Top 10 Reasons to Try Workplace Group Fitness

Bringing group fitness classes to the workplace for employees is a great way to get out of a fitness rut, bust plateaus, decrease stress, lower health care costs and just get started in a fitness routine. We've rounded up the top 10 reasons you should bring group fitness classes to your workplace.

A recent study found that in addition to women, more and more men are participating in group fitness classes. By offering a variety of different training techniques, environments, and challenging workouts for all fitness levels, group fitness classes are on the rise. Here are ten reasons to rethink your workout and join the crowd!

1. More Cost-Effective
Perhaps the most convincing argument in favor of the group experience is cost. Personal training sessions are roughly three times the cost of a single group fitness class, and many studios offer discounted rates for packages, making the experience even easier on your budget

2. Efficient and Fast-Paced
Group Fitness Classes tend to feel as if they go by quickly. By changing up the pace, routine and exercises, you’ll be so focused on following the instructor, you’ll find yourself forgetting to watch the clock.

3. Social
Made up of similarly motivated individuals, group fitness classes can be a great way to bond with others over your common goals and experiences.

4. You Can Choose Your Environment
Group fitness comes in a variety of environments, allowing you to choose what best motivates you. Whether you prefer a small local studio or an outdoor adventure in a local park, you can find something that works for you.

5. Motivating
The group experience can help motivate people to work harder. In addition to being lead and challenged by the instructor, working with others offers an additional level of competition and camaraderie.

6. Challenging
Being motivated to keep pace with the group means that you’ll be challenged to work harder. Working out on our own is great, but most of us tend not to work as hard as we can when we’re alone. Exercising with others and having a leader guide the group provides a boost to the workout, making us work harder and push ourselves more.

7. Variety
Group fitness offers so many different options; bootcamp, spinning, boxing, pilates, yoga, running clubs and hiking groups. The newest trend in group fitness are classes that offer a variety of options, like Burn SF in San Francisco, which offers a mix of Pilates, cardio, and weight training, or Burn60 in Los Angeles, which focuses on cardio and strength training combinations.

8. Educational
A good class will not only challenge and motivate, it will teach you new moves and show you how to do them properly. Trying something different is a great way to exercise your mind and your body.

9. Safety
When beginning a new or different fitness routine, it’s especially important that you do so in a safe manner. The right instructor will be able to help explain what you’re doing, how to do it, and what you should be feeling. Instructors are able to model exercises and use tactile cues to help ensure the safe execution of their routines. Be sure to ask questions or as for alternative exercises if you need additional assistance.

10. You Can Go at Your Own Pace
An experienced group fitness instructor will be able to offer modifications that allow for different fitness levels among the participants. Most classes will offer beginner, intermediate, and advanced exercise options. If you’re concerned, be sure to show up a few minutes prior to class and chat with the instructor and ask for advice. Developing a relationship with your instructor is key to finding the workout that will challenge you in a safe manner.

Contact Energy in Motion LLC to bring fitness classes to your workplace.

Original Article

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10 Tips to Help You Eat Healthy

Experts agree the key to healthy eating is the time-tested advice of balance, variety and moderation. In short, that means eating a wide variety of foods without getting too many calories or too much of any one nutrient. These 10 tips can help you follow that advice while still enjoying the foods you eat.  

1. Eat a variety of nutrient-rich foods. You need more than 40 different nutrients for good health, and no single food supplies them all. Your daily food selection should include bread and other whole-grain products; fruits; vegetables; dairy products; and meat, poultry, fish and other protein foods. How much you should eat depends on your calorie needs. Use the Food Guide Pyramid and the Nutrition Facts panel on food labels as handy references.
2. Enjoy plenty of whole grains, fruits and vegetables. Surveys show most Americans don't eat enough of these foods. Do you eat 6-11 servings from the bread, rice, cereal and pasta group, 3 of which should be whole grains? Do you eat 2-4 servings of fruit and 3-5 servings of vegetables? If you don't enjoy some of these at first, give them another chance. Look through cookbooks for tasty ways to prepare unfamiliar foods.
3. Maintain a healthy weight. The weight that's right for you depends on many factors including your sex, height, age and heredity. Excess body fat increases your chances for high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, diabetes, some types of cancer and other illnesses. But being too thin can increase your risk for osteoporosis, menstrual irregularities and other health problems. If you're constantly losing and regaining weight, a registered dietitian can help you develop sensible eating habits for successful weight management. Regular exercise is also important to maintaining a healthy weight.
4. Eat moderate portions. If you keep portion sizes reasonable, it's easier to eat the foods you want and stay healthy. Did you know the recommended serving of cooked meat is 3 ounces, similar in size to a deck of playing cards? A medium piece of fruit is 1 serving and a cup of pasta equals 2 servings. A pint of ice cream contains 4 servings. Refer to the Food Guide Pyramid for information on recommended serving sizes.
5. Eat regular meals. Skipping meals can lead to out-of-control hunger, often resulting in overeating. When you're very hungry, it's also tempting to forget about good nutrition. Snacking between meals can help curb hunger, but don't eat so much that your snack becomes an entire meal.
6. Reduce, don't eliminate certain foods. Most people eat for pleasure as well as nutrition. If your favorite foods are high in fat, salt or sugar, the key is moderating how much of these foods you eat and how often you eat them. Identify major sources of these ingredients in your diet and make changes, if necessary. Adults who eat high-fat meats or whole-milk dairy products at every meal are probably eating too much fat. Use the Nutrition Facts panel on the food label to help balance your choices. Choosing skim or low-fat dairy products and lean cuts of meat such as flank steak and beef round can reduce fat intake significantly. If you love fried chicken, however, you don't have to give it up. Just eat it less often. When dining out, share it with a friend, ask for a take-home bag or a smaller portion.
7. Balance your food choices over time. Not every food has to be "perfect." When eating a food high in fat, salt or sugar, select other foods that are low in these ingredients. If you miss out on any food group one day, make up for it the next. Your food choices over several days should fit together into a healthy pattern.
8. Know your diet pitfalls. To improve your eating habits, you first have to know what's wrong with them. Write down everything you eat for three days. Then check your list according to the rest of these tips. Do you add a lot of butter, creamy sauces or salad dressings? Rather than eliminating these foods, just cut back your portions. Are you getting enough fruits and vegetables? If not, you may be missing out on vital nutrients.
9. Make changes gradually. Just as there are no "superfoods" or easy answers to a healthy diet, don't expect to totally revamp your eating habits overnight. Changing too much, too fast can get in the way of success. Begin to remedy excesses or deficiencies with modest changes that can add up to positive, lifelong eating habits. For instance, if you don't like the taste of skim milk, try low-fat. Eventually you may find you like skim, too.
10. Remember, foods are not good or bad. Select foods based on your total eating patterns, not whether any individual food is "good" or "bad." Don't feel guilty if you love foods such as apple pie, potato chips, candy bars or ice cream. Eat them in moderation, and choose other foods to provide the balance and variety that are vital to good health.

Preparing for a Lifestyle Change

So you’ve committed yourself to getting in shape, eating healthy and living well. But you aren’t sure where to start or maybe you simply are feeling overwhelmed by the idea of it all. Or perhaps you’re excited about it and want to get started right away! Either way, there are some key preparation steps to get you more in control.

First, take stock of what you have. Is there good food available in your home? Do you have fresh fruits and vegetables and plenty of water? People often purge their homes of “bad” food, but ensuring that there is healthy food available is much more important! You also don’t want to exclude your favorite foods – even if they aren’t the healthiest. Rather you limit how much you eat of them. But having good food available is a must.

Then examine your current exercise gear and available facilities. If you have a gym membership, great, but if not, you can see if there are any facilities where you can just take some classes rather than make a big commitment to a gym. Energy in Motion offers community classes or you can bring classes into your work place. You can also use home videos for some activities and remember that when cost is an issue, the great outdoors are available for free! You will want to make sure you have the equipment you need, though. Breathable clothes, good shoes, a swimsuit and goggles – whatever you need for your personal preferred routine. Once you know what you have, you can either plan around it and/or purchase what you need. There’s no need to drop a ton of money on something you aren’t sure if you’ll like it; there are many places to rent equipment or test out a class.

Once you have everything you need, then it’s time to plan. Make a realistic commitment to food and exercise goals. If you’re out of shape, working out for an hour five times a week may not be realistic right away. If you have mobility issues or are obese, you may want to consider low-impact exercises such as water aerobics or yoga. Any exercise is better than no exercise and you will be able to do more as you get in better shape. For meals, if you eat out or pick up fast food almost every day, transitioning to home-cooked meals won’t happen overnight. Make a commitment to limit how often you go out, then find out the nutritional information for the restaurants you visit most often. Much of this information is available online and it empowers you to make a healthy decision even when you’re eating out.

Lastly, get started! There will be some bumps in the road, but that’s okay. Not giving up is the key to a successful change. Prepare, plan, and then see it through. It’s unrealistic to think you’ll be perfect and do everything you think you should all of the time. But living a healthy lifestyle is completely attainable if you recognize that progress is the key, not perfection.