corporate health & performance prograM
Week 1
Strength, flexibility, brain health & healthspan
Research is continually redefining the boundaries of movement and aging across our lifespan. It’s becoming more common to see individuals transforming their health and fitness in the latter half of their lives. This phenomenon of improved health and performance into our 40’s, 50’s, 60’s and beyond is termed Healthspan.
It is my goal, by the end of the next 4-weeks, for you to achieve either a strength or flexibility goal that you were unable to achieve prior - Choose ONE and choose WISELY!
1
the mind-body connection, stress & resilience
Read below and answer the following questions. *Optional, but strongly encouraged ;-)
What does your mind-body connection, stress, and resilience have to do with improving your strength and flexibility?
Often times in fitness we focus on the “work” we need to do to achieve a desired result. For example, the best strength exercises for toned arms or the best exercises to improve leg flexibility. However, while the “work” is important, you will have difficulty achieving your desired results if you’re unable to manage stress and recover effectively. This is where your mind-body connection and resilience come into play.
We all have unique genetic, environmental, and social influences that shape who were are today. Science is beginning to understand how the complexity of these factors interact to influence our health and fitness shifting the old paradigm of isolation towards a multi-disciplined holistic approach highlighting the positive individual, environmental, and social variables that, not only reduce negative health outcomes, but promote positive whole-mind-body health outcomes.
One such positive trait that integrates mind-body health is RESILIENCE, which can be defined as your ability to “bounce back” from adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats or significant sources of stress (Garmezy and Masten, 1991, p. 459). For the purpose of this program, I want you to begin connecting the dots between both your mental and physical resilience.
Researchers are discovering that resilience is not simply a trait that people either have or do not have, but rather it is a skill that can be learned and developed. (McDonald et al., 2012)
Follow the instructions below to assess your resilience.
Reflect on your personal experiences to explore how you’ve handled stress in the past. Think about a time recently when you overcame a challenge or set back in your life. Perhaps you injured yourself, or received some negative feedback at work, or had an argument with a friend or family member. Briefly describe how you used your personal resources to overcome this difficulty in the 3 areas below:
Dr Lucinda Poole and Dr Hugo Alberts. The Resilience Plan (The Four S’s). https://positivepsychology.com/toolkit/
RESILIENCE SCORE
Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale 10 (CD-RISC-10) ©
Please indicate how much you agree with the following statements as they apply to you over the last month. If a particular situation has not occurred recently, answer according to how you think you would have felt. Your score will be recorded by your coach and shared at the end of the program.
2
defining strength
“Resistance training can remodel the nervous and muscular systems, allowing muscles to exert strength more effectively...”
— Rong, W et al. Effects of strength training on neuromuscular adaptations in the development of maximal strength: a systematic review and meta-analysis. (2025)
3
defining flexibility
“Flexibility is a static measure of a joint that can be good for figuring out your weak spots, but, ultimately, the bigger question is ‘how is flexibility either adding or taking away from your strength?’ - This is where mobility training is essential.”
— Coach Jared
4
choose your practice!
Watch the video below, then scroll down and choose a flexibility practice based on the specific body region you want to improve. Use your Movement Assessment as a guide. Explore the complete video library for more options!