Praise & Workout™ Launches in New York

(PRWEB) June 1, 2002

White Plains, New York – April 22, 2002 – Praise & Workout™ is a service organization founded in response to a growing need for spiritual information and expression. Praise & Workout™ provides high-quality fitness and health related programs to persons who are seeking assistance with total body care in a unique God-centered context. The purpose of the company is to promote a new, creative, modern avenue for health and worship.

“There is a twin quest prevalent in today’s society: the quest for health and the quest for God,” says Glenda Maynard, 31, founder of Praise & Workout™. “The unique goal of Praise & Workout™ is to help people find the path to both.”

Maynard conceived of the idea for the company in July 2001 while working out at the YMCA a few months after the birth of her second child. “I was on the treadmill and praying to God for career direction. After about 30 minutes, I sort of tuned into what was going on at the gym. I heard the rock music overhead and thought it would be nice to workout to the upbeat, fun gospel music I usually listen to. At that moment, the phrase “Praise & Workout” literally popped into my head.”

According to the US Health Club Industry, there are nearly 18,000 fitness facilities boasting 32 million members and revenues of 11.6 billion dollars. In spite of this, the Centers for Disease Control reports that during the past 20 years there has been a dramatic increase in obesity in the United States. Currently, more than half of all U.S. adults are considered overweight. A recent study by the Federal Trade Commission: the continuing rise of obesity in this country costs consumers over $100 billion in health care and money spent on weight loss products and services.

In a similar paradox, 95% of people report belief in God, but many people reject the notion that there is one objective truth concerning God or that God can be found through organized religion or the Bible. Many people believe there are a variety of paths to finding God. However, Maynard’s beliefs are grounded in the Bible – both Old and New Testament.

“I think that people are unsuccessful at losing weight because their attempts are based in self-centered negative emotions such as pride, vanity, envy, low self-esteem etc. Ultimately, permanent lifestyle change cannot be fueled by negative emotion. Praise & Workout™ shifts the fitness paradigm from a self-centered workout experience to a God-centered workout experience.”

Praise & Workout™ does this by:

·    Starting each session with a brief prayer

·    Eliminating mirrors from the workout environment

·    Utilizing praise and gospel music as the driving motivator during the group workout

THE HISTORY BEHIND THE CONCEPT

Before receiving the call to Praise & Workout™, Maynard was the Vice President of Business Development of a small Internet startup. The fledgling company received national attention in the New York Times, Adweek and CNBC.

But Maynard always dreamed of starting her own company. “For years I had been reading CEO books – even when I was at the bottom of the corporate ladder, with no clear view on how to get to the top.”

Maynard’s business career started at age 17 at Reader’s Digest Association. The 4-yr summer internship lasted though her college years at Georgetown University, and became a full-time editorial position upon graduation. While at RDA, Maynard pursued and completed a Master’s in Public Administration at New York University. After graduating from the NYU program in finance and financial management, she accepted a position with a market research firm. Immediately, she began to demonstrate her ability to identify significant business trends. In that year, 1995, the Y2K topic caught her eye and she produced one of the industry’s early conferences on an issue that would eventually pervade the consciousness of the global business community.

In early 1996, Maynard interviewed for a position with Robert Hoffer of Database America (now American Business Information, Inc. NASDAQ: ABII). During the interview, Hoffer introduced Maynard to what seemed to be a niche technology concept called “the Internet” and “the search engine”. He explained that DBA would be at the forefront of this new movement through Hoffer’s strategy to license the company’s consumer and business databases to third parties for white pages and yellow pages searching on the World Wide Web. Maynard took the risk and accepted the offer. Maynard reported directly to Hoffer, who took her under his wing and mentored her in the arena of sales and marketing. That business group worked on the early Internet initiatives of companies such as Houston Chronicle, Switchboard, Yahoo, CitySearch and InfoSpace. In 1996, she was telephoned at home and personally courted by Naveen Jain, Founder of InfoSpace, to join his startup team. Maynard declined.

In 1997, when the future of the Internet was still unknown, Maynard was laid off. She quickly landed a position in the Interactive Services division of Gartner Group. There she remained until 1998, when she placed a call to her old mentor, Hoffer, informing him of the birth of her first child. Hoffer’s client, Advance Internet, was looking for someone to lead the corporate online yellow pages initiatives created in alliance with the 22 Newhouse newspapers of Advance Publications, Inc. Maynard agreed to an interview and was hired immediately. During her stint at Advance Internet, she continued at the forefront of cutting edge technology issues such as online auctions and e-commerce.

FROM TECHNOLOGY MARKETING TO FAITH AND FITNESS

Maynard has a deep passion for helping people find both faith and fitness. She grew up in the church and took her first aerobics class in high school. Even so, she had a long time struggle with weight and body image that was not cured until she began the Praise & Workout™ journey.

“I empathize with people who are struggling with their weight. I’ve been there. But, I also know that you cannot move that mountain on your own. It may sound corny, but you need God’s help.”

Although the program will first be available through the local church, the company’s vision is to reach “Every Church, Every City, Every Body” through a highly-scalable franchise-based model.

About Praise & Workout™

Praise & Workout™ is a division of BForce, LLC. Praise & Workout is currently holding several sessions per week at Bronx Bethany Church of the Nazarene, 971 East 227th St., Bronx, New York 10466. Cost per session is $5.

Contact

Glenda Maynard, Founder

Praise & Workout™

2 Overlook Rd.

White Plains, New York 10605

914.671.1311

info@praiseandworkout.com

http://www.praiseandworkout.com