About Mike Alpert

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"Insider Speaks"
Augie's Quest For A Cure
August 2015 - I have known Augie Nieto for over 25 years as the Founder and Owner of Life Fitness, one of the world's largest manufacturers of Cardio and Strength equipment. When we first met, Augie was driving around in a Slugo Motor Home trying to sell his LifeCycles to Nautilus clubs. In nine months, he sold a total of eleven LifeCycles. Through years of tireless work and brilliant marketing, Life Fitness became a must-have in every good health club. Augie was on a roll, and in 1999, he sold his company to Brunswick for $325 million dollars. Read Article...

"Little Things We Take For Granted."
May 2018 - Last Saturday evening, I was privileged to attend the 8th Annual Be Perfect Foundation fundraiser in La Verne, California. The event is held to raise awareness and funds to assist people with Spinal Cord injuries and other forms of paralysis. Over 1,000 people came together for an evening of entertainment, food and dancing, and over $500,000 was raised. During the evening, several people were able to share their story and journey from active everyday lifestyle to paralysis to recovery. Read Article...

Exercise is Medicine
A Letter From Mike Alpert
September 2017 - Can you think back to a time when something dramatic changed for you? Something that defined what you really wanted to become or what you wanted to truly do that was meaningful with your life. Something so powerful that it really consumed a lot of what you focused on. For me, that happened in 1992, one year after we opened The Athletic Club of Bend in Bend, Oregon. I was watching a 5-year-old boy, Gabe West, having a great time in our indoor pool, splashing and floating with my help, so happy that he was hugging and kissing me. I saw just a little boy having fun, but others saw the impact that exercise had on him. Gabe had Spina Bifida and was confined to a wheelchair. Read Article...

Exercise IS Medicine
May 2021 - Thank goodness many health clubs have reopened after a year of being closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. I know people are hungry to get back to a more normal lifestyle, and that will certainly mean a rush back to their club, which for many, has become their "second" home. You are going to have real opportunities to grow your business, but I urge you not to simply look at what worked before. Instead, look at what you need going forward to differentiate your club and provide a competitive advantage. What can you do to make your club a more valuable asset to your members? Read Article...

Exercise IS Medicine
July 2021 - During the past several months, I have listened to a lot of conversations and concerns about the long-term effect that COVID-19 will have on our industry. As with most discussions, there are two sides: those who feel we will never return to the pre-COVID days and those who believe we will come back stronger than ever. So, do you choose to believe that the glass is half empty or half full? I believe the glass is more than half full. Read Article...

Exercise IS Medicine
August 2021 - I don't mean to sound like a broken record, but as I have said before, the healthcare system in the United States is broken. Take a look at what we spend on health care, and you will be shocked. In the past 50 years, the cost of health care has risen 820% while our GDP has gone up only 168% and wages have risen a paltry 16%. I think that it is safe to say that it is out of control and unsustainable in the long-term. Read Article...

Exercise IS Medicine
September 2021 - It is hard to believe, but the annual IHRSA Convention will be the first time in 19 months that we have all had the opportunity of meeting together in person. And, so much has changed in those 19 months, especially as it has affected our way of life. In recent articles that I have written, I have made a point of talking about the need of our healthcare system to make a shift away from the treatment of chronic illnesses ("sick care") to prevention and wellness ("well care"). And, last month, one of the largest healthcare providers in the country, United Healthcare, made a major announcement... Read Article...

Exercise IS Medicine
October 2021 - I have been blessed to have worked in the health club industry for 31 years, and during that time, I have been an advocate of the benefits that exercise has on overall health. Over the years, I have worked with physicians, hospital CEOs and educators, and I have read a lot of medical articles that support the benefits of regular exercise on a person's health and quality of life. So, as we get ready for the IHRSA Convention this year, I want to go back and share with you two examples of the dramatic impact that exercise has had on two of my very dear friends: Augie Nieto and Hal Hargrave. Read Article...

Exercise IS Medicine
November 2021 - There have been several webinars and articles lately on how to compete in today's fitness market as we emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic. And, after returning from the recent IHRSA Convention in Dallas, I was very excited to finally see much of the focus and interest on members' overall health and wellness, also bringing healthcare into fitness. It is clear to me that, in order to thrive and grow into the future, every club must find its differentiator and become passionate and driven by it. It must become WHY you do what you do. It really becomes the lifeblood of your business: your culture; character and core. Also, every owner/operator must look beyond their bottom line to what moves their bottom line, and that is simply: People. Read Article...

Exercise IS Medicine
December 2021 - The Christmas Holiday Season is my favorite time of the year. In general, it seems that people are in a more giving spirit. Lots of Holiday movies and much cooler weather... It is also a time that I find myself reflecting on all the things that I have to be thankful for, like my wife, Annie; daughter, Justene, and many other family members and special friends. And, of course for being able to work in the health and fitness club industry for so many wonderful years. Read Article...

Exercise IS Medicine
February 2022 - When I was a kid growing up, I don't ever remember hearing the words Alzheimer's or Dementia. I heard about mental illness but not a specific disease that caused the progressive mental deterioration that occurs in middle or old age due to generalized degeneration of the brain. It is the most common cause of premature senility. And, it seems that we are hearing more and more about people being affected by this awful disease all the time. Read Article...

Exercise IS Medicine
April 2022 - When we talk about the benefits of exercise, you need to know that it is really about leading an active and healthy lifestyle. As health club owners and operators, you hope the activity part takes place in your facility, and so do I. But, the reality is that only 20% of the total U.S. population actually goes to a health club or gym. And, a significant percentage of that 80% lead a sedentary lifestyle with many being either overweight or obese. For two years now, we have lived with a disease that shut down most of our country and caused so many deaths, and just now, as I write this article, we are returning to a somewhat normal existence again. Read Article...

Exercise IS Medicine
May 2022 - Recently, my wife, Annie, and I had the honor of attending the 9th Annual Fundraiser for the Be Perfect Paralysis Awareness Foundation. Over 850 people attended the event, which raises awareness and funds for people living with a spinal cord injury or other forms of neuro muscular paralysis, all of whom are benefiting greatly from exercise-based therapy that takes place at The Perfect Step. Read Article...

Exercise IS Medicine
June 2022 - Over the past few weeks, I have had the great pleasure of attending two REX Roundtables: one in Green Bay, Wisconsin (which by the way was just named the third best city in the USA to live in) and one in Coronado, California. In Green Bay, the meetings took place in Lambeau Field, which has been on my bucket list to visit since I was a kid. Lambeau Field is the home of the greatest franchise in professional sports (the Green Bay Packers), in my opinion, and the only franchise that is owned by the season ticket holders. It's simply a great culture where players to this day ride their bikes homes with kids after practices. Read Article...

Exercise IS Medicine
August 2022 - As I sit down to write this article for the August Edition of Club Insider, I wish to express my thanks to Norm Cates and Justin Cates for giving me the opportunity to have this platform that enables me to reach out to the health club community every month about the irrefutable medicinal benefits of exercise and the powerful effect that it has on overall health. IHRSA 2022 in Miami, Florida was my 30th IHRSA Convention, and much of the focus seemed to finally be on Exercise IS Medicine. Read Article...

Exercise IS Medicine
September 2022 - In past issues, I have written quite a lot about the powerful effect that exercise has on the overall quality of life and the reduction in secondary complications for people going through cancer treatment. In addition to all of the scientific and medical data to support this, I have seen it firsthand during the many years that we ran exercise and nutrition-based programs with the help of Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center at The Claremont Club. Our programs were focused on breast cancer and with women who had completed their cancer treatment and not during intervention. Read Article...

Exercise IS Medicine
October 2022 - Millions of Americans are in poor health as a result of poor lifestyle habits. Many more are affected by chronic illness. The current solution is costly drugs and costly procedures, which are driving up health insurance costs and putting a tremendous financial burden on our Healthcare system. First, here are some facts to consider... Read Article...

Exercise IS Medicine
November 2022 - The November Edition of Club Insider comes as we approach Thanksgiving and the beginning of the Holiday Season. With that comes lots of delicious food and parties and time to let ourselves go a little bit with our food and drink intake. And, that's okay, but what seems to be happening is a disturbing trend of letting ourselves go all year round. Read Article...

Exercise IS Medicine
December 2022 - I was recently invited to do a webinar sponsored by The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) with Amy Bantham on the importance of being an inclusive health club. Inclusion is about ensuring that people with disabilities have the same opportunities to participate in programming and services as their peers without disabilities. For this webinar, we focused on working with populations with physical and intellectual disabilities and the need to have policies, programs, infrastructure, staff and member culture that are inclusive of people with disabilities. Read Article...

Exercise IS Medicine
January 2023 - January is usually one of, if not the busiest month of the entire year for health clubs and gyms. In past years, it was the month when people made resolutions to get active and eat better after two months of overindulging on food, beverages and desserts. It was the month when many people sat on their couch, looked at their bulging waistline and finally said, "it is time for a change." So, they bought some workout clothes, a pair of running shoes and joined a health club with good intentions of getting in better shape. Read Article...

Exercise IS Medicine
February 2023 - It is hard to believe, but Hippocrates was the Father of Scientific Medicine back in 460 - 370 BCE as the first physician to provide a written exercise prescription for a patient with the disease of consumption. I am not sure what "over eating" back then referred to, but today, we only have to watch the ads on television to get a good idea of how food is valued, and often, it is not by quality but rather by quantity. Read Article...

Exercise IS Medicine
March 2023 - To say that I feel numb after hearing about the passing of my dear friend, Augie Nieto, would be an understatement. It is really hard to believe. I can remember Augie driving around in his van trying to sell Lifecycles to Nautilus Clubs in Newport Beach in the '70s. It was in 1991 as a Managing Partner of The Athletic Club of Bend that I became a customer of Life Fitness, and later, in 1995, as the General Manager of Lakeshore Towers Sporting Club in Irvine, California. But, it wasn't until 2014 that I really got to know Augie as a person. Read Article...

Exercise IS Medicine
May 2023 - There is undeniable evidence that regular exercise helps prevent and treat Breast Cancer. Women who do regular exercise have lower rates of recurrence and much improved survival. Yet, most women who have Breast Cancer are not told about the benefits of exercise or have it prescribed for them. How has it happened that such a proven and established treatment for such a devastating disease has been kept from the people who need it? And, given the fact that this therapy is readily available and can be provided at a very reasonable price, I believe that something needs to change! Read Article...

Exercise IS Medicine
September 2023 - Exercise! It is the word that defines our industry. Our clubs exist in order to encourage people to sign up for and to take the powerful drug called Exercise. We know how important it is in preventing and treating so many chronic health problems. Yet, many people are not made aware of the medical benefits. Many physicians don't prescribe it, and health insurance does not reimburse for it. Exercise is the best medicine we have to build a healthy immune system. Yet, throughout the most devastating pandemic and country closures of our time, when it became crystal clear that the best defense against COVID was a strong and healthy immune system, the best places to take that medicine were shut down for almost two years. People were not even allowed to play golf or use the beach, all outdoor activities. Read Article...

Exercise IS Medicine
November 2023 - For those of you who are familiar with Jim Collins' book Good to Great, you are familiar with the Fly Wheel Concept. Specifically, it takes time and patience to create meaningful change (I refer to Improvements vs. Change), but once it begins to be incorporated, it is like a Fly Wheel. It begins slowly, and then, as it gains more recognition and acceptance, it picks up speed and accelerates. It is my opinion that this is what is happening in healthcare today as it applies to exercise being accepted as part of the adjunctive standard of care for people affected by cancer and other chronic illnesses. And, this will mandate insurance reimbursement for exercise and nutrition programs offered at health and fitness clubs nationwide. Read Article...

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