FIBO will move its location from 2013 onwards due to increased space requirements. The world's largest trade show for fitness, wellness and health will move from the Ruhr to the Rhine and will be held in Cologne. The agreement has a term of ten years and covers the period up to and including 2022. The last event to be held in Essen will be the next in 2012, April.

Shockingly, research has found that the second most popular evening meal is a sandwich opposed to a balanced meal. A nation-wide campaign to help everyone plan affordable healthier meals was launched in January by the Public Health Minister Anne Milton and TV chef Ainsley Harriott. Change4Life’s New Year’s new Supermeals campaign will offer money off healthy ingredients, such as fruit and veg and low fat yoghurts, across over a thousand supermarket stores up and down the country. Four million recipe packs will be dished out to Change4Life supporters and a new online recipe finder will help families plan their meals. Public Health Minister Anne Milton said: "The Supermeals campaign will give us all some great ideas for balanced meals on a budget.”

The Leader of the House of Commons and Lord Privy Seal, a former Culture Secretary of State and three former sports ministers were among the peers, MPs, trustees and officials that packed out the Members Dining Room in the House of Commons last week for sporta’s first Parliamentary event. Sir George Young Bt MP, Tessa Jowell MP, Kate Hoey MP, Gerry Sutcliffe MP and Richard Caborn were among more than 200 guests that led Jennie Price, Chief Executive of Sport England, to state that it was ‘one of the busiest sport related reception she had ever attended within the House of Commons’ during her address.

The world’s fastest growing fitness club franchise, Anytime Fitness, started the New Year in fine form by opening a second club in Bristol. Following the success of the first club in Clifton, within the University area of Bristol, former tennis professional Robin Drysdale opened an additional gym at the Willow Brook Centre in Bradley Stoke on 3rd January.

Ray Algar once again examines low-cost gyms, this time on a Global level with the launch of the 2011 Global Low-Cost Gym Sector Report. Sponsored by Precor, the report reveals how this largely emerging market is making inroads, how in some instances budget gyms have successfully operated for nearly two decades across the world, and what it means to the health and fitness industry as a whole.

Leisure Connection will be the first operator to use software provider Gladstone Health and Leisure’s Learn2 management tool for swimming lessons.

The MERCEDES GP PETRONAS Formula One Team is now staying in shape with the help of the latest top-of-the-range cardiovascular and resistance equipment from Star Trac®, following an upgrade to their team gym.
As part of its new official supplier agreement, Star Trac® has upgraded the gym at the MERCEDES GP PETRONAS headquarters in Brackley with pieces from their latest range.

Leisure centre management company SLM (trading as Everyone Active) has decided to up skill its workforce in all of its 75 leisure centres nationwide to better engage the youth population. Currently 197 Fitness Motivators have received the ‘Adapting Fitness Instruction for Adolescents’ Level 2 qualification, which includes an accredited Child Protection/Safe Guarding unit and is delivered by Fit For Sport, the UK’s leading healthy lifestyle activities provider. By the end of the year, all full time Fitness Motivators employed by the company will have completed the qualification, which will enable them to better cater leisure, sport and fitness activities to 11-15 year olds.

Fight Science, specialist training in MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) and combat sports, has chosen Life Fitness as its fitness partner for the creation of the very first Fight Science Gymnasium in Aldershot.

After two years of development the new national register in the Republic of Ireland was launched on 24th September 2011. Known as Fitness Professionals Ireland (FPI) the development, governance and management of it have had to satisfy the exacting requirements set by the European Health & Fitness Association (EHFA). It is a new not-for-profit, independent public register which recognises the qualifications and expertise of fitness professionals in Ireland. FPI has been developed in the context of achieving a single, national, independent register for Ireland and with full integration with the European Register of Exercise Professionals (EREPS). FPI fully meets the independence and professional standards criteria required by the European Health and Fitness Association (EHFA) which oversees EREPS.