NIC DE CAIRE, Club Industry
When I picture a “boss,” I think of someone sitting in a leather chair behind a big desk filled with papers, phones and computer monitors. They bark orders from inside their office and hit a button on their phone to yell at their assistant for coffee. When I picture a “leader,” I think of a person on the floor, talking to their employees and customers. They know their staff and ask about their families and upcoming weekend plans. They throw around high fives and …
NIC DE CAIRE, SPECIAL TO THE NEWS JOURNAL
Most of us take movement for granted. We are able to get out of bed and go about our day how we choose.
Some of us decide to fit in exercise during our daily activities, but most don’t. More than 20 states have an obesity rate above 30 percent. Delaware is among them.
That scares me. It should scare you, too.
Every day, I’m trying to change lives through fitness. I ask my clients to work just a little harder. I ask them to eat just a little healthier.
And honestly, for the most part, they take it all for granted. Heck, I used to even take it for granted.
Until last fall.
The day of the Main Street Mile, I was hurrying to get the race started when a young boy gave me pause.
He was there that rainy morning to participate, just like everyone else. The only difference was he was on a three-wheeled adaptive bike with hand cranks.
I was about to start the race, but I kept looking at him. The only thing I could focus on was his smile. While most runners and walkers looked like they wanted to get this mile over with because of the weather, he did not.
After introducing myself to him and his parents, I found out his name was Andrew. I asked about his awesome bike and found it had been donated to him a year earlier by an organization called Preston’s March for Energy.
PMFE was created by Deb Buenaga and her husband, Steve. It is named after their son, Preston, who has a mitochondrial disease, which leaves him with low muscle tone and developmental delays.
PMFE was created with one goal in mind – to provide adaptive bikes to children with special needs.
We all know that childhood obesity is a problem in this country. Unfortunately, among children with functional limitations that affect their physical activity, nearly 81 percent are overweight or obese.
The children who are receiving these bikes don’t skip exercise because they have better things to do. They don’t have the resources. The equipment is expensive and not easily accessible. An adaptive bike costs, on average, about $1,800.
This is something that I did not realize until I became more involved with PMFE.
Each year at Fusion Fitness, we pick six local nonprofits to benefit from our fitness charity challenges.
After meeting Andrew, my team at Fusion decided we needed to pay it forward and raise enough money to purchase one of these bikes during our next challenge.
It started out with the goal of raising enough to buy an adaptive bike for a young boy named Hayden. But over the course of the next month, it became so much more.
At the end, the thing I was most proud of was not that the members exceeded our goal of $1,800 – we raised $7,200 – but the fact that four children will now have the opportunity to live a healthier lifestyle because they have equipment to make it happen.
The day of the Main Street Mile, I walked with Andrew’s family for the majority of the race while he rode.
As we approached the finish line you could see Andrew pick up his speed. You could feel the excitement.
Even though he was not the first to cross the finish line, the cheers told a different story.
Watching a child ride a bike for the first time is an amazing experience. Watching a child with special needs ride a bike for the first time is pure joy. This is a gift most of us take for granted.
I challenge each of us to use our gifts to live a healthier lifestyle and maybe even change some lives in the process.
Nic DeCaire, owner of Fusion Fitness Center in Newark, has been training clients for more than a decade.
By Josh Shannon jshannon@newarkpostonline.com
Standing before an array of exercise machines and equipment at Fusion Fitness Center, owner Nic DeCaire welcomed the people who had come out to show their support at the kickoff event for the “31 Days to a Healthier You” campaign on Thursday afternoon.
This social media campaign is an effort by the Delaware Department of Health and Social Services and the Division of Public Health to help Delawareans make small changes to their daily routine that will add up to a healthier lifestyle overall.
“During the ‘31 Days to a Healthier You’ campaign, I challenge you to figure out what is important to you when it comes to your health,” DeCaire said. “I mean getting off medication, being able to walk up the stairs at work or just being able to play on the floor with your grandchildren. Whatever your goal is, keep it simple and keep it real.”
The campaign will make use of sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Youtube, Flickr and Instagram to post activity ideas, information about nutrition, resources for how to quit smoking, healthy recipes, tips on health screenings and words of encouragement.
Among those who spoke at the kickoff event were Gov. Jack Markell, Mayor Polly Sierer, DHSS Secretary Rita Landgraf and Michael Molaski, a member of Fusion Fitness who lost 50 pounds over seven months through better fitness and nutrition.
In show of her support for the campaign, Sierer announced that she had become a member of Fusion Fitness and invited the community to follow her progress over the next month.
Markell reiterated the idea emphasized by other speakers that small steps can lead to big differences.
“All you have to do is start with something small,” Markell said. “And if it means you starting with a 15 minute walk tomorrow, it’s going to feel good. And that doesn’t mean you have to run a mile the next day. Take it at your pace.”
Source: http://www.newarkpostonline.com/news/article_68086927-013b-5bc2-bee0-195edca5f63d.html
By Rose McNeill | Special to the Post
Standing before an array of exercise machines and equipment at Fusion Fitness Center, owner Nic DeCaire welcomed the people who had come out to show their support at the kickoff event for the “31 Days to a Healthier You” campaign on Thursday afternoon.
This social media campaign is an effort by the Delaware Department of Health and Social Services and the Division of Public Health to help Delawareans make small changes to their daily routine that will add up to a healthier lifestyle overall.
“During the ‘31 Days to a Healthier You’ campaign, I challenge you to figure out what is important to you when it comes to your health,” DeCaire said. “I mean getting off medication, being able to walk up the stairs at work or just being able to play on the floor with your grandchildren. Whatever your goal is, keep it simple and keep it real.”
The campaign will make use of sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Youtube, Flickr and Instagram to post activity ideas, information about nutrition, resources for how to quit smoking, healthy recipes, tips on health screenings and words of encouragement.
Among those who spoke at the kickoff event were Gov. Jack Markell, Mayor Polly Sierer, DHSS Secretary Rita Landgraf and Michael Molaski, a member of Fusion Fitness who lost 50 pounds over seven months through better fitness and nutrition.
In show of her support for the campaign, Sierer announced that she had become a member of Fusion Fitness and invited the community to follow her progress over the next month.
Markell reiterated the idea emphasized by other speakers that small steps can lead to big differences.
“All you have to do is start with something small,” Markell said. “And if it means you starting with a 15 minute walk tomorrow, it’s going to feel good. And that doesn’t mean you have to run a mile the next day. Take it at your pace.”
Source: http://www.newarkpostonline.com/news/article_0c7e1e34-a9e9-5f2c-b337-8402168f5f20.html
By Nic DeCaire | Guest Columnist
Have you taken some time off from fitness and are starting to get back in the swing of things?
Maybe it was a couple months, a year or even a decade. It doesn’t matter how long it has been – as a fitness professional, I am just happy you decided to bring fitness back into your life.
The problem with taking time off is that usually when you go back to it, you use the same routine you did in the past. How much could fitness change in the last year, you say to yourself? Honestly, a lot!
Typically, people returning to fitness centers tend to gravitate to cardio and weight machines. It’s what they know and where they feel most comfortable.
I blame this on the 1980s. That’s when these machines became popular in the fitness industry. You might recognize the name Nautilus. Fitness centers became filled with these machines and people thought they were the answer to thinner thighs and tighter stomachs.
One of the hardest jobs we have as fitness professionals is getting people to change their minds about how great these machines are for them. For starters, most machines put you in a fixed position that might not be appropriate for your height and build. They also don’t allow your body to move the way it was designed.
I put together a quick list of my top three fitness machines you should stop using today and why.
1. Butt Blaster – First of all, the name makes me cringe. I remember in my early teens working at a fitness center that had one of these. Written in really big letters on the side of the machine was “BUTT BLASTER.” If that did not bring enough attention, it sounded like lumberjacks sawing down a redwood when in motion. Everyone in the gym would turn and watch when someone was on this machine. Not only is this machine embarrassing, but it also strain your lower back if performed incorrectly. Replace this exercise with bird dogs, reverse lunges or stiff-legged deadlifts. These are great butt-blasting exercises.
2. Ab machine – How often do you find yourself standing up and frantically crunching over? Maybe if you have food poisoning, but other than that I am going to guess not often. Sitting upright in this machine, grabbing the handles behind your head and squeezing as hard as you can while crunching over is not only bad for your spine, but it won’t give you six-pack abs. Replace this exercise with planks, side planks or bicycle crunches.
3. Inner Outer Thigh Machine – This machine reminds me of a larger version of the Thighmaster by Suzanne Somers. When I was a kid, I used it to try and do bicep curls with it. I am going to be honest here – there is nothing good about this machine. Sitting on a machine and squeezing your thighs together as hard as you can will not make them any thinner. Yes, you may feel the burn but if you are not training correctly you will actually create an imbalance in your body because your inner thigh muscles will overpower the rest of your legs. Replace this exercise machine with stiff leg deadlifts, lateral band walks, reverse lunges or squats.
Go here to learn these excercises: www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUpc4udvufc. And check out the video online at www.delawareonline.com that accompanies this article.
Changing your workout routine can be a struggle for some. After all, it is routine and comfortable, sort of like an old boyfriend. But at some point, you just have to move on and know it is all going to work out for the best.
I promise you that you will see more gains in your fitness by getting rid of your favorite machines and starting to use your body as the machine instead.
Nic DeCaire, owner of Fusion Fitness Center in Newark, has been training clients for more than a decade.
http://www.delawareonline.com/story/life/2015/01/19/stop-using-fitness-machines-right-now/21998755/
Nic DeCaire is an avid communicator, he views social media as a way for help people achieve their personal physical goals every day!