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Its time for children in our area to head back to school. Students, parents, and teachers are starting another school year filled with opportunities for children to learn and grow through math and science, reading and writing, and art and music. To be sure, this is time well spent since these subjects help kids build a strong foundation that will help them succeed in school and beyond, something that is widely understood and appreciated.

But children should also learn about good nutrition and physical activity, since both good health and good education are essential for lifelong happiness and success. In most schools, though, most kids won't experience much meaningful education about nutrition, activity, and health. In fact, opportunities for children to be active in school, either through formal physical education or more informal play and recess, have declined over the years. Good nutrition isn't likely to get much classroom time at any level, and the food served in most schools hardly sends a positive message about healthy eating. These are missed opportunities!

The message that children need to eat breakfast before school is well known, and many schools offer breakfast for kids who dont get it at home. Similarly, lunch is an important part of the school day. In addition to providing energy to support growth and learning, these meals also present an opportunity to teach children about healthy eating since formal nutrition education isnt part of the curriculum at most schools.

The same is true for physical activity. Research shows that activity can positively affect several factors that are related to academic performance. These include skills (attention, concentration, and memory), behaviors (classroom conduct and homework completion), and academic achievement (test scores and grades).

The effect of physical activity on brain may be due to physiological adaptations that are associated with enhanced attention, better information processing and recall, and improved attitudes. And it doesnt seem to matter if the activity is delivered through physical education classes, classroom activity, recess (especially outdoors), or extracurricular activityit's the movement that matters!

The point is that good nutrition and physical activity support academic success, and including them in schools is a natural fit. Research and practical experience shows that nutrition and physical activity have positive effects on learning. In many ways, health education is just as important as reading and math, topics schools dont trust parents to teach on their own, to future success.

Some argue that parents, not schools, should be responsible for promoting physical activity and good nutrition. I disagree! Since nutrition and activity improve academic performance, schools are the perfect place to teach about healthy lifestyles. There is also no guarantee that children will have opportunities to eat well or be physically active when they go home, so school may be the best chance for many kids to get these benefits.

Given that most children will get only limited opportunities for physical activity and good nutrition school, these topics necessarily become homework. Since most of us could stand to be more active and eat healthier ourselves, we should start by modeling good habits for our children and grandchildren.

Going for a walk in the neighborhood, going to the playground, or doing yard work along with preparing healthy meals and snacks are good starts. Parents and community members should also express their concerns to lawmakers and administrators in an effort to get more health education included in the school day. We should treat nutrition and activity like we treat other subjects.

How would you feel if your childs school wasnt teaching math?

Brian Parr, Ph.D., is an associate professor in the Department of Exercise and Sports Science at USC Aiken where he teaches courses in exercise physiology, nutrition and health behavior. You can learn more about this and other health and fitness topics at http://drparrsays.com or on Twitter @drparrsays.

Originally posted here:
HEALTH AND FITNESS: Schools should emphasize health education - Aiken Standard

Three Northern Arizona University grads are hoping to jon a growing field: bringing the exercise world into the social media world.

Anthony West, Anthony Lawson and Matthew Drapkin are currently testing their new app, Universal Fitness, in San Diego and Flagstaff. They hope to releasethe beta version to the public before the end of the year.

The app is a kind of mashup of Facebook, Yelp and your favorite exercise tracking app. It allows users to share their workouts, tips and dietary advice with others and ask questions, as well as track their workouts, find and rate gyms and other facilities, and test their fitness. The number of places listed on the app is expected to grow as the number of users increases.

West and Lawsonacnowledged that Universal Fitness has many of the same features as millions of exercise apps currently on the market. However, most of those apps dont allow users to track more than one exercise type, provide a map for local gyms and workout facilities, or try to create and encourage a community of fitness, Lawson said.

We wanted to bring in all types of activity, West said. We wanted to bring different communities together who share a similar experience in trying to stay fit. It doesnt really matter what you do as long as you do it.

They want to create a voice and a place for individuals young and old who want to improve their health but need motivation from others to do so, Lawson said.

For example, there are some people who just lift weights and other people who just do cardio workouts like running or the elliptical, he said. But there is also a large and growing group of people who like mixing things up and doing both. Other apps in the Google Play and Apple iTunes stores focus on one type of activity: running, yoga, etc. Universal Fitness is designed to provide one location to track all of a users exercise, weightlifting, running, swimming, hiking, etc.

West and Lawson got the idea for a health app after they saw the effect that a lack of exercise and good diet had on their family members.

We both have a lot of family members with ill health, Lawson said.

We wanted to bring health and wellness to others, West added. We want to create a community of support for fitness here and across the nation.

The original idea behind the app was to make it easy to find locations to work out no matter where you are in the U.S., and eradicate the old excuse of not being able to work out while on a trip or vacation because you dont know where the closest gym is, Lawson said.

Users can add their favorite gyms and workout areas -- such as hiking trails -- to the app, which allows visitors with the app to scope out locations to workout, hike or run while visiting for work or on vacation, he said. This also allows you to connect with local fitness groups or enthusiasts who you might be able to partner with on a run or workout.

The app morphed into something much bigger when Drapkin joined the team, West said. Drapkin has a background in nutrition sciences. It was his idea to try to create a nutrition blog to provide information on diet and exercise app users and an exercise tracker to the app to count steps or reps. Theyre also toying with the idea of a rewards system for the app, much like the badge system that other exercise apps like FitBit and Strava use.

The app includes a blog with nutrition tips, recipes and a social media-type tab for photo and video shout-outs to friends or to ask questions. A shortcut button for feedback to the developers is also included.

While the finished app will be free to download, the trio is considering a monthly subscription service that would help users test their fitness and create custom workouts. Most of the financial support for the app will come from ads, Lawson said. He said the group is in negotiations with several advertisers now.

Right now, the trio has a Kickstarter page set up to help with startup costs and plans to release the beta version of the app by the end of the year.

Read more from the original source:
Universal Fitness: Putting the social in working out - Arizona Daily Sun

As he approaches the halfway mark of his contract as Englands head coach, Eddie Jones has spent the summer watching other sports and talking to coaches as he plots ways of improving the fitness levels of his players before the 2019 World Cup in Japan.

Under Jones, England have risen from World Cup failures to second in the world rankings behind New Zealand. Part of their success has been down to their improved endurance, which has seen them finish matches strongly, a characteristic of the All Blacks, but their head coach is demanding more.

We can be 20% fitter, said Jones, who confirmed he would not be seeking an extension to his contract after the 2019 World Cup and that he had no interest in coaching the Lions in South Africa in 2021. We have changed a team who in the last 20 minutes of the 2015 World Cup matches against Wales and Australia had a score against them of 18-3 and we can change them again and go up another level. We can and we will.

No one knows how hard you can go. When Roger Bannister ran the four-minute mile, the medical texts said the body would disintegrate. It is about how far you can push the body and that is why we are aggressive in looking at other sports. It is about how hard you push and how you recover. There is a physical and a mental part.

Jones watched the Tour de France, liaising with the Australian team Orica-Scott. The cyclists ride 240km and then have a 45-minute cycle to their bus, he said. Imagine asking a rugby player to walk five kilometres to the dressing room after a game: they complain if they have to walk upstairs. Cyclists deal with that and staying in two-star hotels: their mindset is that they will put up with anything to get the job done.

I am not saying rugby is soft in comparison, merely that we do not know how far we can go. The exciting thing for me is that we intend to find out how far. Rugby players stay in nice hotels and eat good food but, in terms of ability, we do not know what they can do. Usain Bolt is retiring after a career in which he achieved things no one thought could be done. As soon as you open up the mental capacity to think you can do it, you open up the physical capacity.

I recently met a strength and conditioning coach at the University of Oregon. Their football team plays faster than anyone else and he is an expert in leg power. They have a very similar philosophy to how we train and it was very interesting to pick his brains and see what we could learn from them.

Jones has a training camp with his players week, although none of Englands Lions will play a full part. We potentially found six players on the Argentina tour who could get into the World Cup squad and I could not have been more pleased with the trip because we unfurled new talent and won the Tests, playing a good style of rugby, he said. The older guys were outstanding and I regret the column I wrote during the last World Cup about Chris Robshaw. He is world-class, just the most unselfish guy and a great role model for the team.

For someone who has so much to say, Jones wastes few words on the Lions tour despite so many of his players contributing to the drawn series. It was about looking at the English players, he said. The result was not material to me. Some of the players did really well and loved the big stage. Ill name one, Anthony Watson, who went as a borderline selection and ended as one of the best wingers in the series.

I want us to develop our defence this season so that we become more adaptable when the ball is fizzing around and we need to develop our unstructured attack, from kick returns and turnovers, finding space and scoring points. The number of offloads is increasing enormously and the game is breaking up.

In Test rugby, one of the most significant statistics is line breaks and New Zealand make by far the most. They are tactically clear in what they do and they have got athletic players. They have worked out that the game is played in the first three phases and if they have not got anywhere then they tend to kick and chase, hoping to force a mistake to attack from. We are not where we want to be but we are going in the right direction.

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Eddie Jones says rugby can learn to improve fitness from other sports - The Guardian

If you've recently invested in some kind of fitness tracker, then you know they can track your steps, activity, sleeping patterns, and even your food and water consumption. Manufacturers advertise that their trackers let users set small activity goals that all add up to a healthier lifestyle. But this relatively limited application doesn't take advantage of the sheer volume of data that these devices pump out.

You can use all that information to pick out larger patterns in your behavior and adjust your lifestyle accordingly. To do so, you don't have to be a geniusyou just need to know the right apps and tools to use. We've collected four different ways you can do more with your fitness tracker data, whether you want to give yourself a motivational boost or combine the input from multiple devices.

Most fitness trackers come with their own apps, which sort your data, such as daily steps or goals reached, into the program's default storage and display formats. What if you want to play around with your information, graphing your own activity or even sharing it on social media? The free service called IFTTT (If This Then That) works with many trackers (including devices from Fitbit, Misfit, Nike+, and others, though it doesn't yet offer support for Apple smartwatches or any device running Android Wear) to take your data from the default app and put it into any other format, such as a spreadsheet or social post.

IFTTT connects different types of apps through "applets." Each applet has a trigger (if the trigger occurs...) and an action (...then the action responds). For example, if you post a tweet, then IFTTT might post a Facebook update at the same time, or if you star an email in Gmail, then it might automatically save a text copy to Dropbox.

Harvesting information from your fitness tracker takes just a few clicks. Sign up for a free IFTTT account and start creating an applet. The program will offer you an array of apps to choose from, and you simply select your tracker from the available list. Then you decide what action you wantwhat would you like to do with your fitness information?

For example, you could add your daily step count to a spreadsheet like Google Sheets, and then turn the data into customized charts of your progress over time. You could also post details of the goals you hit to Facebook, Twitter, or even a Tumblr blog. Or maybe text yourself reminders when you start failing to hit your weekly targets. IFTTT gives you lots of options, so open the application and poke around.

A tracker app might tell you how many steps you're taking, but it won't notice whether hitting a certain amount of steps puts you in a better mood. To do that would require a data aggregation service, and of the numerous such apps out there, Exist is one of the best. It lets you connect a variety of tracker accounts, including ones from Fitbit and Misfit, plus information from Apple Health and Google Fit. Then it crunches the numbers to give you updates about correlations and other patterns in the data.

For example, if you log your mood daily through the Exist app or via email, it can pinpoint just how your daily step count affects your mood. It can even test whether the weather reduces your activity level.

In addition to fitness tracker data, Exist can pull information from other sources to draw larger conclusions. Connect your social media accounts to the app to see how your activity patterns match up against the tweets you post. Use the RescueTime browser plug-in to reveal whether exercise changes your daily productivity. Exist can also crunch data from your email and Spotify account.

After you've been using Exist for a while, you might get an email telling you that you're most active on Wednesdays, or that your mood is usually better on a Sundayand how all that relates to your music listening history or social media activity. On top of this existing setup, Exist adds new features on a regular basis.

The app wraps all this information up in a polished web interface that gives you an intuitive, at-a-glance set of charts and readouts for all the data it's been collecting. You can export this information to another program any time you like. The one downside is that Exist isn't free to use: The service will set you back $6 a month or $57 a year, though there is a 30-day trial you can take advantage of to see if you like it first.

Don't keep all your fitness data to yourselfshare it with your friends for some extra motivation or a sense of competitiveness (how competitive you want to get is up to you and your social circle). Most trackers and companion apps come with some way to share your activity with other people, though Google Fit is one of the big names that doesn'tat least not yet.

If you've got an Apple Watch, for instance, then you can let family and friends in on the progress you're making towards your goals, although they will also need an Apple Watch running watchOS 3. Open the Activity app on your connected iPhone, then tap Sharing and Get Started. Hit the plus button to add the relevant contacts. Stats shared by your fitness buddies can be found on the Activity pane on the watch itself, and you can fire off messages of encouragement (or ridicule) to them through the watch as well.

Another example is the popular running and cycling app Strava. Here, you need to tap the Find Friends button (an icon of two silhouettes) on your profile and then pick people from your list of contacts or Facebook friends. Once you're connected to other Strava users, you can see their activities, tag them in rides and runs, and get some extra motivation as part of a wider group. You can also post details of an activity on social media networks by selecting the Share option on any GPS-based activity you've logged.

Making your fitness tracking social has the added benefit of keeping you interested in logging your progresswhen you might otherwise lose the initial buzz of quantifying all of your daily activities. Even if you're not at the top of your group's own private leaderboard, you've at least got another reason to stay engaged with your fitness apps and devices.

If you want to aggregate your fitness data from multiple apps and devices into one place, you have several options. Apple Health and Google Fit aren't your openly choices, but at the moment, they're probably the best for the job. If you own an iPhone or an Android phone, then you already have everything you'll need to get started. Apple Health comes pre-installed on iOS, and Google Fit comes pre-installed on many Android devices (if not, you can download it for free).

These apps do have their differences: Apple Health provides a more comprehensive overview of your whole well-being, while Google Fit acts more like a basic fitness tracker. However, they both track your daily activities via the sensors on your phone and data piped in from other appswhich is why we're mention them here. For more details, you can check out our full guide to Apple Health and Google Fit.

Instead of using your phone to track your behavior for these apps, you can buy dedicated fitness trackers. The Apple Watch works seamlessly with Apple Health, and Android Wear smartwatches work automatically with Google Fit. Even if you prefer third-party hardware, the Misfit and Withings brands support both Apple Health and Google Health. Unfortunately, Fitbit supports neither, as it prefers to keep its data locked inside its own app.

In addition to physical trackers you can use third-party fitness apps to provide more information for Apple Health or Google Fit. Strava, Runtastic, and Runkeeper, among other options, work well with the two aggregation apps. If you're thinking about adding new apps to your fitness-monitoring regime, see if they can pipe data into the health platform already installed on your phone. Happy tracking!

Read more from the original source:
How to do more with your fitness tracker - Popular Science

KINGSVILLE -

It's proof, just how tight-knit the community is in Kingsville. Saturday, the fitness community there came together to help the owner of a gym who lost everything in that major fire last weekend. That gym was one of five businesses destroyed in downtown Kingsville.

"It's great to see everyone really come together. The fitness community come together and everyone has been very helpful," said Michael Chapa, Clydesman Fitness owner.

Clydesman fitness along with fourother businesses were destroyed last week. The fire broke out last Saturday evening. It started in one business then spread. Electrical issues are believed to be the cause.

Chapa, like the others, lost a lot. Most of his gym equipment is okay, but the building is a total loss. Like many fitness centers, to the patrons, it was more than just a gym.

"For Clydesman, for Clydesman people... For them it was their home," said Chapa.

Sixth Street Crossfit rallied folks together for a cross fit style workout to help raise money for Chapa and his business. This fundraiser was a complete surprise to Chapa. In the end, the main thing he wants is to get his Clydesman fitness family back to their normal workout routines.

"People are ready to work out. And their getting anxious to get their lives back to normal, as they should," said Chapa. "If anything, you know, we're Clydesman Strong."

Chapa is a Army Ranger Veteran and a current member of the Texas National Guard. He has been given permission to use the old Texas National Guard armory in Kingsville as a work out space until he lands on his feet.

Go here to see the original:
Kingsville fitness community holds fundraiser for gym destroyed in a fire - KRIS Corpus Christi News

By Forrest Milburn, Staff Writer

Photo: Robin Jerstad /For The San Antonio Express-News

Scouts and their leaders paddle canoes along the San Antonio River during the Ford River Race.

Scouts and their leaders paddle canoes along the San Antonio River during the Ford River Race.

Scouts paddle their canoes along the San Antonio River during the Alamo Area Council of Boy Scouts of America and Paseo del Rio Association Ford River Race Saturday morning.

Scouts paddle their canoes along the San Antonio River during the Alamo Area Council of Boy Scouts of America and Paseo del Rio Association Ford River Race Saturday morning.

Scouts paddle their canoes along the San Antonio River during the Alamo Area Council of Boy Scouts of America and Paseo del Rio Association Ford River Race Saturday morning.

Scouts paddle their canoes along the San Antonio River during the Alamo Area Council of Boy Scouts of America and Paseo del Rio Association Ford River Race Saturday morning.

Scouts paddle their canoes along the San Antonio River during the Alamo Area Council of Boy Scouts of America and Paseo del Rio Association Ford River Race Saturday morning.

Scouts paddle their canoes along the San Antonio River during the Alamo Area Council of Boy Scouts of America and Paseo del Rio Association Ford River Race Saturday morning.

Scouts and theri canoes converge in the San Antonio River during the Alamo Area Council of Boy Scouts of America and Paseo del Rio Association Ford River Race Saturday morning.

Scouts and theri canoes converge in the San Antonio River during the Alamo Area Council of Boy Scouts of America and Paseo del Rio Association Ford River Race Saturday morning.

Scouts paddle their canoes along the San Antonio River during the Alamo Area Council of Boy Scouts of America and Paseo del Rio Association Ford River Race Saturday morning.

Scouts paddle their canoes along the San Antonio River during the Alamo Area Council of Boy Scouts of America and Paseo del Rio Association Ford River Race Saturday morning.

Svitlana Kroll and E. Robert Frank paddle their canoe along the San Antonio River during the Alamo Area Council of Boy Scouts of America and Paseo del Rio Association Ford River Race Saturday morning.

Svitlana Kroll and E. Robert Frank paddle their canoe along the San Antonio River during the Alamo Area Council of Boy Scouts of America and Paseo del Rio Association Ford River Race Saturday morning.

Svitlana Kroll paddles her canoe along the San Antonio River during the Alamo Area Council of Boy Scouts of America and Paseo del Rio Association Ford River Race Saturday morning.

Svitlana Kroll paddles her canoe along the San Antonio River during the Alamo Area Council of Boy Scouts of America and Paseo del Rio Association Ford River Race Saturday morning.

Scouts Conner Schoenfield and Kennedy Engle paddle their canoe along the San Antonio River during the Alamo Area Council of Boy Scouts of America and Paseo del Rio Association Ford River Race Saturday morning.

Scouts Conner Schoenfield and Kennedy Engle paddle their canoe along the San Antonio River during the Alamo Area Council of Boy Scouts of America and Paseo del Rio Association Ford River Race Saturday morning.

Scouts paddle their canoes along the San Antonio River during the Alamo Area Council of Boy Scouts of America and Paseo del Rio Association Ford River Race Saturday morning.

Scouts paddle their canoes along the San Antonio River during the Alamo Area Council of Boy Scouts of America and Paseo del Rio Association Ford River Race Saturday morning.

Scouts paddle their canoes along the San Antonio River during the Alamo Area Council of Boy Scouts of America and Paseo del Rio Association Ford River Race Saturday morning.

Scouts paddle their canoes along the San Antonio River during the Alamo Area Council of Boy Scouts of America and Paseo del Rio Association Ford River Race Saturday morning.

Scouts paddle their canoes along the San Antonio River during the Alamo Area Council of Boy Scouts of America and Paseo del Rio Association Ford River Race Saturday morning.

Scouts paddle their canoes along the San Antonio River during the Alamo Area Council of Boy Scouts of America and Paseo del Rio Association Ford River Race Saturday morning.

Scouts paddle their canoes along the San Antonio River during the Alamo Area Council of Boy Scouts of America and Paseo del Rio Association Ford River Race Saturday morning.

Scouts paddle their canoes along the San Antonio River during the Alamo Area Council of Boy Scouts of America and Paseo del Rio Association Ford River Race Saturday morning.

Families flock downtown for fitness, fun at citys 49th annual Ford River Race

San Antonio resident Leanna Moreno and her family strive to stay active; theyre often found running in marathons, kayaking or even just going for a swim at the local pool.

So when they had the opportunity to canoe on the San Antonio river the one time a year its allowed, they jumped at the chance.

Especially nowadays, kids are always on their phone, Moreno, 33, said. For my kids, to get them out the door, its easy for me. But everybody else, you see them struggle. Theyre stuck on their iPads and phones, so to come out and actually get them in the water its worth it.

On Saturday morning, Moreno brought her kids and extended family to compete in the 49th annual Ford River Race, a competition hosted by the Paseo del Rio Association and the Alamo Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America that couples fun and physical activity. She and her husband were one of 128 teams to compete in the challenge, a small dip in number from last year, race officials said.

Its the only time anyone gets to race in a canoe or kayak on the main part of the San Antonio river, said race coordinator Kevin Jetton, 57, who has helped organized the event for the past 41 years. In that time, he has seen three generations of teams within families paddle on the river, he said.

The competition is separated by several categories, based on the type of watercraft canoe, single-person kayak and two-person kayak and whether the team is part of the general public or from the Boy Scouts. The categories are then broken down further by gender and age groups for the Boy Scout teams to even out the playing field: ages 11-13, 14-17 and adult scout leaders.

While there were 20 canoes provided for teams to borrow, the race was BYOK bring your own kayak along with paddles and life jackets for those in the one-person and two-person kayak contests.

The race, sponsored by Ford and Red Bull, begins and finishes at the same spot on the River Walk near the San Antonio Chamber of Commerce offices. Once a team begins paddling, race administrators log the elapsed time from start to finish to calculate how well they did compared to others in their category. Those who place first, second and third in each category receive awards for their speedy finish.

Its all against the clock, Jetton said.

The teams included more than three dozen Boy Scouts and more than 50 from the general public.

Eric Robinson, 28, is a San Antonio resident who raced with his brother as a team for the first time on Saturday.

I think its a great way for people to get out and kayak, get some physical fitness without actually having to go to the gym and get a traditional workout, Robinson said.

FMilburn@express-news.net

Go here to read the rest:
Families flock downtown for fitness, fun at city's 49th annual Ford River Race - mySanAntonio.com

How much do you think is reasonable to spend on staying fit?

My teenage son wants to join a gym that is $39 per month. I think this is too much to spend, and Im not sure how much he will actually go.

He says it is important to stay fit and says it is worth paying to stay healthy.

Do you belong to a gym and how much should someone budget for this?

This is a bit of a tough question, because peoples commitments to staying fit can vary greatly.

Let me preface this by saying Im not a fitness professional, although staying physically fit is important to me.

I have studied martial arts for more than 20 years with a private instructor. As this is something Im committed to, its also something I budget for each month.

If your son is active in sports, he may wish to have access to weights and training equipment that would be very costly to acquire for home use.

In my area, there are public gyms and workout centers that cost less than $20 per month.

I would suggest exploring the reasons your son wants to join this specific gym is this where his friends also go to train, or is it where a coach recommends he work out?

Is he a swimmer who needs access to a swimming pool?

You may wish to see if there is a less-expensive gym that has similar equipment that would fit his needs.

As your son is still in high school, you might also see if the school gym has a fitness center with equipment for students to use after-hours.

Many park districts also have fitness centers that may cost less than a commercial gym.

Our local park even has an outdoor circuit training area with weight and resistance equipment thats free to use year-round and everyone knows free is my favorite price.

If your son doesnt need access to the kind of equipment a public fitness center offers, consider creating a home workout space that would cost less than a monthly gym membership.

While I workout with my martial arts instructor once a week, I exercise at home on the remaining days of the week. Im not the kind of person who enjoys working out in a group setting, so Im much happier working out privately at home.

I have an assortment of inexpensive exercise equipment at home, including free weights, kettlebells and a pull-up bar. Ive also invested in a popular series of workout DVDs to use on my non-gym days, as I like having professional routines to follow.

My initial investment in equipment and workout videos was around $200 and Ive been using the same gear for nearly a decade now. That works out to about $20 per year a bargain in my book.

Other benefits to working out at home: Youll save money by not paying for gasoline to drive to and from the gym, and youll also have the freedom to workout on your own schedule.

On days when Im particularly time crunched, Im grateful I dont have to spend extra time commuting to and from workouts. I dont have to pack a gym bag, and theres no pressure to wear the latest workout clothing.

If your son does opt to join a gym, I recommend looking for one with a month-to-month membership plan versus a contract.

Gym contracts are notoriously difficult to sever if your son finds that he is not using the gym often.

If your son has a job, consider asking him to split the cost of the gym membership with you as well.

As a parent, Ive found my children do appreciate things like this more when they have a personal investment in them.

Physical fitness is important, and its my hope you can arrive at a solution that both suits your sons workout wish list and fits within your familys budget, too.

Read the original:
Weighing the cost of fitness - Napa Valley Register

Contributed by Cam Dupree

In the last three years, Grunt Style has quickly gained momentum as the countrys top apparel company for veterans and patriots for many reasons; breaking nearly 100M in sales, employing hundreds of veterans and supporters, and holding GruntFest events across the country, to name a few. Over an eight year period, Daniel Alarik has taken Grunt Style from a t-shirt company operating out the back of his trunk to a seven digit lifestyle brand. Grunt Style reaches far beyond the bounds of just a t-shirt company.

PRIDE IN SELF, IN MILITARY, AND IN COUNTRY

These are the core values of this organization. It is emblazoned on its website, and its no surprise to see the CEO, an Army veteran, running an organization that practices what it preaches.

Over the years of growth, Grunt Style has spawned off-shoots from its main brand that carry out its mission in specific markets: a wilderness and survival gear company, Alpha Outpost. American Grit for web-media, Merica Bourbon, and Grunt Style MotorSports are a few of those off-shoots.

Enter Grunt Fit; the newest edition to the Grunt Style empire.

But Grunt Fit is rolling out something that has not been seen in any of its past ventures. Grunt Style CEO, Dan Alarik, wanted to use his past experiences to give back to the community in a different way.

When I was a personal trainer, I noticed that there is a mathematical formula to nutrition and fitness success, said Alarik. When I was a Drill Sergeant I saw how with direct instructions people can be much more successful.

Grunt Fit is a mobile application that approaches the users fitness in a way that is very similar to that of a military drill sergeant. Unlike other fitness apps that may have you track, and record, and input many variables, Grunt Fit delivers the user with a whole fitness experience that includes everything from a workout regimen to a custom meal plan and will tell you what to do and how to do it based on what direction you want to take your fitness.

At the helm of the Grunt Fit ship is Tiffany Hampton. A warrant officer that served 14 years with the Army. She explained that the app differentiates itself from other fitness apps currently on the market because, It is going to tell you what to do in order to be successful. We take out the guess work so youre not trying to figure out how to make this work or how to eat this food. We are going to tell you exactly what it takes.

Time, effort, energy, and thought has been sacrificed to ensure Grunt Fit and its users are set up for success. A large effort behind the scenes is coming from a team of industry professionals that consult, guide, and construct the meal plans and workout regimen.

Tiffany explains, We are working side by side with a personal trainer and fitness nutrition expert to make sure what we are putting out there has had some documented success.

Daniel Alarik added, We're working with a lot of our partners, celebs and social reach to get a lot of feed back on the product.

One of those industry professionals and celebrities is Linda Steele, a Chicago-based model and top ranked national fitness trainer. Lately shes been making appearances on the Grunt Fits Facebook live feed to promote the app as well as broadcast updates on a user who is currently on the Grunt Fit program. Viewers are given the chance to peer into the window of what this experience will be like via these live Facebook updates.

No matter who you are or what physical fitness background you have; If you set your goals with us and follow the program we guarantee you success, said David Ehle, Marine veteran and director of marketing for Grunt Fit. The benefits from this app will be clear and distinct. If you follow the program that we set forth, you will see the results that you want. Whether it is gaining weight, losing weight, or just toning up and maintaining.

At the heart, the ability to choose your fitness destination and have Grunt Fit give you directions, Google Maps style, on how to get there is Grunt Fits achievement over other applications. Most people are crippled or mislead because of the unknown and fear, said Alarik. Education is the opposite and resolves both these issues. You may know where you want to go but with a map and directions you can actually get there, not just wander in the wilderness.

Its a long road to the top of the charts but despite the nerves, excitement, and exhaustion that the Grunt Fit team is feeling prior to the release the CEO and former Drill Instructor knows, Doing something this different and life-changing is not easy, but like running a long distance race, it's worth it in the end.

The beta version of Grunt Fit will be available for Apple and Android devices in August. The full version, which will contain no significant differences, will be available 2-3 weeks later. For more information check out http://www.gruntfit.com.

_____________________________

Landmark Life Coachings (www.landmarklifecoaching.com) Mission is to honorably and respectfully serve courageous groundbreakers and transitioning veterans to persevere in defining and executing their future by providing an atmosphere of comradery and trust that honors their dedication and commitment. This will empower our clients to feel whole, honored, respected and fulfilled in defining and living their life purpose.

Charlie Mike Podcast (www.charliemikepodcast.com) is where our Nations Combat Veteranpreneurs talk about how they transformed their combat experience into a groundbreaking entrepreneurial success. We will discuss their experience in relation to what I have defined as their VisualReality; their personal vision of building a successful business leveraging their combat experience to bring the core strengths of a combat veteran into the entrepreneurial realm.

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A day after wrapping up her seven-year stint as Emily Fields on the ABC Family hit series "Pretty Little Liars," Shay Mitchell hopped on a plane to Boston, ready for her next adventure.

In June, the 30-year-old actress left the fictional town of Rosewood behind as "Pretty Little Liars" came to what Mitchell describes as an "emotional goodbye."

On the bright side, fans were finally able to get some closure as the series finale revealed the identity of A.D. the mysterious character who had been threatening to expose their secrets for years.

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"It was an incredible experience, those seven years," Mitchell told CBS News. "We were all so lucky to just have such an amazing family. I'm excited to see where everybody goes from here."

Mitchell already has big plans.

The "Pretty Little Liars" star is ready to show fans a different side of the actress as she joins the cast of "Cadaver," a horror film scheduled for release in August 2018.

In the film, directed by Diederik Van Rooijen, Mitchell will play Megan Reed, a recovering addict ex-cop who takes the graveyard shift in a city hospital morgue where she (of course) is haunted by an evil entity in one of the corpses.

"[Megan's] extremely athletic, extremely driven, competitive and she is older than Emily as a recovering addict and ex-cop," Mitchell said. "It was super fun to be in a completely different environment than what I've been used to."

Mitchell says she has even more projects in the works in the near future, but for now she's focusing on travel and fitness, which includes Propel's first-ever fitness festival in August.

Here's what Mitchell had to say about her life post-"Pretty Little Liars," her fitness routine and her upcoming thriller:

Tell me a little bit about the first-everPropel Co:Labs Fitness Festivalyou'll be participating in.

I think it's a really organic fit. I love working out, you know, it's something that I think is great, especially when you can get so many people to come together and work out together. It makes it a lot easier. It's more motivating, more inspiring. We're going to have some really awesome trainers, like Harley Pasternak and Gunnar Peterson, who are also going to be there on August 12 and 13.

Fitness is pretty important to you. What's your personal fitness routine?

I think it's mixing it up. I think it's confusing your body. If you do the same thing all the time it kind of gets used to it and you have a plateau effect. What's important is trying out different classes and workouts and finding ones you like more than the other. There are so many different classes nowadays anything you can think of, it's out there.

Shay Mitchell works out at the SoFit gym at the Sofitel Los Angeles to prepare for the first-ever Propel Co:Labs Fitness Festival.

Michael Simon/startraksphoto.com

Are you a fitness class person?

Yes, I am. I really do love spinning. It's about the instructors that I love. I love doing Barry's Bootcamp, which is great, because it forces me to run when I don't want to.

You've been playing Emily Fields on "Pretty Little Liars" for seven seasons. What's life like post-Rosewood?

It's great. Obviously it was super emotional saying goodbye to that chapter, but such is life. There's different chapters all the time for everybody. Sometimes you have to close doors, but then there's other ones that are open. It was an incredible experience, those seven years. We were all so lucky to just have such an amazing family. I'm excited to see where everybody goes from here. That's the great part. Now I get to watch everybody grow and change and work on other projects that they're excited about.

I'm sure you grew attached to your character over the years. How has playing that role affected you? Did you identify with that character?

Playing Emily definitely was eye-opening, because, yes, those girls were younger than I am. You just kind of see how at times they dealt with things. They were a bit more naive in how they handled things. But at the end of the day it was about those characters and their friendship that they had more than anything. It was that bond that they had. It just reminded all of us that you really can get through anything if you have a good support system and that's definitely something that they had. Otherwise, I don't know how they would have made it out after everything that happened to those girls over seven years.

Would you be up for a "Pretty Little Liars" reunion or a revival in the future?

Absolutely. I was just watching "Sex and the City 2" and it just reminded me of how much fun we had on set. I would totally do that again. I think it would be amazing. A five, 10-year reunion with all of us girls with all of our kids coming to set and stuff.

What's it like being a role model to those teens who have watched you over the years?

It's kind of crazy. That's always kind of a daunting title in a way. To be honest with you, I just need to be proud of who I am at the end of the day. I need to be able to look at myself in the mirror and know that I am happy and proud of who I am first and foremost and then hopefully maybe that goes into others.

Now you're pivoting out of this role into a horror film called "Cadaver." How is this film different from things you worked on in the past?

I went right into this film after we had our wrap party. I was in a plane the next day heading to Boston. Megan Reed, the character that I play, has some characteristics that Emily had. She's extremely athletic, extremely driven, competitive and she is older than Emily as a recovering addict and ex-cop. It was super fun to be in a completely different environment than what I've been used to. It was something that I'm super excited for the fans to see as well get to see me play a different character.

You're very active on social media. Is social media presence really important to you? What do you hope fans take away from your social accounts?

That's why I started my YouTube channel over two years ago. I wanted to share my experiences with the fans. It is fun to go to these different places and get to experience things, but it's so much better when I know that so many other people are going to get something from it. And I think if anybody can take something away from my social media what I want them to do, hopefully, is to just try new things. Whether that be in the kitchen I always joke about the fact that I'm not Martha Stewart, but I try. I may burn a couple things, but I learn. I think it's just about putting a foot out there and trying a couple things. That goes with travel, working out, cooking, all of these different things.

This interview has been edited and condensed.

Continued here:
Shay Mitchell on "Pretty Little Liars" revival rumors, fitness and ... - CBS News

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