Information Junkie as Fitness Guru

Tuesday Staff Profile: Mike James 

Every Tuesday, Today carries a profile of a Bank Group staff member, with the aim of bringing a more human element to the people we meet in our daily work but who we may not know much about. This week, Today talks to 42 year-old Mike James, Australian national and director of the World Bank fitness center.

If you've stuck with your New Year's resolutions this far, then you know the feeling of keeping up with your desire to rid yourself of abs that jiggle like jello, or the desire to consume mass quantities of chocolate cake. During these moments of weakness, who's standing by with a motivating word or two but a gregarious Aussie with a handlebar moustache and a wide smile.

Meet Mike James, director of the Bank's fitness center, who keeps working out fun. Self-proclaimed "information junkie," published writer, and enthusiastic trainer, he makes the fitness center user-friendly, modem, accessible and enjoyable for the Bank masses.

"I'm motivated because it's not like work," says James. "I meet people. I've got a lot of good friends here. It's what I want to do."

James was born in Alice Springs, Australia in the middle of the vast outback, and moved to Melbourne as a child. After working in the public service in his early 20's, he got a job "with no qualifications" at a fitness center. Within a few years he was running the Adelaide branch of the corporation Coles-Myer's fitness center and two years later he became national manager.

"I worked for 13 years with Coles-Myer. Things were good 'down under' back home when I was recruited for the World Bank position. I came to Washington DC in 1993 and am really glad I did, even though the culture shock from easygoing Australia to the more officious atmosphere of DC took some getting used.to," he says. "My initial perception was that there didn't seem to be the ribald bonhomie, if you will, so that was something I tried to instill, although I found that I did have to modify my humor a little here. I used to be a little more on the edge."

Since arriving, James has engineered the remodeling of the fitness center so more staff can use the facilities, and helped educate staffers about the unique etiquette required in fitness centers (from a survey, a full 60 percent of staff had never been to a fitness center).

Australia to the more officious atmosphere of DC took some getting used to," he says. "My initial perception was that there didn't seem to be the ribald bonhomie, if you will, so that was something I tried to instill, although I found that I did have to modify my humor a little here. I used to be a little more on the edge."

Since arriving, James has engineered the remodeling of the fitness center so more staff can use the facilities, and helped educate staffers about the unique etiquette required in fitness centers (from a survey, a full 60 percent of staff had never been to a fitness center).

Now James manages the center for 4,000 paying members who subscribe at the bargain basement rate of $1 0 per month. About 600-700 people use the center each day, a level which has steadily climbed over the years and has leveled off. Whereas most corporate fitness centers support about 20 percent of staff, the Bank caters to 35 percent.

The services offered today are impressive-with over 70 exercise pieces including top-of-the-line treadmills, Stairmasters, and Cybex/Bodymaster machines. With 60 classes offered per week, it's pretty easy to find one that fits your needs: the most popular are muscle fitness, abs express, Boxacise (taught by Mike himself) and the upcoming spinning class, a "great fitness workout!" Half of the courses are taught by volunteers and half by fitness agency staff.

"Amazingly, one of the most difficult issues here is what music to play," says James. "People can be quite vociferous about what they think good or bad music is, and you never reach a consensus. We solve it by holding a monthly vote, and the winning style per time slot plays. My job is to keep abreast of developments. I attend conferences and trade shows; I'm a member of another fitness center not only so I can work out myself, but so I can take stock of fitness changes."

That level of dedication has led James to unite two of his passions: fitness and journalism. This month's publication of Fitness Management features a piece by James on the economics of volunteerism for fitness centers. While in Australia, James earned a physical education degree, and then an associates' degree in massage. While in the US, he completed a Masters in journalism, which involved a recent public reading of his comic short story "All Bombed out at the Ammo Factory," peppered with Australian vernacular.

"It’s always something I've done on the side," he says, "and something I'd like to end up in, doing more humorous short stories and continuing to write for fitness magazines and trade journals."