to walk, run, jump, carry, pull… in short, to be active and mobile and to be able to better enjoy life. Strenflex Fitness Sport offers a motiva tional foundation as a result of its com petition concept – the sporting aspect and stimulus. The Japanese have recog nised and at last scientifically proven that people who follow a balanced training program are an asset to the economy (see FT104/page 24, interview with Mr Mora from Proxomed). The advantages include lower healthcare costs, fewer care home places required, etc. Thanks

to active training a high quality of life can be maintained right up to old age. “Anti aging” is not just a buzzword. The Strenflex Fitness Sports Organisation (which celebrates its fifth anniversary this year – 2002 to 2007) has been promoting these ideas with its competition concept since its inception. The results are there to be seen: at the 4th World Champion ships twenty-year old athletes competed alongside athletes in age group IV – 60+. The Schachenhalle in Aarau provided competitors and spectators alike with an optimum environment and the Strenflex fitness sports organisation did its best to offer a thrilling and exciting competition day. The competitors approached the set program with a serious attitude and all of them went through to the second round. Here, the emphasis was on winning as many points as possible in the disciplines dips, chin-ups, press-ups and forward bends. Sure, one or two of the athletes were at odds with the judges on some issues – usual at sports events where competitors are not competing against the clock or measuring tape – and prob ably with their deepest selves as well! Ultimately however, they had no other option than to concentrate their thoughts on the next categories “cardio” and “flex ibility”. 5 minutes of cycling on the Schwinn indoor cycling bike from Nautilus was compulsory and the athletes pedalled out those kilometres. The interval course was a good test of co-ordination among others, and this proved to be a real chal lenge for many. A “master of his trade” in this discipline is Ivan Bucher who com-

Paul Bachmann

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