Corporate Fitness and Active Aging

One of the best things you can do when it comes to tracking your progress with fitness is a fitness assessment. A fitness assessment is roughly a 30–60-minute consultation with a health and fitness professional where you are tested on the 5 components of fitness: body composition, muscular strength, muscular endurance, flexibility, and cardiovascular endurance. Some assessments may also test for balance, mobility, or more sports performance biased like power and agility. But for the sake of this article, we are focusing on the 5 components of fitness.

Generally, a health professional will want a client to go through an assessment before they start any form of a fitness program so they can best create a program that is going to work for them based on their goals and outcomes from the assessment. After the initial assessment it would be a good idea to reassess your progress 3-6 months later to see if you made any progress and how you can continue to improve. Fitness assessments are also scored and evaluated based on your age and gender. A health professional will sit down with you after your assessment and compare the results to normative data or age-adjusted charts to show where you should be based on data that has been researched to be accurate.

Why Are Fitness Assessments Important?

• They serve as a baseline measurement that a personal trainer or health specialist can use to compare results over a period of time.
• Serves as a source for a health specialist to build an exercise and/or nutrition program around.
• Evaluates strength, endurance, cardiovascular health, flexibility, and body composition that may shed light on how you can best reduce the risk for injury.
• Can increase motivation for a client to participate in an exercise program.
• Build trust between a client and health specialist that can cultivate great relationships.

3 Ways You Can Benefit from a Fitness Assessment?

1. Fitness Assessments Give You More Information Than a Scale.

One of the biggest benefits of a fitness assessment is they give you more information to use than your generic bathroom scale. This is not to say tracking your weight isn’t valuable, because it definitely has its place, but a fitness assessment will allow you to see how you perform from a physical perspective. There are more data points that show more change over time which could lead to longer involvement in a fitness program and healthy habits.

2. The Assessment Will Help You Set Goals.

With the ability to dig deeper into learning more about your body via the assessment, you can create more specific goals that are going to beneficial for your overall health and longevity. This will allow you to have more intent with your fitness program, so you have something more specific to work towards.

3. The Assessment Will Help Keep You Safe.

There are so many ways to program for different types of people. A fitness assessment allows a health fitness specialist find out what exercises they can incorporate and what exercises may not be best for an individual. The assessment will also uncover any underlying issues that could be made worse by engaging in a fitness program.

Before starting an exercise program, a fitness assessment can be really beneficial in measuring the 5 components of fitness: muscular strength, muscular endurance, cardiovascular health, flexibility, and body composition. The results from the assessment will also help a health fitness specialist design your individualized fitness program. Many benefits come from these assessments and can help uncover more about your body and how to keep it safe and live a healthier life. Now that you have more information on fitness assessments, reach out to your local fitness center staff and get your appointment scheduled!

See how NIFS can help your employees when staffing your onsite corporate fitness center! 

Everyone is always wanting to know what the top trends for health and fitness each year are and in 2023 we are seeing concepts we can get on board with and fully support! Check out these tops trends and why we support and encourage our corporate fitness center members to adapt these trends.

Low Intensity Workouts

You don’t have to strain yourself to reap the benefits of a workout. Don’t let the idea of exercise keep you from avoiding it all together. Simply walking for 20 – 30 minutes each day of the week will help you reach the recommended physical activity goal of 150 minutes per week. Incorporate stretching into your routine and feel your body loosen up and feel more limber for the better. Don’t over think it, simply move no matter your location.

Earlier Dinner Times

Maybe your grandparents knew better all along, and we should ditch those late dinners. Eating at an earlier time in the evening will allow your body time to properly digest your food before going to bed. Your body has more time to stabilize and regulate blood sugar levels and nutrient absorption. Make the shift by adjusting your dinner time by 10 minutes every week. It might not always be possible so strive for 5 out of 7 nights a week. If you are left feeling hungry at bedtime, drink a glass of water.

Movement Breaks

How often are we lazy during breaks in our day whether it’s grabbing our phone or plopping on the couch we can utilize that time. Incorporate movement breaks into your day. Get up from your desk and walk around the office, walk laps in your house, or take the stairs a few times. Movement adds up when you break it up into increments. When you have two to three movement breaks in your day, you suddenly have 20 – 30 minutes of accrued activity. We are encouraging our corporate fitness members to strive for 23 minutes a day in 2023, see how simple it can be?

Exercise in Groups

It’s no surprise that exercising in groups is on the trend list. People want that interaction after the past few years of covid isolation. Individuals are looking to get back to having community in the gym, at work, and certainly in their favorite fitness classes. Check out your onsite corporate fitness center for class schedules, invite a co-worker and keep each other accountable by adding it as an event on your calendar. Fitness is always more fun with friends.

What habits are you adapting in the New Year? Remember, not every day will be perfect and that is ok! Simply start each day with a fresh mindset and restart as needed.

Are you striving to accomplish a new health goal this new year? Whether it is eating healthier, exercising more, or beginning a new health routine, you will need to create habits to help you achieve your goal. When deciding on which habits you want to form heading into the new year, you may want to first consider WHAT a habit is. A habit is a behavior that is repeated on a regular basis whether it is an action, routine, or lifestyle and often we don’t even think about it.

So, why do you want to form that habit? How will it help you accomplish your health goals? Finding the motivation to form healthy habits can sometimes be the most challenging part of accomplishing that New Year’s Resolution you’ve been promising yourself. To be successful in forming that healthy habit, you first need to understand what motivates you and how that will impact the outcome. To find your motivations, first ask yourself:

What are you motivated by internally and externally?

• External Motivations:
  • Seeing physical results – weight, circumferences, toned muscles, mileage
  • Paying for a service to help you in achieving your goals
  • Receiving a discount for striving to be healthy – going to the gym, attaining healthy lab results
• Internal Motivations:
  • Boosting your confidence and feeling good about yourself
  • Feeling better – more energy, stronger, healthier

Every individual is motivated differently. We can identify those external motivators easily, but really homing in on the internal motivators will help you stay on track and maintain motivation for longer. On the days that motivation might be hard to find, there are a few tips you can follow to really help put your best foot forward towards accomplishing your goals.

• Include Others or Find an Accountability Partner – This will provide not only accountability but a support system as well. You will be more likely to follow through if you know there are others counting on you.
  • Examples: attend group fitness classes, work with a personal trainer, partner up with a friend or family member for workouts, meals, or whatever health habit you are trying to form!
• Visualize Your Success – Imagine what your life will look like once you are following this new health habit.
  • Keeping the positive picture in mind can motivate you to turn that vision into a reality.
• Keep Track of Your Progress – Find a way to track your results so you can visually recognize your hard work.
  • Set up check points for yourself to create accountability.
  • Celebrate your successes and reflect on your setbacks.
• Be Patient and Give Yourself Grace – Remember that changes take time and not every day will be full of huge strides forward.
  • Embrace the changes and be patient with your results.
  • Recognize the little wins each day that you work towards forming a new health habit.

 Finding motivation to form new health habits can be challenging, but it’s not impossible. Keep the above tips in mind, and your chances of success will improve. This is your year; share your habit you are focusing on in the comments!

It’s no secret that our emotions impact what we eat, when we eat, and how much we eat.
In fact, sometimes it seems that the strongest cravings hit when our emotional and mental
wellbeing is at its weakest. Emotional eating is a way to, in the short term, relieve or suppress
negative feelings, such as sadness, stress, anger/frustration, and/or boredom. However,
emotional eating can also lead us to make poor food choices, such as skipping or forgetting meals, consuming fast food frequently or consuming alcohol and/or caffeine in excess, all which may have health consequences, including unintentional weight gain. To help prevent emotional eating, focus on the following steps:

Identify the difference between emotional hunger and physiological hunger.

• Emotional hunger typically comes on suddenly with an urge to resolve the
  “hunger quickly”, often involves a desire for a specific type of food or food group,
  and usually results in overeating. In contrast, physiological hunger tends to be
  more gradual, allows us to stop eating when we are full, and doesn’t typically
  cause guilt that is experienced with emotional hunger.

Establish a healthy eating routine.

• Aim to eat two to three well rounded meals each day. Meals don’t have to be
  complicated: the easier and quicker = the better. Try pairing a protein source
  (chicken, salmon, ground turkey or lean beef, etc.) with various grilled, roasted, or
  steamed vegetables and seasonings/sauces of your choice for a quick,
  inexpensive and easy meal!
• Ensure you’re consuming enough of the right foods. Consume plenty of fruits,
  vegetables, whole grains, lean proteins, and low-fat dairy products while limiting
  your intake of highly processed foods, added sugars, salt/sodium, and alcohol.
• Talk with a registered dietitian to develop a healthy eating routine that meets your
  individualized needs while helping to manage causes and symptoms of emotional
  

Manage overall stress.

• There is evidence to suggest that increased cortisol, the hormone released
  during stress, may result in an increased appetite, leading to overeating and
  potential weight gain. Rather than turning to food for comfort, be sure to control
  stress by journaling, exercise, practicing mindfulness/meditation, and/or social support.