Today’s Young Athlete is Tomorrow’s Hall of Famer
I gotta give IYCA founder Brian Grasso a lot of credit. Brian and a growing number of fitness trainers around the world not only recognize the business potential the youth fitness market offers, but they actually enjoy working with a room/field/court/gym full of kids.
Some would say I’m missing the boat, but I know exactly where my strengths are. I have no problem admitting I don’t have much interest (or patience) needed to work with large groups of kids. It’s challenging enough working with some adult’s limited attention spans (thanks for ruining a generation, MTV. Now would you please bring back Headbanger’s Ball, already?)
Trickle-Down Effect
As far as I’m concerned – especially when it comes to kids and weight issues – I’d rather work directly with the parents. They will (or at least they should) leave a much deeper impression on their own children than I ever can. More often than not, overweight kids have parents who are inactive. By guiding parents to become better role-models through their own actions, the whole family reaps the benefit.
Planting the Seed for Athletic Success
One of my gym buddies from the mid-’90s when I trained at the legendary Quads Gym recently wrote a book (inspired by her own children) to help parents create the MINDSET of a champion at an early age. Having dreams. Setting goals. Tracking achievements. It’s a great bed-time read. If you’re looking for a holiday gift idea for the future hall-of-famer in your life, grab your credit card and hurry yourself over to order Athlete’s Dreams by Brenda Clevidence (tell her Big Joe sent ya’ and she may even sign your copy)
I always wanted to be mentioned in the liner-notes of an Iron Maiden album, but if you read the fine print at the beginning of this book, you’ll see my name in the “special thanks goes to” section. Bruce Dickinson. Brenda Clevidence. What’s the difference? My name is in print. Big things are going to happen to me now.
Food For Thought?
Book Review:
The Couch Potato Workout: 101 Exercises You Can Do At Home!
(Publisher: North American Spine Society – Jan 2006)Quite simply, this is the worst book about exercise I never read.
Fitness professionals everywhere should be offended – yes, even Gunnar “lift your soup cans” Peterson should even feel insulted.
Here we have an entire industry committed to helping people that want to be helped and realize the only real solution is to ‘eat right and exercise’.
Then a book like this comes along and suggests that it really is possible to get in shape with little to no effort.
To make things worse, this piece of “literature” was written by an MD – an expert in sports medicine and rehabilitation?!
I’ll give the author the benefit of the doubt and assume his book is intended to be taken tongue in cheek, but Dr. Press should realize that the letters after his name suggest a level of credibility and some people are likely to take this book seriously.
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but you can’t have your cake and eat it, too.
Maybe the problem isn’t their bodies, but their self-image?
This book was apparently written for people that have not only proven unwilling to un-plop their not-so-streamlined a**es off the couch to exercise, but they even accept the demeaning label of “couch potato” as some sort of status symbol. (And I suspect that today’s ‘couch potatoes’ is tomorrow’s ‘nappy headed ho’)
According to this description from Amazon.com,
This entertaining book provides 101 simple exercises that can be done at home to increase strength, balance and flexibility. From the “Overhead Laundry Toss” to “One-Legged Flossing,” Dr. Press – a leading expert in sports medicine and rehabilitation – explains everyday activities that can improve your overall fitness level and reduce the risk of injury. Amusing illustrations provide a guide for the reader on proper technique.
Did they say entertaining? Maybe. But I suspect this book is best suited for reading in the smallest room in your home. [take a moment to think about that one if you need to]
And what about proper technique for ‘one-legged flossing’? I agree in principle that it is possible to identify opportunities to exercise anywhere you want to. But for true couch potatoes, I suspect any want to exercise will be outweighed by the comfort and familiarity of their own butt-imprint on the sofa cushion.
There have been more than 473,000 hits on “couch potato exercise book”, so obviously someone believes this book might just be the antidote to the Judge Judy marathon they can’t pull away from.
Or maybe those hits are just one of the economic indicators suggesting gag gifts are on high order this year? (Which reminds me… to the wise-guy with no return address: I can read the postmark… If I get one more inflatable sheep in the mail, I swear I’ll hunt you down even if I have to go door-to-door through your entire zip code. I’ll find you. You can bet on it!)
The Short Story: Although the Couch Potato Workout won’t be on my list of gifts to give this year, at 8.3″ x 5.5″ it might just work as a heavy-duty coaster for your favorite couch potato’s mega-sized Slurpee while they sweat gravy in front of the tube.
Oprah’s Book Club Has Nuthin’ On This
Seems like everyone who’s anyone these days has a book club. Since I like to run with the big dogs, I figure it’s high time I put on my game face and make some recommendations of my own.
One of my all-time favorite books is “Facts and Fallacies of Fitness” by the late Dr. Mel C. Siff. I was fortunate to get a personally signed copy only months before his untimely passing in 2003.
Dr. Siff makes you put on your thinking cap as he challenges everything you thought you know about aerobics, flexibility, nutrition and beyond.
At over 300 pages, F&F really is a great read for both fitness professionals and ‘regular’ people alike.
Even though the first edition came out in 1995 – and to the best of my knowledge it’s been 4 years since it’s most recent printing – this book is still way ahead of it’s time.
To illustrate the basic philosophy of the book, here is a short excerpt from Facts & Fallacies:
RULES?
- A rule is not a law
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A theory is not a law
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A judicial law is not a scientific law
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A guideline is not a law; it simply points the way
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Scientific laws cannot be broken; judicial laws can
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An hypothesis is not a law; an hypothesis is a theory
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A theory has to be proved repeatedly to become a law
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Most rules and laws are relative to some frame of reference
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Beware of absolutes; almost everything is relative
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Rules change; scientific laws do not; judicial laws do
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Rules can be and usually are broken
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Breakable laws are theories
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Some rules should be broken
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Look for undiscovered laws
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Think before you rule
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Question all rules
Good, bad or ugly, feel free to comment on this post if you’ve read Facts & Fallacies.
Click here to order Facts & Fallacies of Fitness by Dr. Mel C. Siff
"Mighty" Joe Stankowski
