Corporate Fitness and Active Aging

Does Your Carpet Keep Tripping You? Work on Ankle Mobility!

GettyImages-185211535 (1) Ankle MobilityTell me if this has ever happened to you: You are fast asleep in your warm, comfy bed. In the middle of that perfect sleep, you suddenly hear the telephone ringing. So you open your eyes, sit up, and slide your feet into your slippers. At this point, you are in a rush because you are now thinking that it could be an emergency. You take a few steps as quickly as you can to get to the phone, which happens to be all the way across the room. Suddenly, the front of your slipper nicks the carpet and you feel yourself going down and fast.

You reach for something to grab but find nothing to get ahold of, so you throw out your hands to try to stop yourself from hitting the floor too hard. Now you’re lying on the carpet in pain because your hands and arms hurt as well as anywhere else you may have hit your body on the way down.

Why Does the Carpet Hate You?

You then remember how the carpet used to be your friend at a very young age. You recall how you used to love the carpet so deeply that you would fall asleep on it at times. As you got older, the friendship seemed to fizzle out. Over the last few years, it seems as though your old friend has it out for you because every time you come across it, it takes you down—and down hard!

Fear not. There could be a much simpler solution to this problem than avoiding all carpet everywhere. Maybe the problem has more to do with your ankle mobility.

Ankle Mobility Exercises

Following are a few examples of exercises that you can do to improve your ankle mobility.

  • Seated heel raises: Sit at the edge of a chair and place both feet on the ground with both knees at a 90-degree angle. While keeping your toes on the ground, raise your heels up for a count of 2 and down for a count of 2. Try doing 2 sets of 20 repetitions with both feet. You can challenge yourself by holding a weight or a heavy book on your knees for added resistance.
  • Seated toe raises: Sit at the edge of a chair and place both feet on the ground with both knees at a 90-degree angle. While your heels stay on the ground, raise your toes up for a count of 2 and down for a count of 2. Try doing 2 sets of 20 repetitions with both feet.
  • Seated ankle stretches: Sitting on a chair, raise one leg so that your foot is no longer in contact with the ground. Point your toes up and down. Try to do this stretch without kicking your leg up and down. Try doing 2 sets of 30 seconds with both feet.
  • Seated ankle circles: Sitting in a chair, raise one leg, lifting the foot from the ground. While your leg is raised, move your foot around in circles. Try to do it without moving the entire leg. You really want to focus on only moving the foot. Try doing 2 sets of 30 seconds in both directions with both feet.

Moving Forward

Click here to get more information and images of exercises that you can do to improve your foot or ankle mobility. And click here to learn a little more about mobility and stability.

Let us know how your next encounter with that dreadful carpet went by commenting below.

NIFS Fitness Management's programming can also help residents improve their balance with regular exercise.  Check out how Balance Redefined is changing residents lives!

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Topics: senior fitness injury prevention mobility exercises stability

Addressing the Myth of Calorie-Counting for Weight Loss?

It so common for me to hear from clients that they know they need to count calories to be successful with weight loss.  Indeed - there is a loud drum beat for that "calories in/calories out" message where the assumption is that you have to burn more calories than you eat to lose weight.

That's been the dominant narrative in weight los for a long time.  It's taught in school, and in theory the math works.  But weight loss is so complicated that it's really inappropriate to distill the complexity down to a simple greater than/less than equation.  

A Weight-Loss Method That’s Hard to Sustain

For those who have followed this concept of “calories in, calories out,” has it been working? Many individuals I speak to have experienced hunger throughout the day and have low energy levels for daily activities. They find this eating method difficult to sustain for a long period of time and find themselves back into their old eating habits. Have you considered whether this eating method is the healthiest solution for you? Many individuals who follow this method are dissatisfied with the results. They tend to lose a majority of weight in lean muscle mass as opposed to fat loss. If that is the case, is counting calories an effective process for losing fat weight? Many share their frustrations of feeling tired and lethargic when focused on counting calories. They feel their health is jeopardized when the focus is on counting calories and exercising more.

Decisions.jpg

Focusing on Food Quality

So how does one achieve good health and be content with their body composition without counting calories? One way to have a positive health outcome is to focus on quality of foods and how those foods affect your body. Quality foods will restore the body’s hormones and enable the body’s metabolism to work efficiently. The body will have the ability to break down stored fat for energy, providing a stable body weight for the long haul. Selecting quality foods keeps us full and satisfied throughout the day, and provides the body with the nutrition required to maintain good health.

Quality foods contain fiber, healthy fats, protein, and low levels of sugar. Fruits and vegetables are loaded with nutrients and contain natural sugars, which are the best choice for healthy eating without having to consider calorie counting. Healthy fats and proteins are the best choice for feeling full and satisfied throughout the day. When consumed they keep blood sugar levels stable, providing a healthy result.

So, which side will you take? The “calories in, calories out” approach, which does not provide long-term healthy results, or provide your body with quality foods rich in nutrients that enable your body’s metabolism to work efficiently and restore your body to good health? You choose. 

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Topics: weight loss calories metabolism healthy eating whole foods food quality calorie counting

NIFS Consulting: Helping Your Fitness Program Go from Good to GREAT!

Fitness management services are the foundation of our business, but did you know we also offer an array of consulting services to support communities who do not staff with us? While it isn’t quite the same as having our qualified staff on the ground daily at your community, many clients have found a consulting partnership with NIFS to be advantageous in connecting their own staff, amenities, and more with an industry expert who can provide them with the direction and resources to elevate the programs they are providing their residents.

5 Consulting Opportunities with the NIFS Experts

Here are some ways that you can collaborate with NIFS to improve your fitness and wellness offerings:

  1. Facility layout and design: As operators of fitness centers across the country, we know how to make spaces flow for improved member experience and overall function. We also have national buying power with top equipment manufacturers to bring your facility the right equipment for your users. Whether it’s a fitness center or pool, we can help you identify the right pieces of exercise equipment to incorporate into a creative and expertly designed space.
  2. Staff hiring and training: 20181024_080931-1From group fitness instructors, to personal trainers, to fitness managers, finding the right people is at the heart of what we do, and our interview and vetting process helps us find the best of the best. If you are looking for support in recognizing fitness qualifications and making the right hire for your community, NIFS can lead your interview process. We can also aid in the training process once you make your hire to get your new team member on the right path and connected to NIFS resources and programming materials.
  3. Wellness program design: Let us help you identify fresh opportunities to create purpose and intention in the lifestyle cultivated for your residents. We know how to break down the silos and bring together enrichment, health services, fitness, rehab, food and beverage, spiritual services, and more for seamless programming that is both seen and felt by your residents. Conceptually, many communities struggle with getting these key stakeholders in resident well-being collaborating with a unified vision, and we can help you bridge this into reality.
  4. Data collection and evaluation: It’s difficult to determine how effective your programs and services are and how many people you are reaching consistently if you don’t have data to evaluate. We can help your fitness staff develop an efficient system for tracking participation data, identify key benchmarks to measure and evaluate over time, as well craft SMART goals to continually strive toward program enhancements.
  5. Group fitness program design: Residents love their group fitness classes, but are you certain that your community has an array of classes to address the main components of fitness throughout the week for varying intensity levels? We have a niche for developing robust group fitness programs as well as best practices on how to market the classes, how to attract new faces, and how to keep the classes fresh so that this resident favorite at your community reaches more individuals and remains strong.

Even if your organization does not avail itself of the full range of fitness management services that NIFS offers, you can still consider consulting with us on specific pieces of the puzzle to strengthen your fitness and wellness offerings. Not sure what to expect when utilizing our consulting services?  Check out our quick read below for more information.

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Topics: nifs fitness management nifs fitness management staffing data collection fitness center design fitness center staffing program management senior wellness consulting