A Business Diatribe: My Problem with the Fitness Industry (How It Puts Us In Mortal Danger Every Day!)

 

A Business Diatribe: My Problem with the Fitness Industry

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(How It Puts Us In Mortal Danger Every Day!)

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Ahhh. The Fitness Industry. It’s a segment of the Business world which brings in tens-of-billions of dollars every year.

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Want a part of the action?

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Become certified and train people privately. Open a gym. Become a franchisee to one of the myriad of well-known "houses of muscle": Gold’s Gym. World Gym. 24 Hour Fitness. Or grab your piece of the supplement industry: vitamins, weight-loss shakes and protein supplements: a sub-segment of the industry which itself pulls in billions each year.

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Whether you are just starting out in the world of Business or looking for a career change, it is a financially-lucrative profession.

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So What’s My Beef?

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I just happened to be watching a documentary about prisons on the Discovery Channel last night. You know the type: the camera and commentator take you inside of a large correctional facility: home to murderers, rapists and those guilty of such crimes as ‘assault with a deadly weapon,’ ‘2nd degree manslaughter’ and ‘home invasion robbery.’

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The next thing you know, yes, it’s part of the standard script for such shows, you join the prisoners out in the courtyard or the prison-gym for some fitness fun. And there you see said murderers, rapists, manslaughterers and home-invaders getting pumped-up! Yep, people convicted of some of the most heinous crimes that exist…and they are now 225 pounds of rock-solid muscle. But wait: they have boxing equipment too, from which they learn to punch and kick harder and faster!

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BUSINESS ETHICS & MORALS:

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Okay, although I do have a real issue with "pumped-up" prisoners, it is a metaphor for this article. It has to do with morals, ethics and integrity. And it forces the questions: "Who are you doing business with?" and "At what cost do profits come?"

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Within every industry there are morals, ethics, and codes-of-conduct both written and un-written. Most tobacco shops don’t sell cigarettes to ten year-olds. Liquor stores don’t usually sell fifths of Jim Beam to 12 year-olds. Most marketers would balk at selling business plans to South American drug-cartels. I, as a writer, would not sell my services to a known criminal organization.

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Along with profitability come questions and issues such as…yes, health, well-being and public safety.

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My question, and the basis of this rant is this? Who the heck is selling the fitness equipment to the prisons?

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So, prospective fitness-guru, enter the industry! Make your money. Enjoy your work. Be profitable. Become an entrepreneur.

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But for Heaven’s sake…if you’re getting into the fitness equipment-supply end, please don’t sell to prisons.

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Realize that one day a lot of those rapists and murderers will finish their sentences or be released on parole. And the recidivism rate is astronomically-high. Statistics show that many will again commit violent crime. If they must be released, then there is not much that can be done. But please do not give them the means to be stronger and more athletic in their violent ways.

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I prefer ex-cons to be rather skinny and weak!

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Image Credits: Barbell Weight: www.images.buzzillions.com; Dollar Signs: www.stopadvertisingnow.com; Prisoner: th942.photobucket.com;        

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Yonatan Maisel is a Business blogger, history buff and author. He specializes in all aspects of Business writing.

From speeches to resumes, from corporate bios to research, from blogging to website content, from articles to ghost-writing, he provides the highest level of quality at a very reasonable price.

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