The Curse of Video Games...Or So I Think

By Ciara Cappo

Let's play a little game. I want you to think back, way back to when you were in elementary school. What were some of your favorite recess games? After school games? Personally, I can remember playing red rover, swinging on the monkey bars and at home we would ride our bikes or roller blade with the neighborhood kids. Hopefully you can remember those great childhood memories and how fun it was to be a kid! These days kids are becoming more and more sedentary, meaning they aren't getting out of the house and playing. Instead they're staying in the house, playing video or computer games. Even more so with mobile devices enabling kids to fixate on their games in the car, at the restaurant table, basically everywhere. 

It is no coincidence that childhood obesity is currently at an all time high. I can think back to when I was a kid and played Nintendo. It was introduced to the United States in 1985 and was very popular when I was a kid, this was almost thirty years ago. The CDC reports that in the last 30 years childhood obesity has more than tripled. Alright, perhaps there is no direct correlation here because there are a lot of factors that contribute to childhood obesity besides video games. However the increasingly sedentary lifestyle of children is no doubt a contributing factor to childhood obesity. 

What can we do to help the increasing incidence of childhood obesity? For starters I think we should encourage our kids to have fun and play outside. For children this can be a perfect way to burn extra energy. My nephews and nieces love to play outside with pogo sticks, bikes, skate boards and the rip stick. Often times outdoor activities can give children a great challenge they may not get at school. Along with lots of energy burning playtime, kids should be getting healthy meals that provide the proper nutrients for their growing bodies and non sugary snacks to keep them going throughout the day. Fresh fruits make a great snack and often when cut up in bite size pieces, make it fun to eat. Taking a moment to remember what it's like to be a kid and have fun can often help adults realize exactly what it is that kids need to grow, be healthy and strong. 

Live life and enjoy!

Improve Your Life Through Exercise

By Matt Moore

Do you feel sluggish in the morning and you just don’t want to get out of bed?

When you are awake, do you spend most of your time sitting in front of a TV clicking through the channels and not really using your time wisely?

Is your idea of exercise, one that involves going and getting the mail?

If you answered yes to any one of these questions, then you’re well on your way to realizing your full potential.

Let’s take a journey.  Now, you may be asking yourself, “Yeah I know about exercise, but it makes me tired, sore and sometimes cranky.” I bet you have come up with many excuses to avoid going out and exercising.

Such as… it is too expensive to join the athletic club near me?  I don’t know what to do, to even get started?  Or the favorite excuse of everyone, “there is just not enough time to do exercise in my schedule?”

Well here are some answers to get you motivated and well on your way:

1)      Exercise will improve your overall health, by lowering your blood pressure, and decreasing your risk of stroke.

2)     If done on a regular basis you could experience weight loss, and an increased self image.

3)     It will give you the needed energy to go out and do the things that you have always wanted to do. Such as, go camping or hiking in the mountains, play with your kids, or just being able to run up the stairs to answer the phone without being winded.

4)     The best part is that exercising is “free” you do not need a fancy gym membership, just go out for a stroll, run, jump, and play in the park, do some yard work, park in the furthest spot away from the store you are going into.

All it takes to get yourself up and out of the house is some initiative of your own.

I hope that you are now more inclined to go out and enjoy the day and I challenge you to get off the couch and enjoy yourself in the activity you choose to do!

Just remember, there is no special pill on the market today that will give you the benefits that exercise can.

AWESOME NIGHT!

Left-->Right:   Jason Kim, Carling Mcmichael, Alison Stamos, Tomilyn Thornberry, Taylor Cox

Last night, we sent a crew of five people over to San Jose Family Supportive Housing to hold our weekly program. When we arrived, the kids were doing their homework in their classrooms and when they realized we were there; they ran out screaming, "They're back, they're back!" The group had an awesome time with the kids, teaching them some core values of nutrition, exercise, games, and a ton of fun. We have begun to implement our program on a weekly basis at SJ FSH and are looking forward to sending another group of students over next Thursday!

Mother Nature is calling: The Importance of Being Outside

By Tomilyn Thornberry

The holidays are over, summer is still a few months away, and we all tend to get stuck indoors with our televisions and computers during the months of January and February. It is no surprises these months have been found to have the highest depression rates. Even in sunny California the shorter daylight hours keep many of us inside for the majority of our days and weeks. If we stop to think about it there are probably even stretches of multiple days where we only go outside to get to and from our modes of transportation and our workplaces. For those with children, the thought of getting the kids geared up to go play outside can sometimes be exhausting.

But, no matter where you live, spending time outdoors each week is vital to your mental health.  It’s so important that we be conscious of making some time each day to just appreciate the outdoors. Here are a few suggestions on ways to make time for being outside each day:

-Do a daily routine (checking emails/etc. on phone, reading the daily paper) outside on a bench.

-Get off the elliptical or treadmill…take your workout outdoors!

-Pick one of the outside tables when you head to Starbucks to do work or study.

-Arrange a playdate with other parents/kids at an outdoor playground.

-Walk instead of drive!

-Don’t forget to open your windows to let fresh air in your home from time to time.

For children, being indoors is both overstimulating and boring.  Even the experts agree: “Throughout history, children spent most of every day frolicking outside. Our homes are boring because they replace the exciting sensations of nature (the feeling of the wind on their skin, the brilliant sun, the soft grass, etc.) with an immense stillness (flat walls, flat floors, no wind). (Being indoors) bombards them with jolting experiences that kids in the past never had to deal with: crazy cartoons, slick videos, clanging computer games, noisy toys, and bright colors everywhere...which can make many little children feel stressed."  You might deduce that the same can be said for adults with all of the technological gadgets we have to fill our time. 

To those of you that have weather to contend with in these winter months allow me to share with you an appropriate quote: “There is no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothes.” In other words, if you have the right clothing items you can brave the rain, cold or wind and still be comfortable.  In Denmark, where the average winter temperatures are 30 degrees F, parents take their children outside everyday, they just dress them accordingly.

So, make time for the outdoors, even if it means pulling on a sweatshirt and reading a book on the porch at 8pm! Your body and mind will thank you.

How Do You Like Your Veggies? Raw, Baked, Steamed, Fried?

By Nichelle Francavilla

Does it really matter how we prepare our vegetables? Do we get the same nutritional value from pan fried vegetables, steamed vegetables, and raw vegetables?

The answer is no we do not get the same nutritional value from our vegetables through these different cooking modalities. This information almost seems hidden from us as a society.  Almost all vegetables with a few exceptions have the most nutritional value if we eat them raw. For most Americans eating every vegetable we consume raw would be quite boring and for some unappealing. There are fortunately other ways in which we can eat vegetables and still get nutritional value out of them. The second best way to prepare those veggies is through steaming, next baking/roasting, and finally through sautéing/frying them. The key for all of these cooking methods is to not overcook them. The more you cook the vegetables the more nutrition that is cooked out of them.

The unfortunate fact is that many vegetables have lost many of their nutrients by the time they reach our kitchen counter for a meal. Due to our mass production of foods in America the time between picking the produce and getting it to the consumer has increased significantly. Many nutrients are lost from our vegetables from being exposed to air and light during this time. The longer distance the vegetable travel means the longer they have been exposed to light and the longer they have been exposed to air. The best advice is to eat as fresh of food as possible from places like farmers markets or even your own personal garden. This eliminates the long distance that your produce has to travel to reach your plate.

Another tip is to wash your veggies, but not soak them because many of the water-soluble vitamins can have a tendency to leach out. This is true for any liquid you place your veggies in from steaming them in water to sautéing them in oil. The vitamins often leach into the liquid and are discarded. For soups where that liquid is often used, not much of the nutrition is lost because they are then included back into the meal.

Set a goal! What will you change to get the most nutrition out of your meal? How will you eat your next meal of veggies to benefit you the most? Perhaps raw or slightly steamed? Maybe you will even use your weekend to visit a nearby farmers market and get fresh veggies!

For more information visit: http://www.myoptumhealth.com

Spaghetti Squash!

By Ciara Cappo

Last month I set a goal for myself to eat healthier and clean up my diet. I set this goal for myself in order to have a healthier lifestyle. Sometimes we can go day to day and not realize how much the things we put in our mouth affect our body. The things we consume can affect our bodily functions, energy and mood. One thing you should take notice of when changing your diet is how your body feels and if there are any changes that occur with your body during this time. I have become more aware of how my body feels since changing my diet, when eating certain things I have noticed what my body does and does not like. I have noticed that since cleaning up my diet I have felt better and seem to have more energy than before!

 I started my ‘clean’ diet by eating as much fresh fruits and vegetables as possible, chicken and fish, and 

started eating brown rice instead of white. I come from an Asian culture so switching over to brown rice was very difficult for me luckily I found a brown rice and quinoa medley that I like and tastes great! A great tip for making diet and lifestyle changes such as this is to find foods that go along with your change and also taste good. If you don’t enjoy what you are eating, you will be least likely to follow your diet change. Most of the time I have been altering recipes I currently use to incorporate fresh ingredients but the other night I tried a completely new recipe. I made spaghetti squash! I first heard of this recipe from a woman I met while working- she said her granddaughter loved it. I thought to myself “if kids love it, then why wouldn’t I?” At my next grocery store visit I happened to walk past the squash and noticed a recipe sticker attached to it, it was the recipe for spaghetti squash. It was a sign! If you’re lucky enough to find a squash that comes with directions you should definitely try it.

Spaghetti squash was somewhat easy to make. Basically instead of using traditional spaghetti noodles for the pasta, you cook and string the squash to use as noodles. You can add your usual pasta sauce or make your own like I did.

1.     You must poke holes with a fork around the entire squash.

2.     Next you microwave the squash for 8-10 minutes or until the skin begins to soften. Carefully remove squash, cut in half and remove seeds.

3.     Using a fork, scrape along the inside of the squash. This will cause the squash to peel off in a stringy fashion. Do this to both halves of the squash until the desired amount of “noodles” are obtained.

4.     Now you are ready to add your homemade sauce and enjoy!

Here are a few pictures from my experience with this dish

What a Great Quarter!



We have just finished up our second quarter as a club and it has been been full of progress. We had very high hopes for this quarter, setting big goals and I have to say that we have made tremendous progress as a group. We have now established a website, serving as a home-base to our organization and have begun to produce educational articles in blog format to further support our mission of reaching out to the online community. We also held The Work Hard Play Hard Fundraiser as one of our many upcoming fundraisers. The event had a great turn out and served as a great way for us to get exposure and funding as an upcoming club. Beginning last week, we launched our own workout program as a club. Each week we will be meeting on a voluntary basis to practice what we preach and get a great workout in! Thus far, it has been a fun experience and we will be continuing this in the future.

And now on to the good stuff...

Three weeks ago, we held our first Healthy Choices Seminar! We got the opportunity to have an awesome time sharing exercise and nutrition with 15 kids at San Jose Family Supportive Housing. The event was such a great experience for all of us and we learned a tremendous amount from the hour we spent there. We are incredibly excited to have the chance to return there in the future and implement our program in many other locations throughout The Bay Area.

We have taken some huge steps in the right direction in the last 10 weeks and we don't plan on stopping by any means. We have many more goals set for the upcoming quarter and have seminars lined up for the new year. I can't wait to see how much our club will grow in the coming year. Thank you all for your support, we appreciate all that we have recieved and are excited to continue our efforts in changing The Bay Area for the better!

The Need For Research

By: Jaclyn Casab

I have a degenerative disease in my spine, called Diffuse Idiopathic Skeletal Hyperostosis (DISH), which makes me somewhat of an anomaly since the typical patient is male and over the age of 50, while I am female and only 31.  Besides the drawback of having a degenerative disease in the first place, the greatest challenge has to be the lack of knowledge and research pertaining to DISH.  I have found that many, even experienced clinicians, do not understand what it is.   The danger in that occurs when they try to associate it with other diseases such as ankylosing spondylitis and degenerative joint disease, since the diseases are found within the same category of degenerative diseases.  That is where the similarities end though, in that the treatment of patients with DISH is unique because while the other degenerative diseases cause breakdown of the joints in some way or another, DISH only affects a ligament called the ALL on the front of the spine and has nothing to do with the joints themselves.  Most likely, this is not due to the fault of the doctors trying to treat patients with DISH, but rather due to the lack of research, especially in the way of treatment courses and in the areas of diagnosis and potential causes.  The need for research is so important for people in my situation because when DISH is lumped into other categories, the tendency is for doctors to recommend the opposite of what I need and want to make me feel better, which should be the focus.  Staying as flexible as possible by staying active and stretching, which, based on my personal experience, is an excellent recommendation for the management of DISH.    Additionally, I am curious as to how many people out there may have this disease and not even know it because no one has ever looked for it.  Who knows, maybe I am not an anomaly but instead, an overlooked population waiting to be discovered.  It was only by accident that it was even found because I did not need x-rays; I just thought they would be cool to look at.   Therefore, I would strongly recommend keeping an open mind, and for doctors treating and patients with DISH to document their findings whenever possible.

Squat Low and Often

The fitness industry has brought us millions of different “miracle” exercises, workout plans, machines, and yet as many fads have come and gone within the world of exercise; one movement has proven its worth as the ultimate functional tool, that movement being none other than the squat. This exercise proves to be the single best, and simplest tool for developing functional movement for many reasons and we will cover a few in this post. One of the most important of these is the fact that it is engrained within our neuromuscular system from the first time that we stand up as infants. If you take a look at the video below, you will see a perfect demonstration of an air squat performed by a toddler as he stands up for the first time.

As we develop into our adult form, our bodies adapt to the environment that we chronically place ourselves into. We currently live in an era in which sitting predominates our lifestyles and this causes an array of issues. We suffer the effects of poor posture and lack of movement through tight hips and a weak posterior chain within our bodies. When we lose the suppleness, strength, and elasticity of our bodies to perform complex posture-oriented movements such as the squat, we lose our ability to perform simple tasks like picking up objects without injury, standing up off of the floor, sitting down into a chair, etc. The bottom line is that training proper squat technique allows us better movement and function.

The importance of not only squatting; but, squatting deep is pivotal with what we are trying to accomplish through our exercise program. Squatting deep and often has been shown to increase posterior chain activation as opposed to squatting down to 90 degrees. Shallow, or half squatting has been shown to place stress and activation within the quadriceps. This is not necessarily a bad thing; but we at The Kidnetics Project prefer movements that give us greater “bang for our buck” and want to utilize the squat to not only strengthen the quadriceps; but, also gain access and strengthen the muscles of the posterior chain, which are essential to holding us upright, protecting our lower backs, stabilizing our pelvis, running, jumping, and keeping us stable during everyday movements.

For further research on this you may refer to a study performed by Caterisano et al 2002 which provides valuable insight into squat depth and muscle activation. In this study, the researchers found glute activation during full squats to be greater than twice that of partial squats (35.4% compared to 16.9%), hamstring and adductor complex activation to be similar, while quadriceps activation dominated during the partial squats only.

Posterior Chain Muscles Emphasized:

· Hamstrings complex
· Gluteus Maximus
· Erector Spinae
· Latissimus Dorsi
· Trapezius – lower, middle, upper
· Rhomboids

Squatting with an added load or weight in the front or back also provides an even greater activation of core stabilizers and overall muscle recruitment. This is a topic that will be addressed in future posts.


Bottom's Up Squatting:

Where To Start:

• Stand with feet shoulder width
• Toes pointed straight ahead
• Reach down and grab toes or low barrier with hands
• Keeping heels down and hands on feet, descend to bottom of squat

The Bottom of The Squat:

• Hips should descend below the knees
• Knees should be in line with 2nd and 3rd toes
• Heels should be down

Standing back up: 

• Release hands from toes
• Reach arms straight up
• Pull torso upright and brace abdomen
• Stand up driving heels down and knees slightly out

What’s that you say? You have chronic knee problems from past injuries? Have no fear, the squat can easily be modified to provide the same effect in a stable environment for those of us with knee trouble. This modified squatting exercise is called “The Box Squat” and reduces the sheering effect on the knees by preventing the knees from traveling forward.


The Box Squat: 

 

 

Where to start:

•  Place a box behind you just like you would a chair 
•  Set your feet outside of shoulders 
•  Turn feet out slightly 
•  Stand tall 

The Descent:

•  Begin the squat by first kicking your butt back as if to close the car door with a handful of groceries 
•  Continue this hip motion and begin to passively let your knees bend 
•  Do NOT let your knees come forward 
•  Instead, drive them out in line with your toes 
•  Allow your torso to fold forward as you squat down to the box 
•  Keep your core tight and back flat 
•  Descend all the way down to the box 

Standing back up:

•  After touch the box drive through your heels pulling your butt up first 
•  As you do this pull your chest up simultaneously 
•  Do NOT let your knees come forward 
•  Stand completely upright locking your knees and squeezing your glutes 

There it is! Two variations of the squat for you and we’re only one post into this madness. More to come on variations of loaded squats and how to incorporate the same concepts in other movements. Until then, squat low and squat often my friends!

New Shirts!

The new shirts are in and they are AWESOME! Come and pick yours up if you ordered one and please let us know via email if you would like to order one and we will get one for you in the next order we place.

Water

By Nichelle Francavilla

Our Thirst for Water

If you are drinking anything besides plain water and thinking you are doing a great job getting your daily requirements, think again. You need to be drinking half your body weight in ounces a day. This means if you are 120 lbs you need 60 ounces or 7.5 cups of water a day or more. But the question remains, why do we need water?

Let’s break it down:

Our bodies are made up of 50-80% water depending on age and is used in nearly every bodily function. The essential role of water is why we need to main a healthy ratio within our bodies. There is a significant amount of water in our blood, brain, lungs, and muscles. The water in our bodies help us regulate temperature and help with the transport of nutrients throughout the body. Drinking water also helps with cleansing and detoxifying, digestion and metabolism, replacing fluids after exercise, enhances fat loss, and hydrates skin. Overall, water is critical to our survival because of all the vital functions water has within our body.

Wait… so soda doesn’t count as water?

 It is important for our bodies to receive water by itself because drinks such as soda and alcohol actually take water from the body and drinks such as coffee, milk, and juice require water to help with digestion.

What to do to increase your water intake?

It’s smart for both children and adults to carry around a water bottle with them to get in the habit of continuously drinking water. By using a water bottle you can easily see how much water you have been drinking throughout the day and can help create goals for yourself until you reach the correct amount of consumption. There are some people who get tired of plain water and for those people it is okay to add a little lemon for flavor (but note that drinking lemonade is not the same). If you are thirsty this is your body’s signal that you need water intake and that you are on your way to dehydration. Also, if your pee is dark yellow then this is usually a sign that you should drink more water. 

Making Lunch Count

By: Tomilyn Thornberry

Now that the school year is in full-swing it’s possible that as we get busier, whether as students or parents when it comes to packing lunches it’s easy to just throw together the most accessible thing in our pantry into our bag or the kids’ lunch boxes. Busy schedules somehow tend to take over and we forget that what we eat for lunch is important, especially at the midpoint of the day when our brains and bodies need a boost.

I was a middle school teacher for 2 years and it was always tough for me to see kids bring lunches that included nothing but white bread and sugary jelly, chips, high-sugar “juices” and fruit snacks. I even had a student who brought nothing but a Ziploc full of marshmallows for lunch one day! While it may be convenient to stuff a brown paper snack with a plethora of pre-packaged empty carbohydrates kids and adults alike are, in my opinion, better off not even eating lunch than eating empty calories with no actual nutrients. Coincidentally, many of my students that brought some of the aforementioned items were also those that demonstrated a noticeable slump in mental coherence and mood during afternoon classes. Studies show that children who eat diets rich in fiber and protein perform better in school than those who consume diets low in protein and high in sugar.  Not only does protein and fiber take longer to digest than high sugar foods, but they also supply essential amino acids that combine to form proteins that are essential for managing the neurotransmitters in the brain.  I’ve had parents ask me during parent-teacher conferences for suggestions with helping their child “focus” and I always told them that in my opinion the best place to start is with what you feed your body ( and therefore ,brain.)

Healthy school lunches, especially in the public school sector is a topic that is as broad as it is long so much so that professional chefs make TV shows about it (i.e. Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution) and state and federal legislature is continuously fighting battles over it. My only attempt here in this post is to point you towards some ideas of simple ways to incorporate brain-and-body-boosting foods into noontime meals. It doesn’t mean you can’t throw in a bag of Sun Chips or a pack of fruit snacks into your or your child’s lunch but the meal can’t rest on those things. Your body and especially those of children need protein, vegetables, fruit and healthy fats to get through the afternoon slump. It’s actually amazing how easy it can be to switch out “go-to” items that lack nutrients with much more fortifying options. Sometimes we just need some hints! So whether you are packing a lunch for yourself, your spouse or your children here are a few links with some clever tips on making lunch count! (Oh and use your Tupperware!) Happy eating!

Links:

- http://www.jamieoliver.com/us/foundation/jamies-food-revolution/bestworstlunch

- Healthy Eating- Motivators for school age children and adolescents

- 15 Kid-Approved Healthy Lunches

- For those that need visual aids here are some pictures from a website called This Lunch Rox (www.thislunchrox.com) .

This lunch includes:  peanut butter roll-up, cucumbers, almonds, strawberries and blueberries, chewy chocolate granola bar

This lunch includes:  turkey/spinach/cheese wrap, strawberries, celery & p.b. (if peanut allergies are a concern you could use hummus instead), peanut butter-dark chocolate muffins, trail mix 

This lunch includes:  cheese & onion quesadillas on flax seed tortillas, salad with ranch dressing, strawberries/kiwi, flax seed taco chips, brownie

Today’s quick-and-easy lunch includes:  egg salad sandwich, plum, broccoli and ranch dip, chocolate granola bar, spelt pretzels and cheese

Up Next

Our first Healthy Choices Seminar is almost here! We will be holding it on November 10th at Family Supportive Housing in San Jose. During the seminar, we will be teaching a variety of fun, exercise and nutritional lessons to a great group of kids. We are incredibly excited to have our first opportunity to have an impact on the community and will be preparing ourselves in the coming weeks to make the program as good as it can be.

We will be holding a meeting tomorrow (Wednesday) in room 119 at 4pm. To go over a few of the logistics for the event. We will also be holding a mandatory training for the exercise and nutritional portions of the program next week on a day that will be determined at tomorrow's meeting.

What A Day

The 2011 Work Hard Play Hard Fundraiser is in the books! We had an incredible day enjoying challenging workouts, great food, and a whole lot of fun. The athletes who competed were inspiring, to say the least, and gave every ounce of effort they had. At the end of the day, CrossFit Amity (Team Ramrod) came out on top with CrossFit Santa Clara (The Deadliest Snatch) finishing with a close second and CrossFit Moxie (Team Bird Noise) coming in at third place.

We'd like to thank CrossFit Moxie for letting us throw the event at their place. They were very generous to open their doors to us and we are truly grateful to be able to team up with such a great group of guys. Also, thank you to all who volunteered with judging, setting up, cooking, and participating.

This is the first of many events The Kidnetics Project will be throwing. Our efforts through this event were not only to raise funds for our club; but, to bring people together for the sole purpose of enjoying the positivity that health, fitness, and team work can bring. We definitely achieved that and hope to continue holding similar events in the near future!

Event #2

This workout will be very simple and a lot of fun, here is the format:

Workout #2:

There will be an 8 minute time period and each teammate will complete a sandbag run of 120m. This will be in a relay format. Once the sandbag run is completed, the rest of the 8 minutes will be used to perform as many lateral jump burpees as possible. Only two teammates can work at one time and the total score for the event will be the amount of burpees performed by the team. 

1. 3 x 120M sandbag run (65lbs -men/45lbs - women)
2. Max. lateral jump burpees 

The sandbag run can be performed however you would like, just get the sandbag from A to B.

Demo for the lateral jump burpee (excuse the music):

Event #1

Due to a few different requests we will be making a couple very slight changes to workout number one. The workout will now be a Team Fight Gone Bad. This is an AWESOME workout and could only be made better by having a couple of teammates pushing through it together. Here are the logistics of the workout...

WORKOUT #1:TEAM FIGHT GONE BAD

In this workout you move from each of five stations after a minute. This is a five-minute round from which a one-minute break is allowed before repeating. We've used this in 3 and 5 round versions. The stations are:

1. Wall-ball: 20 pound ball, 10 ft target. (Reps)
2. Sumo deadlift high-pull: 75 pounds (Reps)
3. Box Jump: 20" box (Reps)
4. Push-press: 75 pounds (Reps)
5. Row: calories (Calories)

The clock does not reset or stop between exercises. On call of "rotate," the athlete/s must move to next station immediately for good score. One point is given for each rep, except on the rower where each calorie is one point.

Here are videos for the movement standards:

Wall-ball

Sumo Deadlift High-Pull

Box Jumps (20")

Push Press

Rowing:

There it is! Workout #1 is ready to roll and those of you who are not familiar with the movements should check those videos out and practice. We will review the standards again before we start the workout. Workout #2 will be posted later today!

Online Registration Now Available

Online registration for The Work Hard Play Hard Fundraiser is now available online! VISIT HERE to sign up a register your team of three now!

Work Hard Play Hard Fundraiser!

We are having a fundraiser!! What better way to get our quarter started off than to have a great workout, bbq, and drinks with friends? We are incredibly excited to get together and have a great time! Online registration will be available soon so start getting your teams set up.

Work Hard Play Hard Fundraiser

Date: 10.22.11
Time: 10am-3pm
Teams: 3 person teams and must have atleast 1 girl

Workouts: There will be 3 team events, each consisting of a different crossfit-style workout. Prizes will be awarded for the top 3 teams. Workouts will also be scaled for those who want to do them, but don't wish to compete. Our number one goal is to have a great time with fun workouts!
Cost: $75/team - includes bbq/beer after
Why: The Kidnetics Project is a non-profit organization affiliated with Palmer Chiropractic College West whose mission is to educate the youth of The Bay Area about health and wellness. We are holding this event to raise funds for our club in support of our efforts to reach out to the community through seminars and after school programs. The money from this event will be placed towards supplying food, exercise equipment, travel costs, nutritional lesson plans, uniforms, etc. to allow our club to effectively reach out to the schools and families of our surrounding community.


Schedule:
Registration: 9am-10am
Event #1: 10am-11:15am
Event #2: 11:30am - 12pm
Event #3: 12:30pm - 1pm

BBQ: 1pm-when the food/beer is gone

Event #1:
3 Rounds - 1min @ each station

Wallballs 20lbs for men/14lbs for women
Rowing for calories
Box jumps 20in for men and women
TBD


**total reps performed by the team will be their score

Demos for exercises of this workout can be found on youtube and will also be posted on this site as videos soon.

The second two workouts will be announced soon.

Worry Warts Unite!

     I am a self proclaimed worry wart. I diagnosed myself with “worry-wartitis” during my early teens when I found myself waking up in the middle of the night worrying about what the next day entailed. “Worrying about the future will only give you wrinkles and high blood pressure” explained my mother.  With neither of those options sounding appealing to me, I asked myself: What was the point of worrying over small, and often ridiculous, issues?

     I still have episodes of “worry- wartitis” occasionally to this day, and this particular article really speaks to me. However, when I catch myself worrying about certain things I really try to focus on the positive outcomes of that certain situation, rather than the negative outcomes.  Studies have shown that those who practice positive thinking have lower rates of stress, depression and cardiovascular diseases, and have increased coping skills and resistance to the common cold.  As a stress-laden society, I believe we can all seriously benefit from positive thinking.

Resource: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/positive-thinking/SR00009


Deborah Marin

YMCA Training

We had the wonderful opportunity yesterday evening to have Susan Gentry from the YMCA come over and train our club in the ever-important topic of child abuse prevention. This is the first session of our three-part training for our club. The next two will be held in October when we get back from break and will review the exercise and nutrition aspects of our program. 

If you didn't make it into our training last night, we recorded the session and will post it on this site as soon as possible. Thank you all who attended last night and also a huge thanks must go out to Susan Gentry and the YMCA for being so gracious to our club!