Your Healthy 2012
January 14, 2012
Welcome to 2012!
A new year, new goals and a new body.
With all the Christmas and silly season over, it is now time to have a look at your health and fitness goals and review them. How did you go in 2011? Did you get to where you want to be? Did you lose it all in the holiday season? Could you have changed your body a lot more? Can you do one better this year? Sure you can.
This year we have big things planned for you as well. We have trainers fired up ready to go and our plans to reach out to more people this year too is going to be much larger than years before. Our time to reach out is now. Get in contact with us today if you would like us to help you achieve your goals, it is always better to have someone hold you accountable and plus you will work much harder with someone else egging you on.
Here is to your health and wellness.
May you achieve the goals that you set out to achieve.
Bjorn Voon
Team Exfx Fitness
Another Sunrise
March 7, 2011
Tomorrow is the start of something new. Something exciting and perhaps something scary.
But whatever it is, no matter what it is, you will face it with all heart and all determination just like it was your last day.
Tomorrow is your day.
Seize your day.
Overweight Cops Getting Lap-Band!?
March 19, 2010
TAXPAYERS are helping to pay for overweight cops to have radical gastric-banding stomach surgery as part of a WA Police fat-busting initiative.
The Sunday Times can reveal that top brass and the Police Union have agreed to pay up to $2000 towards lap-banding operations for obese officers in a bid to counter chronic illnesses.
Several officers, mostly frontline and traffic police, have already undergone the surgery, the WA Police Union confirmed yesterday.
The expenditure coincides with drastic State Government ordered belt-tightening, which has seen frontline officers stripped of 115 mobile phones, more than 80 police motorcycles sold off and the police fleet slashed by 50 vehicles after a directive to reduce car costs by 10 per cent.
Under laparoscopic gastric banding surgery, a band, similar to the size of a wristwatch, is fastened around the upper stomach to create a small pouch which restricts the amount of food that can be consumed. Operations generally cost about $6000.
Public Health Association of Australia president Mike Daube slammed the move, saying he was shocked that police, who were meant to be among the fittest and most active members of society, would be candidates for obesity surgery.”If police officers are so obese that they need gastric banding surgery, they’re not going to be very effective coppers,” said Prof Daube, a former WA Health Department director-general. “We need our police to be fit, not fat.”
But WA Police executive director Greg Italiano defended the initiative, saying the subsidy was a worthwhile investment in improving the health of police officers who were suffering obesity-related chronic illness and would inevitably save the force money.
Under the new agreement, the force will reimburse half the cost of the procedure, to a maximum of $2000. If the officer has private health insurance cover, the gap between any refund or reimbursement up to $2000 will be paid.
To qualify for the subsidy, a comprehensive health or treatment plan must be established by the officer’s doctor and provided to the WA Police health and welfare department.
WA police officers are not subjected to compulsory or regular fitness tests, although most major police stations have gyms.
“Under the current EBA WA police officers are entitled to up to 168 sick leave days a year (with a medical certificate) and the agency also bears the cost of work and most non-work related medical expenses,” Mr Italiano said.
“If we can assist in improving the health of officers suffering from obesity-related health problems, we believe we will ultimately reduce total sick leave days, decrease overall medical costs and maximise the number of operationally deployable police officers.”WA Police Union president Russell Armstrong yesterday applauded the initiative.
“We are extremely happy,” he said. “There have been people who have had the surgery and they have lost a huge amount of weight.
“Some people have said to me: ‘They should go out and go to a gym or whatever’, but these people just can’t diet, they just can’t lose weight. Some people will criticise, but there’s not that many (officers) who are obesely overweight.”It’s a certain few and they’re the ones who have obviously tried to diet over the years and just can’t do it and as a last resort they go to their specialist and they have the lap-banding done.”
Treasurer Troy Buswell declined to comment, but Police Minister Rob Johnson said: “Anything that can improve the health of our police officers and return them to the frontline is a step in the right direction”.
“I think there will be a cost benefit as it will reduce the number of officers on sick leave and return them to the frontline, where they will be more productive.”
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There is a serious problem in the mix of things if we are going to have to pay for this. Short cuts should not be taken with this surgery. A more long term solution should be sought with proper lifestyle modifications and at the workplace as well.
Get them active and exercising again. It is that simple.
A majority of us in the fitness indsutry are giggling about how this matter has been resolved, particularly because it is a joke.
Is it logical to take the short cut?
Can we have more of a say of how our tax dollars are being spent?
Is this ‘band-aid’ over the solution the best action to take?
Start trainin’, stop complainin’.
Bjorn Voon
Goal Setting
January 12, 2010
Before getting started in any task in business or in life, there needs to be some form of goal setting so that you are familiar with the start and finish. All projects before they even get executed requires goal setting. Frankly speaking, if you have not planned anything, you will not know how to get there.
When it comes to goal setting a few key areas need to be addressed.
- Plan
- Measure
- Act
Plan
To have a plan is always great. Have the foresight of what you want to achieve. Why is it you are doing this in the first place?Where do you want to be? How are you going to get there? Do you need help in getting there? Have you tried before and got there? Were there any factors that hindered your success?
Measure
To ensure that a plan is coming together nicely, many indicators need to be measured. The mirco tasks that are needed to complete the main task must be measured. This will lead to more focused analysis of your approach. Questions like How much? How long? and When by? are great measures to go by.
Act
Action itself speaks louder than words. Once the plan has been finalised and the keys to measure have been set, all you need now is to get out there. If you do not do anything, nothing gets done. If you lose your way, go back to the Plan and refresh your goals.
