girls don't want to mess up hair, make-up

Wish I'd bookmarked the article. It talked about how girls about high school age complain about working out during the school day because it messes up their hair and make-up. Now I'm not about to swing a cyberkosh about the objection. Good trainers listen to the problems and find solutions. And I can relate - there are days when I'm actually clean and pretty and would just as soon enjoy it for a while.

The thing is, I'm betting most of these girls only think of working out as activities that involve running around, jumping, that are mostly, if not all, cardio. It's an issue of education, not motivation. Come on, gym teachers, coaches! Let these girls know there are alternatives.

So here's the solution - a work out that causes only minimal disturbance to hairdos and doesn't necessarily make you sweat. There's no jumping or running around involved. Check it - go heavy and slow.

• Deadlifts (load up that bar!)
• Pull-ups (however you can - assisted if necessary. Or pulldowns, if no bar)
• Chest press of your choice (standing - cable crossover, bench, or pec deck if you must)

That's it! Do one cycle on each - that is, instead of counting how many you do, do deadlifts until you feel your form will suffer if you do one more, then move to pull-ups; do them until you can't do another, then do the presses. How many you do this way doesn't matter as much as doing them right. Then start the whole thing over.

This is not a high-rep endeavor. The pace is relaxed. Go slow, be methodical, and wander around between exercises. Hell, touch up your make-up.

The key is, go heavy. It'll feel great. If you've got good form and effort, this will get you worked out admirably without getting you all mussed up. Afterward, you can go right back to class. Save the sweaty stuff for another day.

Daria Twarowski, monkey bar master

Daria Twarowski is new master of the monkey bars. This 7-year-old first grader was honored Friday for completing a record 37 round trips on the monkey bars, outscoring 400,000 students in 40 states for the national champ position.

From Chicago Sun-Times article by Teresa Sewell:

It gets your arm strong.

Gracefully leaping from each of the 11 bars on a span nearly 12 feet in the air, Daria seemed confident and focused at a demonstration for the press Friday. She said she had practiced in the summer at a nearby park.

"I think Daria is incredible," said Kennedy Principal Kim Boryszewski. "I couldn't be happier for her."

Daria said she wasn't tired after setting the record. It took her about half an hour to finish the 37 trips. She quit because she was bored, she said.

Photo by Thomas Delaney Jr./Sun-Times

Florida "gold standard" for girls' weightlifting

Good vibrations buzz article from the NY Times (New Port Richey, FL) by Abby Goodnough

excerpt - Extracurricular club programs for girls have sprung up around the country since women’s weightlifting became an Olympic sport in 2000. But Florida, with 170 high school teams that have produced two Olympians and several dozen world team members, has “set the gold standard” for the sport.

Photo of Jessica Reynolds of Sarasota, by Chip Litherland for the NY Times

today's kids getting overtraining damage

They're not all McDuds. Being a kid today often means extra-curriculars ad nauseum, lest a kid have a chance to come up with something to keep himself busy. And most kids will work their butts off until they have a reason not to. For the athletic bunch, whaddya know? There's a price. Good information, Reuters.

By Megan Rauscher - Today's overachieving kids are starting sports earlier and training longer and harder, often before they enter Kindergarten, and many of them are suffering overuse injuries as a result, according to Dr. Lyle Micheli. Micheli is director and co-founder of the world's first sports medicine clinic for children located at Children's Hospital Boston.

"Overuse injuries result from overtraining," Micheli said. "Certainly, as the volume of training increases, the risk of injury increases." Twenty years ago, he noted in an interview with Reuters Health, "we didn't see overuse injuries in kids, but today we do. ... Twenty-years ago, it was quite the opposite. It was mostly acute injuries, not overuse injuries." ...

Children who participate in individual sports like gymnastics, tennis, and swimming, where they typically put in more hours of training, are particularly at risk, Micheli said. For children in these sports, "we see stress fractures and even tendonitis, which is unusual in children. Young baseball pitchers with injuries to their pitching arm are also seen.

more girls take part in high school wrestling

NY Times - Tamar Lewin - Wrestling may be the ultimate contact sport, and it can be a startling sight, teenage boys grabbing girls’ thighs, girls straddling boys, boys riding girls’ backs and trying to flip them onto their backs. For the most part, girls who want to wrestle — and they are slowly moving into the mainstream — must practice with, and compete against, boys. Nationwide, about 5,000 high school girls wrestled last year, according to the National Federation of State High School Associations, nearly five times as many as a decade earlier. Those numbers are no doubt low, since many states failed to report girls’ wrestling participation, but whatever the full count, it is dwarfed by the quarter-million boys who wrestle.

Now that women’s wrestling is an Olympic sport, and, on some campuses, a college sport, girls’ wrestling is poised to take off. There is a Catch-22: Without many girls, there can’t be girls’ teams, and without girls’ teams, wrestling can’t attract all that many girls. The legal status of coed wrestling is not entirely clear, but in a few scattered cases, courts have ruled that if there is no girls’ team for them, they should be able to join boys’ teams.

read the rest and/or watch video report created for the online paper - a cool concept for newspapers and new media.

NY Times photo of Jessica Bennett, Montville High wrestler

Female Athlete Triad

There's a disorder for that...
This is from an article on the teens section of kidshealth.org. Good awareness raising, guys. I like that the preamble asserts the benefits of exercise instead of just launching into the doom-and-gloom. Of course, this problem isn't limited to youngsters. I knew a climber (30's) who hadn't had a period in a decade.

What is Female Athlete Triad?

Sports and exercise are part of a balanced, healthy lifestyle. Girls who play sports are healthier; get better grades; are less likely to experience depression; and use alcohol, cigarettes, and drugs less frequently than girls who aren't athletes. But for some girls, not balancing the needs of their bodies and their sports can have major consequences.

Some girls who play sports or exercise intensely are at risk for a problem called female athlete triad. Female athlete triad is a combination of three conditions: disordered eating, amenorrhea (pronounced: ay-meh-nuh-ree-uh, which means loss of a girl's period for 3 or more months), and osteoporosis (pronounced: oss-tee-oh-puh-row-sis, meaning a weakening of the bones). A female athlete can have one, two, or all three parts of the triad.

bungee-powered backpack

press release from biologists at the University of Pennsylvania

In this week's edition of the journal Nature, Penn researchers have announced details for a suspended-load ergonomic backpack that reduces the force of a backpacks load on the wearer by 86%, allowing wearers to run far more comfortably with heavy loads.

... the backpack was created with soldiers and emergency workers in mind and could prevent the sort of muscle and joint injuries associated with running while carrying heavy items. The Penn researchers also point out that the backpack will also benefit schoolchildren, since heavy book bags have been linked to muscle and orthopedic injury.

"For the same energetic cost, you can either carry 48 pounds in a normal backpack or 60 pounds in a suspended-load ergonomic backpack," Larry Rome, a professor in Penn's Department of Biology, said. "It is like carrying an extra 12 pounds for 'free.'"

The backpack is based on a rigid frame pack, much like the type familiar to hikers everywhere; however, rather than being rigidly attached to the frame, the sack carrying the load is suspended from the frame by bungee cords...

"The ergonomic backpack reduces the force of the load on the wearer by reducing the effect of the load as it shifts up and down," Rome said. "What is striking is that you can feel the 86% reduction in force with every step."

With a normal backpack, the peak force exerted by the load on the body during walking is twice as high as the static force, and during running its three times as large, exerting extreme forces on the joints.

The backpack shifts the timing of how force is applied as the wearer takes a step.

Essentially, the bungee cords permit the load to stay at nearly constant height from the ground while the wearer walks or runs around it, Rome said. The pack actually reduces the metabolic cost of walking from one point to another by about 40 watts, or the equivalent of carrying 12 extra pounds.

ages 12, 10, 7 - diagnosed with anorexia

This article by Deborah Haynes for Reuters raises awareness on how young children can get caught up with eating disorders. Body issues aren't just for teens and adults anymore. We're well aware that obesity is rampant in toddlers and children, so this shouldn't be a total shock.

If nothing else, please take away from this news item the idea that it can be a life-and-death powderkeg to say anything to anyone about their body.

I'm especially sensitive to this as a trainer. I've watched too many people plummet into self-destructive cycles because of an offhand remark from someone who wasn't even trying to be mean. Something that seems obvious to one person about another's physique may not be that person's reality or desire. It may be his or her demon.

No matter how well-meaning or casual the comment, if you don't know the person well, my advice is stop and hold your tongue. There's just no good reason to remark on how thin, thick, skinny or fat a person is. You have no idea how your comment may be taken and what may come of it.

Girls' weightlifting growing in Florida coast high schools

Girls weightlifting increasing in popularity
by Eric Pfahler, TCPLam

Five Treasure Coast schools reached the regional volleyball tournament. Of those, four offer girls weightlifting as a sport.

Maybe that's not a coincidence, Sebastian River athletic director Michael Stutzke said.

"Absolutely, and that's one of the reasons we have it," he said.

Sebastian River is one of a growing number of state and area high schools with a girls weightlifting team, and often, participation in the sport is driven by girls who want to train for other sports.

"It gives the girls another opportunity," Fort Pierce Central athletic director Jay Stewart said. "It kind of balances our offerings.

"It's a way to help kids keep in shape, so I think it's a win-win situation."

There are 171 schools listed by the Florida High School Athletic Association that either have or are adding girls weightlifting this season. Sebastian River, Martin County, Jensen Beach and St. Edward's are the area schools that offer girls weightlifting and also made a regional volleyball appearance. Fort Pierce Central, Port St. Lucie and Treasure Coast High School will offer the sport this year for the first time, and South Fork also has a program.

Gene Flynn strengthens youth thru Olympic lifting

Coach Gene Flynn has youth going international through the Olympic lifting program he started in 2004 - OBX Weightlifting team.

Flynn's protege Jimmy Grier has just made the news. This NC high school senior is invited to lift in the Pan American Under 17 Championships in Ecuador.

From the quotes below from Heavy Lifting by Owen A. Hassell, Flynn is a fine ambassador to the sport and an asset to local youth.

Outer Banks Sentinel -- “When people ask about being a weightlifter, they say, ‘Oh, what do you bench?'” Flynn said. “Well, we don't bench, we do snatch and clean and jerk, and they think ‘What's that?' It's a shame because it's an Olympic sport, most people should know what the heck it is.

As far as what both can bench? Neither one can really remember. They bench maybe once a month. For competition, the snatch and clean and jerk is what counts. A lifter gets three attempts at each lift, and must increase weight after each one. It is a better account of sport, Flynn added.

“It's not good for your shoulders actually (to bench), and the lifts we do will actually increase mobility,” Flynn said. “When you're doing this you're moving the hips, moving the arms and that's more dynamic for sport.”

About the program

“What we're hoping to do is build character in the youth of Dare County, and they need to work hard to achieve things in life,” Flynn said. “By building healthy bodies we're also building healthy minds, and it gives them something to do.”

The non-profit club had gone from one member to more than 40, male and female, and put on fundraisers to attend national championships from Michigan, Alabama, Florida and other points.

Junk culture killing childhood

You know, as wired as I am now, I am so glad that I was lucky enough to grow up before the age of "the computer" - and, of course, standardized testing.

By Kate Kelland for Reuters, London - Britain's children are being poisoned by a "junk culture" of processed food, computer games and over-competitive education, an influential group of children's authors and experts warned on Tuesday.

In an open letter to the Daily Telegraph, 110 teachers, psychologists and children's authors--including the internationally acclaimed author Philip Pullman and Penelope Leach, a leading childcare expert--called on the government to act now to prevent childhood being killed off altogether.

Forced "to act and dress like mini-adults," children are becoming increasingly depressed and experiencing escalating levels of behavioral and developmental problems, they said.

"Since children's brains are still developing, they cannot adjust as full-grown adults can, to the effects of ever more rapid technological and cultural change," the letter said.

"They need what developing human beings have always needed, including real food (as opposed to processed "junk"), real play (as opposed to sedentary, screen based entertainment), first hand experience of the world they live in and regular interaction with the real-life significant adults in their lives."

Read entire article here

Who Knew? Kids + Work = Gain

From the Department of Duh comes this finding. My guess is some toy corporation staged this study in order to point to it when the new weighted toys line is rolled out.

Weighted toys may help kids get fit during playtime

NEW YORK (Reuters Health, by Charnicia E. Huggins) - Adding weights to children's toys may help them improve their fitness during playtime, the results of a small study suggest...

Their study included five boys and five girls, who were an average of 7.5 years old, who were randomly assigned to carry either large, cardboard toy blocks that weighed less than a quarter of a pound (0.10 kilograms) or blocks that weighed about 3.4 pounds (1.55 kilograms).

The weighted toys had small steel blocks glued inside the larger blocks. The children picked up the blocks, one at a time, and carried them with two hands over approximately 26 feet. Days later, the children were assigned to the opposite type of toy block and repeated the activity.

Overall, after an average of 10 minutes of carrying weighted blocks, the children experienced significantly greater increases in heart rate, oxygen uptake and energy expenditure than they did after carrying the lighter blocks, study findings indicate.

"Handling heavier objects, either through play or instruction, may provide opportunities to increase workload intensity in a benign manner allowing for subsequent improvements in children's physical fitness," Ozmun's group concludes.


Image from a vinyl decal offered by Signs by You

3 girls & their dad, powerlifting & karate

Courtesy photo of Sarah Biddle published by the Brown County Democrat

The Biddles of Bean Blossom in Bean County, Indiana are a remarkable family. The three sisters—Abigail, 17; Hannah, 15; and Sarah, 13—have followed their father Brent into powerlifting, where they have set world records for their weight and age classes. They also followed his lead into karate. Since they're homeschooled, their father training them is just another part of life.

While this is a bright story, it's not without a haze...

Teenage years - if you're going to powerlift, that's the time to do it. Young joints can usually recover. But once the body nears maturity, the cumulative microtrauma from the terrible forms used in PL - exaggerated ranges of motion, full joint flexion under load - will take their toll, and that kind of damage is irreversible. I hope these girls will access education on this.

Records are for glory, but lifting is for life.

let a child guide them

One really excellent secret weapon in my lifting arsenal is kids. No, I'm not fond of them in general or anything like that. When I'm learning a new sport and the form and techniques might seem daunting, I watch the kids who are into the sport do it.

One of my favorite tools for mastering Olympic lifting is watching videos of The Illinois Aurora Weightlifting Club. I stumbled on this site early in the learning process, and I return to it again and again.

DH and I enjoy going to local amateur boxing nights. The first competitors they bring out are generally about three feet tall, and it's amazing to watch (on many levels). They usually box technically better than older competitors. No joke.

There's the obvious perspective adjustment: if a kid can do this, I can. But there's also learning. As any psychologist or educator will tell you, kids are dead serious about learning and performing well. Studies have shown kids generally inflict intense pressure on themselves to succeed, to degrees that would trump most adults doing something they're not being paid to do. If you want to see someone really grappling with not just getting the hang of something but mastering it, watch a competitive kid. And since they're not yet masters, typically, you can learn from their struggles - what the natural sticking points are likely to be, how to anticipate your own compensatory moves, what to watch out for. When you watch something done perfectly, it appears to be simple and easy, something that is inherently natural. Since nothing goes wrong, your brain has no reason to expect anything other than perfect execution from you. And while that has its place in training (visualization methods), I firmly believe that there is a wealth of inspiration and practical information to be gained from watching rough amateurs.




photo from this website - unidentified lifter from Singapore. anyone with info, please post.

Backpacks a heavy burden for kids

The reporter misdirected the slant: it's not that the load is too heavy, it's that the structure of the pack is damaging. This is interesting new solid research to back up the concept behind one smart man's inventions - the Manta Ray and Stingray. Hopefully, we'll see more of this kind of thinking in fitness equipment design and elsewhere, with this science to motivate marketers.
story link


HealthDay News - Backpacks carried to and from school by the average American child are too heavy for safety and need to be reduced, warns a new report. The University of California, San Diego-led study included five girls and five boys, aged 13, who wore identical backpacks fitted with pressure sensors in the shoulder straps. The children first carried 10 percent of their body weight in the packs, then 20 percent, and finally 30 percent of their body weight. With each increase in weight, the children reported increased shoulder pain levels. Surface pressure was higher than the pressure threshold (30mmHg) that obstructs normal skin and muscle blood flow. As reported in the Dec. 5 issue of the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, the study found that when the children's backpacks were loaded with 20 percent of their body weight, pressures measured 70 mmHg on the left shoulder and 110 mmHg on the right shoulder, more than double and triple the threshold for reduced blood flow. Previous research showed that children commonly carry backpack loads of 22 percent of their bodyweight. Strap pressure was much higher on the right side than on the left side at all weight levels, which may have been due to posture. This requires further study, the researchers said. "The concern of heavy backpacks and back and shoulder pain to parents is not new. However, the objective data that we have published is new and important. The more objective data the public has, the more educated they become, and perhaps more inclined to change the way children carry backpacks," co-principal investigator Gita Murthy said in a prepared statement. "Furthermore, manufacturers and designers of backpacks often try to optimize design based upon the data available in the literature. Our shoulder loading data may help designers and engineers design a wide shoulder strap, for example, that will help spread the load of the backpack," Murthy said. More information can be gotten from The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons has more about backpack safety.