Every year on November 11 we celebrate Veterans Day, a time where people across America thank veterans for their service and sacrifice. Here at Fitbit, we also commend these heroes including our own Fitbit vets through thanks and the best way we know, activity.
“As a veteran and member of Fitbit’s Veterans Employee Resource Group (ERG), I am proud of the work we are doing as a company to enrich the lives of former service members by partnering with organizations like The Honor Foundation and Disabled American Veterans,” says Adrian Richardson, Fitbit senior content strategist.
Through The Honor Foundation (THF) and Disabled American Veterans organizations (DAV), Fitbit has supported the Swim for SOF (Special Operation Forces) event and the DAV 5K run. We’re also bringing five new heart-pumping wheelchair workouts made with the DAV to the Fitbit app for free, plus earlier this year, we offered a free year of Fitbit Premium to veterans and caregivers through a VA and Fitbit Health Solutions program.
Keep reading to learn more about the steps Fitbit is taking to honor vets.
Fitbit supports Veterans Day events
This year, Fitbit is sponsoring the Disabled American Veterans 5K Run, which kicked off on November 6 and runs through November 11 both virtually and in-person in Cincinnati, Ohio. The DAV is a nonprofit charity that provides a lifetime of support for veterans of all generations and their families, helping more than one million veterans in positive, life-changing ways each year, with the DAV 5K being one of their incredibly impactful events.
The DAV 5K is an event that helps to bring awareness to the issues faced by injured veterans. The event involves walks, rolls, runs, and rides. It provides the participants a great opportunity to collaborate and an opportunity to help out in this underserved community.
There are over 2,000 participants across America who will come together to honor the courageous men and women who have sacrificed so much. The event is a family friendly, non-competitive, walk, roll, run, and motorcycle ride. In 2020, 54 percent of participants were veterans and there were virtual participants representing each of the 50 states.
The Fitbit sponsorship includes the 2021 5K event, which is keeping virtual registration open through November 11—you can register or donate here. Other in-person events that Fitbit is sponsoring include the 2022 Annual Golf Clinic, 2022 Annual National Disabled Veterans Winter Sports Clinic, and Fitbit Sense device donations.
We’d also like to spotlight Fitbit’s sponsorship of THF’s Swim for SOF event, which took place in San Diego, California this past September to commemorate the 20th anniversary of 9/11. The event consisted of 45 participants doing a 3.3 mile swim from Coronado Island to the USS Midway plus two tribute workouts of 22 pull-ups and 100 push-ups.
New Fitbit x DAV exercise content
Fitbit has partnered with the DAV to create accessible exercise content, which will feature five new wheelchair exercises. Available for free on the Fitbit app, certified inclusive fitness trainer (CIFT) Jake Weiner of Zooz Fitness and adaptive athlete Jorge Macias will guide users through a series of workouts. Throughout this series, Jorge will demonstrate progressions and regressions of each movement.
The five fitness sessions filmed are:
The Warm-up. Get your body moving and ready for any activity with a quick warm-up. This series of movements primes your muscles and joints so you’re ready for action!
Stronger, Longer Strength Training. With this session, the goal is to build lasting strength by working a muscle group for 60-seconds straight. This workout will have your muscles burning.
Mobility and Flexibility. Invite some movement into your day! Loosen up with this short mobility and stretching session.
Turn and Burn Cardio. Time to turn up the heat and get your heart pumping with this cardio focused exercise session.
Foundational Core. The core is the foundation for every movement. In this session, we’re focused on building total core strength by working your abs, obliques, and lower back.
In creating the curriculum for this series, we followed various exercise protocols, including but not limited to STOMPS, NCHPAD, Wheelchair Basketball S&C protocols, Wheelchair Tennis S&C protocols, and Veterans Administration SCI specific exercise programming.
You can find these workouts under the Discover tab in the Fitbit app.
Fitbit Health Solutions teams up with the VA program
Earlier this year, Fitbit Health Solutions launched an initiative with the Veterans Health Administration Innovation Ecosystem to help veterans, caregivers, and VA staff manage their health and wellness during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The initiative provided 10,000 eligible veterans, caregivers, and VA staff a one-year free membership to Fitbit Premium, giving them access to guided programs, hundreds of workouts, mindfulness content, a wellness report, and a health metrics dashboard.The initiative provided eligible veterans, caregivers, and VA staff who currently use Fitbit devices with free access to Fitbit’s paid programs, such as Fitbit Premium to help them manage their stress, improve sleep, and increase physical activity.
Here at Fitbit, we honor and celebrate veterans not only today but every day by continuing our efforts to support this community throughout the year. We believe that health belongs to everyone, being supportive and inclusive of all people, and we’re committed to breaking down barriers that vets may face when trying to be healthier.
This information is for educational purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for medical diagnosis or treatment. You should not use this information to diagnose or treat a health problem or condition. Always check with your doctor before changing your diet, altering your sleep habits, taking supplements, or starting a new fitness routine.
If you have questions about a Fitbit tracker, product availability, or the status of your order, contact our Support Team or search the Fitbit Community for answers.
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