September is like New Years at The Wellness Center and perhaps everywhere else too! It seems like everyone is back from their summer vacations/staycations and feeling ready to recommit to the goals they set in January and…there is still plenty of time and opportunity to reach them. Whether you are looking forward to the fall for losing weight, limbering up or learning to relax, we have a full schedule of classes to help you meet those goals right from your home. With Covid-19 hitting and making most of us spend our time sitting, you aren’t alone if you’ve gained some weight, lost some muscle and feel stiffer than ever. Great news – it’s a new fall and a chance to become a healthier you!

When it comes to losing weight, it really comes down to the fact you need to burn more calories than you are eating. Yup, it really is that simple! Eating just an extra 500 calories a day can cause a person to gain an extra pound a week! If you flip that though, burning an extra 500 calories a day can also cause a person to lose a pound a week!  Some of our biggest calorie-burning classes include Drums Alive®, Kardio Kickboxing, Spinning®, All-Star Workout, and Zumba®. These classes are high energy and will help you burn more calories in one class than the average person can do on a five-mile walk. We also know that to lose weight we want to build muscle! Muscles burn more calories per minute than fat, and the more muscle mass we have the more calories we burn at rest. Classes that infuse weight training include All-Star Workout, Pump and Core, Tonetastic and more. All of these classes are now 100% virtual and allow you to work on your goals safely and mask free from your home.

Are you feeling stiff? Do you feel like you just need to get moving? We hear you! Zoom meetings and conference calls are now just a daily norm but being stiff and in pain doesn’t have to be. One of the best ways for most people to start to loosen up and reclaim that feeling of independence is yoga. Now, there are many types of yoga and while some think this class has a religious connotation, that simply isn’t true. Yoga is a practice of breath and postures designed for all different types of bodies. There’s “yoga” which is a class that requires movement and is safe for most people while allowing you to advance your postures. There is Yin Yoga, like we offer Wednesdays at 9:30 am, which is a slower-paced class in which you hold supported poses longer and focus on deep breathing. We also offer Yoga Nidra which actually is called, Sleep Yoga, that allows you to just rest either sitting or lying down with no movement at all. Other great classes to work on flexibility and recovery from all day sitting, standing or driving include: Yogalates, Piyo® Live, Cardio and Core, and Tai Chi Easy®. What’s important is, once you get moving and feeling loosened up, to keep moving. If you go home and plunk back down on the couch you might not be able to keep the benefit of feeling those supple muscles. Build some movement and stretch breaks into your day or use our mini 5-10-minute stretch videos to give you some reprieve throughout the day.

Who doesn’t want to relax? Or shall we say, who doesn’t need to relax? We are living in a time where anxiety is high and there are twists, turns and changes around every corner. Stress is something that starts to creep into our lives and sabotages our work, disrupts our relationships and can even steal our sleep. The Wellness Center is proud to be offering several options for relaxation and meditation for people who need a break (and if we’re honest, we are those people)!

For over 38 years The Wellness Center has prided itself on being a one-stop-shop for health and fitness. With restrictions in place and our integrity to offer wellness to as many people as possible, we are now taking all our offerings and making them virtual.  We offer unlimited options to anyone looking to join and they can do so in LIVE classes or prerecorded sessions to do at their leisure. Yet, if you aren’t looking to join us, you can still do all these things on your own too! You just need to find the right activities to meet your needs. If you want to lose weight, you gotta move! If you want to get stronger you will need strength training and if you are seeking stress management support, you likely also need some time management priorities.

Vermont has been stealing the spotlight with the lowest number of cases per capita and we believe that that is because Vermonters care. They care about not only their communities and their health, but also the responsibility of their own health. Let’s keep working together to stay not only Covid-free but also to have healthy lifestyles that strive to keep us in a healthy weight, eating a healthy diet, managing our stress and looking for ways to build wellness into all parts of our life.

At The Wellness Center we understand you have a choice when it comes to choosing fitness classes or finding ways to relax. That is why we continue to grow our programs and offer only the very best with our fully trained and certified staff. We boast a large group of trainers and instructors who are not only experts in their practice but also caring, compassionate and empathetic in helping you grow yours. We truly believe we offer the highest quality in the kingdom and we invite you to come to see for yourself. Check out our fall schedule at www.northcoutryhospital.org/wellness .  As always, you can email Mary Hoadley: mhoadley@nchsi.org with questions too.

As we all start to embrace fall and the unknown road ahead let’s make this fall an opportunity to start over. Let’s make this a time to really get ourselves back on track and work towards those goals and desires we had for our health even before the pandemic. Here’s a fresh start! New fall, New you!

 

Mary Hoadley

Manager of The Wellness Center