Network Magazine summer 2015 | Page 8

INSIGHT News, views and lessons learnt Inspirational individual takes out inaugural #ActiveAchievers Award John Domandl of Eleebana Fitness in NSW has been announced as the national winner of Fitness Australia’s first annual #ActiveAchievers Award, supported by Australian Fitness Network. The #ActiveAchievers Awards recognise outstanding fitness professionals across Australia, and one finalist from each state and territory was chosen from among hundreds of nominations. John, who also won Network’s  Inspiration of the Year award in 2010, was presented with the award by Network’s CEO Ryan Hogan at Fitness Australia’s annual Gala Dinner on 30 October. John was nominated by Greg Fullford for his tireless work encouraging and motivating Greg and his son to do the very best for their health and sporting endeavours. Greg’s son Jason, who has Down Syndrome, has trained with John for 17 years. When they met, Jason lacked confidence and was unwilling to attempt new or challenging physical activities. John has since helped him achieve great results in Special Olympics and mainstream sports. He also helped Greg give up smoking and rekindle a childhood love of physical activity through soccer and fun runs. John is an inspiration to his clients and this year was the first ever vision impaired athlete to compete in the 515km Ultraman triathlon event in Noosa. Fitness Australia CEO Lauretta Stace said ‘John really is an inspiration and an excellent example of the amazing work that fitness trainers and instructors are doing to make Australians fitter and healthier.’ Source: Fitness Australia Don’t worry, be happy …and healthy! US researchers recently found that increases in positive emotions across a 5-year period were associated with improvements in physical activity, sleep quality and medication adherence. It is theorised that this may be because people with greater positive wellbeing could be more motivated and persistent in pursuing healthy behaviours and better able to cope with stress. Source: Psychosomatic Medicine Resistance training boosts vitamin D as well as strength A recent study found that increasing the amount of resistance exercise we d ˜