Fitness is fun with Motion Evolution at Gymfinity

Watch this:   [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DuNWkKBokts]

With that understood, let’s talk fitness.

Gymfinity has a kids fitness program that is designed to appeal to ALL children. It’s called Motion Evolution. Our program offers exercises for children in a group (or individually) that provide an increase in strength, flexibility, coordination and cardio-vascular fitness. It enhances their social skills as well as boosts their cognitive skills. But most of all, its great fun.

The easiest way to get anyone to work is to make their work more fun. Routinely at home we play “Pick Up Clean Up” to tidy up the house and the kids don’t mind working a bit because they don’t know its work.  That same concept applies to the subway stairs in the video. How do we get people to make a better choice on something so mundane as climbing stairs? Make the stairs fun.  How do we get kids to exercise and want to do it more? We do the same thing, make it fun.

Last week in our Motion Evolution class our coach/trainer Sateash had the kids playing a game. They had to move a mountain of foam blocks from one side of the floor to the other and overcome a few obstacles along the way: go under a low bridge, jump over a hoop, swing on a bar (holding their block in their feet) and when they finally got across, they had to use the block to build a castle. Every kid in the class worked together and the pace was, of course, as fast as you can go.  That’s the game, but what was the benefit? With a fast pace, the kids were running (Cardio), going under the bridge meant crawling with the block between the knees, in  a push up position. Yup, they were doing a modified push up. Then to jump across the hoop they were really doing  a long jump. Squeezing the block while swinging is a leg isometric exercise and swinging itself  is an arm and shoulder strength skill. Building the castle required teamwork and communication skills as well as having to think about the structural stability of their castle. (Not to mention the ab workout from laughing so much). When’s the last time you got that much out of your workout?

Motion Evolution classes alss build upon the child’s physical literacy. As we need to comprehend numbers, letters and notes to be able to do math, read and write and play music, a child needs to practice simple movement patterns that become skills later in development. A swinging elephant nose to a small child can develop into a tennis forehand, a golf swing or a baseball pitch.  Gymfinity’s Motion Evolution takes that concept to levels appropriate to every child. Again learning by doing fun things makes the learning easier and lets a child own the lessons and recall the movement patterns without flaw. Want your toddler to be the next Venus Williams? Do an elephant walk.

Sadly at this time in our society we have a vast division between kids that move and kids that don’t. The former are challenged at their own level and they most often develop into healthy and happy children and adults who enjoy sports and love the feeling of being fit. The latter are often kept away from being active because they see the division gap as so daunting that they are afraid to even approach a gym. Gymfinity, and gyms like it, have a stigma attached that this is a place for the first group of kids but not the second. With Motion Evolution that restriction, or the perception of it, is removed. Children are NEVER compared to each other and NEVER compared to a national “standard.” They’ll only be compared to themselves. Pre tests, post tests, and “challenge days” give children the feedback of their progress and helps them set goals for their future. The direction is set by the child in conjunction with Sateash as a “personal” trainer. This program can mean the world to a child. It makes them feel good about themselves and gets them active and healthy. What more could we ask for our children?

By the way, did you notice that every person who chose to take the escalator intesd of the stairs, just watched with envy. Do we want our children playing, having fun and enjoying the music of good health and good health decisions or do we want them so intimidated by moving that the best they can do is stand aside, watch and envy other people? The choice is clear.  Click here to go to Gymfinity’s website and sign up for a Motion Evolution class. Your kids will love you for it.

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