Corporate Fitness and Active Aging

When I think about my fitness journey, I realize the biggest changes weren't just physical. Of course, getting stronger, improving my balance, and feeling healthier were all exciting milestones. But what truly kept me coming back wasn't the workout itself; it was the people. I knew others were expecting to see me, and before long, I was looking forward to seeing them too.

Why does that happen? Because moving together with other people is a major motivator!

Check out these research-backed reasons that socializing while exercising is a double whammy!

Keeps Your Brain Engaged

Isolating yourself from others keeps you in a bubble, which means you only know what you know. Conversations stimulate attention, strengthen memory, and keep your mind active. According to Harvard Health, staying socially connected plays an important role in maintaining cognitive health as we age.

Reduces Stress and Boosts Your Mood

Have you ever left lunch with a friend or a family gathering feeling lighter than when you arrived? That's not just in your head. There is actually a chemical response when socializing with others, including lowering stress. Building relationships in places such as the gym or fitness classes will often lead to finding your “gym friends,” and you look forward to seeing them each session.

Creates a Sense of Belonging

One of the best parts of joining a group is feeling like you're part of something bigger. Before long, it becomes harder not to come to class because your peers expect to see you there. That sense of belonging provides encouragement, accountability, and emotional support, making it much easier to stay consistent.

Encourages Healthier Habits

Healthy behaviors are contagious. Healthier choices can often be achieved by being around others making healthier choices. Your peers who are also attending the same group fitness class, for example, are likely concerned about their physical, nutritional, and mental health. We tend to encourage each other down a healthy path because we care.

If you have been considering joining the gym or checking out a group fitness class, art class, or walking group, I encourage you to take a chance.

You don't have to know anyone when you walk through the door. Even if you aren’t sure how to get started, there will be someone there to welcome you and encourage you. Just like they say, “Those who move together, stay together!”

Did you know your everyday posture could have an effect on your overall health and wellness? Your posture is a makeup of your musculoskeletal system at work to maintain proper positioning throughout the body regardless of it you are in motion or static. While posture tends to be an automatic position that most of us do not notice, being hyperaware of your posture throughout the day could lead to positive overall changes in spinal health, balance, movement efficiency, breathing, focus, mental health, and maximizing your muscle gains during exercise.

First, let’s debunk the idea of maintaining a “perfect” posture. Everyone’s body is different, so, in turn, everyone’s posture is different. Putting too much stress on yourself to fit the mold of a “perfect” posture could be more detrimental than beneficial. This is due to the mental stress and muscle tightness that accompanies the overall anxieties of maintaining a “perfect” posture. Instead of trying to perfect our posture, let’s try to make our posture healthy.

How do you know if you have poor posture? There are plenty of common body symptoms that could exist because of improper positioning of the body. Improper posture could lead to back pain, headaches, neck pain, shoulder pain, and be a hindrance on your flexibility, mobility, or balance. According to The Pelvic Girdle, a clinical textbook that discusses posture and biomechanics (including breathing mechanics), bad posture can also reduce your lung capacity by 30%, leading to feeling groggy, having lack of focus, or experiencing shortness of breath.

To maintain a healthy posture, make sure your head is always above your shoulders, shoulders always directly above the hips, maintain a neutral spine, keep your core muscles braced, and stabilize the lower body. To stabilize the lower body while standing, make sure to drive your weight more toward the midfoot or ball of your foot and keep the feet separated about shoulder width apart. Your weight should be equally distributed between both legs. To stabilize your lower body while sitting, make sure your feet lie flat on the floor with ankles apart and legs at a 90-degree angle. A good tip if you are unable to reach the floor from your chair is to utilize a footstool to maintain a proper 90-degree angle.

Incorporating small but effective mental and physical exercises everyday can lead to better posture overall. Arguably the most important muscle group associated with a health posture is your core muscles. Practice engaging your core intentionally throughout your day. How do you engage your core? The simplest way to put it is to imagine you are zipping up the fly on your tightest pair of jeans, so you must suck your belly button back to your spine and stand tall. That is the same sensation as engaging the core. Practice sucking your belly button to your spine while breathing steadily to trick your body into thinking this is your natural relaxed state. Making sure you have the proper footwear for your body’s gait is also highly important when it comes to proper posture. Runners Forum and Athletic Annex are two great examples of stores that will help you with gait analysis and fitting you with the proper shoes to aid your posture and comfortability throughout the day.

A disciplined diet and exercise routine will also lead to a positive change in posture due to the strengthening of the skeletal and muscular system. During exercise, the key muscle groups to hit to help improve your posture in order of importance are the core, upper back, shoulders, and glutes/hips. While strength training is important for those muscle groups in the posterior chain, having specified mobility/flexibility days incorporated into your workouts or everyday routine are vital for the release of tension of the muscle groups utilized in proper posture such as the chest, shoulders, back and hips. Working on your range of motion and loosening of the muscles will also help proper posture come more natural to you, which can take a lot of the mental stress of maintaining a healthy posture away.

A healthy posture is a lot more complex than just standing or sitting up straight. It is about creating a strong and stable foundation of the musculoskeletal system to support balance, breathing, boost confidence, improving focus, and efficiency of movements in everyday life. By making small, intentional changes now, you set yourself up for better movement, better workouts, and better overall health for years to come.

When life gets busy, it can be hard to always get into a proper workout space or gym to get a workout in, especially with tight-packed schedules, family life, or work stress, and finding the right time. This can make it easy for regular fitness habits to be placed on pause, with it being difficult to go back. Being active does not have to be a time-consuming commitment or create unnecessary stress. Doing small workouts that are 30 minutes or less can be effective and keep you active without requiring large amounts of time. Exercise does not have to be done in a gym setting; even short amounts of physical activity have been found to improve sleep, elevate energy levels, and reduce stress.

There are many options to get movement in to be active throughout the day without having to be at a gym. The ACSM (American College of Sports Medicine) recommends that adults should engage in at least 150 minutes of moderate aerobic exercise a week. A gym is not necessary to work out. A full body workout can be done at the office, home, or when traveling. This can be done by using bodyweight or resistance. Small loop resistance bands are a great piece of equipment to utilize for being on the go since they are lightweight and can be stored anywhere or put into a bag. Use the environment around you to assist with workouts. The steps in your house, a wall in a hotel or house, a chair, or a desk can all be used to help get a workout in and try out new exercises.

Bodyweight, minimal equipment, or resistance band exercises are simple and effective ways to build up strength, endurance, and mobility from anywhere. Exercises such as squats, lunges, pushups, and dead bugs are ideal for people who have short amounts of time, space, or little equipment available. Bodyweight exercise has an advantage because movements can be progressed or regressed to fit any fitness level. For instance, a plank can be done on an incline or on the knees for a lower intensity for beginners. Doing bodyweight exercises or exercises with a band or any equipment is still effective by working on balance, strength, mobility, and core stability/strength. Bodyweight exercise is a convenient way to still stay active when traveling, stuck at the office, or at home. These can be done from anywhere to be effective.

“I don’t always enjoy exercising, but I love when it’s done!” This statement is one of the most popular comments I hear in the fitness center, whether it’s a class or someone exercising on their own. Then, they often explain that it’s not just that they’re glad the exercise is over, but it’s about how they feel afterwards. They relieve stress, they feel accomplished, and even feel energized afterwards. We know there are many physical benefits to exercise, such as improving heart health, controlling blood pressure, improving bone, joint, and muscle health, and reducing the risk of type 2 diabetes. Recently, it is also becoming more common to hear about the mental and emotional benefits of exercise.

According to the CDC, about 20% of adults in the U.S. experience anxiety and/or depression. We also know that 1 in 6 people experience loneliness worldwide across all age groups, including about 12% of older adults. Even if you don’t have depression, anxiety, or experience loneliness, we all have some sort of stressors in our lives and could use a mood boost!

I have divided up the benefits of exercise on mental and emotional health into three main groups to discuss below:

1. Supports Mood and Reduces Stress. When we exercise, our brains release endorphins, which are “feel good” hormones. They help to reduce stress and give the body a sense of well-being. Research shows that moderate and high physical activity are associated with 15-30% lower rates of severe loneliness and social isolation. Exercise, especially with a friend or in a group, can also be a distraction or way to take your mind off the things in your life that are causing you stress or anxiety. You might even make new friends from attending a class that you can spend time with outside of exercise!
   
   
2. Boosts Energy and Improves Self Confidence. It’s understandable that some people think exercising will make them more tired, since they are exerting energy. While immediately after exercising you can feel tired, the act of exercise will help boost your energy levels. At a cellular level, your body produces more mitochondria while exercising. You may remember from your Biology 101 class that mitochondria are the powerhouse of the cell. Meaning, more mitochondria equal more energy! Exercising regularly also tends to improve sleep, and a well-rested body is a more energized body. Having more energy can also help improve self-confidence. The more energy you have, the more you can challenge yourself in your workout. Tackling the challenge of a tough workout can give you the confidence to tackle the challenges of your everyday life.
   
   
3. Creates a Sense of Routine. Having a regular routine can help improve mood and give a sense of purpose. Scheduling a time for exercise each day, whether it’s a class, exercising on your own, or meeting a friend for a walk, can help create structure to your day that is important for mental health. It gives you something to look forward to that will help you feel better mentally and physically afterwards.

Keep in mind these mental and emotional benefits when you are lacking the motivation to exercise. As my members say, “you’ll love it when it’s done!”

Building strength by being still… did you know there was such a thing? My guess is yes, if you take a moment to think about it. Many of us associate getting stronger with constant movement, lifting weights, running, or completing repetitions. However, some of the most effective exercises actually involve holding completely still.

For example, there are a lot of exercises that ask us to “hold our pose” for 10 seconds or longer. These are called isometric exercises. So instead of moving through a full range of motion, your muscles contract and stay engaged while your body remains in one position. Common examples include holding a squat, maintaining a plank, or sitting against a wall in a wall sit. Although these exercises may look simple, they can be the most challenging.

Holding a still in a position during an exercise provides many benefits. For example, when we lower into a squat and pause before standing back up, we are strengthening the muscles, tendons, and connective tissues that support our joints. Because the muscles remain under continuous tension, they are working hard to maintain stability and control. This can improve muscular endurance, increase joint stability, and help build strength in that position.

For a lot of us, it feels like this type of exercise takes much more effort than traditional exercises when we keep moving. For example, if you perform 10 squats with a 10-second hold at the bottom of each squat instead of doing 10 squats in a row, your muscles will likely feel much more fatigued. That is because they never get a moment of relaxation that occurs during movement. The sustained muscle contraction creates a different kind of challenge, one that builds endurance as well as strength.

But the physical challenge is only part of the story. There is a mental benefit to this type of training as well. Isometric exercises help build resilience by teaching us how to tolerate being uncomfortable. Each time we successfully hold a challenging position, we feel more accomplished and confident in our ability to complete that exercise. In that moment, we set a goal, worked through the challenge, and finished feeling stronger—not only physically, but mentally.

The next time your workout asks you to pause and hold instead of moving, remember that you are doing more than strengthening your muscles. You are building stability, endurance, confidence, and resilience!