Corporate Fitness and Active Aging

Regular physical activity is a major key when comes to living a healthy lifestyle and has many benefits. The biggest benefit is that physical activity helps improve your overall health overtime.

Regular physical activity can improve your heart health. The heart is to your body what an engine is to a car. Essentially, the heart makes the body go. Regular physical activity can improve the efficiency of the heart by lowering your blood pressure, reducing risk of a heart attack, and reduces risk of type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and some cancers. Regular physical activity can lead to increased bone, muscle, and joint strength which can lower risk of developing osteoporosis. 

Regular physical activity is not something that just helps your heart, bones, and muscle health. Regular exercise has shown to improve our daily moods and contributes to increased and sustained energy. Studies have shown regular physical activity helps you feel more relaxed and helps improve our sleep and sleeping patterns. Moving our bodies is also great for the mind, a number of studies have shown that regular physical activity can help depression by blocking negative thoughts, and changing levels of chemicals in the brain, such as stress hormones, endorphins and serotonin levels. Incorporating regular activity into your day can help keep your thinking, learning and judgement skills sharp as you age.

Regular physical activity is also known to play a critical role in weight management, whether that is maintaining weight or losing weight. The easiest way to start your regular physical activity is walking. Walking for 30 minutes, 5 days a week can go a long way. This type of regular physical activity can increase the chances of living longer. The risk of premature death for adults 60 years and younger starts to level off right at around 8,000 and 10,000 steps a day.

Regular physical activity is a main component to living a healthy and sustainable lifestyle. With regular physical activity you are not only going to increase your health but change your quality of life. How do you plan to increase your physical activity this week?

If music is good for the mind, and exercise is good for the body why not combine the two at the same time?

Since I can remember, music has been a part of exercise, either playing in the background or exercising to the beat of the music. At the school gym there would be rock and roll playing while exercising on the machines. When running or walking outside I would find songs I can use the tempo of to keep a consistent pace. In group exercise class they would play upbeat motivational music to keep us moving and to help not focus on how hard we are breathing. During Yoga class, they play soft, meditation music to help calm our minds and relax into the poses and stretches we are trying to perform.

Many forms of exercise combined with different forms of music can help bring further benefit to the workout. By listening to preferred music, it can leave a positive effect on the brain and help associate what might be seen as a difficult workout more pleasurable. The exercise will be linked to the feeling of listening to a favorite song or favorite genre. With calming music during a cooldown or slower paced class like Yoga, music can bring our mind into a state of peace and relaxation.

Another benefit seen is music can keep the mind occupied while the body is working. When working out alone in a Fitness Center or at home, some people find it boring, especially having to wait during rest times before the next set or exercise. By incorporating music, the rest time becomes less tedious and more fun! Stretching the muscles at the end of a workout also takes time and patience to sit in a pose for 30 seconds up to a minute. With music that can become time to catch up on music you have been wanting to listen to or even podcasts or book audios if music is not an interest.

With today’s technology there are various methods to listen to music. There are many kinds of headphones to wear that can go over the ears or in the ears that are both corded or wireless connecting to a phone. Speakers used at home or TV channels that play almost any genre 24/7. There are even hearing aids that can wirelessly connect to a phone.

If music is not your jam that is okay too. For some, the silence during exercise can feel therapeutic. It might be the only time in the day or week that is a quiet time to reflect or not have to think about anything other than moving the body.

It is important to get exercise into the weekly routine and it can be hard to find ways to make exercise more enjoyable. It can be a mind game to be convinced to go out for a walk during a cold day or go to a fitness class that is early in the morning. There have been many strategies discovered to help beginners into the habit of routine exercise. Music might just be the missing element to a more pleasant and active lifestyle.

Primal living is about refocusing your way of life to be more in touch with the essential, natural aspects of life. Living a primal lifestyle means you focus on your well-being from a natural standpoint. There are multiple aspects of life that can be shifted to follow a more primal path.

DIET - A diet that follows a primal lifestyle is one that revolves around anything that occurs naturally, such as multiple types of meat, with those meats coming from animals that are raised in natural environments (i.e., grass fed, hormone-free). To go along with those meats, follow a mix of naturally grown sources, such as vegetables, fruits, nuts, and seeds can be dietary staples. As you add in these categories of food, try to reduce sources that are not natural to the human species, such as alcohol, dairy, sugar, and processed foods (i.e., boxed cereals, candy, chips/crackers). While it is important to eat the proper foods, it is also important to stay adequately hydrated. Aim to hydrate to the point where you do not feel thirsty at all throughout the day. Water should be the primary source of hydration.

EXERCISE - The human body is designed to handle physically straining activities. It will react to these stressors, and adapt accordingly. It is natural as a human being to push the body, so it’s important to make sure that you take time to exercise in various ways such as lifting weights, walking or jogging, swimming, cycling, and stretching. These dimensions of fitness will help you become physically well-rounded. Are you not into a regimented workout program? No worries! You can count any kind of playful activity as fitting for this lifestyle. That can be throwing the football around, riding a bike around town, or even a relaxing kayak on the lake.

SLEEP - With the added exercise, the body must sleep in order to recover. Aim for seven to eight hours of  sleep a night in order to restore the mind and body properly. Not all sleep is quality sleep, so make sure that when you do sleep, you limit distractions such as phones or televisions, and allow the body to fully immerse in sleep.

Try applying these three tips on your journey towards primal living. Start with one area and once that has been implemented, you can move on to the next for a well-rounded and healthy lifestyle.

Lots of research has been done over the years to figuret out the best recipe for success when it comes to weight loss. Diet alone? Exercise alone? Or a combination of both? It should come as no surprise that the key for weight loss and keep it off is to combine a low-fat, lower-calorie diet with an exercise routine.

Results of a Weight-Loss Study

In a study funded by the National Cancer Institute in 2011, 439 overweight to obese postmenopausal women were assigned to four different groups: exercise only (45 minutes of moderate-vigorous activity five days per week), diet only (1,200–2,000 calories per day, depending on starting weight, and less than 30% of calories from fat), exercise and diet, and no intervention.

The yearlong study found that the exercise-only group lost 2.4% of their starting body weight, with the diet-only group losing 8.5% of their weight. However, the group that incorporated both a lower-fat and caloric diet and exercise lost 10.9% of their starting weight, which was an average loss of 19.8 pounds. One other thing that was significant in this study was that the women who lost the most amount of weight and body fat kept a daily food journal, writing down everything they ate and drank.

Tips for Losing Weight

As I said, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that a combination of more balanced eating and movement will lead to the most amount of weight loss. So here are some tips to help make this become a lifestyle for success.

• Keep a food log. As the study showed, the most successful individuals logged what they ate. Grab a pen and jot it down, or use an app or an online program for tracking. Whichever way works for you, start today!
• Focus on low fat. Aim for 30% or less of your intake from fat. Fat helps to make food taste more flavorful and helps to keep you fuller longer. However, aim for those good-for-you sources of fat such as nuts, avocado, olive oil, and salmon.
• Move more. The individuals in the study did 45 minutes of exercise, 5 times per week, but any movement is better than nothing. Start walking, cycling, strength training, stretching, and just moving more each day.

More Help from NIFS

If you want to lose weight and are considering starting to decrease your calories or start exercising, hopefully this will help you to decide to do both! If you need more assistance getting started, please contact me at amitchell@nifs.org to set up a personal nutrition coaching session to help meet your goals.

According to an article in Psychology Today, one of the major reasons people tend to stop exercising after recently starting an exercise routine is that they do not want to experience discomfort. After reading this article, it made me wonder whether this is the reason some residents are more hesitant than others to incorporate exercise into their everyday lives. Investigating further into this, I had conversations with several residents about this. Some of them mentioned that they have the feeling they might be doing too much, too soon.

[Getting started: What Exercises Should I do?]

With exercise showing benefits such as improved balance, increased total-body strength, improved cognition, and reduction of chronic illness, it is difficult to understand why people would not exercise. However, there are two reasons why I think this “too much, too soon” judgment could arise in senior fitness: 

• Your body has not become neuromuscularly adapted to exercise and you are engaging muscle groups that are not commonly utilized in everyday life.
• The exercise is too strenuous from overtraining, either causing strains in de-conditioned muscle groups, or potential re-injury. You can use this article from the American Council on Exercise (ACE) as a guide to determine whether you are experiencing overtraining. 

Following are four tips for starting an exercise program at an older age that I provide to residents in my senior living community.  Combat that “too much, too soon” feeling, and ease into the process of adding exercise to their everyday lives without overdoing it.

Monitor How You Are Feeling

A great way of measuring this is to use an RPE (Rate of Perceived Exertion) Scale to measure how hard you feel your body is working. On a scale of 0–10 (with a 0 being at complete rest, and 10 being at highest possible intensity), you should exercise within a 3 or a 4 intensity (at a moderate intensity).

Recording your heart rate after exercise is also an effective measurement of exertion. If you notice after several minutes that your heart rate is not decreasing after exercise, your body is not recovering properly.

Stop exercise if you are experiencing severe bone/joint pain, or sudden pressure in your chest, neck, shoulder, or arms.

Begin Slowly and Gradually Increase Duration/Intensity

If you are new to exercise, start out by scheduling exercises at least 2–3 times per week, for 15–20-minute sessions. As you become more physically adapted to exercise, you could increase your frequency to roughly 4–5 days per week. When you reach a point where you would like to increase your resistance and/or intensity, make sure that you make no more than a 5% increase in one week.

If you have been exercising for a while, don’t hesitate to reduce your workload to re-acclimate your body to the regular routine. This might include coming to an exercise class that is seated rather than standing, or cutting back a few minutes on your daily walk.

Plan Rest Days Accordingly

If you do not give your body the opportunity to rest in between exercise sessions, it will have physiological effects on your nervous system, and potentially develop micro-trauma and overuse injuries. You could also spend your rest and recovery days doing light stretching exercises, or going for a light walk.

Be Patient

It will take at least 3–6 weeks for your body to develop neuromuscular adaptation to exercise, and to achieve long-lasting results.

If you incorporate a slow and steady approach and find that proper balance in your exercise routine, you’ll have a higher rate of success in achieving your exercise goals and avoid a setback. 

Exercise for older adults is about more than just physical fitness, grab our quickread below and read more about the importance of exercise in aging well.

Every year the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) conducts a survey across the United States to determine what trends will be seen in the coming year. Completed by over 1,800 fitness professionals, the survey has found the following to be the top 10 fitness trends for 2017. 

10. Wearable technology, such as activity trackers, smart watches, heart-rate monitors, smart eyeglasses, and GPS tracking devices.  Check out this blog post about the challenges with high tech wellness.

 9. Bodyweight training requires minimal to no equipment and can be done anywhere, which makes it an inexpensive way to stay fit.  Check out @NIFSquickfit on instagram for inspiration to use your bodyweight to train at home.

 8. High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) involves short bursts of exercise followed by a short period of rest or recovery and can take 30 to 60 minutes, or longer, to complete.

 7. Educated and experienced fitness professionals are becoming more available as the ways to get certified and educated grow. Finding professionals who have gotten certified through nationally accredited programs can help consumers make an important decision more easily.  Looking to staff your onsite fitness center, check out how you can get back to business and let the professionals handle your fitness center. 

 6. Strength training has been trending since the first survey was published by ACSM in 2006. Strength training can help many to improve or maintain current levels of strength.  Grab your co-workers and get fit at lunch.  

 5. Group training is designed for participants with varied levels of fitness. Group fitness instructors specifically program these classes for a fun, motivational, and effective large-group experience. 

 4. Exercise Is Medicine is a global health initiative based on the belief that exercise can be preventative as well as a way to treat diseases. This initiative brings health care professionals together with exercise professionals to include physical activity as treatment.

 3. Yoga can be practiced in many forms, including but not limited to Power Yoga, Yogalates, and hot Yoga. Yoga uses specific types of postures to help with flexibility, relaxation, and health.  Can't make it to Yoga?  Take a moment to stretch at your desk.  Making time for a five minute stretch break will help you ease tension and relax the mind.

 2. Personal training has not left the top ten since the first survey was published in 2006. Personal trainers will continue to be an integral part of the professional staff in all areas of health and fitness centers.

 1. Exercise and weight loss combine calorie restriction and exercise programming to control weight loss.

The full list of top 20 trends is available in the article "Worldwide Survey of Fitness Trends for 2017.”

Looking to improve the health and wellbeing of your employees this year?  Let us handle your program and you get back to doing what you love to do.  Click below for our quick read to find out how we make corporate fitness easy.

The holidays are right around the corner, and the first thing that comes to mind is all that food! You don’t want to look like a Santa at the start of the New Year! Well, don’t feel guilty about consuming the goodies; just get smart! If you have an understanding of what it takes to properly fuel your body, specifically as you age, the healthy eating process doesn’t seem so daunting. Older adults have different needs, and there are some key nutrients that are really important to maintain.

Let’s get back to the word SMART. Here’s a simple way to eat healthy using this acronym for healthy eating during the holidays.

Servings

When you put food on your plate, divide that plate into four serving sections:

• The first section is whole grains (wheat bread, brown rice, fortified whole-grain cereals).
• The second section is protein (lean meats, eggs, fish, beans, cheese, tofu, peanut butter).
• The third section is vegetables (fresh, frozen, dried, low-sugar canned).
• The fourth section is fruits (fresh, frozen, dried, low-sugar canned).

This is true for every plate at every meal. Eliminate processed foods as much as possible. If you must open a package or can, be sure to check the ingredients. Examples of things to look for are words such as “whole” for grains and “low sugar” for canned fruits. Remember to also control salt intake and instead flavor your food with herbs and spices. Think of the holiday lights and create a colorful plate! The more color found in veggies and fruits, the more nutrients to fuel the body!

Maintain Important Nutrition 

Here is a list of the key nutrients (and examples of foods that provide them) an older adult needs:

• Calcium and Vitamin D (leafy greens, cheese, milk, yogurt, seafood)
• Vitamin B12 (lean meats, eggs ,fish)
• Fiber (beans, cereals, fruits and vegetables)
• Potassium (bananas, prune juice, mangos, pears)

The majority of these nutrients are found in the above foods. Supplements are also important to ensure that we obtain them, but the word is supplement, meaning “in addition to”; therefore, take supplements in addition to getting these nutrients through food.

Allow Some Fun Food

It’s fine to eat a slice of cake or have a cookie, but be mindful of how many. Remember to lower your intake of saturated fat and sugary treats that can lead to heart disease and unwanted pounds (and here are some healthful baking substitution tips). When you think of your plate, consider that 90% is the food that will provide your nutrients and 10% can be that “occasional” brownie or piece of pumpkin pie.

Reach for Water

Drink plenty of fluids! No, the holiday punch doesn’t count, so limit your alcohol intake. Drink water and realize that you can also obtain your fluids from juice, low-fat milk, and even soups.

Take the Time to Exercise

Physical activity is also important in maintaining a good digestive system, and the good fuel from food will be used to restore muscle and burn fat for weight loss.  Get your body moving after those holiday meals.

Be SMART this holiday season! Happy holiday eating!

Need help getting your eating habits on track?  Use NIFS Dietitian, Angie Mitchell to get your habit in line with personal nutrition coaching.  Click below for more information.

It seems that running injuries are all too common. There have been many research studies done on runners and, each year, as many as 79% of runners are sidelined due to injuries. Here are 5 ways to avoid injuries when running.

1. Add Strength Training

Strong muscles, ligaments, and tendons can guard against the impact of running, lead to improved running form, and help you achieve a more consistent gait. When the body is strong, the brain is able to tell the muscles to brace for impact before your foot even hits the ground. The glutes and the core contract, in order to, steady the pelvis and the leg. The foot and ankle muscles are activated, providing a solid foundation for your heel strike. Many runners lack strength in at least one muscle group. When one stabilizer muscle is weak, the other muscles make accommodations for the weakness and therefore can become overworked. This can create a “domino effect” in the body and cause an injury or injuries.

2. Always Warm-Up AND Cool Down

A warm-up prepares the body for exercise, by increasing the heart rate and blood flow to the muscles. Then, just as the warm-up prepares the body, the cool down brings it back to its normal state. The time spent warming up and cooling down helps prevent muscle soreness and aids in recovery, both of which will help prepare the body for your next run.

3. Use Correct Form

There are many disagreements amongst runners about what defines correct running form. Just as baseball players swing a bat, or a guitarist plays a guitar, there may be some variance in form from runner to runner. But, there is some common ground, and most can agree that certain components of form, such as, good posture and proper stride, can help prevent injury. For proper posture: Be sure to keep the upper torso straight and the head directly over the shoulders. DO NOT arch the lower back. For proper stride: Avoid over-striding, which is when the foot lands well ahead of the knee. Overstriding can put extra wear and tear on the muscles and joints. Try to focus on where your foot is landing and place it close to the body. Instead of reaching with the foot, try to drive forward with the knee.

4. Wear Proper Footwear

Shoes can alter your running form and have an impact on the amount of force that is applied to the joints with each step. Professional running stores may be a good place to start when trying to find the right shoe for you, but the best indication is how the shoe feels. If it doesn’t feel good, then it’s putting stress somewhere. If you experience aches and pains after a run, it may be a good indication that you’re not in the right shoe. You may need to try a few pairs before you find the right shoe for you. Also, be sure to change your shoes often. Running shoe should be replaced every 350-450 miles.

5. Avoid the terrible "too's"

Don't do too much, too soon, too often, too fast, too hard, with too little rest.  Listen to your body and ease into it and rest when needed.

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Truly, one of the things I love about working in senior living is the passion employees have for serving the residents who live in their communities. Despite variation in the physical spaces’ amenities, decor, and size, the culture of caring about the residents is consistent. The people who work in senior living are genuinely committed to getting to know their residents as a means of helping them live exceptionally well.

Maybe I shouldn’t be surprised by this, but the other half of my career is spent in corporate

wellness, where the bottom line often drives the conversation. And while I think employers do care about their workforce, that’s not their starting point for investing in any wellness initiative. So when I work with senior living communities on improving their programming and activities for residents, I’m often surprised at what an afterthought their exercise amenities and services are. The clear appetite to provide residents with the very best options for living just doesn’t square with what’s in place for resident exercise at the community.

 If this disconnect resonates with you and you’re looking to make a change, consider
improving your resident exercise program with the tips below as ways to live up to your commitment to build active living options for your residents.

1. Provide staffing in your exercise program.

Residents will not (I repeat, will not) use your exercise equipment and spaces without the right leadership in that area of the community. It’s not sufficient to simply offer exercise classes, nor is it adequate service to have a trainer in the gym a few hours per week to offer assistance on the equipment. You can hire your own manager, or you can work with a fitness management company like ours. For more information on how get exercise leadership right in your community, check out some of the blogs we’ve written on the importance of staffing.

• How Fitness Managers Should Be Spending Their Time in Senior Living Fitness Centers
• Three Tips for Hiring an Active Aging or Corporate Fitness Professional
• Why Hiring the Right Trainer for Your Senior Fitness Program Is Vital

Fitness equipment isn’t cheap, but the items used for group classes are far less expensive than the capital equipment in the fitness center. For $5,000, you can buy one new treadmill, or you can buy a classroom worth of new resistance chairs. There are a lot of practical tools that group fitness instructors can use in classes to make them more interesting and more effective for the residents, and they aren’t that expensive. In your next budgeting cycle, make room for a few of these options:

• Small weighted balls: Sets of the 1.1# and 2.2# work well.
• Airex balance pads: Buy enough for each person in balance class to have one.
• BOSU: Buy a few to use in stations on a strength or balance class.

3. Establish a cross-referral system between your fitness center and your therapy group.

If you have qualified staff in your fitness center and there is not already a relationship between that individual and your therapy team, building a bridge between the two is low-hanging fruit on the improving-services tree. Check out this quick read to learn why we believe integration of therapy and fitness is important for resident well-being.

4. Take a hard look at all of your senior wellness initiatives and how fitness folds into that set of programming.

It should be woven in seamlessly among other programs and services designed to engage rather than entertain your residents. If all programming is being carried off in silos, it’s time to take a fresh approach. If participation in programs and services is represented by the same handful of residents, it’s time to re-envision your offerings. If the activities calendar looks pretty much the same as it did last month, last quarter, and last year, it’s time to breathe new life into what you’re offering. Download this quick read for a series of questions you can use to evaluate the quality of your wellness programming. 

We have all made the excuse that we don’t have the time to exercise. If you have children, this excuse is even more likely. You have to get the kids ready in the morning, you work all day, you get off work, pick up the kids, and take them to their after-school activities. After that you’re finally getting home to cook dinner and relax with the family. Upon finishing dinner, it’s time to shower and go to bed. Now, I know that may feel like an exhausting day and that you have no time for yourself, but if you really look for it there is plenty of time to fit in some exercise.

Finding Small Ways for Staying Active 

Now is time to throw the excuses out the window. Exercising does not have to be a 30 or 60-minute workout. You can easily achieve your daily recommended exercise in small bouts of 10 minutes. One of the easiest ways you can achieve this is by parking in the back row at work rather than trying to drive around and find the closest spot possible. If you are one of those individuals, it’s time to switch up your routine.

Encouraging Exercise at Work

Leaders in the workforce can be great facilitators of physical activity. If you are a leader in your workplace, try making an effort to encourage your employees to move more. One great way to get your employees up and away from their desks is by having walking meetings.

Many individuals today are using activity trackers to help them stay on top of their movements. Friendly competitions within your workgroup are a great way to promote physical activity as well as boost company morale.

Finding Workout Motivation and Accountability

The key to becoming healthier is finding the physical activities that you enjoy doing most so that you will keep doing them. Using the buddy method is a great way to keep yourself accountable. If there are days you are feeling unmotivated to exercise, your friend, family member, or co-worker can be there to help encourage you along.  Set a schedule and stick to it.

Get the Help You Need to Stay Healthy

The biggest thing to take away is that there are endless ways that you can achieve your health and exercise goals. If you are struggling to find a way to fit exercise into your day, seek the help you need. Whether it’s downloading an app, getting a health coach, or simply learning which physical activities you need to be doing, the more you can get up and move, the better health benefits you will gain. So stop using those old, worn-out excuses and become a healthier you today!

Need tips for adding exercise to your worksite?  Click below to download our whitepaper for tips from NIFS.