news-record.com

Here's a press release that came across my desk today. Interesting:

North Carolina ranks high in two categories.

We’re more likely to be overweight and we're more likely to live a sedentary lifestyle.

Recent news reports quoted the Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation as ranking North Carolina as tenth in obesity, while a separate study from the Centers for Disease Control cited survey results as saying one in four North Carolinians had not exercised in the past month. That translates into a ranking of fourth in the nation for inactivity.

Those numbers concerned Greensboro personal fitness trainer Ben Roberts, owner of Foundation Fitness, so much that he vowed to train 1,000 Tar Heels in one week.

But where to find them?

Enter Strategic Employee Benefits Services, which provides employee benefits, including a wellness component.  The two have decided to join forces and have issued the North Carolina Workplace Fitness Challenge, which will take place between Aug. 16 and Aug. 20 at workplaces  across the Triad and Triangle. 

The idea is to drop the idea of fitness as an hourlong workout that takes place at an expensive fitness center across town and look at it instead as a 20-minute break that you would take, perhaps instead of grabbing a coffee with three sugars and a couple of doughnuts.

The benefits to both the individual and the employer are many.

"Today, 'wellness' is a must for any human resources department," says Strategic Employee Benefits Services president Alan Overbey. "It's a strategic decision for businesses to lower absenteeism and improve productivity and it's an excellent benefit for employee retention. Strategic Employee Benefit Services has a full-time wellness consultant to assist companies in implementing programs that are proving to be very popular and effective."

The North Carolina Fitness Challenge is searching for 1,000 employees who will agree to take part in workouts at work over the course of a week, according to Ben Roberts, president of Foundation Fitness.

“What we are talking about here is a start,” says Roberts.  “You start with a shorter workout that builds up your heart rate and then you cool down. That can help with your cardio and with your stamina. You don’t need fancy equipment or gym memberships or time to rush across town.”

Roberts adds that the idea isn’t to lose that 20 pounds you’ve been carrying around and then stop, only to slowly gain it back. The idea is to change your lifestyle completely, from exercise to nutrition to controlling stress, for a more permanent improvement in your health and a better quality to your life.

Leah Taylor, wellness coordinator for Strategic Employee Benefit Services, says that getting 1,000 people to begin exercising might not move the numbers significantly on a statewide basis. But she says that that the idea of a fitness challenge – like the idea of a simplified workout – is a start.

“We have to come up with a way to change the culture here in North Carolina,” says Taylor. “If you lose weight and then maintain a healthy weight, then you set a good example for your family and for your co-workers.
“The good news is that you can choose to make a change, with very little effort.  And if enough of us make that choice, we can change the culture and improve both our health and the health of our state.”