As president and founder of HealthEase, Armand is dedicated to his corporate clients and helping them achieve their goals for employee wellness. He has a Bachelor of Science degree in Fitness Management from West Chester University and a Master’s degree in Exercise Physiology from Temple University. Armand is also certified through the American College of Sports Medicine and the National Strength & Conditioning Association.
Have you seen yellow and black straps hanging around gyms? They look like Cirque-du-Soleil contraptions, but don’t worry – they are not meant for aerial tricks or contortions. The Navy SEALs, who were looking to maintain their strength while on the move, created what is called TRX out of necessity.
Short for Total Body Resistance Exercise, TRX leverages gravity and the user’s body weight to complete hundreds of exercises. TRX Suspension Training develops strength, balance, flexibility, and core stability simultaneously. In fact, its mantra is: “Training movements, not muscles.” TRX can be used for pre-habilitation, rehabilitation, and sport-specific training purposes.
So, next time you see a TRX hanging around, ask a certified fitness professional to teach you some exercises. After giving it a try, you may be hooked!
As president and founder of HealthEase, Armand is dedicated to his corporate clients and helping them achieve their goals for employee wellness. He has a Bachelor of Science degree in Fitness Management from West Chester University and a Master’s degree in Exercise Physiology from Temple University. Armand is also certified through the American College of Sports Medicine and the National Strength & Conditioning Association.
As employees and employers face higher health care costs, worksite wellness centers becoming increasingly more important to help control the costs of health care and encourage healthy lifestyle behaviors among the workforce, a Mayo Clinic study says. Research published this month in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine shows that members of Mayo Clinic’s employee wellness center, the Dan Abraham Healthy Living Center (DAHLC), who regularly participated in wellness activities, experienced significant weight loss and health care costs savings.
“A well-planned comprehensive wellness center can engage and retain members, which can ultimately lead to important savings in health care costs and reductions in BMI,” says lead researcher Bijan Borah, Ph.D.
For the study, the researchers used data from 3,199 members who were continuously enrolled in the DAHLC for three years and their attendance was categorized by number of visits to the fitness center.
Important results from the study include:
Compared to members who visited the DAHLC 1–60 times in the three-year period, members with 181–360 visits were 46 percent more likely to have weight loss, while the individuals with the most visits (more than 360) were 72 percent more likely to have weight loss.
Compared with the mean annual health care cost of $13,267 for 1–60 visits, the mean for subjects with 61–180 visits, 181–360 visits, and more than 360 visits had significantly lower costs at $9,538, $9,332 and $8,293, respectively. “The significant association between health care costs and the frequency of wellness center visits, implying an average cost difference of $4,974 between the top and bottom quartiles of the DAHLC users, is too strong to ignore,” says Dr. Borah. “While the use of DAHLC is unlikely the only mediator of either weight control or health care costs, workplaces that are able to offer comprehensive wellness facilities may be capable of achieving similar gains irrespective of individuals’ activity pursuits at the facility.”
HealthEase offers this takeaway: More companies should offer onsite fitness centers to improve employee wellness and lower health care costs. Employees who have access to an onsite fitness center should use it regularly – several times a week – to get the most health and fitness benefits!
As president and founder of HealthEase, Armand is dedicated to his corporate clients and helping them achieve their goals for employee wellness. He has a Bachelor of Science degree in Fitness Management from West Chester University and a Master’s degree in Exercise Physiology from Temple University. Armand is also certified through the American College of Sports Medicine and the National Strength & Conditioning Association.
What is the definition of a great place to work? Tony Schwartz says it begins with a work environment that enables and encourages all employees to regularly refuel and renew themselves, both on and off the job – that is what makes them capable of bringing the best of themselves to work.
Tony Schwartz is the CEO and founder of The Energy Project and bestselling author of The Way We’re Working Isn’t Working. A frequent keynote speaker, Tony has also trained and coached CEOs and senior leaders at organizations including Apple, Google, the LAPD, and the Cleveland Clinic. Here are more of Tony’s thoughts…
Energy is our most precious resource. In physics, it’s defined starkly as “the capacity to do work.” Higher demand in the absence of sufficient rest and renewal means less energy. Less energy means less capacity.
The simplest measure of a great place to work is how it makes employees feel to work there day in and day out. That requires meeting the four core needs of their employees: physical, emotional, mental and spiritual.
Physical energy, the foundation of all other dimensions of energy, is comprised of sleep, fitness, nutrition, and intermittent daytime rest and renewal. Along this line, Tony advises companies to:
1. Create places for employees to rest and renew during the course of the working day and encourage them to take intermittent breaks. Ideally, bosses should permit afternoon naps, which fuel higher productivity in the hours that follow.
2. Offer a well-equipped fitness center that encourages employees to move physically and stay fit. There should be incentives for employees to use the facilities, including during the workday as a source of renewal.
3. Provide healthy, high quality food, at the lowest possible prices, including in vending machines.
Is there any question that if people feel healthier, happier, more focused and more purposeful at work, they will perform better?
As president and founder of HealthEase, Armand is dedicated to his corporate clients and helping them achieve their goals for employee wellness. He has a Bachelor of Science degree in Fitness Management from West Chester University and a Master’s degree in Exercise Physiology from Temple University. Armand is also certified through the American College of Sports Medicine and the National Strength & Conditioning Association.
Two HealthEase fitness professionals – Ty Tomlinson and Nick Perry – were featured in a recent article on H.I.I.T. Here is a snippet from the article, describing this new group exercise class, which is similar to Tabata. Check out the link below to read the entire story!
H.I.I.T stands for high intensity interval training. Once you decided to give a H.I.I.T class a try you will find that it is made up of quick short high-energy exercises mixed with small amounts of rest. I mean small amounts of rest! Due to the high intensity of these short bursts, you use your anaerobic system as the primary energy source, which increases your heart rate drastically, allowing you to burn more calories from your fat stores.
As president and founder of HealthEase, Armand is dedicated to his corporate clients and helping them achieve their goals for employee wellness. He has a Bachelor of Science degree in Fitness Management from West Chester University and a Master’s degree in Exercise Physiology from Temple University. Armand is also certified through the American College of Sports Medicine and the National Strength & Conditioning Association.
Why is it that so many of us give up on our New Year’s resolutions? By the end of January, 36% will have called it quits and 56% will be throwing in the towel by mid-year, according to researchers at the University of Scranton.
Attempting to take on too much at once is a common mistake we make when tackling a resolution (or two or three). The great Dr. Martin Luther King once said, “If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.” This powerful statement holds true to New Year’s resolutions, especially ones pertaining to health and wellness.
When adopting a new exercise routine and/or diet, it is important to approach the goal by building consistent momentum throughout the entire year. When you are picturing the new and improved version of yourself, understand that this version will take time to culminate. Take time to plan progressive and realistic goals for each month. For example, if your goal is to lose a certain amount of weight through dieting and exercising, prepare to do so in a slow, steady, healthy manner. So what exactly does this mean, and how is this done correctly?
Here are some suggestions: Take one percent of your current body weight, and that is the maximum number of pounds you should be losing each week without putting too much strain on your body. If you are new to exercise or exercise minimally, start with a goal of three, 30-minute sessions per week. After a month, once your body adapts to exercising regularly, increase the sessions to 40-45 minutes. After another two months, add one additional 40-45 minute workout to your routine. When two more months have passed, and the momentum is truly building, increase your workout sessions to a full hour in duration. Two months later, add one more, full hour session to your workout schedule and look at you! You are exercising five days per week, you have lost weight and you are looking and feeling accomplished.
Now how about that diet? Start slowly and realistically by committing to five small meals per day. Stick to approximately 400-500 calories per meal. Try to resist non-healthy foods but don’t worry much about the food choices yet. By eating smaller meals in general, your stomach adjusts accordingly by becoming smaller and will actually resist too much food being consumed at once. Not only does the size of your stomach decrease but by eating smaller meals your Ghrelin (hunger hormone) levels are altered. This is the key to eating control as these hormone alterations allow us to feel full before we eat too much. After the first two months, commit to one “healthy meal” per day such as a salad with grilled chicken and nuts. After another two months, do two healthy meals per day. Another few months pass and your dieting momentum is spiraling upward; your self-esteem is growing; and you are ready for three healthy meals per day. As a general rule of thumb, strive for your diet to consist of 45-55% carbohydrates, 20-30% fat, and 15-35% protein.
In combination with the exercise routine established, you can see the physical and mental transformation. You are now more likely to continue this type of healthy behavior throughout the rest of the year and adopt it as a lifestyle. Be patient, be persistent, and don’t give up!
As president and founder of HealthEase, Armand is dedicated to his corporate clients and helping them achieve their goals for employee wellness. He has a Bachelor of Science degree in Fitness Management from West Chester University and a Master’s degree in Exercise Physiology from Temple University. Armand is also certified through the American College of Sports Medicine and the National Strength & Conditioning Association.
