The Best Resistance Band Travel Guide Set for Fitness On The Go

Resistance Band Travel Set for Fitness On the Go

Many of us know that strength training is essential. Not only can it help us build strength, it can slow muscle deterioration as we get older while increasing muscle mass can also increase metabolism. While you can make some strength through bodyweight-only exercises like squats or lunges, often the key to building a more significant amount of strength is by creating resistance. And as a truck driver gaining access to bulky equipment is not possible. The more items you pack in your truck, the less space you have.

The best resistance bands can give you a serious workout without needing access to a gym or yoga studio. These travel-friendly, simple elastic sleeves can help you build lean muscle and increase overall mobility. They are the perfect fitness package for someone who travels a lot and wants to improve fitness no matter what age.

But many sold are not of high quality and end up tearing or cracking after multiple uses. Make sure you invest in therapeutic grade high-quality bands that can withstand high volume use like the ones in the Mother Trucker Yoga Resistance Band Travel Set.

resistance band travel set mother trucker yoga blog

The Science Behind Resistance Band Travel Set

Let’s look at the science — a study in the Journal of Sports Science & Medicine found that just five weeks of resistance band training significantly improved hamstring and inner thigh flexibility. Resistance bands are also way easier on the joints than dumbbells or kettlebells for those recovering from injury or looking for a lower-impact workout. For truck driver fitness and travelers who are always on the move, obtaining optimal wellness within reach.

Research shows that strength gains from using elastic resistance bands are similar to training with dumbbells or weight machines, benefiting truck drivers, to desk personnel to athletes.

What Can Resistance Bands Do?

Resistance-band training can even increase the stabilizer muscles, often better than free weights.

Getting injured is something a truck driver cannot afford to do because if they aren’t driving, they aren’t making money. The stabilizers are intrinsic muscles that help us reduce the rate of injury. With resistance bands, it’s much more challenging to move quickly through a movement which can also reduce the chance of injury.

Resistance bands can also be used in rehabilitation to help improve a joint, injuries tendon, or muscle and increase mobility in different body areas.

Resistance Band Travel Set Exercise Mother Trucker Yoga Blog

Resistance Band Travel Workout On The Go Benefits

There are many benefits to incorporating resistance band travel set into your day. And the best part is you don’t need a lot of time, and you don’t need to change your outfit. All you need is 5 minutes at a time throughout the day to fit their impressive moves in to begin to see the benefits show up in your life and your body.

  • 1) They improve the quality of your exercises.
  • 2) They help to focus your control, form, and function.
  • 3) They recruit your stabilizing muscles.
  • 4) They’re fundamental for functional training.
  • 5) A great alternative to machines.
  • 6) they’re lightweight and easy to use for travel fitness.
  • 7) they’re designed for compound exercises.
  • 8) You have control over the angle.
  • 9) They help you feel your muscles working or not working
  • 10) They work your muscles differently than the use of free-weights

Try a workout and see for yourself:

Try Hope Zvara, CEO of Mother Trucker Yoga’s Resistance Band Workouts:

Grab Your Resistance Band Kit and Go!

Please make sure you get your Resistance Band Travel Set from Mother Trucker Yoga, and our truck driver fitness kit is the only one made just for truck drivers, just like you. With high-quality therapeutic grade rubber, you can work out knowing that the band won’t snap back at you. (Click the image below to purchase)

Resistance Band Travel Set Mother Trucker Yoga BLog

Meet Hope Zvara, CEO & Creator of the 25 pages: Trucker & Traveler Resistance Band E-Guide Book

/0 Comments/by

Driver Exercises: Best 3 Cardio Moves On the Go

As a yoga teacher of nearly 20 years, I understand the importance of balance, and the need for cardio is essential.

As a truck driver finding time to exercise can be challenging, but that doesn’t mean it’s not possible. When it comes to trucking yoga stretching is essential, especially as we age, but we also need to find time to get our heart rate up. Cardio is a great way to take care of your heart health and get your driver fitness on. And with February being Heart Health Awareness Month it is a great time to tune up your driver fitness.

Cardio is a shortened word for cardiovascular (exercise), something most truck drivers don’t get enough of when it comes to truck driver health and driver fitness. There are many benefits to getting your heart rate up and a slight movement in. The below are certainly some of the concerns truck drivers have regarding truck driver health. AHA Journals shared…

Benefits of Regular Exercise on Cardiovascular Risk Factors

  • Increase in exercise tolerance.
  • Reduction in body weight.
  • Reduction in blood pressure.
  • Reduction in bad (LDL and total) cholesterol.
  • Increase in good (HDL) cholesterol.
  • Increase in insulin sensitivity.
I stress to drivers and my Mother Trucker Yoga LIFESTYLE JUMPSTART Platform members to find pockets within their day to add fitness rather than continually separating it from your day.
Mother Trucker Yoga LIFESTYLE JUMPSTART App and platform image

Research is now showing that you don’t need 60 minutes of straight-up cardio exercise to benefit your heart. You may not even need 30 minutes at a time. But you do need something. Mother Trucker Yoga focuses on a variety of fitness and health areas: trucking yoga, driver fitness like resistance, strengthening, toning, core health, and cardio.

My three favorite cardio exercises to do at home and on the go are:

1. Chair Power Run

Place your hands on the mouth of a chair and step back into a plank. Keeping a brisk pace for one minute (or 50 strides) run in place. Work to bring your knees into your chest as best as possible for bonus core work.

Chair Running Hope Zvara Mother Trucker Yoga Easy Cardio Blog

2. Pretend Jump Rope

Stand upright and pretend to hold a jump rope. Begin to gently bounce in a place like you were briskly jumping rope at a level that works for you (your feet don’t even have to lift off the ground if you don’t want them to). Move the pretend rope as quickly as possible. Try to do this for one minute.

Driver Exercises: Best 3 Cardio Moves On the Go walking and jump rope mother trucker yoga blog image

3. A 5 Minute Walk and Talk

We all make and take phone calls, start walking every time you have a phone call.

Do stairs as quickly as you can, almost to the point of being out of breath. Walk outside, walk backward, lunge walk. Get creative. But get up and walk and talk.

 

/0 Comments/by

4 Signs You Are Overexerting Yourself Physically

It is not a good idea to overexert the body, no matter how fit and healthy you might be in general. When you use the body too much or in too strenuous a manner, it can lead to injuries and pain, which can often be severe and last a long time. If you are keen to avoid that, you’ll want to know what the signs are that you might be overexerting yourself physically. Driver fitness is you paying attention to how you move and how you exercise. In this post, we’ll take a look at some of the clearest of these that you might want to be aware of right now.

 

 

Inflammation

 

Sometimes when you are working out too hard, you will end up with some serious inflammation in your joints or muscles. This is very much your muscles telling you that you need to relax a little more and not take it quite so hard. For instance, you might find that you get shin splints after running, and you have to make use of posterior shin splints taping with KT Tape. It is clearly best to avoid that altogether by just taking it a little easier when you are running in the first place.

 

Weak Muscles

 

If you are feeling a lot of sudden weakness in your muscles after you have been exercising, then this can be a sign that you are doing too much during the workout session. Driver fitness can be challenging given your schedule and space, but when you do have time make sure you exercise smart. Of course, you might often feel tired after working out, and if you didn’t then you probably wouldn’t be doing it right. But having incredibly weak-feeling muscles is a sure sign that you are doing too much. So rein it in a little and try to do a little less next time around when this happens.

4 Signs You Are Overexerting Yourself Physically Image Mother Trucker Yoga Blog

Dark Urine

 

It sounds unpleasant, but it is worth taking a look at what your urine looks like after you have been exercising. If it is particularly dark, that might mean that your body has gone through a lot of dehydration during the process, which is itself a clear sign that you are probably overdoing it. It might mean you need to relax a little, and also that you could probably do with a little more water. Remember when it comes to driver fitness and truck driver health you want to be getting in at least eight cups of water. Many health issues can be resolved by improving hydration. Ideally, your urine should be clear or very close to being clear.

 

Confusion & Agitation

 

Bear in mind that there are also some clear psychological signs that you should look out for too, and if any of these present themselves it is time to stop exercising and relax a little and look after yourself as best as you can. For instance, you might find that you feel confused or agitated after you have overexerted yourself, or even while you are in the middle of the workout session itself. This is a sign that you are doing too much, and it’s something you should pay close attention to.

 

As you can see, there are a few signs that you might want to pay attention to, and change what you are doing accordingly. You’ll find that these are important to bear in mind.

/0 Comments/by

How To Stay Fit Without A Trucker Workout

Sitting is the new smoking. And for a truck driver, sitting eight to ten hours a day behind the wheel is taxing on the body. It’s mentally exhausting, and when it comes to the physical body, we feel tired and want to get out of the driver’s seat and sit some more, but we need movement. 

 

It doesn’t have to be a trucker workout when you consider adding movement into your everyday life. It doesn’t have to be a choreographed routine someone created for you to do outside your truck. It doesn’t have to be in a gym or fitness center. When adding movement to your day, the only thing that is required is you move your body, move your body in as many ways as possible. A truck driver workout is where you are working to move as much as possible. Don’t get caught up in fancy equipment or routines. It’s about using your body the way it was designed. 

 

A sedentary lifestyle isn’t just a truck driver concern; 33.6% of American’s are obese (alongside 86% of truck drivers). Solving a sedentary lifestyle issue, exercise is not the solution. It’s filling the gap between the driver’s seat and the idea of exercise. This is why so many drivers aren’t doing a trucker workout. It’s too big of a leap from where they are to where everyone else tells them to go. 

 

So let’s refocus the idea of a truck driver workout and focus on how to “fit” more movement into your day and maximize the time you have with more movement. 

 

But to do that, we first have to know “how” to move. Technology and convenience have robbed us of basic human movement. And although we may be saving our back from lifting heavy things, we are killing our back by sitting around all day. 

 

Here are five ways you can easily add more movement into your day with your truck driver’s time. And the goal, start small, focus on adding 15 minutes of on-purpose movement into your day, and then when that becomes automatic, focus on the next step, like increasing the time or concentrating on actual exercise. 

 

  1. Squatting. Squatting is a basic human movement we have been doing since the beginning of humans. Yet few humans, few American’s, few truck drivers are doing them. Many say that their body doesn’t move that way, but I assure you that your body did move. You just trained your body this way by not doing them daily. So, where can I add more squatting into my day? 
    • While on your bed, bring your knees (one or both) in towards your chest, grab your shins or underneath your thighs and hug your leg(s) in. 
    • Come onto your hands and knees on your sleeper and lean back as far as you can towards your heels, you might not go far, but that is because you haven’t been doing this type of movement for some time. Squat down an extra five or ten times to “look under your truck and trailer” during the day. 
    • Or squat from standing and go as far as you can. Every little bit counts!

Mother Trucker Yoga Squatting

  1. Reaching. Reaching is a basic human movement few do. You can increase your heart rate by reaching overhead, taking a deeper breath, and even stretching your back. Where can you add more movement to your day? 
    • In the driver’s seat, reach your arms forward, upward, backward, sideways throughout the day. 
    • Outside your truck, place your hands on the truck, step back and then lean your hips back and drop your chest. 
    • While in bed, stretch your arms overhead and your legs out as best you can.
    • Reach sitting, standing, anywhere you can.

Mother Trucker Yoga Blog Reaching

  1. Bending. Bending is a function we do daily, but few do it well. Tight legs, stiff back and shoulders, we rounding more than bending. A truck driver workout should start with you moving more throughout the day. 
    • While in bed, loop a belt around the sole(s) of your feet and bring your leg(sup to the ceiling to stretch your back body. 
    • Standing outside your truck, focus on hinging forward from your hips rather than rounding at your waist. 
    • Try bending using the side of your rig for a Half Down Dog style bend.

Mother Trucker yoga blog bending

  1. Twisting. Twisting is an essential way to nourish our spine. When we rotate, we hydrate the disc in our spine and keep our tissues limber. Much of what we do throughout the day doesn’t require us to twist anymore, and it shows. Before you think you need an intense truck driver workout, consider how well you twist in your everyday life. 
    • Twist in the driver’s seat when putting on your seat belt. 
    • Twist in bed by bringing one leg up and over your body to rotate the hips and spine. 
    • While standing, swing your arms side to side to hit your back and allow your body to rotate in the process. 

Mother Trucker Yoga Blog Twisting

  1. Walking. We were designed to walk, yet you are probably not getting anywhere near the steps you need daily. After a long day, don’t sit down again. Get up and walk. In the beginning, don’t worry if it’s not far, or fancy, or fast. Just get out and walk. 
    • Walk on purpose for 15 minutes every day. 
    • Walk an extra lap around your truck and trailer every time you are out of the truck. 32 laps are one mile. 
    • Don’t forget to check out what walking paths are near or around the truck stops. Many trucks stop post the designated walking trails like TA Petro. 

Suppose you are still feeling overwhelmed with figuring out how to fit in a trucker workout. Don’t stress, first focus on everyday life movements, and when you are moving more in life, consider exercise as a great addition.

/0 Comments/by

3 Valid Reasons To Take Your Driving Posture Seriously

Posture plays a significant role in driving, and unless done right, you risk adding on to the 59% of truckers living with lower back pains. According to research, two out of every three truck drivers will experience spinal injuries at some point. This makes it critical to learn why good posture is necessary. In response to the rising cases of lower back pains among drivers in the US, hospitals and alternative care centers make it a priority to help persons living with this problem get relief. Below are some ways your driving posture affects your road fitness and truck driver workout.

  1. To Maintain Normal Spine Curvature.

3 Valid Reasons To Take Your Driving Posture Seriously Blog MotherTruckerYoga.com

The human spine has three natural curves, with each playing a vital function in the body. Sitting upright without feeling any tension or pressure in any of the three normal spine curvatures behind the wheel is crucial. Unfortunately, it is an occupational risk that most drivers tend to deal with quite too often. After long hours of sitting to drive, your back automatically endures compression. However, knowing this information is critical to help you remain mindful of your back.

Usually, when an unnatural curvature gradually sets in, truckers may find it challenging to maintain their regular driving hours. So, persons who attempt it can experience almost debilitating pain that may require the attention of chiropractors. Therefore, to avoid acute or chronic lower back pain, you can consider investing in a good seat with ample back support to enhance your driving posture.

2. Oxygen Increase

When you slouch to drive, the lungs and diaphragm cannot receive enough oxygen. Medical research has also proven that you could be risking a 30% reduction in your oxygen intake. This means that your blood cells need to contend with the minimal supply, consequently causing premature fatigue. Furthermore, your brain may also be at risk, and you may experience a sudden blackout. This happens because it lacks adequate oxygen to maintain cognitive functions and processes on the road. You may also experience blurry vision, increased heart rate, and confusion. However, in sharp contradiction, keeping a good driving posture on the road helps your lungs expand to their total capacity. You breathe more accessible, with enough room for the diaphragm to function as it should. In essence, adequate oxygen gives more energy and increases mental focus as you drive.

3. Efficient Movement of Upper and Lower Limbs

3 valid reasons to take your driving posture seriously mother trucker ygoa blog drivers seat

 

A healthy spine aids the body to move freely without pain or restrictions to the limbs, and this is not just about your truck driver workout; this is about you moving more in your everyday life. When you’re behind the wheel, your arms and legs coordinate to keep the vehicle going. With a good driving posture, you tend to feel flexibility in both shoulders and arms which can help you drive farther longer with less pain. That enables you to negotiate curves on the road without muscle restriction or tension.

 

On the other hand, a bad posture limits movement and increases friction between the natural spaces in the spine. Consequently, you may feel sharp pains when attempting to flex your arms or legs while driving. This happens because of the several nerves jutting out of the spine and connecting to the limbs.

It is worth noting that your joints, bones, and muscles tend to perform better when you adopt good posture. That has a roll-on effect on your breathing, vision, and cognitive functions. You don’t need to implement a typical truck driver workout to improve your fitness and health. Our suggestion first is to get moving more in your day-to-day life. Move your body- any way you can, you can’t go wrong. There is no wrong way. The only wrong way to move initially is choosing not to move at all. 

/0 Comments/by

5 Strategies | How To Be Fit Where You Sit?

,

How to be fit where you sit?

What if I tell you that I am bringing you some health as a token of respect for your hardships? 

We always hear,

Health is wealth!

But in our busy lives, we rarely make time for ourselves. It’s not that we don’t want to, but in the race of survival of the fittest, we fail to manage our lives in a healthy.

Here I am going to give you some tips to stay fit where you sit.

5 Strategies How To Be Fit Where You Sit

1. Hydration

Hydration is vital in physical jobs, but office jobs also hold a hydration standard. No matter what, your body requires 3-4 liter water consumption daily to regulate its physiological functions.

It keeps your mind and body active and makes you more productive. It does detoxification for you while you are doing your work.

 

2. Ambiance 

Keep your surroundings clean and fresh. A pleasant ambiance works as an anti-depressant. The positive vibrations from your space will keep you mentally healthy, and mental health is equally important to physical health, if not more. When is the last time you cleaned your truck or vehicle? Consider using essential oils like lavender, peppermint, or citrus oils to help keep your space smelling great. And watch your stress levels drop too.

 

3. Lumbar Support

Long sitting hours generally reward you with annoying back pain and muscle cramps. The reason for this unwanted gift is our slouching sitting posture. Using lumbar support can solve this problem efficiently. BackShield is an excellent ergonomic lumbar support that helps you straighten your back, correct your position, and relieve you from bothering pain. It is a portable device you can practically carry anywhere with great ease. Keeping yourself fit isn’t just about exercising. It’s also about how you support your body while you aren’t. 

Backshield - seat for truck drivers

 

4. Intermittent Breaks

Our bodies tend to get tired and stiff after a certain length of time while sitting. Sensing the tension, our body releases stress hormones called cortisol, which causes mental stress and hampers the body’s biochemical reactions.

Taking intermittent breaks keeps you fresh and energetic, saving a lot of trouble both physically and mentally. It can be tough to be stopping knowing your destination is on the horizon continually. But if you take a few minutes each morning to plan out where you will stop and when this will not only lighten the stress load mentally but help you plan your time accordingly. Worried about traffic and delays? What is your backup plan? Check out TruckerPath App to know where to stop and when!

 

5. Exercise

It’s so easy for your body to become tense, especially when you spend the majority of your time sitting as a truck driver. Most truck drivers’ fitness is focused on an exercise routine, and I’m here to tell you that it’s much simpler than that. It’s about small micro moves you can add to your day throughout your day, every day. 

You can do the following exercises to release any tension or stress in your body:

 

Neck 

Gently flex your neck in all directions (forward, backward, to the left, and the right side) whenever in half an hour.

Shoulders

Bend your arms to place your hands on each shoulder to look like wings. Simultaneously move one arm in a clockwise fashion and the other in a counter-clockwise manner. Make sure your elbows touch when they come forward to face each other. It will release the tension from your shoulders.

Another exercise you can do is shrugging your shoulders. Raise your shoulders towards your ears, then slowly roll them down.

Wrists

If you have a computer job or you clench a steering wheel all day as a trucker, your wrists tend to get stiff and painful. To avoid such circumstances, keep your arms steady and move your wrist ten times in both clockwise and anti-clockwise fashion. Truck driver fitness is about the little things, open one hand pull back each finger one at a time to stretch your joints, and open your hand from a closed-off fist.

Finger Stretches Mother Trucker Yoga Blog 

Eyes 

Working non-stop can easily affect your vision as the muscles of your eyes get tired doing the job their ass off. 

Make sure you blink your eyes more frequently.

Gently massage your eyes and do some vision exercises.

Abdominal Exercises

Long-term sitting leaves your core and back muscles underactive and out of order. This means when you go to use your body your core and back are vulnerable to injury. Do some abdominal and core muscle exercises like chair rollback (sit tall in the chair and gently lean your body back like you are in the reclining dentist chair and then come back up).

Legs 

Our legs tend to get numb with prolonged sitting and we can struggle with issues like sciatica and clutch leg when driving manual. To keep the circulation under regulation, do some light walking or stretching of legs. When you are in the driver’s seat regularly roll your ankles and think about marching in the driver’s seat by lifting and lowering your knees without leaning your body back to keep blood flow and circulation up to par.

Want the details on how to do these movements and exercises safely and effectively?

Check out our Mother Trucker Yoga Membership Site.

Easy 3-5 minute videos to get you the relief you need fast! Even while driving!

Mother Trucker yoga membership site

/0 Comments/by

STAY FIT Truck Stop Fitness Center Quick Weighted Workout for Drivers

Have you ever stepped inside any of the truck stop fitness centers? They aren’t in every truck stop, but they are free, and after being to more than a dozen of TA Petros Truck Stop Fitness centers, I’m here to tell you this is a hidden gem you want to take advantage of.

NOTE: This is not a full gym, and often people will see it and instantly compare it to a full-size gym. And no matter what, that is a win! This isn’t, but what it is, is an opportunity for you to move.

Now that things are beginning to open back up again, that means for drivers just like you, there are more opportunities for you to get up and move.

Most still look at “getting active and healthy” in the form of exercise. And I’m telling you they are wrong. Well, not totally wrong, but if exercising more would solve all our health problems, we wouldn’t have this conversation. It’s about the little things.

Making small little changes.

If you want good dental hygiene, then you brush your teeth every day. If you want better bowel movements, you are going to drink more water. These are simple, not complicated, yet so many try to make it be complicated. I want to lead you towards health and fitness strategies that are as simple as brushing your teeth and make as much sense as drinking water for better bowel health.

Sprinkled throughout the US are fitness centers just for drivers. Truck Stop chains like TA Petro and Pilot Flying J’s have truck stops with fitness centers just waiting for you to use. Now, are they huge? No. Do they have every machine known to man? No. But they do have just the right amount of equipment and space to get you back on track!

Where We Go Wrong

We focus on the negative. I have talked to hundreds of drivers, and most have never taken advantage of the fitness centers at these locations. Why? Well, one, they didn’t know they existed, and two, they found reason to disapprove. Too small, not enough equipment, and on and on.

The people that want to improve their health will. The people that don’t want to improve their health won’t.

After 20 years working with people in pain and people looking to improve their fitness and health through lifestyle and movement changes, I noticed that it’s not about “exercise”, it’s about learning how to add more movement into your day. Which is what we focus on in Mother Trucker Yoga’s Membership Platform with Quick Simple Moves

What Can You Do Today?

What is one thing you can do today to take better care of your health? If you find yourself making excuses or coming up with bad reasons why nothing will work, then I want to encourage you to take a step back and find

Here are two of my favorite quick fitness moves for truck driver exercise on the go. And I know you are going to love these quick and easy moves.

Angled Abs Drop

Weighted Chest Fly

Let me know what you think about these simple fitness center moves.

And don’t forget to subscribe to my YouTube Channel

/0 Comments/by

4 Things Your Trucking Corporate Wellness Program Needs to Have

Corporate wellness is not only essential for the trucking industry, it’s what can help change it for the better!

Without truck drivers, where would our economy be? And those drivers need well-maintained trucks to get where they need to go. But what about well-maintained drivers?

Does your company offer a quality trucking corporate wellness program that you and your fellow drivers can actually use in your everyday life?

After nearly 20 years of working with people just like you with mental health, physical health, and lifestyle improvements, I’ve learned the right strategies you need to improve your life, not just your fitness regimen. There are so many programs out there, but how do you know what your company needs? How do you know what is right for your drivers? And even more importantly, how do you know once you invest what your drivers are actually doing?

4 Things Your Trucking Corporate Wellness Program Needs to Have:

Moves that make sense.

Most fitness and wellness programs focus on strength building. But as you age, you lose 10% of your flexibility every decade, and when you aren’t moving your body, all the systems in your body aren’t flowing.

The content you are providing should be focusing on: lifestyle movements and enhancements, driver-focused movements, mini exercise sequences, and full-on workout programs. That way, everyone can get their needs met, and there is a track to continue moving forward.

You need a program that does more than strength training. You need a program that focuses on not just flexibility but mobility. Not just strength but stability. It would be best if you had them all. And that means you need more than just a resistance band or a set of hand weights. You need a program that looks at movement as an opportunity to improve your lifestyle, not just exercise more. And breaks them down into bite-size pieces that make sense for your driver for the long haul. As your trucking fitness company we strive to meet your drivers needs and yours as the owner as well.

 

Tracking & Reporting 

You can have the best driver wellness program (corporate wellness) available for your drivers, but without the proper tracking and reporting, how do you really know who is using it and if it’s working? When you have tracking that marks usage, login, and things like quizzes, checkpoints, and opportunities for drivers to show you they are applying what they are learning, you have healthier drivers and a program that works. Plus, that means you have data to provide to your insurance provider for discounts and kickbacks.

4 Things Your Trucking Corporate Wellness Program Needs to Have: Reporting Mother Trucker Yoga

Community 

How is it that the drivers communicate with other drivers? How do they get their questions answered? You want to make sure the program you implement offers a community. Corporate wellness isn’t anything new across industries, but many approaches like traditional fitness or traditional coaching. And you also need a space for the participants (drivers) to connect with their peers who want the same thing. It doesn’t need to be fancy, but it should be a place where drivers can ask questions, share their experiences and get feedback. One-on-one coaching is good for some. But when you are working with drivers by the hundreds, why not allow those drivers to learn from each other, because if they have a question, dozens of others might too.

 

Certificates of Completion

Providing drivers with a certificate of completion that has met the standard for health and safety is essential. If your driver gets into an accident, they should have the appropriate paperwork showing they are doing all they can to improve their health. I learned a lot by applying, owning, and operating a state-approved vocational school for the state of Wisconsin, teaching yoga for more than nine years. After 20 years of training, certifying, and instructing both teachers of fitness and wellness and their students, I have learned a thing or two about what should be included and what works and what doesn’t work. It’s critical to not only track what you offer your clients and drivers, but they need to be able to track and be rewarded for it too.

 

To learn more about Mother Trucker Yoga’s Driver Wellness Program and Corporate opportunities,  and how Mother Trucker Yoga can become your trucking fitness company, visit our page for details, watch a short video, and book a call!

 

 

 

/0 Comments/by

The Missing Link In A Safety Check

,

More trucking companies are tuning in to incorporate a driver wellness program for their truck drivers and other employees as a means to improving their bottom line and attracting and keeping hold of drivers for the long haul. But what to do and how to implement this for all drivers has yet to be successfully implemented for all drivers to benefit.

Most driver wellness programs currently out there focus heavily on exercise. Traditional methods and fitness models take the driver out of their workflow and ask them to “workout.” And although that approach is helpful and will work for some. The likelihood of the drivers who need it most to implement it themselves and stick with it is lower than anyone wants to admit.

The New Stretch With Safety Checks

It is nothing new for a company to have a list of required safety checks each driver must do every day before heading out on the road. But with the current state of our trucking industry, our driver’s health, the stats don’t lie. These stats lead us to see that 86% of drivers are obese and  54 percent of commercial drivers smoke cigarettes, and only 8 percent exercise. So is it that we need more safety checks for drivers to remain safe on the road, is it that we need another exercise program telling drivers how to do push-ups or pull on a resistance band, or is it about time we require something a bit different?

The missing link in a driver’s safety check is not another walk around on their truck, another electronic device regulating something or another, nor is it another cargo inspection. It’s an inventory of the driver themselves. That inventory is in the name of safety, except it has everything to do with simple ergonomics drivers can implement every day. If you care about the driver being safe on the road, isn’t it time to consider the one behind the wheel?

 

What We Can Learn From the Construction Crews

Those who work in the construction world have had similar fallouts with quality workers and those who stay in the game long term. Many feel it is hard on the body, and those that suffer injury often begin to look for other means for work. Recruiting quality talent and keeping the existing healthy enough to keep pounding nails are becoming increasingly difficult.

However, companies that chose to implement properly designed stretching or ergonomic (driver wellness) programs for their workers found success in reducing work-related injuries. However, for these programs to work, the exercises and stretches must be taught by a well-trained individual and done repeatedly at least two to three days per week with a time commitment of five to ten minutes. What if every driver on the road took 5 minutes every day to do a few stretches designed specifically for driver success?

My Husbands Story

My husband is a construction worker by trade and has done everything from operating machinery (a CDL holder) to concrete forming and pounding every type of nail you can imagine. And at one time, he worked on a crew that required an 11-minute stretching routine each morning before starting work. If you didn’t show up, you didn’t work. Although my husband laughed at it (I was telling him about these stretches for years, but hey, better late than never), after just a few days, he mentioned his hands hurt less, and there was a reduction in tension related to swinging his hammer and gripping certain various tools throughout the day. All of which points to a reduction in future work-related injuries. My husband no longer works on that crew, but he still does many of the previously required stretches he learned during his morning safety routine on the job.

If it helps, this decision is not about making your drivers healthier (although the industry points to us that we should care about this more), but rather making your drivers safer. The truck can only be so safe, and at some point, it is then in the hands of the competent, alert, physically healthy driver to execute and perform the tasks at hand.

The Outdated ROI Decision Making Strategy

Sadly far too many employers (trucking company owners) are still stuck on the old method of ROI (return on investment), where it all comes down to the dollar bills. And although you should always weigh the cost factor when considering a new company program or feature, you also have to ask yourself, what is the potential value on investment (VOI) and long-term ROI, not just the immediate cost?

When a company is considering implementing a well-designed program into their driver’s safety check routine, they are showing future drivers, lawmakers and hopefully it never comes to this, but lawyers or agents that they have done all they could to help reduce the chances of an accident, injury or hazardous outcome by implementing the missing link into a drivers safety check, with a properly designed wellness program.

It’s about demonstrating that the expenditure comes with a benefit (ie. Reducing soft tissue or musculoskeletal injuries, reducing fatigue, improving reaction and response time while behind the wheel, all for a reduction in workers’ compensation costs and improved worker productivity and wellness). And if you can do this, then the training or program will be more likely perceived as a benefit by the employer, driver, and even insurance company.

truck driver wellness program the missing link in a safety check mother trucker yoga blog

With nearly 20 years of experience designing usable fitness, wellness, and ergonomics programming for both individuals to take part in and companies, I have learned that when choosing a driver wellness program, make sure:

  1. The program is broken down in an easily digestible way, meaning drivers can utilize the content in a way that makes sense for them and their day. Have you ever seen an entire parking lot of drivers working out outside their truck? Great concept, but highly unlikely.
  2. It’s simple. When you incorporate a driver wellness program into a safety check, you are showing drivers when and where to apply these strategies, and that will ensure a greater means of measurable success. More does not always equal better, and in some cases is confusing, overwhelming, and causes wellness regression.
  3. Finally, it happens from the top down. When the owner, CEO, or the man/woman in charge is all in on their drivers, you’ll see your drivers boost your bottom line all on their own. ,.once you have a well-designed program and safety protocol when integrated properly with the right leaders in place, anything can happen! As humans want to feel cared for, a program can only do so much for the company and drivers.

The Bottom Line

If you fail to make any newly implemented program mandatory, you will struggle to see any real value or ROI on your investment. Don’t look at mandatory as a bad thing. You require your drivers to secure the load a certain way. You require them to wear a safety vest. You require them to fill out certain forms regarding the load they are carrying a certain way-right? All in the name of being able to run a successful company. A safe, reliable trucking company.

When implemented correctly, asking drivers to integrate specific stretches or ergonomics into their day as a part of their safety check will help both the driver and you as a company overall. While others in the trucking industry are focused on exercise programs for drivers, I’m telling you that it won’t do much of anything in the immediate and long-term it may end up as just a feel-good box checked.

We have to start small and start smart. If exercise were the solution, then the stats wouldn’t be reading like they are, that drivers are amongst the most unhealthy in our nation compared to any other industry. These are the men and women driving your company’s trucks, shipping your cargo, and driving your bottom line in one direction or the other. They deserve more. They want more. They are just as critical to your companies success as a well-running truck. And if you are ready to improve your company in the name of safety. And I’m here to show you how simple it can be.

If you would like to learn more about Mother Trucker Yoga’s Driver Wellness Program and Safety Check / Pre-Trip Initiatives-

Learn more about Driver Wellness Program HERE

Contact Hope HERE

 

/0 Comments/by