Hi All
Good news for those members who want to be able to enjoy a class of some kind up in the Group Class area on Friday mornings when our new Summer schedule commences. After meeting the Earlybird group last week, it was decided that a 30-minute Circuit with some motivating music from 6 till 6.30am would work upstairs, while the Aqua class would still start at 6am and run till 6.45am. So you now have a choice of activities. Tiffany will take Aqua and Petrina the Circuit class.
I really encourage anyone not doing classes of any sort to think about joining in with the Friday 6am Aqua group. Water exercise is effective if you need to get the weight off your knees, ankles or feet. You will be amazed at what you can actually do in the water that would be painful or difficult on land. I am no water baby however I really did use water exercises to help speed up my recovery after my bilateral knee replacements. When you have sore knees that don’t bend very well, the water frees them up and you can do all sorts of movements. The same applies to shoulder discomfit. Floating your arms in water allows a much less painful range of movement. And if you are worried about the water temperature, I promise you, once you start moving around you will be quite comfortable. The pool is solar-heated and can actually get almost too warm at times!
Thank you member Ray Harris for feedback in the new Skip/Rod area. With Ray’s help I have been able to reassess the potential use of the space and we will label an extra skipping zone. As we agreed, it is going to be very important for people using this area to share and work in with each other. As I explained to Ray, I am very keen to see the Green Apple Team prescribing more Rod exercises. “In the old days” (and Barbara and I remember these days well) we used to do a lot of rod work because we all need horizontal rotation work and side bending type exercises. Our trunks are designed to be able to do these movements at trunk level and most “equipment” exercise does not provide sufficient twisting and side bending movements. Another great range of movement (ROM) is provided in Up and Overs. This is where you hold a rod lengthwise in front of you and lift it over head. If your shoulder ROM is good, you will be able to take the rod right over, with arms straight, to rest on your lower back. It would be a good idea to ask your instructor to try some of these rod exercises with you.
Do you use the Skywall? It is excellent cross-crawl work which improves your brain/body communication and helps with your overall co-ordination. If you are doing this exercise and someone is on the mat in front of the wall, you must tell them you are ready to use the wall and could they move please. Now we have the Functional Training room to use with a bigger mat available in there, they will have somewhere else to do their floor exercise whereas you only have one place where you can do your wall climbing. I have put a sign in front of the Skywall to keep this area clear and I am hoping that more Green Apple programmers will help more of you become confident and competent on this excellent piece of equipment.
Cheers
