- Monday, February 28th, 2011
- by Carol
We should all try to remember this...the quality of our eating habits says a lot about how we feel and perform each day. Processed junk food off of store shelves is just exactly that...mostly junk! Look for healthy snacks and meals with the purest of ingredients...fruit, veggies, nuts, seeds, meat, eggs. Slice up some apples and serve them up with some sharp cheddar cheese and raisins. Simple! Don't like OR eat cheese? Sub in some almond or other nut butter and top with raisins.
- Friday, February 25th, 2011
- by Carol
One of our favorite warmups at the box has to be the monkey bars! (The adults like it as much as the kids!) Our pullup structure, better known as "The Chuck", is bolted to the block wall and forms 12 bays that you can manuever your way through bar by bar. As the height increases, the transition is that much more challenging. This warmup requires grip strength, shoulder flexibility and speed among other things. Here is Justin M. making his way up the bars...
Working The Chuck!
- Wednesday, February 23rd, 2011
- by Carol
We also had a great turnout for our Parents' Night Out on Valentine's weekend! All ages were welcome - we began with a few rounds of dodgeball and then had some skill sessions with the jumprope. A few kids participated in 1-minute max single unders - Aran G. won with 133 jumps in a minute! Nice job! We ended with a movie for everyone to enjoy. Look for another Parents' Night Out in May - best part of deal? It's free!
Movie time...
- Monday, February 21st, 2011
- by Carol
We had an amazingly successful open house on Saturday! Thanks to everyone who came out and inquired about our kids' and adult programs. The weather was outstanding so we were able to get out of the box and do some workouts in the elements...always a top-priority for kids! With warmer weather approaching, please send a jacket with your child - working out only inside under flourescent lighting doesn't work for me - our kids need Vitamin D and fresh air for optimal health. Coming up this week - I will put forth a new challenge to each child in the gym...are you ready and willing to join in?
Fellas!
- Friday, February 18th, 2011
- by Carol
We made this recipe last Friday night after a long week. We don't make a ton of chicken at our house since it is very expensive to purchase if locally raised. But this worked in a pinch and our kids loved it! I cut up thin slices of chicken and sauteed them with garlic, onion and olive oil. Once the chicken was slightly browned, I added the vegetables that I had available in the fridge - peppers, handfuls of spinach, cabbage and lots of Penzey's Spices/salt/pepper. I poured a little chicken broth over it and let it simmer for just a few minutes. The kids ate with a serving of brown rice. Lots of protein and healthy vegetables!
- Wednesday, February 16th, 2011
- by Carol
to our high school softball players! Tryouts are coming up and their practices begin next week. We've had the pleasure of working with them since September and we'll miss them all when they leave us. They worked hard and were very dedicated. Their hard work will pay off!
- Monday, February 14th, 2011
- by Carol
Valentine's Day is here. While I enjoy showing my family and friends how much I love them, I refuse to hand out candy and other junk to them on this or any other day of the year. With all of the "food items" out there that are already loaded with unhealthy ingredients, this day, in particular, adds some kind of urgency for us to buy more! Where does candy fit into your child's nutrition plan? I hope that most will agree that it doesn't. After all, where does these things even come from? When you try to picture where they come from, what images pop up in your mind? What I picture isn't pretty! So, on this day of red and pink, let's try to get some more green into our kids' diets...they'll love you for it later in life...
Baked Kale Chips:
1 large bunch of kale, de-ribbed, washed and dried thoroughly
1 or 2 TBSP EVOO
1 TBSP balsamic vinegar (optional)
Sea salt
Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Massage the EVOO into the kale. Sprinkle with vinegar. Spread kale onto a cookie sheet keeping the pieces from overlapping. Bake for about 35 minutes or until crispy.
Now we're talking!
- Friday, February 11th, 2011
- by Carol
Among other gymnastic movements such as somersaults, cartwheels and tuck sits (a modified L-sit performed on parallettes), we have been working on our handstands at the box. What appears to be such a simple exercise can be challenging for a number of reasons: poor core strength, loose shoulders and the fact that many of us are just not used to going upside down frequently. Once we teach the basics of active shoulders and locked down rib cages in handstand pop-ups, we are able to move our students into spotted handstands against the wall as you see here with Aran G. Daily practice improves spatial awareness, brain function and, well, better handstands!
Nice handstand and nice socks!
- Wednesday, February 9th, 2011
- by Carol
Flexibility is important in our gym! To increase your capacity for getting work done, you need to be more flexible. What does that mean? Shoulders,lats, hamstrings, quads - those big movers all figure in to how we move throughout our daily routines. Can you really bend over and touch your toes without bending at the knee? How about some of these moves here by Kyle B.? Getting more flexible improves life in general...
Got flexibility?
- Monday, February 7th, 2011
- by Carol
We've been drilling many gymnastic movements in the gym over the past few weeks. Kids are able to perform all sorts of cool things - getting inverted on the rings, cartwheels, hand-stand progressions, planche progressions and somersaults! They really enjoy learning these types of movements and they get strong quickly with practice. Here is Claire J. inverted on rings...
