Yoga and Teenagers

While Southern California is known for its ever sunny skies, last week was a wet one, putting a bit of a damper on the fitness club. After taking Monday off, due to MLK day, (we are on a Monday, Wednesday, Thursday plan) I looked forward to meeting with the kids on Wednesday. Due to the inclement weather and lack of indoor space, as the gym is used for Biddy Basketball right now, I had to rethink my game plan. Instead of using our session to train, I used our time to meet with the kids individually and talk to them about their goals for the fitness group. While some of the goals varied between getting ready for track season to losing weight, there was a common thread in that all of the teens realize that they may not be as fit as they could be and want to amend that. I was also able to gain a grasp of what types of exercises they are interested in to achieve that purpose.

The following day, being just as disagreeable as the the previous one, was also an indoors session. As a couple of the teens are interested in increased flexibility and strength, I thought that yoga, which could be performed in the small indoor space available to us, would be a great fit. I was pleased that 7 of the kids decided to join in on the activity, as I was worried that they'd dismiss the practice as too granola, hippy-dippy for their urban tastes. While I tried to keep the exercises basic, I was surprised how difficult they found yoga in terms of flexibility and strength. Even the "tough" boys complained about how hard some of the poses were to hold! While I may not have turned them into yogis, I'm glad to have exposed them to a new exercise. That being said, I'm not sure as though it was the best fit for my group. I guess that both they and I are learning our way through this process!