FITNESS SPORT No 1 year 2007

Press coverage is of great importance for gyms! The local press absolutely loves to publish interesting articles about your gym, especially if they can report on a European or World title win. Benefit from the wealth of Strenflex PR possibilities!

Tagesanzeiger, 23rd October 2004

60 years of age – and as fit as a World Champion!

Fitness managers have invented a new competition sport: Strenflex. Rosmarie Thoma, 60, has become World Champion of this still new discipline.

“I’d been slaving away for seven long years, twice a week – and still I didn’t see any real progress,” she says. Then she dis covered Strenflex. Trainer Andreas Krum menbacher, co-owner of Chur Fitness Tower Medical and promoter of the new fitness competition sport told her about it. Since then Rosmarie has been exercising to a fixed decathlon plan. “Since strength, endurance and flexibility are measurable I can home-in on my weaknesses and cor rect them quickly to optimise my train ing. This really motivates me to carry on,” she says. She had achieved some success even before the World Championship. “I eventually managed something I had tried and failed at again and again – chin-ups,” she says and for the first time I can detect pride in her voice. Six times she pushed herself up – without stopping. The fitness industry has tried to sell us ever more bizarre offerings (Bykramyoga, Pilates etc) – but Strenflex is refreshingly different. For once it isn’t a fad from Hol lywood. It’s all about the daily work of a broad general public. Traditional know ledge is bundled to become a competi tive discipline. The followers approach their subject in all earnest. Jean-Pierre Schupp, the restless publisher and editor of the trade magazine Fitness Tribune, is the initiator of Strenflex. He travels up and down the country to spread the word. Schupp has launched a lifestyle magazine on the sub ject and next week the first Swiss Stren flex group begin their coached training together. There are even national and international governing bodies that moni tor adherence to the rules at the different events. Schupp’s network reaches as far as Russia where the Strenflex discipline is even part of training for sports teachers. Both young and old people are to be won over – that’s the master’s credo. People just like Rosmarie Thoma. For the shy woman from Grisons Strenflex is worth its weight in Gold far beyond the world title: “I will be able to take part in this competition sport for a long time to come,” she says as she sets about her training again. For more information on Strenflex rules and providers please visit www.strenflex.org. Strenflex instead of Wellness

P R E S S C O V E R A G E

By Roland Grüter

Rosmarie Thoma appears calm and unemo tional. The 60 year-old from Grisons remains quite unmoved even when talking about her world championship title. She has every rea son to be proud though – who else becomes a champion just before retiring, and within such a short span of time at that! Rosmarie trained for just 6 months to achieve her win, single-mindedly, granted, but without the stress that other athletes subject themselves to. A world class performance even though the competition last weekend at Technopark Zurich was small and hand-picked with just 42 competitors from 12 countries. The sports discipline that made the wiry woman sweat is still young and unknown. It’s called Stren flex and is definitely set to become a popular sports discipline. Strenflex. A wonderful acronym derived from the words strength, endurance and flex ibility. These three elements are the basis of balanced physical training. Some 500,000 Swiss work out in local gyms – and Strenflex is tailored to their needs. “Why should what hundreds of thousands practice not also be a competition sport?” was the question some resourceful fitness manag ers asked themselves before going on to set rules and combine exercises for the three pil lar sport. The result is a modern decathlon. Strength, endurance and flexibility but also co-ordination score equally rated points. This makes fitness, as preached by sports physi cians for a long time now, measurable and comparable – in the form of competitions. These events are currently being organised countrywide. The rules are based on four age and ten weight categories. So before Rosmarie Thoma could climb atop the podium she had to complete push-ups, sit-ups and straight jumps. A jury observed her and rated her performance. Other com petition exercises focussed on flexibility and co-ordination – the split is a fixed element The ‘three pillars’ competition sport

Role model : Rosmarie Thoma wants to moti vate women to keep fit.

of the programme. Then it was on to the car dio test: getting heart and blood circulation geared up in five minutes on a home trainer for example. The distance covered is then measured and converted into points. Ros marie managed a total World Championship score of 186. Her new target: By the end of the year she wants to break the 200 points barrier, a record. The inventors of this novel sport hope to eventually attract 3% of gym visitors to com pete in the new Strenflex decathlon. There are already around 30 gyms that offer their customers training based on the Strenflex programme. The number of those willing to participate is still small with around 400 peo ple in Switzerland. Rosmarie Thoma became a World cham pion by accident. Seven years ago her son wanted to join a fitness centre but was still to small. Mother had to help and together they put their training shoes on. She has regularly been lifting barbells since. The woman who hadn’t participated in any form of sport for 30 years is now as fit as a 20 year old.

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