12 Days of Fitness Day 1: The 7 Minute Workout On the first day of FitMas NCHPAD gave to you...

a 7 minute workout thats all -out effort with little time consumed! Are you finding it hard to fit physical activity into your Holidays? If you answered yes, time may be your biggest obstacle. To help overcome this barrier of time to be active, we've put together a 7 minute workout based on the latest exercise science surrounding high-intensity circuit training. In the May/June 2013 issue of ACSM's Health & Fitness Journal, the American College of Sports Medicine published the latest science surrounding the 7 minute workout. The basics of this concept are that exercise time can be traded for total all-out effort when perfomed in a high-intensity circuit series with minimal rest. The health and fitness benefits from traditional exercise can also be seen when performed using this method of training for individuals short on time.

Here's the basics to design an effective workout using this method: Select 12 exercises focused mostly on using body-weight as resistance Select from a variety of exercises to work total body, lower body, upper body and core Perform each exercise for 30 seconds of all-out effort Rest for 10 seconds in between then move immediatly to the next exercise One round is approximately 7 minutes and if given all-out effort is enough to see health and fitness benefits. If time allows, you can complete the series 2-3 times. The 7 Minute Workout This workout includes 12 exercises. Complete each exercise to your own abilities. Perform each exercise at all-out intensity for 30 seconds, rest for 10 seconds, and move on to the next exercise. Complete the entire series for an approximate 7 minute workout.

Jacks Arm Jacks or Jumping Jacks

Wall Sit

Push Ups

Figure Eights Seated or lying down; with or without weight

Wheelchair Burpees Or traditional burpees

Click HERE for a video.

Chair Squat

Tricep Dips

Plank

Boxing Seated or standing; with or without weight

Swings Seated or standing; with or without weight

Rows Switch arms half way through

Walk Outs Modified on knees

- See more at: http://www.ncpad.org/1134/5630/12~Days~of~Fitness#sthash.PGuj7fuj.dpuf Day 4 The holidays are normally reserved for time spent with family and friends. This may include holiday parties, dinners, gift exchanges, caroling, and adorning your abode to name a few. Physical activity may not be on this list yet, but what if you could partake in a sweat session while still spending time with your loved ones? Some like to hit the gym alone and others like the company of a workout partner; whatever your style may be we've put together a few exercises that can be enjoyed during the holidays with a companion. Here's to reveling in the holidays without compromising a healthy lifestyle by getting fit together! Cardiovascular It's pretty simple to enjoy heart-healthy cardiovascular activities with a companion. Options include walking, running, rolling, swimming, biking, and indoor cardio equipment to name a few. Aim for 30 minutes of cardiovascular activity a day; get it in by waking up a bit earlier in the mornings, taking a mid-day break, or encouraging the whole family to go around the block after dinner.

Indoor Cardio Strength

Outdoor Walk/Roll

Cycling

Here are a few muscle strengthening exercises that can be performed with a partner. Aim for 8-10 repetitions for 2-3 sets of each exercise.

MB Toss

Bench Press

Push Ups

Shoulder Press

- See more at: http://www.ncpad.org/1134/5633/12~Days~of~Fitness#sthash.lhY9KTiH.dpuf Day 9: All Pull No Push

On the ninth day of FitMas NCHPAD gave to you...a beneficial workout to keep wheelchair users in tune! All Pull No Push By: Kelly Bonner

Push should only be your mantra when you are racing down the court or track, but certainly not when you hit the gym. If you are a chair user then your push muscles are sure to see plenty of action. And if you arent careful, before you know it youll find yourself with a Pirates Treasure a sunken chest. All jokes aside, the more you push the more rounded your shoulders and hunched your back will become. Your goal should be to combat these effects when in the gym. Try to concentrate on pull motions and dedicate one whole day to pulls. Remember to start with the moves that use the largest muscle groups and work your way down to smaller muscle groups. Keep in mind that smaller muscle groups wont require a lot of weight so be sure not to over stress them. Here is a great All Pull, No Push workout for the next time you hit the gym. Perform 3 sets of 10-15 reps. Pull Ups Rowing Lat Pulldown Dumbbell pullovers Diagonal Kettle Bell swings Reverse Flys Scapula retractions External Rotation Plank - See more at: http://www.ncpad.org/1134/5638/12~Days~of~Fitness#sthash.iWrNYLDz.dpuf Day 12: A Hint on Stretching

On the twelfth day of FitMas NCHPAD gave to you...a hint about stretching to keep you nice and loose! By: Kelly Bonner I am sure all of us remember starting off every P.E. class or sport practice by stretching. We stood in lines, counted out loud, and performed all the movements in succession. Just like trends and fashions, things change along with recommendations regarding stretching. Studies have found there is no benefit to stretching

beforehand and it might even be detrimental. Instead, the current American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) recommendations include warming up first. So, if you are about to do a cardio workout, start with a less intense version of the workout for your warm up. If you are about to lift weights, start with a few minutes on an arm or leg bike. After your workout is over you can cool off with a good stretching routine and always be sure you are stretching a warm muscle. Here are the ACSMs current recommendations: Flexibility Exercise: Adults should do flexibility exercises at least two or three days each week to improve range of motion. Each stretch should be held for 10-30 seconds to the point of tightness or slight discomfort. Repeat each stretch two to four times, accumulating 60 seconds per stretch. Static, dynamic, ballistic and PNF stretches are all effective. Flexibility exercise is most effective when the muscle is warm. Try light aerobic activity or a hot bath to warm the muscles before stretching. - See more at: http://www.ncpad.org/1134/5641/12~Days~of~Fitness#sthash.2XPiTr0Z.dpuf

New Guidance Will Enhance Sports Opportunities for Students with Disabilities Inclusive Fitness Coalition compares impact to Title IX

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE January 25, 2013 Contact: Terri Lakowski (314) 517-0116 or tlakowski@activepolicysolutions.com Dan Henkel (317) 637-9200, ext. 127 or dhenkel@acsm.org New Guidance Will Enhance Sports Opportunities for Students with Disabilities Inclusive Fitness Coalition compares impact to Title IX WASHINGTON Students with disabilities have reason to celebrate as they gain some headway in their fight for better, health, and greater participation in school activities. The Inclusive Fitness Coalition (IFC) and student athletes with disabilities all over the country today applauded guidance issued by the U.S. Department of Educations Office of Civil Rights (OCR). The guidance clarifies schools responsibilities under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of

1973 (Rehab Act) to provide athletic opportunities for students with disabilities. The 2013 Dear Colleague Letter requires a holistic approach by schools seeking to comply with the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and ensures that schools look broadly and proactively to include students with disabilities in athletic programs in order to satisfy the schools civil rights obligations to provide equal educational opportunities. The policies apply to all levels of education, including both interscholastic and intercollegiate athletic opportunities. The benefits of providing all students opportunities for exercise and sports participation go beyond justice and individual opportunity. Inclusion in athletics is how children learn from each other, build social skills and optimize their growth and development. The OCR guidance is a clear indication that athletics is an extremely important part of our educational system and that youth and young adults with disabilities must be afforded the same opportunities as their non-disabled peers, said James Rimmer, Ph.D., who co-chairs the Inclusive Fitness Coalition and directs the National Center on Health, Physical Activity and Disability. This should be part of a national strategy to lower obesity rates, which are disproportionately higher among youth with disabilities compared to their non-disabled peers. GAO study called for guidance The guidance followed a 2010 study from the Government Accountability Office that found that students with disabilities receive fewer opportunities for physical activity and sports participation than students without disabilities. To help close the gap, the GAO called on the Department of Education to provide resources to assist states and schools in serving students with disabilities in physical activity settings. The GAO report also called for clarification of schools responsibilities to provide athletic opportunities for students under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. The Inclusive Fitness Coalition called for the GAO study, working with Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Reps. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY) and George Miller (D-CA). Advocates Invoke Title IX OCRs guidance is a landmark moment for individuals with disabilities, as it sends a loud message to educational institutions that students with disabilities must be provided opportunities for physical activity and sports equal to those afforded to students without disabilities, said Terri Lakowski, policy chair of the Inclusive Fitness Coalition and nationally recognized sports policy advocate. Lakowski, who has been a champion of equal physical activity and sports opportunities for women and girls under Title IX as well as students with disabilities for over ten years, added, We applaud OCR for its leadership and action, which we hope will pave the way for students with disabilities in sports the same way that Title IX has done for women. James R. Whitehead, CEO of the American College of Sports Medicine and co-chair of the Inclusive Fitness Coalition, said, Athletes with physical disabilities shone on the world stage at the Paralympic Games in London. These important steps taken to provide further guidance will help ensure that tomorrows world-class athletes find their way to sports in schools across our country like never before. The benefit of sport transcends that world stage; these athletes

demonstrate that regular physical activity can have a positive impact on so many aspects of a young persons life. This guidance opens the door for the vast expansion of opportunities for students with disabilities to participate in sports and physical activity programs in all levels of education. Beverly Vaughn, Executive Director of the American Association of Adapted Sports Programs, who has developed and implemented a school-based model for disability sport says, We are ready and eager to work with schools across the country and show them that integrating students with disabilities into school athletic programs is not only feasible, but will greatly enrich the overall athletic experience for all students. [1] http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/letters/colleague-201301-504.pdf [2] http://www.gao.gov/assets/310/305775.html -30About IncFit The IFC, led by the Lakeshore Foundation in partnership with the American College of Sports Medicine, comprises 200 organizations representing a cross-section of the disability rights, sports, health/fitness and civil rights communities. Recognizing the barriers that continue to limit opportunities for physical activity for individuals with disabilities in the school setting, the IFC works to expand opportunities for physical activity, exercise and athletics for individuals with disabilities. For more information, please visit www.lakeshore.org. - See more at: http://www.ncpad.org/1032/5348/New~Guidance~Will~Enhance~Sports~Opportunities~for~St udents~with~Disabilities~Inclusive~Fitness~Coalition~compares~impact~to~Title~IX#sthash.Dv BUXpQn.dpuf

Developing Recreation Skills in Persons with Learning Disabilities By: Lorraine C. Peniston (1998) In this article:

Foreword Benefits of Recreation Participation Learning Disabilities' Effect on Recreation Participation Cognitive Leisure Checklist

Foreword Perhaps nothing reveals so much about individuals as how they choose to play - how they invest their time and energy for leisure time. Leisure is that time free from demands of school, work, or required activities of daily living. Everyone needs regular recreation that develops skills, promotes good health, relieves stress, facilitates social interactions, and provides a general joy for living. For recreation, we choose activities at which we can be successful. Good readers read. Athletes seek sports' activities. Musicians lose themselves in

music. Visual artists paint or draw. Craftspeople create. Social individuals engage in group activities. Observers appreciate the efforts of others whether a basketball game, painting, fine meal, or concert. Children, adolescents, and adults with learning disabilities may find themselves with limited opportunities to fully enjoy leisure time. A lack of perceptual, motor, memory, linguistic, or organizational skills may cause them as much difficulty for leisure as they have at school or work. Fear of failure may limit their reaching out to access recreational activities. Just as we teach children with dyslexia to read, those with math disabilities to understand math, those with linguistic problems to better comprehend and use language, we must teach skills and provide practice so individuals with learning disabilities can achieve some recreational proficiencies. When skills are not as well developed as necessary and compensations are not made, agencies, institutions, instructors, and coaches can be helped to make necessary accommodations. Satisfying leisure time for persons with learning and other disabilities is as important as accomplishments at home, school, and work. Top Of Page Benefits of recreation participation Why should a person with learning disabilities engage in recreation activities? Simply because they can derive many benefits from recreation participation. One benefit is learning from the experience. When the recreation activity experience has captivated the participant, this individual brings particular personality styles of learning, motivation, and expectations about the experience to the setting. The person faced with a specific environment, interpreted by the person or not, promotes one or more learning experiences. These learning experiences can be motor learning, understanding game directions, or performing a skill, all to meet the demands of that setting. These experiences may come from involvement in a structured recreation program and may be exhibited as part of the information outcomes of participation. Researchers in the field of learning and educational psychology have discovered a variety of learning outcomes. The following outcomes can be present because of participation in recreation activities: behavior change and skill learning, direct visual memory, information (factual) learning, concept learning, schemata learning, metacognition learning and attitude, and value learning (Roggenbuck, Loomis, & Dagostino, 1991). The physiological benefits of recreation participation were derived from studies where people engage in physical activity of some kind (e.g., exercise, cycling, swimming,walking, jogging, running, hiking, weight lifting, etc). Specific results from involvement in a physical recreation activity are an increased lung capacity, reduced resting heart rates and lower blood pressure levels. Other benefits consist of decreased body fat mass, increased lean body mass, increased muscle strength, and improved structure and function of connective tissues (ligaments,tendons,cartilage) and joints. Weight-bearing and strength-building activities help sustain bone mass and reduce the incidence of trauma-induced fractures (Paffenbarger, Hyde, & Dow, 1990). Moderate physical recreation activities are known to reduce the symptoms of mild or moderate depression and anxiety through improved self-image, social skills, and mental health (Taylor, Sallis, & Needle, 1985). Noted psychological benefits of recreation activity are as follows:

perceived sense of freedom, independence, and autonomy,

enhanced self-competence through improved sense of self-worth, selfreliance, and self-confidence, better ability to socialize with others, including greater tolerance and understanding, enriched capabilities for team membership, heightened creative ability, improved expressions of and reflection on personal spiritual ideals, greater adaptability and resiliency, better sense of humor, enhanced perceived quality of life, more balanced competitiveness and a more positive outlook on life (Academy of Leisure Sciences & Driver, 1994).

Involvement in recreation activities releases stress and tension from the perils of society. Braum (1991) recalls the findings of researchers that state,"relaxation tends to alleviate many of the symptoms of stress. Activities that fill leisure time, performed within a group, strengthen social support ties known to negate stress" (p. 407). The idea of choice in leisure presents opportunities where one can recreate. One's environment can be a determinant to stress reduction. Natural environments can be pleasant, relaxing, and stress-reducing for many people, but large urban cities also provide the same experience. Having too much free time and limited access to various recreation activities of one's liking can produce stress. So, for those individuals living out in the country who have access to transportation, the joy of partaking in cultural events in the city on a weekly or monthly basis provides the opportunity for a stresslimited lifestyle. The same can be said for people living in the city who recreate in the country. Social integration of children and adults with learning disabilities into community recreation programs offers the chance to develop a positive selfimage through successful experiences and satisfying relationships with peers. McGill (1984) reports that integrated play opportunities are stimulating and highly motivating experiences for disabled children, offering them opportunities to imitate and model the play behavior of nondisabled peers. Social integration also enhances relationships between family members. We've all heard of the old adage,"The family that plays together stays together." This adage infers that leisure experiences promote family satisfaction and stability. Recreation activities provide opportunities for couples and families to interact and negotiate individual and collective interests. Orthner and Mancini (1991) state some benefits to the family: Leisure experiences promote opportunities for developing equity. Unlike many other environments within which people interact, leisure experiences promote opportunities for each individual to maximize her or his own interests and minimize competition. It is during leisure time when husbands and wives, and parents and children, are most apt to practice by negotiating family roles and reaching new definitions of consensuses. When individual interests are promoted over maximum joint interest, family bonds are weakened. Shared leisure experiences encourage opportunities to negotiations and improve the historical comparisons upon which subsequent negotiations are based. (p. 294) Benefits of leisure in social integration are also noted in people without disabilities. The chance to learn from and to socialize with nondisabled peers has been cited as one benefit for individuals with disabilities participating in integrated and fully inclusive programs. Research in the 1980's determined

that positive attitudes of children not having disabilities toward peers having disabilities were cultivated or increased when involved with an integrated recreation activity (Schleien & Ray, 1988). Recreation service providers also learn from this experience. Due to the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990, all private, public, and nonprofit agencies delivering recreation services to the public must supply accommodations and modifications within their programs to persons with disabilities (as requested). These professionals may not have any knowledge of providing accommodations and/or modifications to participants with learning disabilities. The person with learning disabilities, upon disclosure, thus needs to educate the professional about what accommodations and/or program modifications should be arranged to enable full participation in recreation programs. This social interaction not only contributes awareness of this situation to another person but also demonstrates how important it is for individuals with disabilities to participate in a particular recreation activity like everyone else. Top Of Page Learning disabilities' effect on recreation participation Chapter Two contributed in-depth information on the different types of learning disabilities and how learning disabilities cause difficulty in interpreting daily tasks. This section will focus on its interference with recreation activities. Often, the public and even some professionals who are knowledgeable about learning disabilities forget that everyone has a life after school and after work. Do not let the word learning impede any thinking that problems associated with learning disabilities will only surface during school or work. A person may read during leisure time, and that does not always mean a novel. A person reads directions to complete a craft project, instructions to play a computer game, a description of a recipe, and even the gate number on an airplane boarding pass. Dyslexia does not cease when one is playing Scrabble(R). Auditory perceptual ability does not suddenly improve because a child receives lower amounts of verbal instruction on the baseball field than in the classroom. Dyscalculia does not go away when playing a card game. Learning disabilities can affect every area of one's life, including participation in recreation activities. What occurs when learning disabilities interfere with participation in recreation activities? First, the person may only wish to participate in activities that reveal his attributes. For example, an individual who excels naturally in physical activities (e.g., basketball,volleyball,golf, tennis, etc.) may feel more comfortable playing in physical activities than a game of Scattergories(R),which requires the ability to hold information in memory, process written text quickly, recall accurately, and spell precisely. Even when a person excels in physical recreation activities, unexpected obstacles can appear. A few of these obstacles are reading and interpreting written game plays or formations (e.g., basketball, football, gymnastics, marching band, water polo, hockey, etc.), keeping track of a score (e.g. ,golf), and outmaneuvering your opponent through preplanned shots (e.g., racquetball, volleyball, tennis). In referring to the types of learning disabilities listed in Chapter Two, shown is a compilation of illustrations that describes how specific types of learning disabilities affect performance in recreational activities:

Dyscalculia. This can cause one to produce a sum that is incorrect, resulting in losing a game or in misplacement of ranking in golf. This also can cause difficulty in playing games such as dominos; scoring

bowling or in any type of card game; casino gambling; calculating dining charges, etc. Dyslexia. This inability to understand written language poses a problem when reading craft instructions, theater programs, movie subtitles, travel itineraries, tour guide brochures, and interpreting the directions in learning a new game. Auditory Acuity Difficulty. This may be the problem if, when playing a game of basketball, a player continually does not respond to a coach's directions from the bench or does not respond to a teammate's verbal play-making messages. Auditory-Vocal Association Problems. The characteristic is displayed when a person hears what was said, is subsequently able to acknowledge the auditory stimuli in a correct manner, and yet proceeds to perform an incorrect or inappropriate action. In football, upon hearing the signal for an interception, a defensive back stop, turns, and begins to tackle opposing players rather than block (Yellen &Yellen, 1987,p. 51). Auditory Memory Deficit. This could be the problem if a person finds difficulty remembering directions or instructions that have been previously explained (e.g., just before game or during halftime when new instructions were stated). In volleyball, a player does not remember alterations to a defense play made by the team captain at halftime. Auditory Sequencing Problem. Here a student experiences the inability to recall a series of auditory instructions. During tap dance instruction the student performs a shuffle step beginning with her left foot instead of her right foot and before an eight-count circle to her left. Catastrophic Response. This can occur anytime when the individual is overloaded with too much visual and/or auditory stimuli and results in high frustration. A scenario could be that the person misread or did not double check the time to return to the bus from an outing. This resulted in the person and accompanying friend missing the bus to return to their hotel. They are standing at the wrong bus station surrounded by hundreds of tourists. His friend is yelling, people are everywhere, and the person shuts down for approximately one minute. Cognitive Disorganization. With cognitive disorganization, a person may often miss or forget steps in a sequence. During a cub scout weekly assignment, 10-year-old Bob never brings all of the materials required to complete a project, or he constantly confuses the steps taken to achieve merit awards. Crossing the Midline and Directional Problems. These problems become quite apparent during aerobic exercise or dance class, roller or ice skating instruction, driving small motorized vehicles (e.g., scooter, gocart racing, bumper cars, boats, etc.) and locating a room in a hotel. This individual is unable to smoothly mimic the movements of the aerobic or dance instructor and experiences difficulty mirroring responses. Controlling the steering wheel, judgement of turns on a course, and going in the correct direction may require many practice runs before exhibiting adequate skills. Disinhibition. A person exhibiting this problem often finds complications with "fitting in" groups, especially team recreation activities. Constant laughing at a teammate when the ball is dropped, always retrieving a shot within someone else's playing zone (e.g., volleyball), and continually talking loudly when silence is expected

(e.g., opponent is putting in golf) could lead to dismissal from the team, if the individual is unable to correct these types of behaviors, or could result in peers not inviting this person to accompany them in a recreation activity again. Intersensory Problem. Trouble using two senses at once could interfere with designing a piece of pottery or hand painting a ceramic dish and holding a conversation with a talkative person who is sitting in the adjacent seat. Individuals exhibiting this dilemma may not complete the task or may make numerous mistakes during the process due to engagement in conversation. Short-term Memory Problem. A person with a short-term memory problem does not remember the sequence of a turn taken during a table game, forgets to place a bet before the next poker round, and may not remember what he betted during the current poker round. Visual Acuity Problem. A player does not exhibit the ability to see clearly and differentiate objects in his visual field. In bowling, the bowler experiences problems in lining the bowling ball up with the range finders on the runway. Poor Visual Coordination and Pursuit. Here the task of following and tracking objects causes distress. A person has trouble positioning himself to catch a frisbee or misjudges the landing of a spin on a tennis shot. Visual Figure-Ground Differentiation Problem. With this type of problem the person never identified where the object was from the beginning; she has an inability to distinguish between objects in the foreground and background. In soccer, a player has difficulty seeing her teammates when conducting a "throw-in" to continue the play of game. Visual-Motor, Spatial-Form Manipulation Problems. An individual finds complications in successfully moving in space and manipulating threedimensional objects with this problem. Examples are placing jigsaw puzzle pieces in their correct location within a puzzle, maneuvering one's bicycle through an obstacle course, and even parallel parking one's car.

It is common for persons with learning disabilities to employ survival strategies when learning a new skill or interacting in a group situation. Examples of these strategies are as follows: 1. Learn from doing: Jim cannot understand the chalkboard plays so his mind frequently "fades" out during those sessions. Jim feels since he will run that particular football play three times out on the field before the next game, he'll be fine in learning that game play. 2. Observe what others do: Sally is always one step behind when Coach Smith verbally explains new jumps she wants the cheerleading squad to try. Sally chooses to stand near the end of the cheerleading squad line. By the time her turn comes, she can successfully perform the jumps just like everyone else in the group. 3. Develop a buddy system: Keith has a problem interpreting what his college football offensive line coach, Coach Green, says during films. During the weekly viewing of football films, Keith may only catch about a third of what Coach Green is explaining. Keith developed a close friendship with George, who is also a member of the offensive line. Keith and George would get together for about an hour after films to

discuss what Coach Green wants the offensive team to accomplish for the next game. 4. Awareness of instructors' expectations: It is common in organized athletic teams that one person's wrongdoings or mistakes can jeopardize the entire team; youngsters and adolescents respond quickly to peer pressure. April immediately became aware of timeliness when the coach made her and her gymnastic teammates run 25 laps around the gym, twice in one week, due to April arriving late to practice sessions. This only occurred the first week of training, and throughout the 16-week training period April was never late again. These are just a few of the strategies considered "compensation" strategies that individuals with learning disabilities acquire throughout their lives. Some individuals learn them through life experience (the school of hard knocks), while others are fortunate enough to have someone provide them with guidance. It does not matter how compensation strategies are obtained, as long as they are mastered and utilized to render effective participation in a recreation activity of choice. Determining how one can partake in a recreation activity that may demonstrate areas of difficulty is the solution to successful inclusive recreation involvement. http://www.ldonline.org/article/6173/ ORGANIZATIONS: Lakeshore Foundation United States Quad Rugby Association Spinal Cord Injury Information Network