1Climb, adidas Build Walls for Boys & Girls Clubs  

Nate Mitka shared with Children and Nature network that with his ascent of the Dawn Wall in 2015, Kevin Jorgeson made climbing history. And it seems the Californian climber continues to push the climbing envelope beyond Yosemite Valley.  1Climb, a nonprofit Jorgeson co-founded to introduce kids to climbing, recently announced an initiative to build 10 climbing walls in Boys & Girls Clubs across the U.S.

The partnership hopes to introduce 100,000 kids in urban areas to their first climb. According to the plan, 1Climb intends to build climbing walls in L.A., Chicago, and New York City to help thousands of urban youths access climbing by the end of 2019. And, it intends to open the six more in 2020.

“Our belief is that through sport, we have the power to change lives and this partnership is a perfect example that brings those words to life,” said Stephen Dowling, VP of marketing at Adidas Outdoor. “We are incredibly excited to partner with 1Climb in order to bring the benefits of the outdoors to the city, building climbing walls to break down social barriers, and create an equal starting line for tens and thousands of girls and boys across America.” Read more 

Be Safe When Exercising Outdoors  

Go For Life shared that if you’ve made a plan to be more active, and you’re ready to go outside and get started, make sure that you can exercise safely in your neighborhood. Here are a few tips that can help you stay safe as you get moving.

Think ahead about safety.

  • Carry your ID with emergency contact information, and bring a small amount of cash and a cell phone with you, especially if walking alone. Stay alert by not talking on the phone as you walk.
  • Let others know where you’re going and when you plan to be back.
  • Stick to well-lit places with other people around.
  • Be seen to be safe. Wear light or brightly colored clothing during the day, and wear reflective material on your clothing and carry a flashlight at night. Put lights on the front and back of your bike.
  • Wear sturdy, appropriate shoes for your activity that give you proper footing.

Read more 

The Best Low-Impact Exercises for Seniors  

Home Fitness Life shared with Healthy Lombard that working out gets harder with age. High impact exercises that once were easier in youth can be more taxing than before. That being the case, you’re going to need to do exercise that is easy on your joints and ligaments. In this article, I will recommend some low impact exercises with high benefits for the young and old alike.

What are Low-Impact Exercises?

Low-impact exercises are physical activities that help you get a heart-pumping work out without the threat of injury. Some trainers would define low-impact exercise as motions that keep one foot planted on the ground at all times.

What are the Best Exercises for Seniors?

  • Flexibility exercises to stretch your muscles
  • Balance exercises to prevent falls
  • Strength training exercises for building muscles
  • Aerobic or endurance exercises, including jogging, walking, dancing, swimming, and biking.

Read more 

How Better Sleep Can Help Maintain a Healthy Weight  

Katie Phillips, the Managing Editor for MattressReviews.net asked her team to create an article for Healthy Lombard on the topic of sleep.  They wrote that that in the journey towards better health, it’s easy to see how diet and exercise keep kids moving in the right direction. But there’s a third factor—sleep—that acts as foundational support for all health goals. Sleep regulates appetite and food cravings while providing the body with the energy it needs to stay active. A focus on adequate sleep prepares kids to make good food choices and lead a healthier lifestyle

Sleep, Appetite, and Food Cravings

Willpower may be involved in controlling appetite and food cravings, but it has nothing over natural biological processes. The sleep-deprived body increases the amount of hunger hormone released. Consequently, when you’re tired, you feel hungrier even if you’re not burning more calories. And, while you’re busy eating more, the body releases less satiety hormone, which means it takes longer for your brain to get the “full” signal.

 

Not only are you prone to eat more when you’re tired, but the kinds of foods you choose change too. A 2016 study found that cutting sleep from 8.5 to 4.5 hours caused participants to choose snacks foods with 50 percent more calories and twice the fat. It was found that the brain’s “reward” center goes into overdrive when it encounters high-fat, sugary foods. Essentially, those cookies and candies that kids already want to become almost irresistible.

 

If adults who have more self-control than kids can’t make good food choices when they’re tired, how can kids?   Read more 

Fitness Supplements  

Milan Krstovic,  Media Relations Associate, dataforstories.com, shared that the business of vitamins and supplements is booming. Recent research suggests that most Americans take at least one such product from the more than 90,000 options on the market. But within this massive industry – worth $37 billion by some estimates – consumer enthusiasm is dampened by uncertainty.
In the absence of strict regulation, many manufacturers peddle wares with few real benefits. Worse still, dangerous outcomes are increasingly common. The American Association of Poison Control Centers reports a troubling rise in incidents resulting from supplement consumption.
So, which vitamins and supplements are really worth taking, and which might not give you much support as you work toward your fitness goals?

singlecare has put together a great resource that can be found at https://www.singlecare.com/blog/fitness-supplements

Check it out!

Read more 

How To Camp With Your Dog  

There are different regulations depending on where you go. While this guide is a good place to start, always make sure to double check with the specific park or camp area you are visiting to see the regulations. The last thing you want is to have to turn around with a disappointed family and pet in tow!

Read more 

The Benefits of Boxing for Kids  

Daniel Earle who runs the fitnessfighters.co.uk website.shared with Healthy Lombard that boxing is becoming an increasingly popular way to keep fit amongst adults, however, it is slower to grow in popularity for children. Here are a few reasons why it should be growing faster among our youth.

Keeping Active
Whilst this is possibly the most obvious advantage of boxing for kids, it is also one of the most important benefits. In today’s age of technology and video games, it is becoming increasingly difficult for our young people to maintain a healthy level of activity as, according to CDC Healthy Schools, only 21.6% of 6 to 19-year-olds in the United States are getting 60 or more minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity on at least 5 days per week. Boxing provides an activity for kids to take part in which will give them a few hours of activity in their week and therefore will provide them with health benefits.

These health benefits of this physical activity include building strong bones and muscles, which is particularly important for young people to aid them in growing and providing a good foundation for the rest of their life. It also provides young people with hand-eye coordination, an important skill which many struggles with and is very difficult to develop later in life. Having good coordination will allow young people to have an advantage in other sports as well as improve their ability to carry our everyday tasks. Boxing at a young age also reduces the chances of becoming overweight in the future as this is a battle that many now face. Avoiding becoming overweight will help children to avoid many cardiovascular diseases that affect the overweight such as heart disease, strokes and type II diabetes.

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Getting fit after pregnancy can be complicated  

Amanda Loudin shared in the Daily Herald Newspaper as a Special to the Washington Post that when she returned to her Cross Fit gym two months after an unplanned Caesarean section, she knew she would have an uphill climb to get back to her pre-pregnancy fitness level. What the 36-year-old Maryland mom of two didn’t know, however, was that her challenges would include pelvic floor dysfunction and a severe separation of the abdominal muscles, or diastasis recti, during the pregnancy that failed to heal on its own.

Clark’s coaches at the gym, she says, “were a couple of young guys with no experience helping postpartum women.” The regimen left Clark feeling frustrated. She also received no guidance from her physician when it came to postpartum fitness.

Her story is not unusual. In an ongoing, small study of postpartum physical and mental health, Jaime DeLuca, associate professor and chairman of the department of kinesiology at Towson University, found that 90 percent of the participants in her study reported receiving no guidance from their physicians beyond “take it slow.” The internet, they responded, serves as their main source of information in this regard. The study, which has enrolled 33 participants so far, began in October 2017.

Increasing numbers of women are active throughout pregnancy, but it’s not always clear what’s the best and safest way to get fit once the baby is born.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has provided some loose guidelines for pregnant and postpartum women.

Read more 

Commitment to Connect 10 Million Children to Benefits of Gardening  

The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company today announced the launch of Gro More Good, a national initiative that will bring the life-enhancing benefits of gardens and green spaces to 10 million children over the next five years.

From food deserts and poor nutrition to childhood obesity and nature deficit, the lack of access to gardens and greenspaces is impacting today’s children. To help find a solution to this issue, The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company is partnering with leading not-for-profit organizations and other partners across the United States as part of its Gro More Good initiative to combat pressing challenges facing today’s youth, improving children’s access to fresh food and increasing their time spent outdoors connected to nature.

Gro More Good is an enterprise-wide commitment for The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company being largely implemented by The Scotts Miracle-Gro Foundation. Funding for the Foundation comes through the sale of ScottsMiracle-Gro’s leading branded products, including Scotts®, Miracle-Gro®, and Ortho®. The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company and The Scotts Miracle-Gro Foundation will work simultaneously to elevate the critical need to connect more children to gardening and outdoor play.

“It’s important we provide as many opportunities as possible for children to connect with the natural world around them,” said Jim Hagedorn, chairman, and CEO, ScottsMiracle-Gro. “As more and more children spend less time outside and have less understanding of where their food comes from, we have an obligation to help reconnect children to gardening and the outdoors for their positive growth and well-being.”

Supporting more youth garden and green space development comes at a critical time when challenges facing today’s youngest generation are significant, and problems with children’s physical, mental and social health are on the rise. However, ScottsMiracle-Gro’s work with communities over the past decade, as well as NGO and academic research, confirms that gardening and outdoor play provides a wide range of health benefits for children. These benefits include increased emotional well-being, increased consumption of fruits and vegetables, more physical activity, improved relationships, and better academic performance. Read more 

The 12 Best Apps for Tracking Your Health in 2019  

The Bestow Team, a life insurance company using big data and technology to bring simple and affordable coverage to everyone shared with Healthy Lombard that the New Year is seen as a time of new beginnings and resolutions. It’s the perfect opportunity to make positive changes in our lives, which is why so many Americans make living a happier, healthier lifestyle a top priority. For many of us, that means exercising more, eating better foods, or losing weight.

Sticking to our fitness goals can be quite a challenge, though. According to a recent study, of the two-thirds of adults in America that set fitness goals as a resolution, 73%gave up before meeting their goal. What’s more, only 23% of Americans are meeting the 150 minutes of recommended exercise per week. That’s not good for your health or your wallet.

The good news is that you don’t need a personal trainer or a gym membership to meet your fitness goals and feel your very best. All you need is a smartphone or activity tracker and, in some cases, a WiFi connection.

With all the technology available today, fitness apps are the best way to mix a healthy lifestyle into your busy schedule so you can live your best life.

To help you improve your fitness, we’ve picked 12 of the best apps to help you track your health in 2019.

Your physical fitness becomes more important as you grow older, but many Americans simply don’t have the motivation to stick to a regular fitness schedule. Read more