I previously described the value of corporate wellness as taking a group of people and helping them achieve better health and better fitness. I’d like to expand upon the value of fitness a little bit more. Before we get too far, I first want to define fitness. I define fitness as the degree to which one is able to do something. Fitness is dynamic, meaning that it changes. For example, you are more fit to drive when you’re well rested versus when you’re tired.
Fitness changes as we age. Generally, we observe decline in our ability the older we get. Health and wellness interventions have been observed in many research studies to mitigate these declines, and in some cases restore lost function.
The value of fitness to you then depends on how you value your ability or inability to do things. If you’re perfectly fine sitting around not doing much for the rest of your life, fitness doesn’t hold much value to you. If you enjoy movement such as, walking, hiking, running, playing sports, playing with your kids, etc. then to you, fitness holds great value.
I think that a great way to imagine all of this is to picture fitness as a bank account. When you eat a healthy meal and get a good workout, you are making a deposit into your fitness bank account. When you skip a planned workout, eat a bad meal, or polish off a bottle of wine by yourself, you are making a withdrawal from your fitness bank account. When the balance gets low, trouble often arises. When your balance stays plentiful, your risks of bad things happening, like sickness, injury, and death, decline dramatically.
My personal goal for my fitness bank account is to strive for a 10-1 deposit to withdrawal ratio. If I only make one bad decision for every 10, I should be alright so long as the bad decision isn’t too bad. For most of us, I believe this is a good goal to have. Unless you’re a bodybuilder or a professional athlete striving for peak physique and performance, the 10-1 rule can help you improve your health if you’re not doing so already.
I have said many times, and I’ll say it many more times, fitness is more about what you don’t do rather than what you do. But we do need to have fun every now and then. Just don’t let it get out of hand. Keep your fitness bank account well-funded and enjoy the rewards that come with doing so.
Ben Brickman
Founder and Owner of Worksite Fitness