Consistency. Commitment. Competition. Throw in another C, as in a C-level executive— and you have the recipe for fitness success with employee wellness programming.
That’s one conclusion that emerges from the 2011–12 Fittest Execs and Fittest Companies Challenge, a workplace wellness program that blends the influence of corporate leadership with the motivational power of a competitive venue. Made possible with the support of partners Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas City, Quest Diagnostics, the YMCA of Greater Kansas City, Holmes Murphy and Associates and the Metropolitan Medical Society of Greater Kansas City, it was Ingram’s third installment of the Challenge.
The premise is simple: Executive leadership matters. Leading by example, executives drive results. That’s been the experience not only of the Fittest Execs Challenge in each of its three years, but for longer than that at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas City, which promotes workplace wellness through its A Healthier You initiative.
In that program’s seven-year run, “we have found that executive leadership, determination and long-term goal-setting are critical to success,” said Blue Cross CEO David Gentile. “Activities such as Ingram’s Fittest Execs and Fittest Companies Challenge serve as a stimulus for uniting high-energy and high-visibility individuals to come together to strive for a common goal—better health of their employee and member base.”
The need for that improved health is profound: Two years after passage of sweeping regulatory changes in federal health policy, the nation remains mired in the same physical mess that has contributed to a decades-long—and unsustainable—rise in health-care costs. And the results of the Fittest Execs and Fittest Companies Challenge, as we’ve seen each year, can be dramatic, long-lasting and life-changing.
As with the previous installments, the numbers behind this year’s competition demonstrate that the program does indeed move the needle on employee fitness. One of the broadest measures is that, of those who finished the competition, 72 percent ended up with measurably better health than they started with. That figure is important, Gentile said: “The goal of wellness is to have about 80 percent of individuals categorized as low-risk; 72 percent success is moving well toward that goal.”
Bridget McCandless, past president of the Metropolitan Medical Society of Greater Kansas City, viewed the results through a pair of prisms: One as a physician and one as a two-time contestant in the Fittest Execs Challenge.
“One of the things that stood out,” she said, “was that you saw gains in core strength with push-ups and sit-ups across the field of contestants, and substantial gains in flexibility. While those aren’t terribly sexy measures, if you talk about those for the long-term, there are real ramifications in those areas as people get older. They are things we put on the list of things that people need to improve on as they age, and both of those get ignored a lot. Everybody talks about cholesterol and blood pressure, but those two main areas of strength are important to improve.”
The Fittest Challenge starts with comprehensive fitness screenings in August, testing both physical strength and blood lipids such as cholesterol and glucose levels. Across a range of 15 health indicators, points are assigned on a scale of 1 to 10, with a maximum score of 150.
This past year, 211 people tested into the program, and more than three-fourths of them completed the post assessment in December. Across the field of contestants, 13 of the 15 health indicators measured showed improvements, and the average scoring increase for those posting improvements was 9 points.
Reflecting on that last number, Gentile said that “a 14 percent improvement or gain across this scale is considered to be a very good improvement. These results should be encouraging to all who participated and I hope they help drive increased participation in this and other wellness activities in our community.”
This year’s competitors combined to shed 563 pounds—about what the scale would read if two of the largest pro football linemen could stand on it at once. That loss is all the more impressive when you consider that it was produced by 62 percent of the contestants. Even among the 38 percent that showed no weight loss, gains in lean muscle mass offset losses in body fat for nearly all of them.
McCandless, assessing the outcomes, said she took particular note in “an im-provement across all parameters in lipids, especially in triglycerides, a marker of insulin resistance. That bodes well for this group of contestants, she said, when compared to the U.S. figures for risk of diabetes caused by excessive weight.
“The whole point is that everybody made gains somewhere,” McCandless said of the Challenge scores. “While not all of them may have made improvements in one particular area, everybody who took it seriously made improvements in other categories, and that gives them a baseline for improvements for the next year.”
The numbers generally track with the performance of contestants in the first two Challenges, continuing evidence of the program’s payoff. It’s possible, though, that the biggest tribute to the effectiveness of the Challenge will come in the spring. That’s when Ed Belote, the winner of this year’s Most Improved Man Under 50 title, will celebrate his new life—by leaping out of a perfectly good airplane.
From his participation in the Challenge, he said, “I’ve learned that having goals helps to keep me focused. With that in mind, I’ve set a goal of going skydiving when I hit the weight requirement. I plan to make the jump this spring.”
His best-in-the-field improvement of 36 points on his health score and loss of 80 lbs. in recent months was inspired by the success of his colleagues at A. Zahner Co., who earned the title of Most Improved Team a year ago. It testifies to the vital roles played by executive leadership in and corporate commitment to employee wellness programming.
His colleagues at the company “constantly gave me encouragement and comment on my success,” Belote said. “This in turn helps keep me focused on health and wellness.”
Gentile said the Fittest Execs and Fittest Companies Challenge competition, much like his organization’s A Healthier You, should be assessed with a view toward improvement over the long term.
“Clearly, these results reflect a trend toward definite improvement,” he said. “The most important outcome is sustainability: Has the Challenge created lasting, long-term benefits? This is, in fact, a great start, and we all must take care to sustain these results over the long-term. We support and salute the accomplishments of the program’s participants; they are leading the way to a healthier Kansas City!”
Fittest Team: Dermatology & Skin Cancer Center
