The latest Health and Fitness Omnibus Survey, from leisure.net published in the August 2017 issue of Health Club Management (page 78), showed a decline in the number of people who would consider exercising in a leisure centre – a drop of 13 per cent since 2012.

The authors showed surprise at this fall “considering the investment that has been made in many local public leisure facilities”. But it shouldn’t really come as much of a surprise.

While there has been investment in some leisure centres, most local authorities have been forced to make cuts. This, combined with the seemingly unstoppable rise of budget gyms, has placed huge pressure on leisure centres, as many of our clients testify.

Investment in public sector facilities is no longer just about making bigger and better gym spaces, but about providing a more family-orientated provision that meets the needs of modern users and how they want to spend their leisure time. For example, a four-court sports hall isn’t the must-have for all leisure centres that it was in the past. Local authorities need to examine their local demographics and consult the communities they serve to determine the range of facilities they need to attract people to their centres.

We know that investing in the right facilities can result in significant financial and social benefits for public sector providers. Our work at Salt Ayre Leisure Centre has done just that and we look forward to sharing the evidence to prove it later this year.

In recent years, monitoring of body composition has come to the forefront of public health obesity policy (see HCM August 2017, p60). Research has shown that markers such as weight or BMI are outdated and healthcare professionals are increasingly recognising the significance of the type of weight a person puts on or loses.

This is where body composition assessment using bioimpedance vector analysis (BIVA) has a role to play. The non-invasive technique uses impedance measurements to identify water, lean muscle and fat in the body. Its use has been validated in large cohort studies, such as NHANES III, as well as for monitoring specific conditions such as heart and kidney failure.

By using techniques like BIVA rather than relying on weight, individuals gain insight into their ratio of muscle to fat and the concept of losing weight gives way achieving healthy amounts of muscle and fat relative to age, gender and genetics.

People who undergo a nutritional and exercise intervention are often frustrated to find that their weight remains static; however in reality their body fat percentage may have fallen and lean muscle mass risen. Visualisation of objective improvements in body composition is therefore key for supporting and monitoring healthy lifestyle changes.

Where weight is concerned, the move from simplistic quantitative measures of weight to more detailed qualitative indicators of BIVA offers clinicians and patients a vital opportunity to better understand how our bodies function and thereby treat disease more efficiently and holistically.