Health Care Reform Means Good News For Corporate Wellness

We keep hearing about the obesity crisis in America coupled with the increasing cost of health care. Now it’s time for the good news. The new health care reform legislation (including initiatives to provide incentives for corporations to generate a healthier, more active American workforce) has created a win-win situation for employees, employers, and fitness professionals.

What does this new legislation provide? Small businesses can apply for government grants of up to $50,000 over three years, or up to 50 percent of the total cost to implement a wellness program.

How does a business qualify? The business must have 100 or fewer employees who work 25 hours or more a week.

Why implement a health plan? A wealth of statistics indicate that healthy workers are more productive, visit their doctors less, are absent from work less, are more energetic, and are more engaged in their jobs.

Gregory Florez, chief executive officer and founder of First Fitness, Inc., and Fit Advisor.com explains, “A lot of health care programs are becoming more consumer-directed and there is a greater reliance on the employees to take care of their health, and as such, they are being rewarded with money, days off and other incentives to become more active.” Aside from these extrinsic motivators, the health plan should be fun, emphasize group activities and accountability, and when possible, should include some friendly competition.

For more information visit:

http://www.acefitness.org/article/3060/?utm_source=Pro+News&utm_medium=email&utm_term=June+2010&utm_campaign=Pro+News&CMP=EMC-ProNews_0610

Celebrate National Running Day!

I just got home from my run and expected to see droves of people pounding the pavement out there with me. After all, isn’t today supposed to be the biggest training day of the year for a runner? I was disappointed to see nothing more than the usual Wednesday night crowd on this beautiful, breezy National Running Day. I was even more disappointed that I missed out on all of the killer sales that the running stores were having today, but my running partner and I did enjoy a feel-good run (to clarify, the “feel good” part comes after the run, but it’s so worth it). I hope you have a running partner too- they make a world of difference!

National Running Day is described as “a national initiative of the major organizations within the running industry to join forces in an unprecedented unified effort to nationally promote running as a healthy, easy, and accessible form of exercise. From New York to San Diego, the day will celebrate the benefits of running as part of a healthy and active lifestyle aimed at combating some of today’s most pressing health issues.” If you missed National Running Day, no sweat (pun intended)- make up for it tomorrow. Heck, why not buy yourself a new pair of running shoes in honor of the special day (I’ll take any excuse I can get). Grab a buddy and get out there and celebrate!