Summer Fitness Challenge!

TaeKwonDo Plus Summer Fitness Challenge

One of our main goals at the school for the summer is to increase each student’s interest in physical fitness and a healthy diet.  We are also hoping to get families exercising together!  In an effort to get our students to push themselves a little harder during summer, we have created our Fitness Challenge.  Students will be tested by an instructor, and their numbers recorded.  Every few weeks we will test again.  Students will be able to see if they are getting stronger or not.  Our hope is that students and their families will exercise together outside of the classroom.  Below are the exercises we will be using and some general tips on exercise and diet.  Please note that this is OPTIONAL! No student is required to participate.  Students will be tested either before or after class, not during class time.

The participants will be measured on the following exercises:

• Pushups (number of repetitions, must be correct to count!)
• Plank (held for time)
• Bodyweight squats or squat thrusts (number of repetitions)
• Standing broad jump (pull up optional for adults)
• Standing straddle split (flexibility test)

Tips for getting fit as a family:

• Mom and dad, take us up on our 2 months of free lessons offer!  Come to class and share this experience with your child!  2 hours a week of martial arts training can benefit and reward you the rest of your life!
• Take 5-10 minutes per day and practice the exercises above with your child.
• Adopt a dog from the Humane Society (Airport road) or the Domestic Animal Services (Davis road) and go for a daily walk as a family.  When I was a kid every night after dinner my father and I would walk our dog.  It is still one of my favorite memories!

• Take a family bike ride!  Visit Naples Cyclery in the Pavillion shopping center.  See Dave Harris or any of the staff, they will help you get the right bikes and they offer payment programs.  I started cycling after my knee surgery and it’s been a great addition to my fitness program.

• Take a football, soccer ball, or volleyball to the beach.  It’s close, it’s free, and the beach is great place to exercise and get some sun on your skin which produces Vitamin D (which almost all Americans are deficient in).

• Spend more “face time” and less “screen time”.  Watching tv together doesn’t count as exercise or quality time. Turn off your tv, computers, and iphones!! Find something to do together and DO it!!

Diet:

Diet is often the most challenging part of a healthy lifestyle, for both kids and adults.  However, it is the most significant part of our health and wellness.  No matter how much you exercise if you are not eating healthy foods you will not be healthy.  There’s no way around it, and the research and evidence proves what we were always told…..Eat your fruits and vegetables.

• Invest in a quality, high powered blender.  These can be bought locally or online (www.vitamix.com). You can make smoothies, soups, nut butters, ice cream, just about anything.  While they are initially expensive they pay for themselves over and over.  I bought a vitamix close to 2 years ago and have used it every single day since!! I keep it in the school and it has been the key factor in changing my diet.
• Buy a juicer.  Juicing is one of the best ways to get more fruit and vegetables into your diet.  It’s also incredibly healthy.  The Jack LaLane juicer that’s advertised on tv is a great product which can be bought at stores like Target.  Champion juicer (www.championjuicer.com) is a top of the line juicer that gets great reviews.
• Take your kids to the grocery store with you.  Let them pick out their own fruits and vegetables, and let them be part of the preparation of meals.  My parents used to take us tomato and berry picking.  We always wanted to eat what we picked, and it always tasted better to us!!
• Peel and freeze bananas.  Frozen bananas are great in smoothies (mix milk or water, frozen bananas, pitted dates and peanut or almond butter for a great breakfast smoothie) or as a desert.  Take several frozen bananas and blend until they have the consistency of soft serve ice cream.  Substitute for ice cream.  This is the best tasting, healthiest ice cream you can eat.  If your kids don’t love it I’ll give you a free private lesson!!
• My new favorite meal is corn soup.  Buy several stalks of sweet corn (which is available in any market and very cheap right now), cut the kernels off the cob and juice them (4-6 pieces per bowl).  Take the juice and heat it up.  Add a little sea salt and olive oil and you have an unbelievably delicious, healthy soup that is easy to make.  Serve with a grilled cheese sandwich (not processed cheese) and it’s a great comfort food meal.
• Shop at Food & Thought near TGIF’s by the mall.  The entire store is all organic, great café.  Whole Foods is a good place to shop, though a little expensive.  Oakes Market on Davis has great fruit and vegetables, a lot of it local, and the best prices on produce.  If you haven’t been there I encourage you to take a look.  Publix has a great produce section, and usually great deals.

I hope that you will join the instructors at TKD Plus and let us help you make this a great, safe, and healthy summer for your whole family!!  Thanks!

Mr. Frost

Posted by Mr. Frost