Monday, February 9. 2009Cul du Sac Bobsled
This one is pure tremendousness! A quad and trunk pummeling for you and a bobsleddy / lugey fun festival for your helmeted sidekick.
 Who says living on a cul du sac is boring? Materials: All you need is a 25-50' rope, a saucer sled (or preferably two for added stiffness so the the one sled doesn't curl), and an intrepid sidekick. Motion: Start with the rope coiled on your hand like a kite spool. Pull sidekick forward and as soon as you have momentum, start spinning him in a circle around you (a great way of teaching sidekick the mechanics of things like orbit and bicycle gears). As sidekick gains speed, let out hand-lengths of rope to increase the diameter of your circle. The longer the rope, the faster goes sidekick. Whoopee! Spin until your legs burn out or sidekick says stop. Really work your legs and grind your obliques like an Olympic discus thrower, then release the rope with a flourish (I like to launch sidekick over a snow bank or up a neighbor’s driveway). Safety: Again, don’t forget the helmet, and make sure to keep sidekick sibs outside the perimeter of your speed circle. I should add that this movement works surprisingly well for grownups too. I was actually able to zing my man brother around like James Bond in Moonraker. Tuesday, February 3. 2009Cherry and the Spoon
Difficulty: Green (Easy)
 Goals Dadiator: Isolate your quadriceps. Yes, you can do a leg extension with your kids. Sidekick: Balance your sit bones on Dadiator's feet, strap in, and enjoy the ride! Movement  Sit on a table, bar stool, or other surface from which your feet won’t touch the floor if you’re in a seated position.Have sidekick sit on your flexed feet, tie him to your lower legs with a blanket. Slowly extend your legs upward and stop just shy of parallel to the floor. Intensify your repetitions by really taking your time on the way down. Four count down, two up (although fun-wise, kids like 'em a little quicker). Repeat for 10-12 reps. Note. If you don't have a power rack in your basement, don't worry. This one works well if steady yourself between door jambs. Tips  You can do this exercise with sidekick sitting face toward you, but this will shorten your fulcrum and lessen your resistance. I have found that face forward works better, however, when trying to leg-extend two sidekicks at once.Try challenging sidekick by having him tuck in his legs and wrap his arms around his knees (although more likely than not, he will want to swing his legs wildly with the motion). Safety Don't swing violently out of control. Even with the blanket, sidekick needs to work to maintain his balance. Also, don’t overextend your legs. Video: Dadiator One Take Wonder, Cherry and the Spoon Sunday, February 1. 2009Terms of UseMonday, January 26. 2009Perfect 10 Skips
A very simple skillbuilder for sidekick and aerobic challenge for you....
 Have your 5-8 (or 20) year old sidekick perform 10 perfect consecutive skips. Derf! Easy, right? Wrong! The object is to establish a skipping goal that will demand several minutes of sidekick practice to achieve a "perfect 10."If sidekick already has mad skipping skills, challenge her to ten backward skips, or if she's a Skippasaurus Rex, have her try for ten double or triple skips. During these several minutes, your job is to skip continuously until sidekick hits ten or you drop dead. Skip on two feet, one foot, double skip, jog skip, skip backward, and change speeds according to your ability. The beauty of skipping rope is that any attempt is a workout, regardless of whether you skip like a broken record , an Orangutan wearing moon boots, or Sugar Ray. If you've never skipped before and sidekick has, reverse roles and have sidekick skip continuously while you build to your own perfect ten. Skip yourself silly and skip time on the treadmill and other such contained contraptions. P.S. If your sidekick has never skipped before, try taking turns skipping with a Chinese jumprope, which she can practice with you, a sibling, or by herself (tethering the rope to stationary objects, eg. chairs, anvils, or sleeping relatives). For skipping inspiration from true skipping lunatics, check out jumpropevideos.com. Also, once you have mastered basic skipping, check out jumpropeinstitute.com for advanced skipping techniques and insights into sport-specific rope training. Teach your sidekicks as you learn so they can double-reverse-jam on the Jump for Heart-athon at school. Dadiator One Take Wonder: Chinese Jumprope Thursday, January 22. 2009Dadiator Workshops GIVE MOM A BREAK... SPEND QUALITY TIME WITH YOUR KIDS... BOND WITH OTHER DADS... SWEAT! Families That PLAY Together, STAY Together 3 “Dadiator” Workshops held at the SweatShop Studies show families are not spending enough time together AND that parents with young children find it difficult to make time for their own fitness and exercise. The SweatShop wants to help the public resolve both issues. Sheff Otis, father of 7 and creator of the “Dadiator” of dadiator-workout.com and Colleen Atkinson, mother of 4 and Group Fitness Director at the SweatShop have combined forces to deliver 3 workshops this winter to turbo-charge how we play with our kids and get fit. “In the insane early years, if we want to maintain the stamina to keep up with our children and pull ourselves out of our soft-bellied slumps, we need to get creative,” notes Otis, who has been known to write the weight of each of his 7 kids on their foreheads and use them for his weight training. Each Workshop is $19.50 per parent and child and is designed to introduce ways for parents to play together with their children and get a workout done at the same time. Kids ages 3 and up are welcome. Atkinson states, “Many of the exercises come from traditional core strengthening routines like kettlebell and medicine ball training, only the kids are the weight equipment. How nice to have your little one giggling and smiling back at you while bench pressing them. This workshop will bring new meaning to dynamic workout. WHAT: 3 Workshops designed to bring families together and increase fitness and health WHEN: Saturday, January 24 1:30 – 2:30 Saturday, February 21 1:30 – 2:30 Saturday, March 21 1:30 – 2:30 WHERE: SweatShop Health Club 167 Snelling Avenue North Saint Paul, MN 55104 Go to www.sweatshopfitness.com for more details. Welcome Dadiators Video: The Dadiator Workout Welcome to dadiator-workout.com, a resource for young dads wanting to get back on the fitness boat! How was work today? Are the babies in bed? How’s Momma? Oh, yeah. I almost forgot to ask. Have you exercised yet? I don’t blame you at all if your answer is an emphatic 'no.' We dads have more important things to do than battling traffic to hit the gym on the way home from work, or spending narrow slivers of post kid-bedtime liberty pumping iron in a dank basement. Personally, there are many other things I’d rather do with my free time. You? This site is a spur for young dads (or moms) seeking fitness alternatives that go beyond the gym and into our family lives and daily routines. For moms (or dads) Dadiator workshops, meetups, and other events constitute having one's cake and eating it too. (a) Moms (or dads) get a well deserved break from the kids knowing that (b) their spouses and kids are enjoying quality time and getting in fighting shape. Several of my exercise strategies hinge on structuring work and home environments to facilitate quick bursts of activity throughout the day, but the heart of the Dadiator Workout is simply finding ways to turbo-charge how we already play with our kids. In these insane early childhood years, if we want to maintain the stamina to keep up with our sidekicks and the strength to haul laundry baskets, unscrew caps, and juggle our heaviest priorities, we dads need to get creative! Go Dadiators!    Easy.............Hard............Expert Only Sunday, January 18. 2009Sign up your husband and kids
Who’s the Boss?
(Moms, we know it’s you). Need a break? Want a massage? Wish your husband would do this more often? Get your husband and kids into gear by signing them up for a workshop with the Dadiator (a.k.a. Sheff Otis) & ACE Certified Personal Trainer and "Bootie Camp" instructor Colleen Atkinson, and enter to win a FREE 30 minute massage at the SweatShop! WHEN: March 21, April 18, May 16 @ 1:30-2:30 AGES: 3-8 for workshop participants. Childcare available for children under 3. WHERE: The SweatShop Health Club, 167 Snelling Ave. N. Saint Paul, MN 55104 At a Dadiator workshop, your crew will enjoy... • Wild obstacle courses to do together. • Fantastic fitness games to play with each other. • Trademark Dadiator “kid lifting” maneuvers (an intense workout for Dad!). • Unique methods for improving family fitness at home. • Inventive ways of keeping the mind and body “fresh” throughout the day. • Exercise methods that emphasize coordination, development, and brain growth. SAFETY--RIGOR--FUN! And the afternoon is...all yours! Call the Sweatshop @ 651.646.8418 and sign up NOW so the Dadiator knows how many “fun parachutes” to pack! The Dadiator is the MN Parent Magazine Kid Fit Columnist, a Kettlebell certified fitness instructor, general contractor by day, father of seven under eight, and just another dad trying to cope. The "Bootie Camp" Instructor is a mother of four, an ACE Personal Trainer, STOTT PILATES™ trained instructor, the Group Fitness Director at SweatShop Health Club, and has several certification from Kettlebell Concepts, Spinning, YogaFit, ANWA, and Zumba. SweatShop Health Club www.sweatshopfitness.com (651)-646-8418  Monday, January 12. 2009Gravity Boots
Muscle Group: Full Body
Difficulty Level: Green (Easy) Soccer players, kick boxers, cyclists, and "Seinfeld" Elaine dancers take note. This will breathe life into your kicks strokes, and flails. Movement  Have coach wrap around your leg and assume the “Please don’t go to work--take me with you!” position. Grab onto a steady surface, like a doorjamb or a sign post, and bring your leg up--try to get to 90 degrees--hold for one Mississippi--then down slowly.  Alternately, put on two sidekick "gravity boots" and rampage around the house like Godzilla ravaging Tokyo. Saturday, January 10. 2009Rocket Squat
Goals
Dadiator: Develop whipcord power from your feet to your hands that will allow you to launch your acrobatic sidekick magnificently into a lake or pool on a hot summer day. Sidekick: Enjoy a reduced gravity moon-jumping experience that might otherwise only be accessible at an amusement park or Space Camp. Movement  Grasp sidekick securely beneath armpits.Assume a mid-squat position while sidekick’s feet are on floor. Look toward the ceiling and drive upward with your legs, keeping sidekick close to your body. Continue the momentum with your arms and shoulders, finishing with sidekick at arms length. Return to start position and repeat. Attempt 8-12 precise repetitions, but stop immediately if either you sidekicks experience any kind of discomfort. Tips  To involve sidekick in the action, have him dip his knees at the start position and drive his legs upward with yours.Don’t lock out completely with your knees or elbows. Hyperextension of either can cause joint damage over the long haul. Safety Tie a blanket around sidekick’s chest to cushion his armpits from liftoff. Squeeze into the blanket as you begin your lift. This will prevent your grip from sliding and straining his shoulders upward. Also, it is very important to keep your eyes locked on sidekick whenever he’s above you. Both of you need to be absolutely present with one another to avoid the risk of a fall. DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS EXERCISE IF YOU ARE UNCLEAR OF THE INSTRUCTIONS OR IF YOU HAVE ANY DOUBT OF YOUR ABILITY TO PERFORM THE MOVE SAFELY. Sunday, January 4. 2009Basketball Poetry
I recently had the pleasure of interviewing one of my favorite children's authors, John Coy. A shorter version of this interview will appear in the FEB 09 issue of MN Parent magazine...
 John Coy has written picture book classics Night Driving and Strong to the Hoop, as well as YA novels Box Out and Crackback. I spoke with John recently about writing, teaching, and movement in his "Basketball Poetry" workshops... Workshop students compare breathing at rest and during exertion, and "play" through layers of imagery, figurative language, rhythm and editing, “driving” toward a finished poem. I feel like an ostrich, fast as the wind. My pulse reminds me of the Mississippi River, Flowing with a steady, quiet rhythm... -From "The Glory of Basketball", by Jonathan Lindstrom How'd you think to combine basketball and poetry? JC: It's funny. Adults always ask that question, but kids never do. Movement just comes naturally to them. Basketball involves tremendous rhythm—bouncing, running, and talk—there’s a verbalness you don't find anywhere else. We often have this Midwestern tendency of avoiding strong language out of a desire to get along, but when we play a game, we find an intensity that we don't find elsewhere." It's not a very old game, invented in 1891, but in the last 30 years it's really taken off [because] it’s built around creativity. The position of point guard is a prime example. One of the reasons the Chinese team had so much trouble in the Beijing Olympics was that its players seemed to have shooting and passing down, but there was no emphasis on individual creativity. It's also a great game because kids have to grow into it. It takes a lot of work to drop your first basket in a 10' hoop, and that's just the beginning. How do you physicalize your own writing? JC: I don’t type early drafts. Writing freehand is a physical movement that gets me into the writing process. I have a big studio where I move around to get in positions of a character- a physical connection helps me form an emotional connection... I also play basketball once a week with a group that includes artists, actors, and IT guys. A lot of creativity on the court! If I’m really stuck while trying to write, I’ll take a walk by the river. Getting my heart rate up helps me sit down and write fast. How do you hook kids during a workshop? JC: I start with a reading—which I memorize so I can watch kids while I read. I study reactions—survey for kids having a hard time sitting still. Some kids just can't sit for a book--many don't get read to at home. I teach to them. Do you teach differently to different ages? JC: I teach K-12. With high school kids, I follow their lead a little more. I'm often astonished at how prepared teenagers are to be disrespected by adults, so I try to be up front about letting them know how invaluable they are to my writing. I ask questions like "What don’t adults understand about being 16? or “What isn't in books now that should be?” Most kids like hearing I'm interested in how they think. It’s really important to give kids space to come up with their own ideas. For example, I once taught taught a workshop on a Navajo reservation in Arizona, and beforehand the principal gave me a valuable piece of advice. ‘Don’t be afraid of silence...Don’t rush to fill the space with words.’ I’m so glad he said it, because yes, there were lots of long pauses, but someone would always come up with something thoughtful to say. Describe the perfect classroom? JC: I like the "Classroom of the Future" design from the Mayo Clinic, which recognizes different learning styles. It doesn't just say active learning is good and all kids should sit on a yoga ball. Kids who want quiet can have it, and movers can move. Recess is also key. Schools really do a disservice by cutting recess, because it’s unstructured time for kids to figure out what to do with themselves and invent their own challenges. In general, we fail in schools by failing to see that it takes the whole body to learn. A lot of teachers contact me because No Child Left Behind has put so much emphasis on test scores and they hope to improve scores by just finding alternate ways to get kids more engaged. You walk into an average high school and you see at so many limits on movement. At some point, movement becomes associated with kids in trouble. Part of the restriction also has to do with the fact that safety has become such a huge concern. Kids are now taught to believe that inside is safe and outside is dangerous. How can parents energize learning at home? JC: Encourage outside play before homework, not afterward. Homework itself should require way more outside time. I used to love having to go out and collect five different kinds of leaves and analyze their shapes. Some kids have such little connection to the natural world that there’s actually a term for it, Nature Deficit Disorder. They spend all their free time indoors watching screens, which is part of the reason why diabetes and asthma are on the rise. Connection doesn’t have to mean trekking through the Boundary Waters. It can be as simple as playing in the backyard for an hour. How did you get into writing books for kids? Both of my parents were teachers, and both enjoyed being around kids, so I grew up not realizing that there were actually adults who didn't enjoy kids.  Because of the times, my own dad was always off working more than my mom, although I can't help but think that it might've worked better had my Mom and Dad switched roles. So I spent a lot of time at home with my daughter when she was young—one of a generation of fathers questioning how we'd be versus how our dads were—I didn't want to hear my daughter say that I was never around. Night Driving grew out of this concern.To this day, love watching how Dads interact with their kids at the park. Dads and Moms tend to react differently to things, like when a kid falls. Moms are protective, but dad’s more often seem to recognize how falls can prepare us for life. I also just miss those days of hanging out in the park, playing in the leaves, and reading together. I think there are a lot of guys out there who'd enjoy hanging around with kids more than they realize. While my daughter was growing up, I spent time with the neighborhood kids, which I liked, because kids tell you what they think and there's nothing closed off to them—anything seems possible. How did you hone in on writing about sports in particular?  When I was working on my Masters in Human Development, my focus was kids, and movement somehow became incredibly strong piece. I actually worked with a dance teacher around that time and developed a movement class specifically for boys. Also, you write what you know, and I spend thousands of hours as a kid playing sports. I chose to write Crackback about high school football because the memories and the drama are still so fresh in my mind. Strong to the Hoop was a real challenge because at the time no one wanted to publish sports picture books. I remember one editor in particular just saying she wasn’t a fan. Years later, she developed a sudden curiosity about sports and voiced a concern that there should be more sports picture book! Why the change of heart? Two active sons. Because Strong to the Hoop was such a struggle, I really felt that I proved my mettle, and now I’m at the point where I have to make a strong case to an editor not to write a book about sports. Describe transitioning from picture books Young Adult novels. JC: Many editors said Strong to the Hoop felt more like a novel than a picture book—which stuck with me. So I wrote Box Out. Tell me about Box Out, and your first YA novel, Crackback. JC: Box Out was partly built around a moment I observed while watching a high school game, when the entire team gathered to pray, which I guess is a lot more common than many people think. All the kids gathered except three, and I studied them, curious about what must have been going through their minds. Why did the hold back? There’s a story there, I thought. Box Out also celebrates unconventional coaching. The girls coach has players call out their own exercises--anything they want--made up if they want, and then he’ll have them lie on the floor and look up at the ceiling, feeling the weight of their bodies sinking into the floor. I’ve found that this kind of coach, the one who breaks up the monotony of skill and drill, is the kind who really brings success. Crackback is about an average Midwestern 16 year old— so much YA these days seems to be so extreme and edgy. The kid plays high school football and has to make important choices about how much to wrap his identity into it. Peer pressure and steroids factor. What's next in the hopper? JC: A series of four books, the first called Top of the Order about four ten-year-old friends playing four different sports together through elementary and into middle school--designed to hook boys exactly at the point when they begin to lose interest in reading. Book one comes out March '09.  Crackback received 2007 Young Adult Choices List Book of the Year honors, awarded by the International Reading Association. Learn more about John's life and books at www.johncoy.com. Also, if you want John to do a workshop in your school or community, e-mail him at JohnCoy@mac.com. Sheff Otis (a.k.a. "The Dadiator") is a local writer, fitness fiend, and father of seven. He blogs at Sevensidekicks.com and Dadiator-Workout.com. Top of the Order Publication Party John Coy's Top of the Order publication party will be held Friday, March 13 at 7:00 at the Red Balloon Bookshop in St. Paul.
The reading is free and open to the public. 891 Grand Avenue St. Paul, MN 55105 Tel: 651-224-8320 Throwdown
Difficulty: Green (Easy)
Goals Dadiator: Turn the tables and coach sidekick for a change. Sidekick: Strengthen abdominal (laughing) muscles. Movement  Have sidekick lie on a pad or soft surface facing up, with his head between your ankles.Have sidekick grab your legs on either side of his ears and lift up his straightened legs, toes pointed, until his toes touch your outstretched hands. Give his toes a gentle push and have him “catch” his legs before his feet touch the floor and raise them back up to your hands. Repeat this motion until sidekick can no longer hold his legs straight with toes pointed. Tips  Challenge sidekick by pushing his legs in a different direction each time he raises them.Safety Encourage sidekick to keep his neck and shoulders relaxed. Tell him to pretend there’s a heavy sandbag across his chest keeping his shoulder blades on the floor. Saturday, January 3. 2009Space Landing
Difficulty: Red (Moderate)
Goals Dadiator: Improve ballsitic power in the hips and lower back. Sidekick: Strengthen abdominals and bladder control. Movement  Have sidekick sit on the floor with his legs straight in front of him, toes pointed. Grasp firmly beneath his armpits. Tie a blanket beneath his armpits for padding for added comfort. Drive with your legs and swing sidekick upward, keeping him close to your body. When his shoulders reach the same height as yours, push him outward, away from your body. As he begins to drop, pull him back toward you. As he nears the floor, he must raise his legs 90 degrees to his body and scoot his feet along the floor between your legs. This is his “soft landing.” Tips  Look upward and stick out your rear to keep your back from arching forward. Also, this should be a swinging motion, not a lifting one. Too little momentum on the upswing may strain the fronts of your shoulders. Safety On your upswing, make sure to finish with your arms away from your body. This will keep sidekick from arching dangerously at his peak. Sidekick may prefer to wear footpads or thick socks to protect his feet from chafing on the ground if he loses form. (My sidekick opted out of protection because his feet were "too sweaty.") Do not attempt this exercise if you are under the influence or unsure of your footing or ability to safely grasp your sidekick throughout the motion. Stack Attack
Difficulty Level: Black (Difficult)
Goals Dadiator: Kids are not impressed with statistics about how much you can bench press, unless you communicate them in terms of farmyard animals. They are, however, impressed and delighted at being able to ride your back as you do pushups. Sidekick: It’s never to early to trade pushups with Dad. Movement  Perform a pushup ladder with sidekick, during which you...Perform one pushup with sidekick on your back, then sidekick hope off and matches your one... Two pushups with sidekick on back. Sidekick matches two... Three--three, etc. ...until you are unable to add reps. Note. Remind sidekick that he should only do the number he wants to do, and that it's okay to stop at any time and just keep count for Dad. Tips  Do not flatten your palms completely to the floor as you do pushups. Pretend their is a pea, or similarly sized object, in the cup of your palm that you don’t want to crush. This pea-sized adjustment will help you avoid the innumerable hassles of carpal tunnel. Alternately, use dumbells or pushup bars to keep your wrists in a neutral position. Safety Control your speed. "One Mississippi" as you push up, "Two Mississippi" as you let down. If sidekick decides at any point that he wants to get down, best to give him a steady, predictable rhythm to time his dismount.  Moral support! Sideswipe
Difficulty Level: Red (Moderate)
Goals For Dad: For Sidekick: Movement  Start in a wide stance, hands in “sidekick armpit” position with sidekick on your right hip. Instruct sidekick to stand up straight with his feet together. Prime the motion by lifting sidekick to chest level and swinging over your left hip. Dip into a moderately deep squat and drive upward, pressing sidekick away from your body and allowing him to swing back to the other side. Catch sidekick with your right hip and drive him out again. One “swipe” on both sides is a single repitition. Repeat 8-10 times. Tips  Allow your feet to pivot in the direction of your swipe. This will eliminate the strain of torsion on your knees.Safety Don't attempt to do this exercise if you have any doubt about your ability to hang onto sidekick. Also, do not break eye contact with sidekick, particularly when he is farthest from your body. |
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