2014 Atlantis’ Health & Safety team is endeavouring to step up its game with several new and exciting activities that are sure to get participants on the path of healthy living and wellness, and in the process prove that having and maintaining a healthy body, mind and soul can be fun.

The latest activity in the Love to Live series, dubbed “Happy Hour: Move & Groove” was held in the Beach Tower’s Prince of Wales room and featured several intense yet fun workout routines you probably wouldn’t normally find on your gym’s agenda.

“We are trying to give it a different feel,” explains Health & Safety Director Aisha Cooper Neely.

“We conceptualized the Happy Hour event because we wanted to come with a different flair… something that of course would present an opportunity for team members to get in a little bit of fitness, but also something that would get them in the spirit of things.

We invited the country’s best – in our opinion – fitness instructor, Jimmy Mackey of MacFit 360 to facilitate the session, we had great music to help keep us hyped, we had healthy snacks on deck and we even had martini glasses!

“Our goal remains to ensure that our team members get and stay healthy, but we want them to know that exercising and eating healthy; living a healthy lifestyle can be fun and exciting.

That it doesn’t have to be the same old mundane things that they may have been accustomed to in the past with general aerobics and such. We want them to know that there are options out there; that there are a number of different styles of exercise that they can take advantage of… Our Happy Hour session was certainly a very different routine.

We used ropes, we used bands, we used partnership, we used group effort and all to the sound of highly energizing music!”

Admitting that widespread participation from Atlantis’ nearly 8,000 team members has proved challenging, Cooper Neely says Health & Safety’s new approach to its Love to Live efforts are already paying off as a number of new faces – team members who have never participated in a single Love to Live event – turned out for the “Happy Hour: Move & Groove” event.

with helping more and more of our team members to really pay attention to their lifestyle habits, and if they aren’t already doing so to get healthy… Jimmy helped to bring the flavour that we needed.

He’s new, he’s hot, he’s exciting, he’s energetic and most importantly, as a former employee of Atlantis, he knows and understands our populous.

“Upon entering the room and seeing the equipment laid out for use – equipment not typically associated with a workout routine – many of the participants noted that they felt a bit intimidated, but the mentorship that Jimmy and his team provided throughout the session helped to push and motivate them and so I definitely think it was well received. It was certainly a session of moving and grooving and those of us who participated can all agree that it was fun,” she adds.

In case you missed it, Cooper Neely says to stay tuned because another opportunity to join the Health & Safety team for “Happy Hour: Move & Groove” may very well be in store…

Meanwhile, she states that her team will continue to come up with new and innovative sessions for the Love to Live series and hopefully in the process capture the attention and participation of more and more team members.