End of the Beginning

So we wrapped up our first outdoor Hi-5 FitCamp of 2011. Of course it wasn't entirely outdoors, only 2 days. But by using a big hill, a pull-up bar and a step, we got a lot of work done.

And hopefully as a part of that work we showed that outdoor training is not only good for you, but it's pretty fun! In fact yesterday I was speaking with one of our members and we discussed how when you're a kid outside running, jumping, climbing, crawling that it was fun. But somehow as we age, we forget how much fun it is. I think the transition goes something like this:

• Toddler - Excited to be walking. The world is yours to claim and no one can stop you!
• Elementary school - running, jumping, and climbing are necessary skills for being the ultimate hide and seek player. You dominate your neighborhood.
• Junior high - you enjoy playing sports and this is basically what your activity is now limited to. Your creativity diminishes and you start playing sports with formal rules instead of games with rules made as you go.
• High school - you only participate in sports and your tactical games are no more. You now only squat, run,  and jump according to your prescribed sets and repetitions in weight lifting. If you're a girl, you don't really do that stuff any more.
• College - your still stuck doing the high school football workout even though you don't play football anymore. As a result you get big and bulky, but without the extra cardiovascular work from playing football, you grow a belly.
• 30's - You're so involved in making your career that fitness has been condensed to 30 minutes on a recumbent bike while reading the newspaper. 
• 40's - You start to feel tight, restrictive motion and you're activity now consists of physical therapy for your knee's and back. A weekend fishing trip causes a week's worth of pain and soreness. You feel you've earned the right to say "I wish I was 18 again!"
• 50's & 60's - You now watch grandchildren climb the tree in your back yard and remember your "Glory Days." And it hits you how much you wish you could still run, jump, climb, roll and your tactical challenge is how you're going to get up the staircase of your grown children's home without your knees screaming in opposition.

But you know what? It doesn't have to be like that. Just because the majority of America grows old like this doesn't mean you have to. 

The HI-5 FitCamp is designed to keep you fit, to place challenges in your way and to make you move like when you were in elementary school. This round we jumped, ran, shuffled, and did pullups outside while inside we did bench press, cable chops, medicine ball throws, SlideBoard work and some pretty heavy squats. 

If you're in the HI-5 FitCamp, tell you're friends what their missing. Have them come try for a day or two. Although tough and challenging, it's pretty fun stuff. You get to challenge yourself and each other, you feel that youthful vigor from when you were a child and you get strong, flexible and fit.