Program promotes weight loss, activity

The Utah Department of Health's Check Your Health program hopes to help people lose weight and be more active. It's offering two multimedia programs to teach users to exercise and adopt healthier eating habits.

Check Your Health partners — UDOH, Intermountain Healthcare and 2News Fresh Air — are working together.

One component of the campaign is the Check Your Health Workouts on the Web. In these four-minute segments, Brett McIff, physical activity specialist and ACSM-certified personal trainer from UDOH's Healthy Utah program, shows viewers how to build strength and flexibility by using body-weight resistance, exercise balls and bands, and traditional hand weights. Users can watch as 2News anchor Mary Nickles demonstrates the moves with guidance from McIff.

All of the workouts are available online or via podcast. The programs are found at www.kutv.com. Viewers who want a printout of the exercises, with pictures to show correct form and instructions from the trainer, can link to www.checkyourhealth.org to download and print a PDF document.

KUTV is featuring Fitness Buddies on its Fresh Start to Fitness program every Thursday beginning Jan. 17.