Support and motivation to take care of one’s own health and fitness
“The physical condition check-up is a new service concept for tourists. It combines sports, nature and new technology”, says the Project Manager Mr. Jari Partanen of the development company Snowpolis Oy. Ltd. Improving a healthier and sporty lifestyle in a tourism environment has now come to a pilot stage.
Starting in June, there are 110 people from different age groups attending the first trial check-up of physical condition. The variety of the group is large: Working-age people as well as senior citizens are represented, professors from Helsinki as well as Kainuu-born grandmothers from the neigbouring village Ristijärvi.
In the fist part, the participant are checked for their general health and asked about their sports and physical exercise habits. The second part, which lasts for 8 months, is a distance training period, during which each participant exercises according to his or her own personal plan. Half way though, there is a periodical check-up to see, if the goals have been reached.
Testing balance is one part of check-up.
“The physical condition check-up is suitable for everybody, really from couch potatoes to active athletes”, assures Mr. Jari Partanen. The peer group serves as an excellent source for positive feedback, as everyone knows that keeping up the motivation is just as important as physical measurements.
The goal for the project is to develop a clear and usable tool for all professionals in physical education and sports. They can use the web-based activity meter to see how the people they are coaching are progressing. A mobile device solution, which is always carried along, is also under construction. This project is also using a unique BKG-chair. The chair used for measuring the vibrations in the body, which are caused by heart beat.
Piloting stage of physical condition check-up station was launched
More than a hundred test persons had their physical condition checked at the testing station in the beginning of June. The test persons got acquainted with the latest technology, as the ballistokardiography (BKG) tool measured the functionality of their hearts. The BKG-testing chair has been developed at the Institute of Applied Electronics of the Technical University of Helsinki. The sensitive BKG-chair registers the vibrations in the body that a heartbeat causes. The chair has got a nickname, “Moomin chair”, analogous to the Moomin cartoon figures. The BKG-chair is a unique tool in testing physical condition.
BKG-chair measures the functionality of heart.
“The BKG-chair at Snowpolis is the only one in Finland at the moment”, says the Project Manager, Mr. Jari Partanen. Using the BKG-chair in testing the physical condition is very unique, since it does not require any physical activities of the testing person. The testing person doest not have to do anything but just sit still in the chair for a few minutes. Of course there also are other parts in the two-hour testing session for physical condition as well, in addition to the BKG-chair measuring. In the other parts there is some physical activity required that makes the test persons sweat.
The next pilot group for testing will arrive in October. The participants of the pilot group are all carrying a device called AinoActive with them. The device has an activity monitor, and the participants feed their daily point information to a special program over the internet. In this way, their own distance trainer is able to follow their activities and results reached. In this piloting group, the distance trainers are Mrs. Mira Tuononen of the Vuokatti Sports Institute and the Project Manager Mr. Jari Partanen.
Trainer Mrs. Mira Tuononen demonstrates body composition
measurement.
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