Physical activity at workplace can positively impact various wellbeing outcomes yet developing and implementing exercise programs that are straightforward, time-efficient and widely applicable remains a notable public health challenge. Sport4Health Network (SPORT4H) project co-funded by the European Union Erasmus+ programme unites health and sport professionals in an effort to encourage participation in physical activity among working population and reduce health risk factors for lifestyle diseases. A two-day SPORT4H scientific forum on non-traditional types of work-place exercise interventions was organized from 14th to 15th September 2020, to critically evaluate evidence on stretching and resistance exercise programs targeted to working population in aim to identify knowledge gaps and future areas of research and application. Evidence on traditional interventions (e.g., walking initiatives, active travel) appears more robust while only few studies evaluated the applicability of non-traditional PA programs in working population. However, we identified a moderate-to-strong link between non-traditional PA programs at the workplace and several health-related physical fitness indices, with resistance exercise turned out to be superior to other exercise interventions analyzed. It appears that low-volume high-repetition resistance exercise favorably affects musculoskeletal disorders, work performance and health-related quality of life in employees who exercised at least 3 times per week for over 8 weeks. In terms of safety, screening protocols should employ health-related questionnaires, adopting a progressive training load, and prescribing training programs to individual participants’ needs. Implementing non-traditional PA programs aimed to improve health-related physical fitness and counteract sedentary behavior at workplace might be therefore of utmost importance to contribute to health promotion in this sensible population.

Sport4Health Network (SPORT4H) is a multidisciplinary project co-funded by the European Union Erasmus+ programme aimed to encourage participation in physical activity in working population. SPORT4H includes educational and instructional activities that provide top-notch knowledge on various physical activities that may have an additional benefit to improve healthy lifestyle behaviours across workforce. The aims of Sport4Health 2021 e-symposium organized from 22nd to 23th March 2021 were to: (1) summarize data collected during this project through evaluation of health and fitness profiles for over 40,000 employees from all Sport4HealthNet countries (Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Netherlands, Serbia and Slovenia); (2) discuss the applicability of user-friendly guidelines for physical activity at workplace and e-learning module that includes multicomponent interventions with innovative activities; (3) share experiences from different partners about the effects of educational interventions in specific working environment; and, (4) overview challenges identified during the implementation of interventions at work settings. The Sport4Health 2021 e-symposium facilitated networking between partner institutions, provided practical information for extensive public education that advances physical activity at workplace, and capacitated interaction and recruitment of end-users through e-learning modules and guidelines.