Fitness and Health in this Business World

Many businesses have begun to understand that investing in the health and fitness of their employees is a wise move. They are also beginning to realize the effects that it has on their bottom lines. Because of this they have begun to teach their employees the concepts and practices of overall fitness and health.

Teaching employees good health and safety principles and practices will not only give them an edge on success but also reductions in health care payouts for their employees in sick days.

The benefit of health and fitness education for employees is two fold. The employee will gain lower levels of stress, an increase level of self esteem and improved physical fitness with increased stamina. The employer gains employee productivity increases, decreased rates of illness, and develops employee leadership skills. There is one other benefactor in this whole process…the community. The community will become or stay a competitive player in the market place.

Today companies look to including work site health care facilities or health and wellness programs to help them to alleviate their profit margin. This has proven a successful investment with the return being healthier longer working employees, less turnover, and protection of the most important asset in any company, which are the employees. Employers want to keep the people who can do their job as good as possible, and these people need to have healthy minds and bodies to be able to get everything done. While everyone should take initiative on their own to stay healthy, unfortunately many people don’t.

When your employees get wrapped up in the day to day life of work, children, and other chores and tasks they forget to take time for fitness and health care concerns themselves. An employer who handles reminders and consultations of health related information is an employer that quality employees will want to work for and stay with for a very long time.

As we all age physical and mental fitness is sometimes taken for granted and before we know it there is a problem that possibly could have been rectified in a proactive manner instead of a reactive manner. Using a proactive approach could prevent loss of income of the employer and the employee and family if handled with care and respect for the wishes of both parties. Encouraging employees to live a healthier lifestyle outside of work is a behavior that will transfer into the workplace and make for a good or better environment for all concerned.

Some companies have bought into this idea by including memberships to gyms as incentive bonuses, or even as new hire bonuses. They are using fitness and health as a motivating factor to get promotions and raises. So if you are a company, large, small, or otherwise, it will be to your benefit to incorporate a health and fitness education plan.

Maybe a health and fitness program, or incentive for your employees to better care for them and your bottom line in business is the answer. Find a plan that fits your company needs and watch out for your return on your investment. Even if it does not improve your bottom line noticeably, it is still a good idea to keep the plan around for general morale and well-being in your business

Health and Fitness Starter Guidelines

To accomplish a good start with Health and fitness workout all you really need is a good pair of running shoes. Most cardio-vascular exercise needs little or no third party apparatus to help you accomplish your routine. Running, dancing, walking can all be done with no equipment (well, if dancing, then maybe some music would help).

Other forms of cardio are step, circuit training, bike riding, swimming, aerobics and more... With most exercise you should always remember to warm up first and cool down afterwards. This means gently stretching and moving your muscles to start off with. Suddenly moving into full exercise without building up first will cause problems such as stiffness and cramps. Ease yourself into it. Then after exercise, the cool down is basically gently moving the muscles and joints to stretch and relax, as your body returns to its normal pace.

Running:

Make sure you have a good pair of running shoes. The technology put into these shoes nowadays is highly researched and designed to reduce shock to the feet, ankles, legs and back. So don't skimp on these - you get what you pay for. Before you start your run, be sure to warm up first. Start with a brisk walk ensuring you move your arms vigorously gradually breaking into a slow jog. It is better to run at a speed to which you can still converse. If you find yourself losing breath, slow your pace down until you've recovered. If you are a novice runner try running and walking, until you can hold your run for 15 minutes. Now increase the length and time of your run by a couple of minutes every other time you hit the road or treadmill, until you can run for 30 minutes without stopping. Try to increase your run time by 10% each week, remember not to over do it and don’t forget to warm down at the end of each by slowing down gradually. When your run is complete stretch your legs for 30 seconds per muscle, hamstring, calf and thigh.

Cycling:

Cycling is one of the best ways to get a good cardio-vascular workout. First of all, if you are riding on the roads safety is paramount, always use the appropriate safety equipment when road riding. You can stay fit by riding a bike to work, most people work within a five mile radius of there place of work, which is a perfect distance for a bike ride. Exercise bikes can be used in a variety of ways, general riding for specified length of time, this is like going for a bike ride with out the dangers of road riding and the weather. Warm up riding you can use an exercise bike for warming up the legs before a leg workout. Also exercise bike classes, these classes are taken by an instructor, who will put you through various levels of pace, quite like a circuit training exercise with a bike. You may find it surprising to find that riding a bike five miles 3 times per week will improve your heart rate, your posture, skin and weight control. Some even say that riding and running are great ways of relieving stress.

Swimming:

One of the best ways to firm up and trim your body down. Due to the resistance the water has on the body swimming involves all the major muscle groups this allows the body to burn up to 20% more calories than swimming through air. Swimming a few lengths per day will keep you fit and give you an excellent workout. Swimming also has less impact on the joints than say, running. If you wish to take your swim a little further try picking up the pace of your swim, you can work up to a great aerobic exercise and give your body an excellent workout. Start off by swimming 1-2 lengths at a time resting between sets if necessary, after you have swam ten lengths call it a day. The next day repeat the process until you can swim five lengths without a break. Progress to ten lengths in by adding an extra length each time you return. You can put together your own cardio raining routing in the gym, if you have a problem with this then the staff on hand will write one for you and show you how to achieve your goal. Try to make your cardio last between an hour and an hour and a half. A good start point for cardio is always a run. This cardio workout will work for a person of medium fitness, however adjust the times and pace according to your fitness levels.

1. Run at a light pace for 20 minutes, start off at a walking pace and gradually move to a run, this helps you get warmed up and the blood pumping.

2. Rowing machine- set the rowing machine for a countdown time of 15 minutes or keep a check on your watch or the clock. Start off with a slow rowing motion to get the pace up, maintain this steady pace throughout the full 13 minutes and use the 2 minutes to slow the pace down.

3. Move immediately on to exercise bike take a stead paced ride for 12 minutes with a sprint finish for the remaining 3 minutes.

4. After the exercise bike move directly on to the step climber for a period of 15 minutes climbing on a light level to get the legs going. Try to move at a swift pace for the full 15 minutes as this is the last of the leg work you will be doing.

5. When you have completed the step climber, move onto the abs bench for some crunches. 4 sets of crunches to failure is your target for this exercise. Try twisting your body and touching your left knee with your right elbow and vice versa.

6. The last exercise in this quick cardio workout is the leg raise apparatus. Bring your knees up to your chest for 3-4 sets for as many reps as possible (failure)

After the completion of this cardio workout, remember to do a full warm down by stretching the muscles. The full workout should take you around 1 hour 20 minutes.