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May 13, 2015

Exercise coaching for City Council’s busy employees

¾«¶«´«Ã½ City Council (WCC) and UOW's School of Medicine are teaming up to conduct an exercise coaching initiative which will provide on-the-job training for final year Exercise Science students.

from said a lack of physical activity and increased sedentary behaviour was associated with a significant increased risk of disease.

“Unfortunately, most individuals due to their very busy and hectic lives were not meeting the minimum recommended levels of physical activity to maintain health,” Dr Groeller said.

“In contrast, there is strong evidence that increased physical activity is associated with a reduction in high blood pressure, stroke, type 2 diabetes, breast and colon cancer, excessive weight gain, falls and depression.”

Due to the clear benefits of exercise, UOW’s School of Medicine has developed a coaching approach to assist and encourage busy employees to increase their level of physical activity.

Dr Groeller said the coaching approach does not require any particular resources or, indeed, for the employees to attend a fitness facility for a short-term fitness program.

“Rather, the aim is to work collaboratively with each employee to develop strategies that will assist them adopting a life-long approach to attaining recommended levels of physical activity. This approach also allows our final year Exercise Science students to apply their knowledge to assist in improving employee health, therefore gaining valuable real world experience.”

An exercise coaching initiative has run successfully at UOW for four years but now organisers have decided to expand the program to a major local employer (¾«¶«´«Ã½ City Council) which has similar values to the ¾«¶«´«Ã½ with respect to employee health.

The program is being facilitated at the ¾«¶«´«Ã½ City Council by UOW Exercise Science graduate, Terry Dwyer, who runs the Council’s Employee Health Program.

Currently the program is being trialled with 13 ¾«¶«´«Ã½ City Council employees and involves about 15-20 ¾«¶«´«Ã½ of ¾«¶«´«Ã½ students.

Students meet each WCC employee about every fortnight at ¾«¶«´«Ã½ City Council during the ¾«¶«´«Ã½’s Autumn Semester. The meetings take around 10-30minutes with telephone support provided on alternate weeks. Over the course of the semester there will normally be 3 to 5 meetings with each participant.