Local wellness company Fit In The City has been strengthening Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Nebraska’s (BCBSNE) workplace wellness program for more than a decade.

Fit In The City is a fitness and wellness company headquartered in Papillion, Nebraska. The company provides personal training sessions, group exercise classes and lunch and learn sessions in its private studio and offers the same services to corporate clients like BCBSNE.

Workplace wellness initiatives, like the classes Fit In The City brings to Blue Cross Centre (BCC), provide employees with an opportunity to focus on their well-being while at work. This improves their ability to focus while on the job, Colleen Henely, vice president of Fit In The City, said.

“When employees can get away from their desk, it allows their mind to regroup or recuperate,” Henely said. “When they go back to work, they’re more refreshed.”

Henely comes to BCC three days a week to teach two 45-minute group exercise classes: yoga and reps, rest, repeat – a strength training course.

“Strength training and yoga are probably my two biggest passions,” Henely said. “Most people don’t know how to lift with proper form, and they’re intimidated when they go to the gym.”

BCBSNE employees have no reason to feel intimidated while in Henely’s classes. She designs each session to fit all ability levels and encourages those with health problems to share them with her, so she can modify workouts as needed.

“If an individual lets me know they have a knee concern, and we have an exercise such as a lunge that may bother their knee, my personal training background allows me to offer an alternative exercise that still works the muscle being used without necessarily putting stress on the knee joint,” Henely said.

Group exercise participants shouldn’t be competitive with one another or worry about how they compare to their classmates because success is defined differently for everyone, Henely said.

“A lot of people, when they think of health and wellness, they think of it being defined as weight loss,” Henely said. “I don’t necessarily see it as that. I see it as people being happier, more committed and less stressed.”

Improving the health and wellbeing of clients is what Fit In The City is all about.

“Our biggest strength is our passion to help individuals become healthier,” Henely said. “It can be healthier emotionally or healthier through their personal life, their work life or through weight loss.”

BCBSNE employee Steve Samson is a regular attendee at BCBSNE’s cycle and strength training classes. He also occasionally attends Henely’s yoga class.

Samson enjoys group exercise classes because following along with an instructor helps him push himself more than when he works out alone.

“Also, I always feel better after attending an exercise class,” he said.

For more stories like this one, visit the health and wellness page.