Helping Today’s Workforce Meet The Post Pandemic Fitness Challenge

As America shifted from a largely rural population (with no modern conveniences) a century ago to 80 percent living in urban areas today, physical fitness – a near-necessity for rural dwellers – has unfortunately, greatly declined.

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In 2020, only 28 percent of American men and 20 percent of women over 18 met the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans for both aerobic and muscle-strengthening activities.

Then came COVID-19.

However and startlingly, perhaps the only perceivable good thing that came out of the pandemic is the great increase in workouts.

Recent data has indicated that 73 percent of consumers in 2020 were using pre-recorded video workouts versus 17 percent in 2019, while 85 percent were relying on livestream classes weekly versus just 7 percent a year earlier. That data, compiled by the technology platform Mindbody, also showed that consumers in 2020 were working out in-person even more than in the past, with 56 percent of respondents saying they were exercising at least five times a week.

The bottom line appears to be that people want to be physically fit and healthy, despite the fact that physical activity is rarely a part of their everyday work life.

Corporate America has become aware of this fact and appreciative of the value of a healthy, fit workforce, and many companies are now embracing innovative approaches to promoting health and fitness among their employees. They are finding this new emphasis as both an enhancement to attract and retain top talent and an element in keeping those employees in the best mental, physical and emotional shape to handle the everyday and extraordinary stresses on the job.

Our company is working to further improve these numbers.

Millennium Health & Fitness, Inc. is based in Brevard, North Carolina. This 31-year-old firm started with a vision to create on-site programs to foster optimum health. Today, it has grown into a consortium of fitness and health care professionals who specialize in providing customer-tailored health and fitness services, both virtually and in the workplace.

After three decades of providing comprehensive wellness solutions for a diverse range of clients in corporations, federal offices, and the military, Millennium rebranded itself to emphasize an exciting and emerging focus on both virtual and in-person wellness experiences.

But we’re not just redefining our brand; we’re redefining what it means to live a healthy, fulfilled life. Every step we take is a step towards a future where wellness is not a luxury, but a standard.

We hear testimonials speaking to the impact of our work regularly, proudly providing what has been deemed by many as “…informative health awareness; creating and promoting lifestyle change to improve daily living” – testimonials you wouldn’t first think to hear from those on the job in the workforce.

Millennium programs are importantly now available to over 300,000 members of the civilian workforce working for the Department of Defence (DOD), veterans and their families and to over 80,000 employees of the Veterans Administration. Our company also now operates over 3,000 virtual fitness classes a year, an increasingly important factor given the rise in hybrid and remote work in the wake of the pandemic.

But we don’t stop there. Millennium is also proactive in promoting health and fitness, writ large.

We offer customized, strategic health education programs that deliver informative and educational information about various health-related topics, ranging from anti-smoking and anti-drinking presentations to breast cancer screenings and dietary recommendations.

We also sponsor and participate in health fairs that promote health concepts and new medical devices, engage community members in such activities as heart-healthy walks, and teach children about caring for their bodies. To further our long-term goal of instilling an attitude of wellness, Millennium fosters wellness communities, nurtures personal transformations, and provides wellness resources to anyone who seeks them.

Millennium-sponsored biometric health screenings are a keystone of our company’s commitment to helping public and private employers and their employees reduce future healthcare costs and improve employee satisfaction in doing so – the feeling that their employer cares about their health. These screenings include measurements such as height, weight, body mass index, body fat, blood pressure, blood cholesterol, blood glucose, and blood pressure.

These screenings can be done at the worksite – the U.S. Air Force and the Veterans Administration have implemented this strategy, for example – and they can be used as a standalone or part of a broader workplace health assessment to benchmark and evaluate changes in employee health status over time.

Not that many years ago, the average American was more concerned over an excess of back-breaking physical activity that left many physically broken and emotionally exhausted at the end of the workday. Today, that workday all too often involves so little physical activity that people have to find the time and the facilities elsewhere to stay physically fit – or to aspire to reach physical fitness for the first time in years.

If America is to be strong tomorrow, the refocus on wellness as a standard in the workplace will have to become an achievable task for the great majority.

Studies additionally show that effective health and wellness programs drive a positive ‘Return To Office’ (RTO) scenario – They also produce organizational and employee benefits, such as lower healthcare costs, reduced absenteeism and enhanced employee engagement.

Fortunately, America’s wellness trainers are ready to help actualize this data and help both employers and employees achieve their goals – and even reach new goals that they had not dreamed possible in the process.