Hey Mad Hatters! How are your hats & crowns coming along? Here is our second activity for Virtual Wonderland week! Need a body break? Check out this fun game!
How many players?
You can play this with 2 or more.
Materials Needed:
Deck of cards
Piece of paper
red and black markers
How to Play:
One by one, players draw a card and everyone does the chosen exercise together.
Example- If I draw a 5 of hearts. We all do 5 Jumping Jacks together.
Your family can decide what fitness exercises to include for each of the four card suits, or you can use our example.
Here are some exercise ideas:
Jumping Jacks
Toe Touches
Arm Circles
Hopping on one foot
Push Ups
Sit Ups
Burpees
Squats
And that’s it! Be mindful of using good form, and have fun!
Did you come up with a fun workout? Take a photo and share it with us! #RWCMadHatter
We had 25 people – including some of our City Staff, members from our Senior Walking Club, Parents, Children, and one dog (Awww), show up to walk with us today to commemorate the American Heart Association‘s National Walking Day! This crew was lead by our fitness enthusiast Intern, Jennifer Schultz, on a stroll through our lovely Red Morton Park! Thank you to those who came out to make their commitment to health with us on this somewhat brisk and foggy Bay Area morning!
You too can improve your health, wellness and reduce risk factors by walking just 30 minutes a day! Walking is probably the easiest physical activity to achieve, and can be a great way to socialize (face-to-face!). You don’t need expensive equipment, you don’t have to pay for a membership, and you can just step out the front door and get started! No excuses!
Our nation is becoming more sedentary by the minute. We are spending more time at work than ever before, as well as many of us are glued to our electronic devices (guilty!). The American Heart Association states that these increased levels of inactivity can double our risk of heart disease!
More of us are overweight.
Adult (and childhood) obesity/overweight level continues to increase: 65% of all Adults are obese or overweight.
It is more difficult today to create an active lifestyle.
People are less active due to technology and better mass transportation; Sedentary jobs have increased 83% since 1950; Physically active jobs now make up only about 25% of our workforce. That is 50% less than 1950.
Our average work week is longer. Americans work 47 hours a week – 164 more hours a year than 20 years ago.
Extra weight costs us physically and financially.
Obesity costs American companies $225.8B per year in health-related productivity losses.
The average healthcare cost exceeds $3,000 per person annually. An obese employee costs employer additional $460 to $2,500 in medical costs and sick days per year.
As you age, your body is slowly wearing down, and without physical activity, this process is accelerated. Did you know that for each hour you exercise, you can gain about 2 hours of additional life expectancy? [2] Sounds like a good deal to us! Also, exercise greatly improves your quality of life, positively effecting: circulation, weight, blood pressure, mental health, self-image, strength, bone loss, heart disease, you name it! The benefits are endless. Do you need more reasons? Click here.
Lastly, we have so many ways for you to get moving in Redwood City! We have Fitness Classes, a Drop-In Fitness Center, and Open Gym times to name a few. In addition, here is a list of parks with trails in our immediate area that will help you to ignite your walking addiction!
Ten Redwood City elementary schools will soon offer physical education for students thanks to a local partnership grant. Redwood City and its Parks, Recreation and Community Services Department will be helping to provide physical education programs to the local youth, in partnership with Peninsula Community Center which has received a grant of more than $575,000 from the Sequoia Healthcare District’s Healthy Schools Initiative.
Through the grant, 10 Redwood City elementary schools will be able to provide physical education classes for students in kindergarten through fifth grades. As a result, more students will have access to fitness education. Physical education has been shown to significantly contribute to students’ well-being, and to their academic success. The majority of children in California are not physically fit, and in San Mateo County, only 25 percent of fifth graders passed the State Physical Fitness Assessment Test in 2010. Although the state mandates 50 minutes of PE per five-day school week, 4 Redwood City Schools have been challenged to meet this mandate due to more than $13 million in budget cuts in the last five years.
In response to this need, the Peninsula Community Center began providing coaches and PE classes to five schools in 2009. The need filled by PCC was well-received, and with proven success and increased demand from principals and schools, the program was expanded and currently serves seven schools.
This new strategic partnership between Redwood City and PCC will provide the PE+ program, a comprehensive, sequential K-5 curriculum, to approximately 5,000 children. With this cooperative services model, and the new support, the program will double the current capacity to meet 100 percent of the state’s PE requirement to Fair Oaks, Garfield, Hawes, Hoover, John Gill, Taft, Selby Lane, Henry Ford and Adelante elementary schools.
“We are so grateful to have the PE+ program and coaches at our site. They are positive role models for our youth,” said Roosevelt Elementary School Principal Patricia Girardi.
We are very excited to be a part of this new and important program!
Mother Love Fitness Challengers flexing their hard work!
So… you had a baby. You long for the days of your high school figure – which you may not have even liked back then, but now wish you had it back! This new little person in your life has trumped EVERYTHING, including your will and energy to get out and get your body back. You dread the idea of stepping foot into a gym and feeling like you wish you had a shirt that read, “I JUST HAD A BABY, OKAY!”
WHAT IF, there were a group of women just like you? WHAT IF, you could workout WITH your baby, and not stress about your baby in gym childcare during your entire workout. We know many gyms have great child care, but as a new Mom, it is stressful to leave your baby for the first time. Mommies, there is a solution. There are a variety of Stroller-based fitness programs to help jump-start your fitness regimen. Not only will they help you to achieve your fitness goals, but you will be surrounded with the support of other women who are sharing your same experiences.
Christy "Big Guns" Doyle
Christy Doyle, our resident BABY BOOT CAMP Trainer and Mommy Warrior, has been running this popular parent/child, strength training program in our own, Red Morton Park for several years. She recently recruited her own class participants to compete in a National Baby Boot Camp Competition entitled, MOTHER LOVE FITNESS CHALLENGE. Wait… didn’t these Moms have babies recently? YES THEY DID!
Mommies across the nation committed to 3 months of regular exercise, to then compete to become the nations “Fittest Mom” and win monthly prizes for their efforts. The outcome? Our own Kaycie Wall did 1,800 non-stop jump squats at Red Morton to take the National top spot! The Redwood City crew actually took the whole category with two other Redwood City Moms doing 1,758 and 1,600 non-stop jump squats! We also had one Mommy win “Most-Improved” in the push-up category. Day one, she struggled to do one push-up. Thirty days later, she did 10 of them! Red Morton Park has proven to be a fantastic park to work up a sweat! Congrats to our AWESOME MOMS! Come join us, your first class is FREE!
How can I participate?
Baby Boot Camp meets on Tuesdays & Thursdays in Red Morton Park (adding a Friday class at the end of the month!) and at Clifford Elementary School on Saturdays. All classes are at 9:30am. Click here for complete registration information.
What do I need to get started?
YOU NEED: Water bottle, mat or towel WHAT YOUR CHILD NEEDS: Stroller, snacks, toys, sun block, diapers, hat, blanket
