Beginning Sports Program for Preschoolers

It is a challenge to prepare for a preschool fitness program with young children.  Parents have various expectations that are realistic to have fun but unrealistic thinking that this one class will prepare them for a particular sport or skill.  However, I have found that even a hectic program for preschool students with special needs and their siblings can be effective if the following protocols are followed. 
Preparation:  Trainers or teachers need to have all the equipment ready.  That means that the teachers need to get to the program early and make sure you are prepared for all the activities.  Having a skeleton plan is helpful, not only for you but also all of your staff that works for you.  I typically have a lanyard with a list of activities but I also explain that I may or may not go in that particular order of activities. 

Headaches, Migraines, and Other Pains in the Head

Headaches are unpleasant pains in your head that can cause pressure and aches. They can range from mild to severe pain and usually occur on both sides of your head. Some specific areas where headaches can occur include the forehead, temples, and back of the neck. A headache can last anywhere from 30 minutes to a week. Tension headaches aren’t the only type of headaches that occur. Other headache types include: Cluster headaches are severely painful headaches that occur on one side of the head and come in clusters.

This means you experience cycles of headache attacks, followed by headache-free periods. Often confused with migraines, sinus headaches co-occur with sinus infection symptoms such as fever, stuffy nose, cough, congestion, and facial pressure. These headaches are intense or severe and often have accompanying symptoms in addition to head pain. Symptoms associated with a migraine headache include nausea, pain behind one eye or ear, pain in the temples, seeing spots or flashing lights, sensitivity to light and/or sound, temporary vision loss, and vomiting. A migraine headache will cause intense pain that may be throbbing and will make performing daily tasks very difficult.

12 Tips for Taper and Marathon Time

After a season of 12-32 weeks for a marathon, the last three weeks are geared toward tapering.  Initially, it is a relief knowing that the hard work you have gained through training is coming to an end. But also with it comes a new frustration knowing and not knowing how it will not only affect your body but also your mind.

After your final last long run, it is time to rest for your marathon.  It is perfectly normal to start to feel the aches and pains from muscles healing as you lessen your intensity, running miles after miles.  Feeling down and achy is also normal as your body adjusts to changes from training intensely.

5 Basic Types of Relays To Make Great Field Days

As the weather gets warmer children are ready for a change as you train them. Try the option of doing field days and relays with your kids. They are a great finale to your fitness training sessions.

Relays and field day activities reinforce teaching direction, timing, agility, and coordination. They also teach the importance of cooperation, conforming to following rules, and winning and losing games graciously. Emphasis should be on improving skill; not to prove who the best athlete in games is. Group instructors can also individually time students and see their improvement in a skill by performing the relays at the beginning and ending of a training program. It is also a great way to test kids without having to buy special equipment. Relays can be easily done with cones, beanbags, ropes, balls and other ordinary gym equipment. Some relays do not need any equipment at all. Most relay and field days can be played inside or outside.

Disability Youth Overview

Inclusion is a term used quite frequently in our society.  It means that as trainers and teachers, we will have students with disabilities in our classrooms and fitness facilities, and we must learn how to meet their unique needs in daily activities and welcome them in our schools, churches, and recreation/gyms, while striving to serve the general public as well. This is a daunting task even for those people who specialize in special education. I believe that this article is essential for anyone who works with children with disabilities. This series is divided into four categories addressing those students with physical, mental, learning and emotional/behavioral disabilities. Please read each of these sections since the person you may be working with will have a variety of disabilities and perhaps a combination of multiple diagnoses.  This month we will explore physical disabilities.

The Benefits of Running

Runners have known for years the benefits of the sport. But as my years of running have come and gone, I see a lot of my friends still sitting on the sidelines, wondering whether or not to lace up their shoes and start running.  Running is incredibly effective at making you healthier in a number of ways.   Here are some reasons that running is actually good for you.

Sandbag Training

Sandbags have been around for centuries.  They were used by wrestlers, strongmen and in martial arts.  In recent years it has caught the mainstream as functional fitness for both the elite exerciser and the everyday athlete. Sandbags are shown as a serious strength and conditioning too.  In this article, I will give you some basic reasons, guidelines, and strategies for incorporating the sandbag in your workout.

It is great for conditioning and increasing cardio heart rates as well as constant integrating unstable movement in some HITT activities.  Dumbbells are stable and sandbags with the same weight are not.  Sandbags challenge both the mind and the body. Another benefit is that they are inexpensive and can be made cheap with homemade equipment or just a duffle bag securing closed.

Get Kids Active with Go Noodle!

My passion is both education and fitness.  As a special and elementary teacher and certified trainer and instructor, I see where so many teachers are overwhelmed to keep their children focused, happy and busy. So in order to keep with the demands of pressure to teach academic concepts, there is a website that allows teachers to motivate, refocus and get the wiggles out that is available at both home and school.  This website is GoNoodle.

Lessons with a Ladder

The agility ladder is a great tool to use for training for children as well as inexpensive and easy to use.  Ladders can range from chalk drawings outside to using a dry erase marker, duct tape inside and sports tape inside a gym.  Kids love the equipment and they can easily shuffle, crawl, jump or hop through each rung as they practice their math facts, spelling words, grammar or multiple guess questions.

Rope Training for the Beginner and Advanced Athlete

Looking for a workout that is different and outside the box of traditional strength, cardio, and circuit training?  Try a rope workout.  Ropes are a great tool to use in your training. Ropes are low impact.  They are much safer to use than barbells, dumbbells, and kettlebells as long as you are using good form.

The ropes are the ideal workout cross training exercise you can do without placing too much stress on your joints because all the force is applied to your muscular system instead. In just a short time, you can burn many calories more than with heavy resistance training sprinting and high-intensity interval training. So it’s a good addition to your training program if you’re looking to weight. They work both the upper front and back simultaneously as well as the core. The good news is rope training works your entire core from the upper abs to your glutes and quads, both stabilizing spinal movement and applying power from the core.

Browse

News collects all the stories you want to read

SEE IF YOU QUALIFY FOR THE FITNESS INDUSTRY'S FASTEST GROWING BUSINESS NETWORKING GROUP