Get Healthy, Delaware!: BodyPump, Preston’s March for Energy, Grab & Go at Harvest Market

They Are Here to Pump … You Up

We all know the drill. People flock to the gym in January to fulfill a resolution or feel better about their holiday feasting. These same people tend to work out too hard and too fast and are injured or discouraged by the last week of the month. People—it doesn’t have to be this way. A lot of blogs out there will give you the top five incentives to keep going to the gym, so I feel the need to go rogue. I want to let you in on a healthy strategy that may keep you in the game.
Strength training is weightlifting with slow and controlled movements.  It’s designed for building and toning muscle with the added benefits of increasing your metabolism and preventing osteoporosis. For many, strength training means going to the open area of a gym and lifting what you can in front of people who look like they can lift their car.

The YMCA of Delaware has come up with alternative game plan. By offering a class developed in New Zealand called BodyPump. You get a 55-minute barbell workout to music with the guidance of an instructor.  The set class time, the teacher feedback and the controlled pace can allow you to feel much more connected to your goal than simply running in and hopping on a treadmill.

“I teach BodyPump to college students through older people in their 70s,” says YMCA fitness instructor Dawn Filandro. “We take people through 10 different tracks in one class, working different body parts and having fun with the great music.”

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The BodyPump class is offered at the following Y locations in Delaware:

  • Central YMCA in Wilmington
  • Western Family YMCA in Newark
  • Dover YMCA
  • Bear-Glasgow YMCA

If your local Y does not offer the BodyPump course, there are others such as MusclePump and Strength Training for Older Adults. The key is to look at January as the beginning of your journey.

“I always tell my class,” says Filandro, “I don’t want you to be a hero in January and a couch potato in September.”
Although cardio is key, it’s just one part of getting in shape. By dedicating your time to building a foundation with strength training, the more equipped you’ll be for the long haul—you know, your lifetime.

 


Preston’s March

Delaware continues to impress and amaze me. The grassroots efforts in this state are truly passion-fueled and determined to create positive change. I recently learned of some wonderful changes that occurred in the lives of some Delaware children throughout the state. These children have pronounced physical disabilities and never thought they would be able to ride a bicycle. Until now.

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Preston’s March for Energy is a nonprofit born out of North Wilmington that raises money to purchase adaptive bicycles for children. The organization is named for a young man with mitochondrial disease who received his own adaptive bicycle and could finally participate in neighborhood outings with his friends. When Deb and Steve Buenaga first saw their son Preston ride a bicycle, they were overwhelmed by the amount of joy it brought to the entire family.

“It was at that moment,” “we knew we wanted to make this possible for other children and their families,” says Deb Buenaga. “We delivered a bike the other day and the mom told me that we ‘just made the impossible, possible.’”
Since becoming a nonprofit organization in 2011, Preston’s March for Energy partnered with Brandywine Cyclery and the process has been smooth and fruitful. To date, they have successfully provided 25 children with adaptive bicycles both in and out of the state.

In an effort to raise money, Preston’s March for Energy held its first 5K, which encouraged local schools to participate not by fundraising, but by student race participation. Springer Middle School in North Wilmington won the grand prize—adaptive equipment for the school. Now Springer Middle School has a basketball hoop that all the kids can aim for. 
When the weather is nice, I see children on their bikes up and down my street all the time. Preston’s March for Energy is making sure more kids cannot only tag along, but take the lead.

 


Grab & Go at Harvest Market

Just when I made the resolution to cook more, Harvest Market Natural Foods in Hockessin is opening its Grab & Go section at the end of this month. Do you realize what this means? All those fresh ingredients prepared onsite and sold in soups, sandwiches, salads and sides and all we have to do is grab them and go. 

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You’re thinking I should just buy the ingredients there and still cook the dishes that sound delicious. But then I have to ask you, have we met? For someone like me, who is meatless and wheatless, to go into Harvest Market and immediately consume fresh and organic food, this is a find. Better yet, Grab & Go actually sounds like physical activity. This is a win-win. For those of us who like to taste recipes before they prepare them, grabbing and going is clearly the way to go.

Harvest Market has been supplying Delaware with organic and natural foods since 1995. They even have a registered nurse and herbalist available for free consultations right there at the store. So if you have questions about specialty diets such as gluten-free, vegan, vegetarian, macrobiotic or raw foods, you have people ready and waiting to help you make informed choices.

I promise to keep my 2013 resolution to cook more. I just need to taste some new dishes from Harvest Market before I begin.

 

Health Events

Thursday, Jan. 17
Diet Fads & Weighty Matters: A presentation of the Celebrating Women’s Health Lecture Series
Location  John H. Ammon Medical Education Center, Christiana Hospital campus, 4755 Ogletown-Stanton Road, Newark
Time  7-8:30 p.m.
More info.  (800) 693-2273

Saturday, Jan. 19
24th Road to Super Bowl 5K Benefiting The Beth Tomanelli Scholarship for Girls on the Run Delaware
Location  Kelly’s Logan House, Delaware Ave. at North DuPont Street, Wilmington
Time 12:30 p.m. (registration at 11:30 a.m.)
More info.  Barb Brown Kursh at 654-6400, or Barb@races2run.com

Friday, Jan. 18
Harvest Market Salt Tasting for Thyroid Awareness Month
Location  Harvest Market Natural Foods, 7417 Lancaster Pike, Hockessin
Time  12:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.
More info.  234-6779

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