For the first time at Club Industry (http://clubindustryshow.com), the premiere event for commercial fitness and nutrition, the 2008 event featured a specialized track on inclusive fitness. This track of sessions challenged fitness and wellness practitioners to create and execute a plan of action to make their facilities accessible to all. Attendees included owners and operators of commercial, private, and medical fitness and wellness centers, as well as professional practitioners within the fields. Presentations covered a wide variety of topics, including the following:

• Preventing Your Fitness Center from Being an Exercise Frustration: People with Disabilities Speak from Experience
• Access to Fitness, Part 1: Addressing Architectural, Attitudinal, and Programming Barriers
• Access to Fitness, Part 2: Facility Design and Management
• The Global Inclusive Fitness Movement
• Technology for Inclusive Health Promotion
• Community Inclusion Opportunities in Recreation and Fitness
• Physical Activity and Breast Cancer
• Inclusive Fitness: From Research to Practice
• Programming for People with Disabilities

In addition to including inclusive fitness in the sessions, this year the Exhibit Hall also featured the 'Inclusive Fitness Zone', presented in conjunction with the Inclusive Fitness Initiative (http://www.inclusivefitness.org), showcased equipment that has been developed in partnership with equipment manufacturers to meet the needs of people with and without disabilities. The Zone is featured on the main Club Industry page at (http://national.clubindustryshow.com/National2008/public/enter.aspx). You can also watch an informal tour of some of the inclusive equipment with our NCHPAD staff members in the video clip below.

Additionally, NCHPAD had the opportunity to film presenter Karin Korb leading a Kranking fitness class (see August 2008 FITT Column on Kranking). Karin, who has used a wheelchair since a gymnastics vaulting accident as a teenager, is a former Paralympian and nationally ranked wheelchair tennis player, a certified personal trainer and model, and creator of 'Divability', an empowerment camp for young girls ages 8 to 25. In this video, Karin shares her story and the knowledge and understanding she has gained through her transformation after her injury, from an outsider disassociated from 'her population' (of people with disabilities) into an energetic advocate and activist within the community of athletes with disabilities.

Related NCHPAD features:

- October, 2008 Director's Column: Coming of Age: First Inclusive Fitness Conference at Club Industry Achieves an Important Milestone
http://www.ncpad.org/590/2537/Coming~of~Age~~~First~Inclusive~Fitness~Conference~at ~Club~Industry~Achieves~an~Important~Milestone

- August 2008 FITT Column: Kranking: the Next Revolution in Fitness
http://www.ncpad.org/574/2514/F~I~T~T~~-~Kranking~~the~Next~Revolution~in~Fitness