Transforming Corporate Wellness: Debbie Bellenger on Empowering Fitness Professionals

This paradox , as I view it , is the trust , interaction and communication gap that exists between fitness professionals and our medical community . This podcast is all about closing off that gap by disseminating the latest , most evidence-based and most engaging information in the health sciences , and to do that in episode 128 , I'm delighted to welcome back Debbie Bellinger .

We had Debbie on the podcast back in episode 38 to talk about wellness programs to reach the 80 percenters . I highly recommend you go check out that episode . But in this episode we're going to build on our discussion that we had back in number 38 , and we're going to talk about Debbie's learnings from her wellness academy .

Debbie's taught a wellness academy to fitness and wellness entrepreneurs for the past couple of years and whenever you teach something I know this firsthand you learn a lot and you make a lot of observations and you shift your lens and your paradigm , and that's really what we're going to talk about in this conversation is the lessons that she's learned from teaching

people just like you , our audience how to be more effective in the fitness and wellness industry . And then we're even going to dive into the topic of corporate wellness and direct to employer opportunities , as Debbie sees that as a very fruitful market for our professionals .

Any information we'd like to share with you from today's episode can be found on the show notes page . That's by going to wellnessparadoxpodcom . Forward slash , episode 128 . Please enjoy this conversation with Debbie Bellinger . We're so delighted to have Debbie Bellinger back on the podcast again . Debbie , thank you so much for joining us .

Thank you for the invite , so super excited to have you back . Debbie and I spend a decent amount of time talking when we see each other at industry events , and we almost didn't start recording this podcast because we were just talking and realized we better get started .

So Debbie was on the podcast in episode 38 , where we talked about wellness programs to reach the 80 percenters , and now we're on 100 , episode 128 . So we're we're 90 episodes later . Uh , I've learned a lot since then . I know you've learned a lot since then in all your experiences .

So , yeah , that's a little bit of what we're going to talk about today some of the the work you've been doing and what you've learned and maybe where you're going . But before we dive into all of that , in case some people in our audience missed episode 38 , why don't you just give everyone a little brief explanation of your background to provide some context ?

As Mike said , I come to you with years of experience growing up I say the expression growing up in the fitness industry and club operations , fitness management , training and development .

I moved from the fitness expertise area into wellness and that happened when I crossed the bridge from being a club director to being a wellness director for a hospital system and then that was the next 23 years of my career , both in South Carolina and North Carolina .

And then I started to grow into the definition now that I use more so often is the wellness expert piece of my career . I did bring all of my fitness skills so I truly learned wellness working for hospitals and what I learned was I was responsible for the health and wellness of our own workforces 7,500 employees at one hospital , 4,500 at the other .

So working in corporate wellness was a new skill learned in that journey , working in community wellness . So when you were on hospital payroll , I was the face of wellness for both hospitals , did extensive work in the community , which I love , and then I learned how to accommodate patients .

So instead of just working with clients , community members , employees , we now had referrals coming from our physician network to accommodate patients . And then I learned how to create medical wellness programs for overweight out of shape , bariatric surgery , hypertensives , you name it . We had nine medical wellness programs and I found my new passion in the work .

I truly love , love helping those who don't believe they can be healthy . So that morphed my career into the wellness space more than the fitness . I was senior vice President at South Florida Wise . That was a great , great opportunity that evaporated with COVID .

So I was one of the many COVID casualties , as I call it Went on to work one year with an insurance firm as Director of Health Management and Wellness In that year , very dissatisfied with the inability to innovate , create , actually meet the needs for our clients on the book of business , and decided I was going to open my own full-time business , which I did in

January of 22 . So I'm now running my own company , DB Fitness and Wellness Solutions and wellness solutions LLC . It is a blend of education , CEC approved education for fit pros .

I am on most of the national conventions as a speaker in corporate wellness , medical wellness , community wellness mostly wellness in full transparency , which I love , and doing some consulting with the smaller fitness clubs and some employers and a little bit of coaching for fit pros who are building businesses and trying to partner with employers or healthcare systems .

Just pulling all my skills out of my toolbox . So that's where I am . I'm 2.5 years in and I just told Mike in our chit chat here I'm not bored , I'm truly in my soul's work because I am never bored and I'm happy . So that's , that's a great thing .

But before we actually dive into the first question I was thinking about asking , I think there's a distinction that we need to make here , because I heard it in the terminology that we're using , you talked about starting in fitness and transitioning to wellness , and I think that those are different terms to me . Those are certainly different terms to you .

I don't know if the lay person on the street would consider them different , and even maybe some of our listeners . So what would you consider the difference between fitness and wellness and kind of that evolution you took in your career ?

So the difference is in my mind and I'm sure we can find many textbook definitions , but in my experience let me lean into that the difference is in my mind and I'm sure we can find many textbook definitions , but in my experience let me lean into that the difference is fitness implies one element of well-being and it's the movement side of things .

Right , the exercise , the movement , physical activity . Again , whatever language you're using in your space , you're using in your space .

Wellness is a much more comprehensive term whereby we include many different faucets and pillars of what good health should entail , what the average consumer person would be looking for to say that they have overall good health in their life , and there's many different definitions .

Some lean into six pillars of good health , some are five , but generically you and I are speaking about sleep , health , movement and physical activity , nutrition , stress management , social connectivity and a couple of other things possibly , right ? So it's a much more comprehensive term to our well-being and I think it's a much more dynamic term than fitness .

For some reason , fitness feels static to me and this is my experience speaking where wellness to me is ever evolving and to embrace it that way , we have periods in our lives where we're doing really great with sleep , nutrition , stress , other chapters where the stress has gone up and the sleep's gone to crap , but we're exercising every day .

That's kind of what it means for me .

My career trajectory has taken me in a very , very similar direction , so it's interesting to hear that evolution and along the way you've learned a lot of lessons , and one of the reasons is you and I were talking the last time we saw each other in person a couple of months ago was that I wanted to have you back on .

Is you mentioned your wellness academy , how you help new and even existing wellness entrepreneurs either build or grow their businesses , and I know when you teach anything , you learn a lot in the teaching process .

So before we actually get into talking about what you've learned and kind of how things have evolved as you've taught this class , why don't you first just tell our audience a little bit about your wellness academy , how it's structured , kind of what you were teaching , and then , after we use that as our kind of foundation , we can get into talking about how you're

thinking of . You know , being a wellness entrepreneur has evolved while teaching this class .

I want to be able to provide accessible , affordable , leading edge education for fit pros or fit enthusiasts , anyone that is interested in learning what the industry looks like today , because it is so rapidly changing the research around so many elements of our work Right , and so I invite individuals to come in work . Right , and so I invite individuals to come in .

So it's almost it's education-based , but it's almost like going to a fitness convention , but it's spread out over 12 weeks from the comfort of your own home via Zoom , so you don't have the overhead costs of hotel , airline travel , food , convention fee , all of the things . Things .

I want the average fitness enthusiast have opportunity to stay current and stay abreast of the science , the research , the leading edge trends , because it is very difficult to keep up with it as an individual and a solopreneur is what I've learned , that's one of my learnings and and so we are . I think we're well .

We're two and a half years in and it is mostly wellnesspreneurs , fitpreneurs . I have a couple of individuals that I call my career 2.0 . Persons who have had a professional career lawyer , professional photographer dabbled in fitness and then , upon retirement , go into fitness full-time or their version of full-time , because that's what they love .

So I have a few of those individuals in my group too , and it has been very rewarding . One of the outcomes has been to create a safe community where we can network and call someone like a Mike and say I want to represent in my state . Mike , what do I do ? I'm interested in advocacy for the industry . I heard you speak .

I'm interested , but I don't know my next steps . So I'm very proud of that , because we do lean on each other in the group and they help each other , they have conversations , they share frustrations and then they can resource experts like you . So it's been amazing . You can find more on my website if it's of interest . Mike is a speaker this session .

Go to the website . You'll see week by week , topics and speakers . And it's just been amazing . It's truly incredible .

I think the thing that I enjoyed most about it is it didn't feel as much like I was giving a lecture as much as it was .

I was having a conversation and , you know , getting feedback and , yeah , to your point , you know a couple people have reached out to me since and that was a couple of years ago that I did that for you and they've reached out to me and said , hey , you talked about this . That's really interesting . How can I do more of that ?

And then it just opened up a dialogue . So definitely is a great way to leverage not only your years of experience but also your network .

I often like to say that I am probably far more proud of my network than I am of myself , because my network involves amazing people like you and all the other people that you and I both know that we can connect with people that want to learn , and that , I think , is such a valuable part of the Wellness Academy .

Now I want to dive a layer deeper because , again , as I've taught things over the years , my thoughts have evolved . I'm sure when you started this two and a half years ago , you kind of had one way of thinking that it was going to go , and it never goes that way .

So what have you learned along the way in teaching wellness and fitness entrepreneurs how to build and grow their businesses , and maybe what were some of the most surprising learnings along the way that you could pass along to our audience ?

All of the above is that fitness professionals and you see , I'm saying the term fitness professionals need to embrace the concept of being more than sets and reps . This has been one of my learnings . We are stuck in the what I would say are foundational skills of being movement experts .

But there's so much more in your toolbox as a fitness professional like you and I both know , so I spend a lot of time lifting up those in my communities things like your ability to coach , your skill to be empathetic and compassion and to be a good listener , how to guide appropriate movement sessions , how to find resources for a client that maybe is out of

scope where they need a dietician , and that's not your skill set being resourceful enough as a fitness professional to know that's out of scope . But let me find you some help connecting the dots for clients . So making the experience , as you said , more than just exercise . It's a presentation of a holistic health opportunity .

I don't see enough fitness professionals embracing the skills in their toolbox and , I'm sad to say , I don't really feel that the masses are appreciating the dynamic nature of this industry and the importance of staying current , leaning into the science of our industry , because it's gaining momentum , thank God .

Finally , the evidence-based approach , using science as a pillar and the data that comes from it , where having that disposition to look for those kinds of pillars in your business is what I want to say , so that you can have credible partnerships with healthcare professionals and employers . It's just part of it .

You cannot grow into certain sectors of business if that is not a foundation of your business model . Right , I have learned that there is a desperate need for fit pros to want to be more than fit pros , and I'm thinking specifically health coaches . It's a natural graduation in a career process and it's not either , or for me it's .

And what can you build upon your current skill set to be more as you grow in the industry ? Because the health of the nation is declining very rapidly . Our healthcare systems are falling apart faster than we can , faster than we can . Rural hospitals are closing . We don't have time for all that .

But the takeaway is we have to be the answer to the solution of providing good health solutions , right ? So I don't see as much interest from fit pros there that I would love to see that .

It's just natural that you maybe want to get a health coach certificate at some point to broaden your horizons , to make more money , to be more expansive into different markets , that kind of thing . I also have been a little bit surprised by the lack of business skills .

So we have many that left bricks and mortar operations pre-COVID , stepped out to go into solopreneurship and not realizing all that goes into that . And I'm going to be very transparent . I've learned so much on my own journey .

Who knew that I needed an on-demand learning system and to be a marketing whiz , which I'm not and I'm not passing judgment because I'm in the same learning bucket and it's been a little overwhelming around how much of that is required to be successful as a solopreneur . But then I also want to say another learning is realizing . We don't have to go it alone .

Debbie does not need to , in her own business , be a marketing expert . I don't need to do the Kajabi on-demand learning system . I can hire someone to do . I don't do my own website .

I have a website designer because I'd rather spend my time at top of license which is being an educator or a consultant , right a license which is being an educator or a consultant , right . So those are some of the things that I've learned in this journey of helping fitness professionals in my communities , providing education and wrapping it up with a positive bow .

I think what I've learned is that there's more opportunity now for fitness professionals health coaches , nutritionists , all of it than there's ever been , and so I want that message to get out , because we need more practitioners actively helping the average American get healthy .

As many of you know , the wellness paradox is all about closing off the trust , interaction and communication gap between fitness professionals and the medical community , and no organization does that better than the Medical Fitness Association . They are the professional member association for the medical fitness industry .

They are the professional member association for the medical fitness industry . This is the industry that integrates directly with healthcare in many facilities throughout the entire country . The MFA is your go-to source for all things medical fitness . They provide newsletters , webinars . They even have standards and guidelines for medical fitness facilities .

They do events around the entire country and , most importantly , they are one of the more engaging networks in the entire fitness industry . I personally have benefited from the network that I've developed through the Medical Fitness Association and I highly recommend that all of you that are interested in solving the wellness paradox engage with the MFA .

To find out more about the Medical Fitness Association , you can go to their website medicalfitnessorg . That's medicalfitnessorg . Now back to today's episode . Yeah , so well said and lots of valuable lessons in there for our audience . I think the first thing you said .

I just want to drill down on a little bit more the idea that we have to be more than sets and reps , and I think that's more critical now than ever , particularly with the proliferation of AI .

The reality is AI can probably write just as good of an evidence-based exercise program as many experienced trainers , because it has access to all the literature and all the information and , who knows , maybe even programs you and I have written before .

But what it can't replace and this is kind of what I heard you saying as you went on it can't replace the human element , it can't replace empathy , it can't provide that therapeutic coaching relationship that exists between one human and another .

And so I think that , for all of the reasons you said and many more , it is critical that our profession evolves into thinking about things like health coaching , which , by its very nature to kind of circle back around the evolution of your career health coaching is definitely more wellness-oriented than it is fitness-oriented .

Certainly fitness behaviors you can apply coaching principles too , but you can also apply it to sleep and nutrition and stress management and substances and social connection . So I think this idea of evolving as a professional is absolutely critical to your point , not only to the betterment of our industry , but also the health of our nation .

I'm still boots on ground , providing sets and reps . With all of my experience , and the thing that has brought me the most joy and the most success providing outcomes for my participants in my classes , which most of them are over 50 . Now , full transparency is that they get outcomes . How do I do that ?

I would say it's probably more around my ability to meet the members who take my classes where they are and be empathetic and kind and to do the nudge nudge you can just try pick up some weights . Then my experience in exercise design . Do I need that A thousand percent ?

But my effectiveness is my ability to coach on the floor Six or seven days a week , to be a good coach , to relate to the humans standing in front of me . That's my success , because I can get them to do things and try things , which puts a smile on my face .

So I give you so much credit for getting out there , but you said something that was really important there . It's almost like the ability to prescribe a good workout is just table stakes , like everybody needs to be able to do that and that's not really a unique differentiator .

You particularly and this brings us back to episode 38 , where he talked about the 80 percenters .

Let's be honest , for somebody who's sedentary and deconditioned , you probably don't need a tremendous amount of prescriptive skill to give that person a workout that's going to improve their fitness If they're doing nothing and you just get them to do something and you don't hurt them . I mean , I don't want to oversimplify this , but that can make a big difference .

The challenge is actually getting them to do it , and that does require meeting people where they're at , and that does require empathy and the belief and the soft skills and all the things that you learn from developing those coaching skills more in the wellness realm . So I think that's so spot on . Yeah , thanks , mike .

So , as we kind of evolve this conversation , I know that again , you wear multiple hats and you think very strategically about the things that you're going to be doing , and I think it would be a misstep to not talk about , kind of your view on the corporate wellness space and the direct-to-employer space , because you know , as we were talking before we came on

the air , this is something that you're kind of reconnecting with and you see some opportunities there . I know you've spent time in this space , so what should our audience know about the opportunities that exist in the direct to employer space ?

And when I looked at that review I just did it early this week it was very fascinating for me to see , because I'm doing more speaking now at national conventions than I've done in the past several years .

95% of my sessions have been around corporate wellness and I pride myself in staying current with that market because that's one of my passions and , of course , you said the work that I've done .

That landscape is changing very rapidly as well and there's this interconnectivity between our work and what directly correlates to the interests of employers Fundamentally those of us as health , wellness , fitness professionals , the Mikes and Debbies and our listeners .

We are fully committed to improving the health of the populations that we have impact with right , whatever our audiences are , and post-pandemic employers are now in the exact same space .

So if you start looking at the Gallup report , wellcoa reports , global Wellness Institute report , mckinsey and Institute reports , there's this common thread and the Surgeon General has released two very important reports , one on loneliness and one on mental health being the number one issue in the workforce . Look at all that data .

And the common thread is we have a problem at the work site with mental health and disease management , so the health of the nation is going downwards . We spend most of our time at work .

Employers have a big problem on their hands and effectively they're gaining more interest in the health of their population , because the bottom line is showing that if we don't take care of our employees at work , it's an opportune place to provide wellness opportunities and education when you're at work , 80% of your work life , all those hours that the employers are

realizing there's a direct correlation to bottom line and one of the latest studies I read , which was I'm trying to think , oh which group ? It was forecasting anywhere between a 5% increase year over year in healthcare spend up upwards of somewhere was like 12.8 percent .

So , depending on the report you read , the takeaway from that is health care spend is going up year over year for employers . So they have to do something . They need workers , they need them to be healthier . It's not a huge investment to provide corporate wellness , work site health promotion .

So the takeaway is if employers need health and wellness at work , who would be appropriate to partner with them ? That's our network , it's our listeners , those of you who are listening . They're looking for health , wellness , fitness professionals to be able to provide services .

It's not human resources , it's not often the local gyms , because the local gyms , the model that local gyms bricks and mortar typically live in and there's a difference between fitness clubs and medical fitness clubs . I'm just going to put that out there . It's not set up to service employers the thought for most gyms around corporate wellness .

They'll say they do corporate wellness , which means the following they have company discounts . So if company ABC sends 10 employees they'll get a discounted membership rate .

Yes , that's one solution , but there's a much bigger , much bigger opportunity and as solopreneurs fitpreneurs , health coaches , dieticians that corporate wellness market is your oyster to serve Huge opportunity .

That means they cover the cost of their own healthcare . So the healthier they make their workforce , they see the direct ROI . Certainly we could all imagine that a workforce that is physically and mentally healthier is more productive , that they're absent less . When they do show up , they're actually able to do their job more .

So there's an element and the other element is that the hiring market , the employment market , is extraordinarily competitive today for top talent and I think I'm sure you're seeing this as well and I know a lot of the great reports you mentioned will note this that particularly the millennial generation and younger , they want to feel like their employer is invested in

them and their health and attracting new employees . You're retaining your current employees as an employer . It can't just be about the hourly wage and the vacation time and the 401k . Those are table stakes in today's workforce . It's the other benefits , I think , that are so critical , but to your point .

I do think it is a very underserved market right now in terms of providing these services and there's definitely a void that our listeners and fitness and wellness professionals can fill .

Property management groups are getting interested in refurbishing boardrooms to have a gym to incite employees back to work , because employees want on-site gyms . Massages covered , lots of different things , dry cleaning services at work , child care being reinstated . It all makes sense to me .

Those are all health and wellness offerings , right , depending on what stage of life you're in . Your point around self-insured , that's super critical , mike . That brings up a thought for me . I've just started to read in Benefits Pro Magazine and Becker's Healthcare Report in the last two weeks , different groups dropping the coverage for GLP-1s .

So the self-insured companies . Those are big decisions to make when you know that the average cost of those medicines per employee per year is $15,000 . Per year is $15,000 . Well , I would say to that employer $15,000 can go a long way in health , wellness , lifestyle coaching initiatives .

Let me have the money , let me programmatically have your workforce for a year and see what outcomes we can generate for a whole year of accountability , versus paying for medicines that are being stopped after four to six weeks if they're not medically supervised . This is the latest research that's been coming out . So , yes , the landscape is wide open , wide open .

She's been in your wellness academy and she's one of the leading thought leaders in the space on this . It's fascinating when you dive into leaders in the space on this , and it's just , it's fascinating when you dive into it . But I digress , if we go down that path , then we are going to be here for the rest of the afternoon .

So , debbie , before we bring this to a close , and then a couple of final questions , I think I'd like you to speak directly to our audience and if you could give them , if you could distill your years of experience down into like one succinct statement , like nothing , like an easy question , right ?

What would you tell our audience as a call to action , going forward based on all the things that you've learned , forward based on all the things ?

I think the success of this industry , which leads into bridging the gap from fitness professionals to allied health professionals , means there has to be a degree of credibility , and a fitness certification is a great beginning .

But if you're going to be in the industry a long time , you'll want to grow with it and see where the opportunities are , understand different landscapes and how you partner with them and what's required to partner . So if you want to be in the employer space , what is it that you need ?

Allied health , credibility , an evidence-based approach , and they have to be in your gym to know you and you have to do what you say and cross T's and dot I's and dress the part All of these things right , and you speak a lot about this . So I do think to advance an individual career and the industry at large means we all need to step up .

We cannot remain where we are and be successful . It will not work . It's not the same place and space anymore .

Forward slash episode 128 . Please be on the lookout for our next episode when it drops in two weeks , and don't forget to subscribe through your favorite podcast platform . Until we chat again next , please be well .