A couple summers ago, I volunteered as an assistant coach for a youth soccer league in my area. It was lots of fun and I got to chase kids around and attempt to teach 4 & 5 year old's how to play soccer. Whether they learned anything or not is irrelevant, they were moving & getting active while I had the opportunity to share something I have grown to love since I was their age.

Throughout the summer, I found it very interesting to observe the aspects of the kids' health besides their playing: What they ate before practice, what they drank during a game, and what they where rewarded with after activity. 
I saw a lot of Bug Juice (yuck!), some but not enough water, Gatorade here and there, McDonald's before practice (bleh!), LOTS of pop, and then a Blue Bunny Drumstick from the ice cream truck after a game.

Oh boy...

What are their parents thinking? In an age where obesity is becoming and epidemic and the main cause of so many life threatening diseases, you would think parents would take more care of what is going in their children's mouths. 

Yes! I commend you for facilitating your child's participation in organized sports. Yes! Good job at getting them moving. Congratulations at getting them away from the video games and TV. 

BUT... (that's a big but)

Providing them with the proper nutrition and hydration before, after, during exercise and well...all the time can increase fat burn, muscle growth and positive energy in a child's life.
Have you ever heard the fitness phrase: 'Abs are made in the kitchen'?
Well, it's not just for adults trying to lose weight. The rule applies just as much to your children who you should be helping to keep the weight off!

Childhood is the best to educate kids about their health and get them active. They have had less time than adults to build stubborn and life-altering habits, and are very easily influenced by the people, images, food, and energy around them. 

Obesity can be fought. And the battle needs to start my raising healthy, active children.

Peace.
 

Today, I thought I would fill you in a little more about me.
I am a freshman at Northern Michigan University in Marquette, Michigan.
I am Pre-Med.
All I know is that, someday, I want to deliver babies and work with sex trafficking recovery. Someday.
But beyond that (or rather before that), I really didn't know what I wanted to study...Med school doesn't care what your major is, as long as you fulfill the undergraduate requirements for entry...So that didn't offer much help deciding.
Like so many others, I'm just a confused college student. 
I'm a fitness fanatic, so something in the heath/sports world makes sense.
I thought I wanted to be an athletic trainer...or not. 
Then maybe Sports Science! (Which is where I made this professional webpage and blog.)
Now, after doing a little research, I have decided to major in Health & Fitness Management, so I can help others be fitness fanatics too! Yay!
Will this change of mind be permanent? Who knows. But right now, I feel like I'm headed in the right direction. I'm content with my decision, current path, and looking forward to next semester's courses.
But if I change my mind, hey! I change my mind. No big deal. After all, this is my future we're talking about here...It has to be the right decision.

Be vibrant.
Peace.

If you were unaware, the 2013 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show coming up. So I've been looking up and thinking about the life of an 'Angel' and the amazing opportunities they have to travel the world. And being the high-pedestalled models that they are, working out wherever they are is a must. Though this can present some challenges, these women have the chance to exercise in some of the most beautiful places in the world! Wouldn't that be awesome? Talk about motivation and energy! So let's give them a kind of title like Exercise Explorers...or something cute and cheesey like that.
I'm no VS Angel, but I did have the chance to travel to Italy this summer where I was a nanny two months for a well-off Italian family in Naples. Throughout my time in Europe, I visited the vacation destination Capri and her sister island, Ischia, we stayed in the Alps mountains for three weeks or so, I took a weekend trip to Dusseldorf, Germany and a day trip to Rome. I managed to work out at least once in each of these places! A run in the foothills of the Alps, core-work tips from a Spanish personal trainer at the Parco Virgillano Sports Club in Naples, swim laps in the Mediterranean Sea, hiking in the Apls, paddle board and wakeboard in the Gulf of Napoli, sun salutation in front of St. Peter's Basilica, cliff jumping in glacial lake high up in the Alps..Am I a Exercise Explorer? Granted, I'm not ALL over the world..But I think I might qualify. At least as a novice.

Disclaimer: Not everyone has the chances, opportunities or funding to travel and exercise around the world!
I understand that, which is why I'm here to share the great news! You can be a Exerciser Explorer too!
There are many different practices and forms of exercises that originate from all over the world. 
Yoga was born in India. Pilates was developed in Germany. Tai Chi has its origins in ancient China. Boxing saw its first days in the United Kingdom. Different martial arts have originated from ALL over the world, but primarily Asia. And running? Well...humans have been running all over since mammoths and saber-toothed tigers were chasing us. Who knows when or where we started running recreationally. Surfing, one of the oldest practiced sports in the world which manages to create its own culture and lifestyle, began in Western Polynesia. There is record of forms of soccer played in ancient China, then again by the Greeks and Romans, and then back to Japan. It goes on and on.
My point is that you don't need that once-in-a-lifetime opportunities, a ton of money, or a supermodel body to exercise in a worldly way. So let's get fit. Globally. Try a new practice, pursue something different, challenge yourself everyday, make what you can out of what you have, and be brave. You will find yourself to be a strong, fit and diverse individual. We can all be Exercise Explorers.

Peace.