Zachary C. and Roy C. of Frankfort spend their summers riding bikes, playing baseball and running around. But when the temperature drops, they’re more likely to park their bodies in front of the PlayStation 2 than head outdoors for some exercise.
“It’s easy to go outside in the summer because there are always things to do,” Roy, 10, says. “It’s harder in the winter, especially if there’s no snow.”
Still, the two brothers fight the winter blahs by playing in an indoor soccer league a few times a week. “It feels good to run around, get some exercise,” Zachary, 13, says. “It puts me in a better mood.”
And regular exercise helps you keep weight off, sleep better at night, concentrate in school–the list goes on and on. So don’t let winter pass and have nothing more to show than the high score on “Gran Turismo 3.” Here are ideas to get you moving, even in the coldest of weather.
Drill a skill
Winter is a great time to perfect a skill in your favorite sport, says Marc Crabtree, the director of sports performance at the new Chicago Bulls/White Sox Training Academy in Lisle. For instance, if you’re looking to improve your basketball skills, try dribbling with the hand you usually don’t use for 30 minutes each day. Baseball enthusiasts can work on their swing by hanging a ball from a basement rafter and concentrating on their mechanics.
“I tell young athletes to use this time to find one thing they need work on and drill themselves until they’ve got it down,” Crabtree says. Get specifics by talking with coaches, going on the Internet or checking books at the library.
Want to work up a sweat?
Then head to the nearest video arcade, says Dr. Meg Jordan, editor of American Fitness magazine. Forget the Blitz 2001 and get in line for Dance Dance Revolution, the hottest dance simulation game this side of “Soul Train.”
“Kids are burning 300-400 calories while playing,” says Jordan of the follow-the-instructions dance machine. You have to mirror the moves on screen by stomping or slapping the surrounding highlighted circles–kind of like a modern-day Twister. Check out www.ddrfreak.com for the DDR nearest you.
Jordan also recommends standard basement games like Ping-Pong and air hockey for a little aerobic exercise. Aerobic exercise makes your heart stronger and works best when you do it for 20 to 30 minutes, two or three times a week. “You get a lot of upper-body movement and you actually get your skills in line for the sports you’ll be playing in the spring,” she says.
Show your strength
Ryan Velosquez, physical instructor at Portage Park in Chicago, says kids shouldn’t lift weights until they’re 13 or so–but that doesn’t mean you can’t build your muscles in other ways. Velosquez suggests a routine of push-ups, sit-ups, squats and other basic exercises. “You can spend a few minutes doing some exercise before going to bed.”
It’s easy to stay motivated if you track repetitions and set goals, Velosquez adds. “Give yourself some incentive. Every time you reach a goal, set a new one.”
Get a jump on your coordination skills
If Crabtree could put one object in a kid’s house, it’d be a jump rope, he says. “It’s the quickest way to improve your coordination.” Set aside 10 to 15 minutes each day for jumping rope, and watch yourself perform better on the playing field.
Or try skipping. It isn’t just for younger kids, Crabtree says. “The fundamentals you use in skipping are the same things that help you run faster and jump higher. You’re using the same muscles, the same concepts of balance and movement that will help you steal a base or beat the pack during a fast break.”
Keeping a balloon from hitting the ground is another simple but effective workout. “You start out in one room, end up going up and down stairs, through different rooms–it really helps you concentrate and move,” he says.
Stay flexible
Stretch at least two or three times a week, suggests the President’s Council on Physical Fitness. It helps prevent your muscles and joints from getting injured and helps your body move easily.
When you stretch, relax and breathe comfortably. Don’t bounce or jerk. Hold each position for about 10 seconds. If it hurts, ease up a little. As you improve, hold each stretch for 30 seconds.
Want a simple stretch that can help you relieve tension during your school day? Try the Back Scratch, which you can do standing or sitting. Raise your right hand in the air with your palm facing to the back. Bend your elbow and place the palm of your hand on your back between your shoulders. Bring your left hand behind your back and try to touch your right hand. Hold 10-30 seconds. Repeat two times on each side.
OPINION
Bratty behavior backfires for Cohen
Yikes! Man-to-man defense. Body slams. Was that a figure-skating warm-up or a hockey game?
Nope, it was definitely the warm-ups before the long program at the U.S. National Championships on Jan. 12. But Sasha Cohen was certainly getting in her share of offensive moves.
She bumped into six-time national champ Michelle Kwan not once, but twice. She got in the way of other skaters Angela Nikodinov and Sarah Hughes. And she stuck to Kwan like glue so the skater never had the room she needed to warm up her triple toe-triple toe combination.
Some say that Cohen’s strategy was to pysche out her opponents. Make them lose their cool. After all, if Kwan and others weren’t on top of their game, it could leave room for the talented Cohen to snatch the title and assure her place on the Olympic team.
But is making a menace of one’s self and alienating other skaters really the way a girl wants to win? What makes the supremely confident Cohen think she needs to resort to such tacky tactics?
We can’t answer that question, but we can say Cohen’s selfish ways in warm-up didn’t work. Kwan said she had to mentally re-group after warm-ups. In fact, she bagged the triple-triple combination she had planned in her program and landed a triple-double instead. But she still blew away her competition–including Cohen, who placed a distant second. (Kwan, Cohen and Hughes each won spots on the Olympic team.)
Cohen told reporters she was just concentrating on her moves during warm-up. Yet, after the competition, skaters reportedly were buzzing about her performance. Unfortunately, it wasn’t her beautiful, passionate skating in the short program that lingered in fellow skater’s memories. It was the mind games.
Now who’s the loser?
QUIZ
Be a sport. Test your Olympic knowledge
The Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City are less than a month away, and while most Americans know figure skating, hockey or downhill skiing when they see it, other Olympic sports can get confusing. Like curling. Or the skeleton. What are those athletes up to?
Take our quiz to see whether you can sort which Olympic sport is which. Match the word to its description.
1. Bobsled —– 2. Luge —– 3. Curling —– 4. Skeleton —– 5. Biathlon —– 6. Zamboni —–
A. Head first, belly down and hands back, approaching speeds of 80 mph, a slider whizzes down icy tracks on a sled with two runners. Sleds measure less than 4 feet in length and 8 inches high.
B. Two- or four-person teams propel a sled with a fiberglass hull, front and rear axles and four runners down an icy track at speeds of 90 mph. A driver steers the sled and leads the team. The brakeman is last in after pushing off and pulls the brake at the end of the run.
C. This ancient team sport is played on ice with 42-pound granite stones. The goal is to have your four players’ stones closest to the center of what’s called the house at the end of each round. To accomplish this, players can knock opponents’ stones out of scoring position and guard their own stones with others. Think shuffleboard on ice.
D. This isn’t a sport at all, but a cool, ice-resurfacing machine named after its inventor. Between events, the machine shaves and conditions the ice to keep it in shape. But we see potential … imagine rodeos or stock-car style races.
E. This sport is named after the French word for sled, and sliders ride feet first down an icy track at speeds of 90 mph. Sleds move on two runners called steels. The steels attach to flexible levers called kufens and respond to the pressure of slight leg movements.
F. Athletes combine skiing and shooting at targets. The challenge is to ski all out to finish the race in the least amount of time yet be focused enough while shooting to hit the target. Athletes ski a penalty lap or have a minute added to their finish time for each missed target.
ANSWER:
1. B
2. E
3. C
4. A
5. F
6. D
