July Newsletter 2019

GM Letter

Dear Members,
Summer is in full swing and things are heating up at the club. We would like to remind members to stay hydrated while exercising. Remember to drink before, during and after you exercise. If you are exercising in the morning it is important to start drinking the night before your workout to prevent dehydration. We recommend you drink between 24 and 30 ounces an hour while you are exercising. We suggest you consider hydrating with a sports drink rather than just water to help you replace the electrolytes which are essential for our cells, organs and body systems to work properly. Single packets of Skratch are available at the front desk making it easy to add to your water bottles.

We are excited to announce that we are bringing the tennis club championships back but in a different format. Chris has set it up as a 6 week tournament where players schedule their matches individually. There will be Single, Double and Mixed (3.0-Open) divisions and the tournament will start July 15th and culminate with the Championship matches on September 14th. He will be running the tournament on myutr.com where you will need to go to create an account. Chris will be using the results of this tournament to help him determine who will be playing on our Conejo Cup team in the Fall. Please see additional details in the tennis below.

Pickleball is beginning to find its groove! The paddle game with the silly name has Open Play every Monday, Wednesday and Friday night from 5 to 8pm. This past week we also added Open Play on Sunday afternoons from 4 to 7pm. We are building our community of players and encourage everyone to come try one of the fastest growing sports in the country! Whether you are new to the game or a diehard already, there is always a place for you to come out and play. Our Friday evening Pickleball Social is a great way to unwind after a long week at work. Enjoy beer and wine afterward at Happy Hour prices!

On July 14th we will be holding a Wood Racquet Tournament for our tennis members and a Round Robin event for the pickleball players. We will also be holding a club wide BBQ with hamburgers and hotdogs ($10/person) from 12 to 6pm. Beer and Wine will be sold at Happy Hour prices. Please see the event flyer below for additional details. We hope to see you out there!!

Back in January we introduced the Sprint 8 workout that is programmed into the new Matrix outdoor cardio equipment. Many members have incorporated this workout into their workout regimen with great results. There have been a number of friendly competitions going on between members to get the highest Sweat Score. Fellow member, Rich Iazzetta, has laid the gaunlet down for all of us to chase with a score of 131! That is crazy! Good luck chasing Rich down!!

Have a Healthy Day,
John Sutcliffe
General Manager

Heat Stroke Symptoms & First Aid

With the heat of the summer here it is that time to remind members of the dangers of heat stroke. Be aware of the symptoms and watch out for each other. Do not let your friends get to the point where heat stoke becomes very dangerous.

Preventative Measures:

Keep hydrated the night prior to activity and 2 hours before activity
Continue to hydrate while exercising. Use a sports drink which contains electrolytes to hydrate. Skratch is available for sale at the front desk.
Have a proper meal the night before activity
Eat 3 hours prior to activity. Sports bars are available at the front desk.

Symptoms:

Lack of sweating despite excessive heat
Throbbing headache
Dizziness
Red hot, dry skin
Muscle cramps
Nausea or vomiting
Rapid, shallow breathing

First Aid:

Call 911
Move person to cooler area. Preferably air-conditioned are but if not shade
Apply ice to the neck, armpits, groin and back
Immerse in cool water.

Lost and Found

We have a member that left his Beats Studio 3 Headphones (black) on the TRX racks in the outdoor fitness center. Please return them to the front desk if you picked them up. ([email protected])

Upcoming Events

•  July 4th Pickleball Round Robin [ click to view ]
•  July 5th Open Play Pickleball [ click to view ]
•  July 14th Wooden Racquet Tennis Tournament/ Pickleball Round Robin/ Club Wide BBQ [ click to view ]
•  July 19th Henny Youngman Pickleball [ click to view ]
•  Club Championships July 15th-September 14th [ click to view ]

Healthy Living

Healthy lifestyle: 5 keys to a longer life

Posted July 05, 2018, 10:30 am

Monique Tello, MD, MPH
 Contributing Editor

How is it that the United States spends the most money on healthcare, and yet still has the one of the lowest life expectancies of all developed nations? (To be specific: $9,400 per capita, 79 years, and 31st.)

Maybe those of us in healthcare have been looking at it all wrong, for too long.

Healthy lifestyle and longevity

Researchers from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health conducted a massive study of the impact of health habits on life expectancy, using data from the well-known Nurses' Health Study (NHS) and the Health Professionals Follow-up Study (HPFS). This means that they had data on a huge number of people over a very long period of time. The NHS included over 78,000 women and followed them from 1980 to 2014. The HPFS included over 40,000 men and followed them from 1986 to 2014. This is over 120,000 participants, 34 years of data for women, and 28 years of data for men.

The researchers looked at NHS and HPFS data on diet, physical activity, body weight, smoking, and alcohol consumption that had been collected from regularly administered, validated questionnaires.

What is a healthy lifestyle, exactly?

These five areas were chosen because prior studies have shown them to have a large impact on risk of premature death. Here is how these healthy habits were defined and measured:

Healthy diet, which was calculated and rated based on the reported intake of healthy foods like vegetables, fruits, nuts, whole grains, healthy fats, and omega-3 fatty acids, and unhealthy foods like red and processed meats, sugar-sweetened beverages, trans fat, and sodium.
Healthy physical activity level, which was measured as at least 30 minutes per day of moderate to vigorous activity daily.
Healthy body weight, defined as a normal body mass index (BMI), which is between 18.5 and 24.9.
Smoking, well, there is no healthy amount of smoking. "Healthy" here meant never having smoked.
Moderate alcohol intake, which was measured as between 5 and 15 grams per day for women, and 5 to 30 grams per day for men. Generally, one drink contains about 14 grams of pure alcohol. That's 12 ounces of regular beer, 5 ounces of wine, or 1.5 ounces of distilled spirits.

Researchers also looked at data on age, ethnicity, and medication use, as well as comparison data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Wide-Ranging Online Data for Epidemiologic Research.

Does a healthy lifestyle make a difference?

As it turns out, healthy habits make a big difference. According to this analysis, people who met criteria for all five habits enjoyed significantly, impressively longer lives than those who had none: 14 years for women and 12 years for men (if they had these habits at age 50). People who had none of these habits were far more likely to die prematurely from cancer or cardiovascular disease.

Study investigators also calculated life expectancy by how many of these five healthy habits people had. Just one healthy habit (and it didn't matter which one) … just one… extended life expectancy by two years in men and women. Not surprisingly, the more healthy habits people had, the longer their lifespan. This is one of those situations where I wish I could reprint their graphs for you, because they're so cool. (But if you're very curious, the article is available online, and the graphs are on page 7. Check out Graph B, "Estimated life expectancy at age 50 according to the number of low-risk factors.")

This is huge. And, it confirms prior similar research — a lot of prior similar research. A 2017 study using data from the Health and Retirement Study found that people 50 and older who were normal weight, had never smoked, and drank alcohol in moderation lived on average seven years longer. A 2012 mega-analysis of 15 international studies that included over 500,000 participants found that over half of premature deaths were due to unhealthy lifestyle factors such as poor diet, inactivity, obesity, excessive alcohol intake, and smoking. And the list of supporting research goes on.

So what's our (big) problem?

As the authors of this study point out, in the US we tend to spend outlandishly on developing fancy drugs and other treatments for diseases, rather than on trying to prevent them. This is a big problem.

Experts have suggested that the best way to help people make healthy diet and lifestyle change is at the large-scale, population level, through public health efforts and policy changes. (Kind of like motorcycle helmets and seat belt legislation…) We have made a little progress with tobacco and trans-fat legislation.

There's a lot of pushback from big industry on that, of course. If we have guidelines and laws helping us to live healthier, big companies aren't going to sell as much fast food, chips, and soda. And for companies hell-bent on making money at the cost of human life, well, that makes them very angry.

Did You Know?

Members receive a $75 credit to their account when they refer family & friends that join WAC. Family & friends that do join must reference the referring member at the time they sign up.

Fitness Corner

Outdoor Bootcamp with Peter

Here Comes The Sun.....

Well, it seems like summer has arrived at last. We here in Southern California have been spoiled by the abundance of sunny days and cool evenings. This year, it seemed like summer would never arrive. March, April, even May were filled with long stretches of cloudy, sub seventy degree weather. We also had more rain than normal...a blessing...but not conducive to outdoor activities.

All that is behind us. It's time to get outside and get moving, and one of the best ways is to come on out to our twice weekly Outdoor Boot Camp. Wednesday at 6 pm and Saturday at 9 am we will be rocking out on the Green behind the pool. There's running, jumping, resistance, balance, core, agility and lots of fun.

Most importantly, it's accessible to all our members. All the activities can be scaled to your personal fitness level. you don't have to be super athletic to participate and you can take it at your own pace. It's a super fun way to get moving and make friends, and we always close out with the ever popular Rock, Paper, Scissors challenge.
So come on out and bring a friend. Take advantage of our beautiful summer sunshine and come play with us. I guarantee that you will have a great time and you'll burn a few calories too!

Remember...Wednesday at 6 pm and Saturday at 9 am. Outside, on the Green. See you there!

Tennis Corner

Club Championships

Enter as many divisions as you want
Divisions are Singles, Doubles, and Mixed 3.0-Open
Tournament matches start July 15th
It is a round robin format
Players will schedule their matches individually with their opponent
After the round robin, the top two teams will play in the finals
The finals and club party will be Saturday September 14th

How to Register:

We will be running the tournament on myutr.com
Create an account on myutr.com
Search for Westlake Athletic Club on myutr.com and request to join
Under events, find the Club Championship
Register for the division you want to play in
It will charge you $10 to enter an event
We will take off the $10 from you tournament fee (which we will bill to account)
Tournament is a total of $30/singles, $20/doubles (per player), $40 to enter both
If you join their power membership, your $10 fee is waived, but you DO NOT need to be a power member to join the event

Winning the tournament:

Get your name on a plaque at the club!
Win an automatic bid onto our Conejo Cup team!
Improve your UTR rating with wins!

Why UTR:

We have a lot of materials around the club to help understand UTR and we will be sending out separate information on what UTR is.
UTR is the best rating system to determine the level of a player.
We will be using UTR to determine our top players to bring to the conejo cup to give us the best chance of winning this year!

Please contact Chris Dudeck ([email protected]) with any questions.

Pickleball

The Pickleball Serve — What to Hit, When to Hit and Why to Hit Different Types of Serves

The serve in pickleball represents a dichotomy of fundamental philosophies. On the one hand, pickleball "traditionalists" will argue that, because you can't win a point if you don't get your serve in, it's best not to take any chances and, instead, just use the serve to start the rally. This philosophy of thought renders the serve as an offensive weapon irrelevant.

On the other hand, some will argue that, while the goal of the serve is not necessarily to ace your opponent, the goal is nevertheless to create a weak return so that the third shot can be an offensive opportunity — or at worst — an easier/shorter drop shot into your opponent's non-volley zone.

Setting Up your Third Shot with an Effective Serve
Aggressive players favor the latter philosophy — using the pickleball serve (and taking appropriate chances) to create a weaker return so that more options are available for the third shot — whether it be a drive or drop.

Different Types of Pickleball Serves
So what types of serves set up this opportunity for offensive weaponry? Once you have mastered the serve so that you can consistently hit it past the kitchen line and into the correct service court, you will want to learn to vary your serves and give your opponent a different look from time-to-time. The following three serves can — and should — be used.

The Power Serve
Like the name implies, this is a serve that is hit low and hard — generally to your opponent's weaker side (usually the backhand) and as deep in the court as possible. Serving the ball deep in your opponent's court makes their return more difficult – and it also makes it more challenging for them to get to their kitchen line after the return-of-serve.

The Power Serve is an effective serve to hit when you notice the service returner standing a few steps inside of the baseline. It's also a great serve to hit if you notice the returner over-shifted to their forehand or backhand side. Hitting it hard and deep may very well result in an ace in this situation — or, at the very least, a weak return.

The Moon Ball Serve
The Moon Ball Serve is a high (to the moon), soft serve that lands deep in the opponent's court near the baseline. It's a great change-up serve that forces the returner to generate their own power and often-times frustrates them. This serve also adds variety to your repertoire and can be used to set up future, harder serves — much like a baseball flamethrower uses the change up from time-to-time to set up their fastball.

The Short, Angled Serve
This is generally a slower serve that lands and is angled just beyond the kitchen line. It can be effectively used with the service returner is positioned several feet behind the baseline or when the service returner has over-shifted to protect their weaker side. Because of the imparted top-spin/side-spin, this serve pushes the receiver well beyond the sideline. If struck well, the short, angled serve may open up significant gaps in the opponent's court for you to exploit on the third shot with a hard drive.

The short, angled serve is also extraordinarily effective against a team that is stacking.

Depth & Consistency — Important Above All Else
Consistency and depth still remain the two of the most important considerations of the pickleball serve. Keeping your opponent deep on the serve prevents them (or at least makes it a lot harder) from quickly capturing the non-volley zone line.

And, of course, you have to be able to get your serves in with a very high degree of consistency, regardless of which serve you use. Make sure you don't rush yourself when serving — and visualize the serve before you hit it. You'll be surprised how you can make the serve an offensive weapon and set yourself up for easier third shot drives or drops.

Utilizing the different types of serves keeps your opponent off-guard and thinking about where to position themselves for the return of serve.