Could employees get fitter and healthier using a radical approach to regular activity? 

The innovative approach had to be easy to conduct, appeal to all employees, be free of group exercise sessions and require little administration. 

Quite a challenge. 

We called the program FAST&FIT. 

The Program helps individual employees build on their own exercise habits. It ran over 12 weeks. There was four (4)-minute exercise bouts completed three (3) times per week. So, 12 minutes activity for each week. Each employee could decide when and where they would use the Program and the well-crafted exercise regimes that were sent each week.  

We too wanted to know could 12 minutes per week of activity get traction in the workplace? 

Optimum presented the Program to each employee. It was up to everyone how they managed their involvement. The basic guidelines were; employees could exercise at any time, any place, but they must follow the designed schedule and report in once a week when all three sessions were completed.   

Employees overtly committed to the Program.  They were each supplied with regular exercise instructions, posters, information sheets and small videos. There were many layers to the Program that supported each employee as they were effectively working on their own. 

To help gauge the impact of this Program all employees were assessed for a raft of health risk factors at the beginning and end of the Program. It was an all male group (n=19) who worked within one division of a large manufacturing business. 

Hard to imagine the results that were obtained over the 12 weeks. They were quite exceptional. Maybe it was more than just the exercises that helped with the impact. Such things as the regularity, flexibility and structure of the Program may have made a contribution. Compliance was exceptionally high at 95%. The employees were running their own show and maybe that air of control and working with an external provider also helped achieve the results. 

The results showed that…  

• The low risk heart health group increased by 22% 
• The high risk heart health group decreased by 40% 
• Sleep quantity returned a 45 % increase in those in the low risk group 
• Sleep quantity in the high risk group fell by 50% 
• Blood pressure changes indicated a 100% increase in the low risk (<120mmHg) group 
• Blood pressure changes indicated the high risk group (>140mmHg) fell by 93%.  
• The changes to body fat levels and head health (depression, anxiety and stress) measures returned a 10%-15% improvement.  
• There was little change to lifestyle habits, sleep quality, body weight and waist measurement.

Employees were also asked a variety of questions as part of the evaluation of the Program. The key elements emerging from the questionnaires related to the Programs flexibility, personal control as to when and where to exercise, small time commitment, engaging the kids, the organised supply of information to guide each employee through the 12 weeks. 

If you or your organisation would like to hear more about how Fast&Fit could work on your premises, then contact us.