Blog-Improving our Fitness & Nutrition

Improving our Fitness & Nutrition
By: Jessica Anderson, Fleet Feet Sports Madison

After, I won the In Business Fittest Executive last year, we applied and were selected to participate in the In Business Get Fit Company Challenge this year. Three Fleet Feet Madison employees and one employer, Matt, are on a mission to improve their health and are encouraging all the staff to get involved. No doubt, a few minor changes can help us all. We would like to share some of what we are doing to improve our fitness and nutrition, become more productive in the workplace and how it can help us all in our daily life.

Lunch Rotation: You may have heard about this, but Jessica was tired of watching the Fleet Feet staff eat out every day and spend their hard earned money on high calorie low-nutritional value food. Last Spring, we started a voluntary lunch rotation, where each full time staff member provides the meal for everyone else working that day. The part-timers are now in the rotation 6-12 times per year. For around $20, each of us can prepare two meal for the rest of the staff plus healthy snacks for throughout the day. Since we started the IB Company FIT Challenge in February, the meals have become healthier. We will provide healthy snacks and some of our staff recipes, like Mexican Spaghetti Squash Casserole and Turkey Chili, during the 9 days event.

Staff Yoga and Circuit Workouts: This has been a long winter and running mileage is down for many of us at Fleet Feet. To help beat the cabin fever and motivate each other we have started staff circuit training workouts and yoga, in hopes that they will see some fitness results and be prepped for those nice running days ahead. We workout as a staff 1-2 times per week, in addition to fun runs from the store. 

Keep it Clean: We recently changed the layout of our store and cleaned up the back room to improve efficiency. We still have some work to do, but we know that organization and procedures will help us grow as a business and as a team/family at Fleet Feet. Thanks to Curtis for organizing "The Trashiest Run" - see below for details!

Invite A Guest: Matt A. designed Guest Passes, so that friends, family and new customers can see what our training programs are all about! Be sure to come to a training program run during our birthday week, to see all that our programs have to offer - cameraderie, weekly training plans, seminars, local coaches, personal trainers and pace team leaders on the training runs. Our staff has also been giving guest passes out like crazy, since they have seen the successes from group exercise! 

Blog: Our employees all have a unique story, and started working here at different times in their lives. One thing they have in common, they want to help you succeed. They will share their own challenges, successes and how they may relate to you as a runner, walker, triathlete, fitness enthusiast, mother, father, friend, spouse, etc. in our Fleet Feet Blog.

Track It: Lastly, we are tracking our progress. Some of us in a Taylor Swift notebook (long story), fitness app, Garmin, Nike+ Sportwatch or just in our heads. Racing team kicked off last week, so some people are excited to "track" their progress that way, in hopes to run faster this summer. We want to see results, be the most improved and continue to make healthy choices, so we can reach our fitness goals and stay injury free and help you do the same.