Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Service Learning Day 2 - YMCA

First off, I need to clarify a few things. In my last post I said that kids ages 3-12 can use the exercise equipment. I misspoke. There is two rooms at Family Prime Time, the “weight room” and the play room. The play room is open to kids in grades kindergarten to sixth. The weight room is open to kids ages 7-12, which is much safer and makes sense. I am sorry for the wrong information. The Body Motion machines that the kids use were donated by Ministry Health Care. According to Ashley, the person working in the weight room, these machines are rare, not many places have them. The machines have five settings, they progressively get heavier by utilizing more of the person's body weight. The maximum that the kids can use is three quarters of their wight, which is a safe amount and will not stunt growth or have other side effects. There are 10 stations using legs, back, chest, shoulders, and abs. The kids are told to do around 15 reps and they do one circuit. They have to warm up by running on the treadmill of bike for a few minutes then stretch after the workout. Also, the kids can only work out three times a week so their body has time to heal. When someone new wants to work out, they have to go three orientations. The first and second orientations the kids have to do the exercises as the instructor tells them and the third orientation is in front of their parents and instructor to show the parents that they can do the exercises. I also found out the date of the earth day activities, but still don't really know what I will be doing there.