Corporate Fitness and Active Aging

This blog was written by Mechelle Meadows. Meet our blogging fitness specialists at the NIFS website.

Most people fall victim to mild colds or other bugs in the course of the year, making them second guess whether or not they can still exercise while being sick. Sometimes, when you are sick, you are not physically able to exercise, so the obvious choice is to stay home and rest. But what if you just have the sniffles or a pesky sore throat?

WebMD says that in most cases, practicing exercise restraint is the safest bet. It is a myth that exercising can sweat out toxins. Your immune system has the sole responsibility of fighting and protecting from illness.

Here are some situations in which to definitely avoid the gym:

• If you are contagious. First and foremost, if you think there is any chance you could pass on an illness to other participants in your corporate fitness center, please stay home. Gym equipment is a major carrier of germs. Different sicknesses have varying lengths of contagion periods. A person with a very severe stomach virus can be contagious up to a week before he or she experiences symptoms and up to two weeks after recovery.
• If the type of sickness will worsen with exercise. Respiratory infections can be aggravated by working out, especially by performing high-intensity cardio. Migraines, other headaches, or body aches can also worsen with the movement of exercise. Ask yourself whether there is a chance the exercise session will leave you worse off than before.
• If your symptoms are below the neck. In one of my Exercise Science courses, we were taught that if symptoms were only above the neck and no fever was present, a person might be fine to continue working out, but at a lighter level. However, symptoms from the neck down, for instance nausea or stomach pain, can worsen with exercise.

When you do resume exercise after being sick, start light and build your way back to the level you were previously at. The good news is that a boosted immune system is a well-known benefit of a regular exercise routine, so encourage your corporate wellness participants to keep moving while they are healthy!

Another new year is here, and with that come high fitness expectations that your corporate wellness participants place upon themselves. When members come to us with New Year’s resolutions, our first step is to teach them how to set appropriate goals that will lead to success. Once you have the general picture of what your clients are hoping to achieve as well as why it’s important to them, you can help in fine-tuning their goals.

Let’s use the SMART acronym model to walk through goal-setting for the typical New Year’s client who says, “I want to lose weight.”

S = Specific

Steer away from vague goals. Not only will it help keep your client focused and on track, but it will help you, as the professional, create an appropriate exercise program for them. In our example, since the client’s goal is weight loss, she could say, “I want to lose 50 pounds.”

M = Measureable

You can’t set a goal without knowing how to measure success. Preferably, you’ll use numerical data. In our example, we can measure pounds. If a client has a goal of “getting in shape,” have him or her choose once specific item that can be measured, such as blood pressure or minutes spent walking.

A = Attainable

Setting a goal that can’t be attained in the first place is bound to fail and lead to discouragement. Tell clients when certain goals may not be possible or healthy for their bodies. Let’s pretend that for our fictitious client, a weight loss of 50 pounds would be a stretch, at best, and possibly put her in an underweight category for her body frame. We could suggest that a different amount might be more attainable, so her new goal is, “I want to lose 30 pounds.”

R = Realistic

Here is where you can help your clients evaluate whether their goals are realistic for their individual lifestyles. If other priorities or any other issues might get in the way of achieving a goal, you could scale down the goal into smaller mini-goals in the beginning.

T = Time-bound

There must be an end date to the goal; otherwise members can easily get distracted and push aside the goal until before they know it, another New Year’s is here. Set a date and mark it on the calendar to keep a constant focus on progress. The more lofty the goal, the longer the timeframe that should be dedicated to accomplishing it. Our client’s complete goal is now, “I want to lose 30 pounds by July 30, 2012.”

Smart goals = success!

Want to find out how NIFS staff in your corporate fitness can make a difference for your employees?  Check out our case studies.

This blog was written by Mechelle Meadows. Meet our blogging fitness specialists at the NIFS website.

There are many reasons for seeking the help of a personal trainer. Corporate health and fitness specialists can introduce you to an exercise routine, help you break through a rut, or give you the extra boosts of knowledge, motivation, and accountability that you need to achieve the next level in your fitness. But how do you pick a trainer?

Check for Fitness Certifications

First, make sure that your trainer has the appropriate credentials. The most basic certifications on a personal trainer’s resume would be CPR, AED, and first aid; a four-year degree in the health and fitness field; and preferably a certification from a well-recognized organization, for example the American College of Sports Medicine.

While most corporate fitness companies will have already screened potential employees for this information, many commercial gyms require only minimal certifications or experience in the field. Knowing that your trainer has met these standards, you have a better chance of achieving your goals and staying injury-free.

Ask About the Personal Trainer's Background and Specialties

Ask about the trainer’s background and what his or her specialties are. While health and fitness specialists should have experience training with a wide population, most will be honest if they have a passion for certain demographics, for example children or senior citizens. Also, some trainers may be more inclined to work with people looking for specific athletic goals, while other trainers prefer working with those striving for everyday fitness or disease prevention.

Make Sure the Trainer Pays Attention to You

During your consultation and first personal training session, make sure that your trainer thoroughly listens to you and understands your goals. While you are exercising, make sure that he or she is watching your form and not gazing off at the TV in the corner of the gym or chatting with other people during your whole workout. Ask for feedback if they do not give it automatically.

Don’t be afraid to shop around for a personal trainer. Put your fitness into someone else’s hands only when they have shown the experience, interest, and encouragement that you deserve from a personal training relationship.

This blog was written by Mechelle Meadows. Meet our blogging fitness specialists at the NIFS website.

Corporate fitness professionals as well as other health and safety organizations in the workplace stress the importance of preventing injuries, not just curing them. The recent strategy discussed among many worksites today is to engage employees in stretching and proper ergonomics training before an injury occurs.

The study referred to in this article found that just stretching alone was not as beneficial as incorporating ergonomic training as well. Teaching employees safe ways to sit, stand, and lift while at work, especially when doing repetitive motions, is the key to keeping proper musculoskeletal alignment and preventing overuse injuries. Stretching, then, plays a role in maintaining flexibility and releasing tension from muscles that have been held in a contracted state for long periods of time.

Most of our corporate wellness programming includes flexibility training, for example in the form of a yoga class or a stretching session at the end of a group fitness class. But, while we can provide programs like these, employees still spend the overwhelming majority of their workdays performing their actual job function, whether sitting at a desk, standing at a manufacturing line, or doing manual labor. So, the stretches and exercises they perform in their short visits to the onsite fitness center may be negated by hours spent in unsafe body postures.

Does your company or corporate wellness programming involve any new-hire training for proper ergonomics?

This blog was written by Mechelle Meadows. Meet our blogging fitness specialists at the NIFS website.

The calories found in Halloween candy can be, well, scary! Make this year’s holiday a little more health-friendly for you as well as your corporate fitness participants.

150-Calorie Halloween Treats

This article in October’s issue of Shape magazine lists candy options that fall at or under 150 calories—a reasonable-sized snack. Here are several options for 150 calories worth of treats:

• 6 Dum Dums suckers
• 3 mini York Peppermint Patties
• 5 snack-size Twizzlers
• 3 mini Twix
• 3 treat-size boxes of Nerds
• 6 rolls of Smarties
• 7 Hershey’s Kisses
• 2 fun-size packs of milk chocolate M&Ms
• 6 mini 3 Musketeers

Healthier Alternatives to Candy

Looking for an even healthier route for the children who might ring your doorbell this Halloween? Consider alternatives to candy. Several people hand out snacks such as packaged fruit or granola bars. But you can even think outside the box of food. I’ve heard of people who pass out items like small containers of Play-Doh to children, which is well received by parents.

Green Halloween has other ideas for non-candy, non-food, and healthier candy options. See this page on the website for their other treat ideas!

When it comes to exercising, sometimes the music selections are just as important as the physical activity. I am a self-professed music junkie, so I may be biased. But nothing ruins a workout quite like an iPod dying, a CD skipping, or just plain bad music.

Music Helps with Tempo and Motivation

In the pursuit of my Exercise Science degree, one of my college courses dealt with exercise leadership. We learned how to plan a group fitness class and manage all the dynamics that went into it, music included. We learned what tempos are best for warm-ups, which beats are motivating for the bulk of the exercise, and which styles of songs are conducive for cool-down periods.

Now, after having hands-on experience teaching group fitness in a corporate fitness center, I see how important music choices truly are. Specifically in cycling classes, instructors often lead drills to the beat of the song. Instructors will say phrases like, “One pedal per beat,” as a way of keeping cyclists at the right tempo. When it comes time for a steep hill climb or a round of sprints, nothing can be as powerful as hearing the pulsing beat of your favorite song.

Resources for Making Playlists Easily

With that said, here are a few resources, mostly online, that make music playlists easy. You can use these in corporate fitness programs as well as for your own workouts.

• Music For Cycling: This website includes playlists for cycling, and also actual bike workouts to go along with them. Some of the playlists are themed, such as “Around the World” or “Halloween Playlist,” making for fun, easy ways to motivate your corporate fitness members.
• WorkoutMusic.com: Here you can purchase mp3 files of full albums geared toward certain styles of workouts—for example, running or strength training. You can download shorter albums that are great for a quick abs class, or longer playlists for extended activities like running.
• Magazine playlists (Fitness and Shape): Shape magazine offers a monthly 30-minute playlist. The writer suggests a mix of newer pop songs as well as classic sing-alongs. Fitness magazine publishes a yearly feature in January, listing the best music for cycling, running, walking, weight training, and yoga.
• iTunes: The iTunes music store can also be a good resource for ideas. You can search for a certain song, and often there will be a cardio remix version that makes the song more upbeat than the original. iTunes also suggests Perfect Playlists: Workout, which you can preview and download all of its songs for $9.99.  

14 Days to Wellness: The Easy, Effective, and Fun Way to Optimum Health by Donald B. Ardell

This book is one of the best fitness books on the market. Although it was released in 1999, it remains timely because it does not promote time-sensitive trends, refrains from endorsing brand names, and is simple. The intent is for the reader to cover one chapter per day, for 14 days. By the end, readers will understand the need for personal wellness and have the tools to begin a plan.

Ardell tackles one health topic at a time, giving the reader an entire day to digest that particular concept. The book offers a multidimensional approach to wellness; and, as health professionals in a corporate wellness center, we’ve learned that multidimensional viewpoints is the only successful route. It covers topics such as

• Creating a healthy self-image
• Assuming responsibility for your own well-being
• Eating for performance and enjoyment
• Being physically active
• Learning your vital signs

My favorite aspect of this book is that Ardell steers clear of deep scientific processes and terms, while still driving home the most important components of health. The subtitle is accurate when it claims to be both effective and easy. This book sheds new light on topics for health professionals, but also offers a great starting ground for the average person wanting to start a personal wellness plan.

Consider adding 14 Days to Wellness to a worksite wellness program library. You can pick up used copies for a reasonable price on Amazon.com.

When tailoring programs at corporate wellness centers, the question arises: What can be offered to individuals who have chronic illnesses? Here is an outline of ways to help corporate wellness clients manage chronic illnesses in the workplace:

• Host a health fair or health expo. Bring in representatives from various organizations to your workplace. Making information easily accessible by having several booths of resources makes employees more likely to seek out information. Think of local companies, but also include larger organizations such as the American Cancer Society and the American Diabetes Association. Invite representatives from larger hospitals to offer screenings at the health fair, including cholesterol, blood sugar, bone density, and aortic artery screenings.
• Start resource groups. My corporate health promotion staff recently organized a group called the Cancer and Chronic Conditions Resource Network. Led by three key people who themselves have had past diagnoses of cancer, the group began by personally inviting people on our company’s campus who had been affected by a chronic illness themselves, or who were primary caretakers of loved ones with such ailments. Be sure to stress the resource component of these groups in the naming, rather than calling it a "support group" or "care group," since those might be less appealing in a corporate setting.
• Host information sessions over lunch. Pinpoint certain diseases or chronic ailments that affect a significant population of your company. Then look into monthly or quarterly Lunch and Learns on such topics. Remember to include ailments that are less severe but perhaps more common, such as migraines or sleep disorders.
• Find ways your company can partner with other organizations. The American Cancer Society, in particular, has phenomenal resources specifically designed for use in corporate settings and to aid you, as the health delivery specialist.

Above all, take it upon yourself to understand these illnesses. You don’t have to know scientific details about each disease or condition, but become familiar with the most pressing needs and concerns of these individuals to take your corporate health promotion above and beyond customer service.

NBC’s reality TV show The Biggest Loser has taken America by storm since 2004. The show is now in its tenth season and still largely popular due to its relatable concepts and life-changing power. Why not take the themes of The Biggest Loser and transform them into your own employee health incentive? Here are some ways to safely launch your worksite weight-loss program:

1. First things first: To avoid legal trouble, rename your program so that it doesn’t bear the trademark The Biggest Loser name, but is still recognizable, for example, "Lose to Win."
2. Don’t vote anyone off. Yes, there should be an overall winner to make it a true competition, but participants should be given the opportunity to continue through the entirety of the program, reinforcing lifelong habits.
3. Avoid singling out individuals in a negative way. If a participant has a bad week of weight loss, discuss what factors may have been inhibiting them and move on with an action plan toward the next weigh-in.
4. Do push your participants out of their comfort zone into more strenuous workouts, keeping in mind their physical limits. Watching the show can give you many new ideas of exercises, but not all of them can be appropriate for your clientele. Remember, the show has trained medics on standby at all times.
5. Do record all baseline health measurements at the beginning of the program and periodically throughout. On the show, Dr. Huizenga performs extensive assessments on the players, telling them their body’s age, showing scans of their fat distribution, and so on. At the very minimum, record weight, percent body fat, girth measurements, BMI, resting heart rate, and blood pressure.
6. Do encourage participants to understand the root of their weight gain and possible underlying issues that have made them unsuccessful at past weight-loss attempts. Jillian Michaels, trainer on The Biggest Loser, takes this to a bit of an extreme, making it her personal goal to emotionally break down each player to his or her point of realization and future empowerment. Get to know your clients' lifestyles and remind them that weight loss is such a multifaceted process that emotional and relational issues play a role.
7. Lastly, be realistic. Remind participants (and yourself) that you most likely aren’t going to see more than 10 pounds of weight loss in one week. Your corporate participants also have a job, a family, and other obligations that The Biggest Loser's players are removed from during their time at the ranch.

If there’s one theme from the show worth stressing to your clients, it’s a line in the theme song: “What have you done today to make you feel proud?”

Corporate wellness program members hear terms like BMI, body fat percentage, girth measurements, and waist-to-hip ratio floating around on a daily basis. There is more to a person's body composition than just the number on the scale, but what number matters the most? Let's compare body mass index (BMI) to body fat percentage.

Using BMI (Body Mass Index) to Measure Employee Health

BMI is a ratio of a person's height to weight. Think of it as a chart where you would find your height on one side and your weight on the other. Connect the two dots, and boom: That number you landed on is your BMI. (Here's an online BMI calculator.)

As you can see just from that description, BMI is a very general assessment of overall body makeup. It tends to be more abstract. Tell someone that his or her BMI is 23.7 and, chances are, that won't mean much to the individual. People are classified as either underweight, normal, overweight, or obese, with no breakdown within those broad categories.

Body Fat Percentage for Determining Employee Health

Percent body fat, on the other hand, requires a more involved process for testing (including bioelectric impedance, skinfolds, underwater weighing and BodPod (air displacement) technology) to determine how much of a person's total body weight is comprised of fat versus fat-free mass (muscles, bones, organs, tissue, etc.). Body fat percentage is more telling of a person's fitness level. Two people may look the same as far as appearances go, and quite possibly have the same BMI. But they could have very different body fat amounts.

The application of percent body fat is simple. If a person weighs 160 pounds and is told his body fat is 15%, he can do the math and know that he is carrying 24 pounds of fat and 136 pounds of fat-free mass. If this person loses 10 pounds over the course of a few months and retests his percent body fat, he will have specific data to compare, whereas his BMI rating may be in the same category as it was before.

Why Percent Body Fat Is a Better Emloyee Heath Measurement

Over the years I have seen articles surface claiming things such as that BMI may not be an accurate measurement for different ethnicities, neck measurements are just as valid as BMI, etc. But percent body fat cannot be as easily argued against.

The big commonly known fault with BMI, and the reason behind its generality, is that the number does not take muscle mass into account. This makes BMI misleading in two ways:

• Firstly, a person who is underweight or normal on the BMI scale may still have a high percentage of body fat, meaning a lower level of fitness.
• On the flip side, a person with a large amount of muscle mass, for example a football player or bodybuilder, could be told by the BMI ranking that he or she is morbidly overweight, when the individual in fact has a low percent body fat and high fitness level.

I perform body composition tests in my corporate fitness center, using the Jackson-Pollock 7-site skinfold protocol, and I see these scenarios often. I have to explain the huge discrepancy when a person's BMI is in a healthy range but the body fat percentage is high, or vice versa.

The bottom line is that BMI is a general overview and can be an introductory assessment of a person's body composition. It's perhaps useful when more involved testing is not available. For more truth behind the matter, look at percent body fat.

(Further reading: See this article, which discusses the validity of both numbers.)