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Clayton Pioneer • www.claytonpioneer.com
June 13, 2014
Kick-start your strength training program are some tips for getting started on the right foot:
ILIMA HEUERMAN
FIT
WITH
LEVITY
[Editor’s Note: This is the third in a series on strength training.] In past articles I have looked at the value of strength training. Now, here
• Check with your doctor before starting an exercise program. • Always warm up for at least five to 10 minutes before strength training. • Proper form is essential for safety and effectiveness. Start with light weights as you perfect your form and get accustomed to strength training. Gradually increase the amount of weight you lift over time, by no more than 10 percent each week. • Always cool down at least five to10 minutes at the
Fathers, from page 9 Father’s Day reminds me to be the best dad I can be, to be a good man in their life. I try to emulate my own father.” The Father’s Day concept was originally created in 1910 by Sonora Dodd in Spokane, Washington, who staged the first celebration at the Spokane YMCA. It was done in response to Mother’s Day, which began in 1908. The celebrations, led mostly by Dodd, lost steam in the 1920s and nearly died out when Dodd moved to Chicago. She then got the movement going again in the 1930s, but the national government refused to officially recognize it. Finally, after five decades, President Richard Nixon signed the Father’s Day holiday into law in 1972. Nearly all dads have moments that come to mind in their fathering journey that are frozen in time. No one forgets the first time
they held their little one at the hospital. Some remember frightening nights when their child was sick with a high fever. Others have great memories forever etched into their mind of sporting events where a kid accomplished something spectacular. FOOTBALL VS. LABOR Mike Hansen of Clayton remembers like yesterday the day his daughter Melisa entered the world. “At first, we were at home and the Vikings were playing the Raiders. I was watching the game. I told my wife, ‘You can make it until 1:30.’ But things got worse and worse and I started feeling guilty. We got to the hospital and had to have a c-section done. I just remember being in that room and when they said it was a girl, I just started weeping.” Hansen describes the overwhelming emotions of trying to
end of your workout. • Vary your exercise program to avoid boredom and plateaus. Changing your routine every six-toeight weeks is crucial to keeping your body/muscles surprised and constantly adapting. They’ll have to work harder, you’ll be challenged, and you’ll burn more calories and build more lean muscle in the process. Learn how to change your exercise routine to avoid plateaus. • Drink plenty of water before, during and after exercise to stay hydrated.
care for his wife in the hospital while suddenly realizing that he now had a new life to care for who had just taken her first breaths. “I was so happy,” he says. “All I could think about was her health. Is she okay? Is everything okay? And everything was perfect. My wife and daughter were fine and healthy.” Recently Hansen received a letter from his now-teenage daughter, Melisa, that gave him a beautiful perspective on parenting. “She wrote me the nicest letter for my birthday and basically told me that she thinks I set a good example for the family and that she admires me. It’s one of those things that I’ll always remember and cherish,” Hansen says. “It brings a tear to your eye, because sometimes you don’t always know how your kids feel about you. It was one of those times where you realize that they really do appreciate you.”
TAKE
CARE WHEN LIFTING WEIGHTS
Machines are best for beginners. They usually have detailed instructions and a picture on them, plus they show which muscles you are working. They are set up to put your body in proper form and isolate the right muscles. They are usually grouped together (upper body, chest, arms, legs, etc.) in a weight room, so that you can easily move through them and target every major muscle group. Free weights are more advanced. After you’ve had a good foundation with machines (or body weight exercises) you can move into
free weights. When using free weights, form becomes even more important because there is nothing to support you or make you do it properly. Lift in front of a mirror and use the proper benches for support. Always watch the alignment of the joints and their relationships: shoulders, hips, knees and ankles should be aligned. Your back should remain flat and your abs should be contracted to help support the lower back. Have a trainer assist you and have someone there to spot you if you are lifting heavy weights. Use your trainer to help you achieve proper form. Don’t hold your breath,
which can be dangerous (it increases blood pressure and can cause lightheadedness, for example). Exhale fully and forcefully on the exertion phase — usually the phase where you are lifting the weight. Inhale deeply on the easier phase — usually when returning to the starting position. Try to keep this rhythm throughout every set. In the beginning, it will take some concentration, but after a while, it will become habit. Ilima Heuerman holds multiple fitness certifications. She trains at Levity Fitness studio in Clayton. Email Ilima at IlimaHeuerman@levityfitness.com
Rotary club seeks host families for Belgian teen The Rotary Club of Clayton Valley/Concord Sunrise is sponsoring a Youth Exchange student from Belgium for the 201415 school year, and is looking for volunteer families to host the teen. Aline will arrive in California in mid-August and will return to her native Belgium in mid-July 2015. While in the U.S. she will attend a Concord-area high school, where she will be a senior. While French is her native language, Aline also speaks Dutch and English. She says she likes to dance, ski and play tennis, and appears to be very good at tennis since her dad teaches it. She also mentions in her application letter that she would like to study psychology because she likes to help people. Her dream” is to work with disabled people or with people in
jails.” Aline will stay with the host families for a three to fourmonth period during the time she will be here. Host families can come in all shapes and sizes (including single parents) and might include young children, older children or no children at all. Like other Rotary-sponsored Youth Exchange students, Aline will be provided a monthly allowance by Rotary. Each year Rotary districts worldwide arrange more than 9,000 international youth exchanges for secondary school students. A primary goal of the program is to foster world understanding and peace through intercultural exchange. Youth Exchange promises to enrich the lives of the student and every member of a host family. Not only do families provide an unforgettable service
to a student from abroad, but the students will educate the family about the world around them. In addition, Rotary sponsors outbound students to live abroad in one of 188 countries with qualified host families for anywhere from a few months to an entire year. If your child has an interest, contact Rotary. The Rotary Youth Exchange plan is for students 15 to 18-1/2 years old, and the majority of American students choose to go right after they graduate high school. Most colleges will hold a student’s admission slot, acknowledging the exchange experience makes for a much better student. For more information, contact Monica Fraga at the Clayton/Valley Concord Sunrise Rotary Club at 925-566-8166 or monica@travel-2go.com.
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Haunting Irish novel clutches the heart There is something sad and beautiful about an Irish novel, and Michele Forbes’ debut tale, “Ghost Moth” (Bellevue Literary Press; April, 2013), is no exception. Set in Belfast in the turbulent 1960s, and alternating to a parallel storyline in a more hopeful, post-war 1940s, “Ghost Moth” tells the story of Katherine and George, of their courtship and subsequent marriage, of their life with children Maureen, Elsa, Elizabeth and Stephen. By sly contrast to her ordinary life, Katherine becomes lost in the memory of an affair she had with a young tailor before marrying George, and which provides an undercurrent of tension in an otherwise common existence. In the summer of 1969, Katherine nearly drowns on a family outing to the seaside town in Northern Ireland. Leaving her husband and children on the beach and swimming past the point of wisdom or stamina, Katherine encounters a seal, bobbing in the water near her, and is terrified by the beast’s sudden appearance. “The seal appears from nowhere, an instant immutable presence in the sea—although he must have been swimming silently beneath the surface for some time without her knowing.” Though she is rescued by
George, Katherine is shaken, and when they return home, she can’t dodge the sense that a dark menace is immanent. And yet, their life goes on as normal. George is a devoted husband, and her daughters and son weave a rich tapestry around her. Katherine, like Mrs. Dalloway, moves through her days as she should, looking after her children, taking care of her husband. Increasingly however, in the aftermath of her own near-drowning, she recalls the achingly illicit affair she had as a young woman, with the handsome young man who, when she broke it off with him, was found drowned the next day. She can’t help but feel that while she made the safe choice in husbands, she might have made the wrong one. Forbes’ prose is lyric and she perfectly captures the vulnerability a city on the brink of civil war. Maureen and Elizabeth are tormented by Protestant toughs as they walk home from their Catholic school, and Katherine herself become the victim of a hate crime in a city that grows more violent by the day. Of her three girls, the youngest, Elsa, is most like Katherine, with her blonde hair and sensitive nature. Elsa is friends with a rough girl from the neighborhood, Isabel. The girl is bossy and rude, but Elsa tolerates
CYNTHIA GREGORY
FOR
THE
BOOKS
Isabel and even seems to crave her attention. Isabel is a Protestant and barely endures Elsa for many reasons, but mainly because her family is Catholic. When the threat that Katherine sensed was coming arrives, it does not claim George, who is a volunteer fireman, or her children or Belfast itself, but it comes to Katherine. She is diagnosed with an aggressive cancer and wastes away, even as devoted George watches and her children grow frightened by the shadow she becomes. “Ghost Moth” is a story of the heart; of love and its immovable faces. Like a sweet fable of family, it will wrap you up and love you. And then like love sometimes does, in its sweetness, it will break your heart. Cynthia Gregory writes book reviews, award-winning short stories and a blog. Visit her blog at PersephonesStepSisters.Wordpress.com or send email to her at cgregory111@gmail.com