European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 15, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Corporate push for fitness not corporate fitness has spawned a Small but growing wellness Industry in the United states. By Milt Freudenheim new York times James l. Ketelsen of Houston took up running after  had double bypass heart surgery in 1979. He started with 20 minutes a Day then moved up to 30 minutes when his company s in House head coach recommended it. Ketelsen the hard driving chairman of Tenn eco inc., keeps a close watch on his health and now so do hundreds of other employees at the company a Headquarters in a steel and Glass skyscraper. In fact fitness and health consciousness have become pillars of the corporate culture at the $14-billion-a-year diversified manufacturing company. In Tenner of a Texas sized gym which occupies 25,000 Square feet Over a parking garage there Are basketball and racketball courts a workout area a Glass enclosed running track with piped in music and $200,000 Worth of exercise and body building equipment. Employees in athletic shoes Are everywhere. Quot we want to be known As a caring employer a said Kenneth l. Otto a senior vice president at Tenn eco and a regular runner. But paternalism and Ketelsen s dedication Are hardly the Only forces fueling Tenn eco s push for fitness. Tenn eco opened the $11 million exercise Complex in 1982 to recruit and keep employees at the height of Houston s Boom when workers had plenty of Job options in the suburbs and made the traffic snarled drive downtown begrudgingly. The company also hoped that a fitness program tied in with self help classes for smokers and people with alcohol problems would produce healthier employees and thereby help control skyrocketing medical costs. Faced with Ever rising health care expenses Large companies across the United states have adopted the wellness concept despite the Lack of hard evidence that the efforts actually save Money. Executives justify the programs with common sense arguments for Large companies 20 percent of employees with big ticket problems like cancer and heart disease account for 80 percent of their total medical Bill. Averting even a few of these cases can create huge savings. Besides wellness programs Cost just a fraction of a Large company a Overall health care Tab. Many companies in the United states now pay More than $3,000 per employee for medical care and face double digit increases again this year. While Tenn eco declines to disclose its medical expenses both the Ford motor co. And american Telephone amp Telegraph for instance spend More than $1 billion a year and general motors about $3 billion a year. In contrast health promotion programs Range from $50 to $500 per employee. Tenner of a is among the most elaborate programs but the company says it is Well Worth the $2 million to $3 million annual Cost. Quot in a sure we be saved some lives Quot said Ketelsen who is 59. Quot our testing process discovered problems that could have been fatal. How do you put a value on that Quot already the enthusiasm for corporate fitness has spawned a Small but growing wellness Industry. Companies like Johnson amp Johnson a health management inc., the travellers  Center for corporate health promotion and dozens of smaller players offer a panoply of products and services from health resort vacations for executives to simple twice a week aerobics classes in company conference rooms and cafeterias. Last year american companies spent $300 million on those services estimated Curtis s. Wilbur National sales director at health management inc., one of the largest such concerns. And  expects sales to grow by 20 percent to 25 percent a year. Originating in the 1970s when healthiness became a National obsession wellness programs began to mushroom in the 80s when soaring medical costs gave Many executives a new appreciation for preventative Medicine. Today one in four american companies has a special exercise area and the vast majority have at least one health promotion program. Exercise is Only part of the wellness approach. Aerobics running and walking Are often linked with regimens to lose weight Stop smoking and ease stress. Before joining one of these Quot lifestyle Quot programs employees Are usually Given a physical examination to identify conditions like risky blood pressure or cholesterol Levels that can be treated. The classes and Check up sometimes Alert company health experts to employees with problems in their families or with alcohol or drug abuse. Quot by themselves smoking cessation classes or nutrition or exercise programs Are not As effective As when they Are put together Quot said Lauve l. Metcalfe vice president of corporate health development at Canyon ranch a health and fitness resort in Tuscon ariz., where executives Are taught to run corporate wellness programs when they Are not Busy taking off excess weight themselves. Quot they need an integrated program Quot she added. Its a kind of meat Market situation a looking Good at aerobics by Ira Dreyfuss associated press aerobics instructor Monique Tudor has seen it a a group of women Are exercising when a Man enters the room and a the girls stiffen  its not just the presence of a stranger it s the presence of a Man. Sexuality affects the Way in which people exercise a from mixed sex softball to women Only health clubs. Quot sex really enters the environment when you Are performing together and minimally Clad Quot said Sharon Spiegel an adjunct assistant professor of psychology at the University of Maryland College Park. A for some that s a salient  one question she said is whether a woman feels she measures up a whether she a proud or embarrassed to think she May be being watched. Quot in Man aerobics enthusiast i m very comfortable with men there Quot Spiegel said. Quot i would feel very different about going into a weight room with men where i would feel like a total  in mixed clubs appearance counts said Tudor who leads Low Impact aerobics classes in the Washington area. That she said is Why some women join women Only clubs. Quot they liked to go without putting on makeup Quot Tudor said. Quot when i worked at a coed club i noticed. It s a kind of meat Market  not that this is necessarily bad said researcher Irene Deitch associate professor of psychology at the City University of new York s College in Staten Island. Deitch who s head of the state psychological association s division on social psychology has been interviewing Amateur athletes. Quot if a woman s goal is to look Good and also meet or. Wonderful she would take a coed class a said Deitch. A they come there and they both  and there s the stare Factor a the uncomfortable feeling that a woman is being watched for reasons other than athletics. One exerciser said she wore nicer outfits to women Only clubs and baggy ones to mixed ones a Quot with the men around i done to want to draw attention to myself Quot she said. However Deitch said it works both ways. Quot the men i interviewed said that when they came into a class dominated by women they Felt very self conscious a she said. Quot the flesh was All Over the place so they had to make sure their eyes were not focused on the wrong  but the dynamics Are not simply sexual a they include the roles men and women assume said psychologist Kate Hays of Concord n,h., a runner who studied gender differences. Take for instance two women running Quot chances Are they will get into a very interesting conversation about their lives and what s happening in their work and their families Quot she said. That typically wont happen when a Man and a woman run she said Quot the chances Are somewhere  will Tell her something she might do to improve her  she May not have asked for the advice Hays said. However she said women May not work out As hard around other women a Quot each May do a one Down on herself a i Don t run As fast or As far As you  she said it s an attempt to discount any Competition to keep from feeling psychologically uncomfortable. Amateur athlete Pam Willenz of Arlington va., said different approaches to Competition can show up in coed team sports. Quot sometimes the men will overplay their position because they Don t feel you can handle it. You do have to prove yourself Quot she said. Quot with women you have to prove yourself but you done to have to keep proving  Tudor said this can be seen at the health club. Quot a Man wants to lift As much As  can Quot she said. Quot not a lot of women want to do this. A lot want to tone up and not do a strenuous  the instructor varies her aerobics classes depending on whether they re mixed or women Only. Quot we Are very aware of pregnancy in our classes a Many things men  need to be aware  and Deitch said men May have their own problems with aerobics geared for women a she said some have told her they feel out of place doing hip thrusts belly dancer style. Friday june 15, 1990 the stars and stripes a a a Page 17