The Chapa Wellness Map (eBook)

INTRODUCTION

In two atomic bomb explosions, about 140,000 people died in 1945; can we generate a global chain reaction that could save millions of lives every year caused by physical inactivity?—a World Wellness Chain Reaction that brings and sustains life.

—Orlando Chapa

CONTEXT

As we enter into the Fourth Industrial Revolution, with the use of Cyber-Physical Systems, the Internet of Things, the Internet of Services, Gene Edition, AI, Drones, and so on, in our daily lives, we face the contradiction that instead of having more time to take care of our health because of all this new technology, we have less physical activity at work and in our daily lives, with less time to workout because of many new digital activities that we do that are not physical, on one side, and, on the other side, we have more options for sport, training centers, training techniques, food, information, knowledge, and technology to improve and to track our workouts, bringing the paradox that approximately 3,000,000,000 people in the world are physically inactive with the negative result of increasing global problems related to this pandemic (diabetes, heart disease, cancer, obesity, etc.).

Last April 2018, I had the opportunity to visit the fair Industry 4.0 in Hanover, Germany, the most important trade show in the world for the development of Smart Factories, a very important expression of the Internet of Things, where I was able to see the last innovations for automation and data exchange in manufacturing. The Fourth Industrial Revolution was first named here in 2011 in this fair as Industry 4.0. It was great to see a vast amount of technology altogether with all kind of robots, including some doing exercise; can you imagine that? It was funny and interesting; at least the robots don’t get tired as we do. But until now, nobody and nothing can transfer all the benefits of doing physical activity into our bodies, so if we want to live better and longer, the daily required physical activity must be done by us.

In the middle of the exponential technology growth that we are starting to live, artificial intelligence (AI) and/or robots are defeating humans in many fields, and it is estimated by some tech commentators that by the year 2048, there will be AI or robots more intelligent than any human in general. They name it as a singularity, because this phenomenon has never happened before; around this trend, I just want to say that we humans have a great asset in Physical Activity, because until now robots don’t need to exercise to function right (maybe in the future they may be manufactured with the necessity to be lubricated or to recharge their energy by doing some sort of robotic exercise … just kidding. Or predicting? So we have here this huge field as human right and as an opportunity to be less machines by doing physical activity or Wellness (as I redefined in this book), where we can get the best of our bodies by getting a great amount of benefits to feel, enjoy, and have a more and much better life, taking pleasure on the Wellness of our bodies.

For some futurists like Gerd Leonhard, data is the new oil, because of their economic, social, and political influence. The Chapa Wellness Map model feeds on data; therefore, we have a great opportunity for all technology developers to get involved in this model to help all the population of the world to know their levels of Wellness by Physical Activity, using the increasing options to obtain, process, and transfer the information related to the health of the body and connect all this data to the best options to improve and keep it.

Another interesting point that I want to comment to all the people involved in the Fitness Industry is that during 28 years in more than 80 trade shows in the 5 countries that I have visited, the winners of the Industry have been the equipment manufacturers. Life Fitness, Technogym, Precor Inc., Matrix, Cybex and others have done a great job in making state-of-the-art equipment by adding all the available technology to create great experiences for users, giving them the best workouts in a comfortable, safe, informed, and entertained way. However, we have some problem; the Fitness Centers, Clubs, Studios, and so on, have suffered to keep in business, and the leader Fitness Club brands of the 1990s were not the same as those of the 2000s—and these are not the ones that lead now. Why? Client’s retention, price competition, and economy crisis are very hard to endure for almost all these clubs all over the world. But I hope that by applying some of the concepts and the model presented in this book, we would be able to help the clubs overcome this condition of the industry in some way. And let’s remember that all the people involved not just in the health and fitness business but also in the sports industry in general face the challenge of having more than 5,000,000 deaths every year because of physical inactivity. So to all the CEOs, managers, businessmen, entrepreneurs, sports directors, personal trainers, teachers of group classes, coaches, and so forth, we have a great opportunity to create a new generation of disruptive business, institutions, products, services, and so on, to solve this situation in a sustainable manner.

Additionally, I have noticed another current situation—the fitness industry is too much focused on the fitness studios or fitness centers, and even though the current concept of Wellness keeps growing in these places with health-oriented programs, we have left a huge market unattended in some way (workplaces, schools, public spaces, houses, etc.); we have great opportunities for disruptive business in order to bring much better lives to many. It is my desire that many of you can grasp the concept of the Wellness Model presented here and that you apply it successfully.

This book, Chapa Wellness Map, has four main sections: (1) Presenting a New Model for Physical Activity (as an antithesis of the current model with its historical and economic impact on health), (2) a proposition for a World Classification System of the Levels of Wellness by Physical Activity (coming out of this new model or systematic), (3) the vision and the basis for the implementation (the formation of the NGO “World Wellness Network”), and (4) the applications of the model in the personal level (getting to know your current estimated level in the Chapa Wellness Map and to know where you should be) and in business (with the presentation of nonexistent business combining the Model and the technology of the fourth Industrial Revolution).

BOOK OBJECTIVES

The objectives of this book Chapa Wellness Map: Be Active, Be Well, Be Alive—A Systematic Approach to Physical Activity are:

Sedentary and Active People

a)That the people all over the world may be able to have a better understanding of the importance of integrating more physical activity into their daily lives and helping them to get involved doing it,

b)to know the technological trends that are bringing all kind of products and techniques to know more about the physical condition of their bodies and to exercise much better, and

c)to know that they can get a classification level that can help them to understand better where they are and to where they can go; in other words, they can get a number (to be more precise, a letter and a number) in a very fast and practical way that shows them where they should go according their own objectives and goals or at least to make them know where they should be so as to reduce the risk of diseases related to being inactive.

Instructors, Coaches, and Club Managers

a)That Fitness Instructors, Sports Coaches, and Club Managers may understand and apply the Tools presented here to give better teaching and service to their clients and pupils and that this new Model would help them to develop innovative and disruptive training techniques, products, facilities, camps, and so on;

b)by being in their work positions, more successful a virtuous growth cycle would be generated for the benefit of many, systematically activating the people of the world;

c)that the managers can diminish the Attrition percentage of the fitness studios and that a clear physical differentiation between a Wellness Center and a Fitness Center can be implemented by applying the new definitions stated here.

d)club owners and managers will notice that with more people getting active by using their facilities and coming out of the sedentary lifestyle, the clubs will be receiving more members looking for more specialized instruction and services.

Universities

a)That the Universities all over the globe would be able to not only integrate in their programs the...