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Archive for the ‘Fitness’ Category

A Useful New Health and Fitness Blog: Be Active Your Way

Posted in Fitness, Health and Wellness, tagged , , on November 10, 2010| 4 Comments »

By Sue Shekut, Owner, Working Well Massage, Licensed Massage Therapist, Certified Wellness Coach, ACSM Personal Trainer

One of the advantages to being a member of the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) is that I get timely access to the latest studies on sports medicine and exercise science. I also get a lot of information about what’s happening in the U.S. regarding health and wellness. Today I opened my email to find a newsletter from ACSM and a link to a great blog that features stories about real people implementing fitness and nutrition programs into schools, workplaces and the home. The blog is called the “Be Active Your Way Blog” and this week it features a story about the Hip Hop Healthy Heart Program for Children™ (Hip Hop), a comprehensive wellness program bringing together physical education, music, and arts in grade K-6th. The post before that was an article on ways people have overcome environmental barriers to be more active and fit with suggestions. Check it out here!

The blog was created by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Contributors to the blog include the YMCA,  ACSM, the Office of Disease Prevention & Health Promotion, the National Center on Physical Activity and Disability, the National Physical Activity Plan, the National Coalition for Promoting Physical Activity, Inc. and many similar organizations.

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Finding Work-Life Balance When You Have Small Children at Home

Posted in Fitness, Health and Wellness, tagged , , , , , , on November 2, 2010| Leave a Comment »

By Sue Shekut, Owner, Working Well Massage, Licensed Massage Therapist, Certified Wellness Coach, ACSM Personal Trainer

The Perdy Family take sa break from their biking adventure

I have a fair number of clients that have stressful jobs, long commutes and small children at home. It’s also a common scenario to see a client come in and say “I used to work out all the time and in the last year I haven’t been working out much.” Invariably I ask, do you have a one-year-old?” It’s not always the case, but often the answer is “Yes, how did you know?” The time of having a new baby int he family is an exciting and exhausting time. For a few months (to many months) this can mean sleep deprivation, more time needed at home to care for your child and of course the joys of seeing a new life, a new smile and bonding with your new son or daughter. But all this change can also bring a halt to mom and dad’s workout routines.

I am a big advocate of incorporating regular activity into our daily lives. But having a new baby or small children at home makes it difficult to workout like you did pre-children. That doesn’t mean you can’t work out at all. It just gives you an opportunity to try something new, think outside the box and modify your workout routine without taking too much time away from your family. One of the things I tell my parent clients is that working out and being fit is one of the best ways to role model healthy physical activity behavior to your children. And taking your kids along on your workout, while a bit tricky, can be a great way to spend time with your family without giving up time for your own health.

How to Incorporate more physical fitness into your life without sacrificing  family time.

• Used to going on long bike rides but can’t get away for long enough to get your rides in? Add a bike trainer to your own bike or buy a spinning type bike and put it in your basement, garage, workout room, where ever it is out-of-the-way but easily accessible for riding. If you need motivation to keep you from being bored, put the bike in front of a TV and use the SpinRider, an indoor cycling DVD that simulates an outdoor bike ride in different locales. Each DVD includes 3 bike rides filmed from the rider’s point of view. The videos take you to the countryside, city streets, beaches, and back alleys, while the onscreen subtitles and bonus features inform you about the destination’s history, people and activities. Spinrider releases a new 3 ride DVD every September, December, and February. Individual DVD’s are $19.95. Subscribe for 3 DVDs $44.95. Order here.

• Are your children old enough to be bundled up and go outdoors but too small to go on long walks? Pack them up in a stroller or bike carrier and either hike with them or bike with them.

• If you kids are old enough to bike but not old enough to keep up with you on your bike, let them cycle while you run or roller blade with them.

• Make family fitness a regular activity. Each weekend plan to explore a new forest preserve, a new lake, river or scenic outdoor setting. The Chicago area is chock full of small and large forest preserves. And children that experience and interact with nature will be more likely to be comfortable experiencing and protecting nature as adults. Check out  the Little Red School House for your children to explore Chicago area wildlife and go for a short hike together before the winter covers the woods with a blanket of snow!

• If you absolutely must leave your family to get in a workout, obviously, you want to minimize your time away. So if you join a gym, find one close to home, or put on your jogging shoes and go for a run. Adding a small workout room to your basement or spare room also means less travel time and less time away from the family. AND you kids get to see you role modeling good fitness behaviors. (Versus role modeling sitting in front of the TV eating cookies!)

• If you children are a bit older (say 7 or 12 years old), you can also have them join you in using Wii Fit or following along on beginner’s yoga videos.

• As your children hit the teenage years, it’s more likely that mom and dad are chaffering the kids around to their sports and athletic events more so than joining in on your children’s activities. But that doesn’t mean you need to go your separate ways when it come s to working out. If your children are old enough to do resistance training, you can work out together! If your son or daughter is a good swimmer, hockey player, roller blader or snow boarder, you can plan day trips or weekend trips to areas where the whole family can enjoy your favorite sports together.

• Take a dance class with your kids. Hip Hop is an easy dance to learn and a great aerobic workout. I’ve taken Hip Hop classes at the Old Town School of Folk and enjoyed every sweaty minute of it!

• If you have Dance Dance Revolution, make a game out of  playing it with your kids a few times a week.

• In the winter, go ice skating or sledding with your kids.

• Ask your kids what they want to do to have family fitness time each week. They may come up with answers that you all will love and that you might never have thought of without them!

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Where to Buy an Inexpensive Free Weight Set in Chicago

Posted in Fitness, tagged , , , , , on October 30, 2010| Leave a Comment »

By Sue Shekut, Owner, Working Well Massage, Licensed Massage Therapist, Certified Wellness Coach, ACSM Personal Trainer

I belong to a gym, but with work and graduate school, adding an additional 30 minutes of travel time to my already packed schedule is tough for workouts. And I tend to work out more at home in the winter. We have already have yoga equipment, Wii Fit and some dumbbells that I already use, as well as a wall lined with mirrors to assess form for yoga and resistance training in my small Chicago apartment. Now, as the fall weather signals the start of colder temperatures, shorter days (at least less sun) and soon-to-be snow-covered streets, I decided it was time to do a scouting trip for my readers to see where would be the best place for an inexpensive free weight set in Chicago.

Our first stop was at a higher end home gym equipment store in a strip mall on Elston Avenue. The store showcased the Powerblock dumbbells and we wanted to see how these worked from an “expert” perspective. The lone salesman was more than happy to tell us all about the dumbbells and even demonstrated their use for us. I found them extremely cumbersome and uncomfortable. He told me that I would “get used to using them.” (I can tell you know, I would never use them. And if I did use them I’d probably injure my wrist because of the cumbersome construction.) He also told us another great benefit of the Powerblock dumbbells: they sell well on Craigslist.  He discouraged us from using free weight dumbbells because they were so much more expensive (at least in his store) and took up a lot of space. Despite the salesman’s high pressure sales tactics (“I can’t see any reason why you WOULDN’T buy these today?!”) and high prices, we were able to get out of his store without buying an expensive set of dumbbells that we would never use and would need to sell on Craiglist!

Our next stop was Play it Again Sports, on Ashland near Irving Park Road. I haven’t been to this location before and it was overwhelming!  From the outside it doesn’t look like a very big store, but inside it was a jam-packed sporting goods emporium!  Hundreds of bicycles, a skateboarding section, hockey skates, sleds, baseball equipment, free weights, some used weight benches, and much much more. The sales people were mercifully low maintenance. Aside from asking us if we needed help, they pretty much left us alone. But the selection of free weight equipment was sparse and unorganized and we didn’t see anything we really wanted. I will be back for other sporting equipment though now that I see how well stocked this store is!

Lastly we went to our normal one-stop-sports store: Sports Authority. I know Sports Authority is not a high-end store. It doesn’t have ALL the latest and greatest equipment. But what it does have is EXACTLY WHAT WE NEEDED at HALF the price of the high-end store. Our salesman, Rolando Batchelor, was helpful without being obnoxious. He showed us the different equipment they had and explained how each type of  free weight set was different. Sports Authority had a surprisingly good range of free weight equipment. And most of it was on sale! We got an adjustable, 7-position weight bench (that collapses for storage) for about $74 (versus a similar bench for $229 at the high-end store). We selected a plate rack to store our free weight plates in our apartment (approx $50). And we bought a 100-pound free weight set with bar bell and two dumbbells which Rolando helped us get out to the car ($90 on sale from about $120)). As a child my father used to use a plated set of weights and I prefer the plates set to other types of dumbbells because then not only can I use the set, but my man can use them (he does lift a bit more than I can!) and I can also use them for clients on occasion. And surprisingly (maybe not so surprisingly) the entire weight set from Sports Authority, including plate stand, weight bench AND 100 pound dumbbells set, was less expensive than the weight bench at the high-end store.

If you have room and money to buy an expensive weight set or Body-Solid Home Gym, hats off to you! But for people living in Chicago with limited funds, small living quarters and a need for an efficient, easy to store and use set of free weights, my money is with Sports Authority.

And to be clear. I am not being paid by Sports Authority, nor do I get any special deals for this post. I simply like the store, and encourage people to go where they can get the best deals and value for your hard-earned dollars!

P.S. Sports Authority has great deals on clothing too!

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What’s the Best Way to Lose Excess Fat and Keep It Off?

Posted in Fitness, Health and Wellness, Nutrition, tagged , , , , on October 18, 2010| Leave a Comment »

By Sue Shekut, Owner, Working Well Massage, Licensed Massage Therapist, Certified Wellness Coach, ACSM Personal Trainer

The answer: Change your life!  What do I mean by that? Change the way you relate to food and exercise.

 

Healthy people exercising

Today I was reading this article on Yahoo Health about women that lose a significant amount of fat and transformed into healthier leaner people. And they kept the fat off over a period of years. If you read through their stories you will find a common theme: They switched from eating processed foods to “clean” foods like salads, brown rice, fish, vegetables. And they added regular exercise to their daily routines. They didn’t become professional bodybuilders, they did not subsist on a peanut and a celery stalk a day. They just eat healthier food in smaller more frequent portions. And they added activity to their daily lives One woman follows the simple guidelines of the ACSM: She added 30-60 min of cardio or strength training each day. Another woman said she makes sure she works out even on busy days at least 15 minutes.

 

If you read fitness magazines, blogs or know anything about fat loss and physical fitness, this story won’t be a big surprise to you. I think it’s important to remind ourselves that there are no quick fixes for fitness. But is losing fat, getting in shape and then STAYING in shape so easy? For most people, it’s not. It takes a few key qualities:

1. Perseverance-We don’t skip brushing our teeth every day to catch up on weekends and brush for 2 hours. Why would working out for 2 hours once a week be better than working out for 20-30 minutes 5 days a week? It isn’t. Our bodies work best in increments. We eat several times during the day, we sleep each night. We wash up each day (hopefully). Our 2010 lifestyles may make it tough to fit in movement when most people work in offices or in jobs that involved sitting for hours on end.  Adding in movement a little bit each day is easier than trying to pack in a mega workout once in a while. It takes perseverance (to persist in a state, enterprise, or undertaking in spite of counterinfluences, opposition, or discouragement). Taking stairs instead of the elevator, parking farther away from the store, walking when you can versus driving. Working out while spending time with your family and children also makes it easier to incorporate daily activity into your routine.  What’s important is that you add some exercise activity each day or at least 5 days a week. Don’t have time to go to a gym? It’s easy to make a home gym or workout to videos, Wii Fit or other cardio program. Whether you run swim, hike, bike or do yoga, it’s important is that you keep it up on a regular basis.

2. Discipline as in Self discipline-Fast food, junk food and high calorie, high fat food are all around us. It’s tough to get out of bed and go for a run or come home from a long day and fit in that 30 minutes of cardio or strength training. Making it a regular nonnegotiable part of your routine can help. And when you feel the urge to overeat or skip your daily workout, it takes a bit of self-discipline to pass up those french fries or push yourself to work out even when you’d rather sleep! But the rewards are feeling better, being healthier, having a clearer mind, being less stressed out and of course, being fit!

3. Prioritization-like that word? I did NOT make it up. It means making the most of your time and resources. And in this case, I say it means making sure that fitness and healthy eating are a priority. I use this analogy. If your child (if you don’t have a child, think about your niece, nephew or another child you care about) needed to eat, rest or get some exercise, would you let other priorities get in the way of taking care of the child?  (Hopefully not!) Yet adults often neglect our own needs for health and fitness because “we are too tired, too busy or too unmotivated.” Yet if we have to walk the dog or feed a child healthy food, somehow we find the inner strength, time and resources. So it’s not a matter of not having time or energy to take care of ourselves. It’s really about priorities. Learn to make your own health and wellness a priority. It benefits you and it also provides a good role model for children in your life!

4.  Focus (directed attention, concentration)-Focusing on how we look is rarely motivating. For some, working out to get the body they want or fit into a particular outfit may help motivate them to work out and eat right. It doesn’t work for me and many of my clients though. For me, I have to focus on how I feel. I feel better when I work out and eat right. How I look may change for the better but it’s not my  main focus. My focus is in feeling good, having more energy. sleeping well, not having stomach aches or feeling sluggish. No matter what your prime motivator/s is/are, use them to give you strength when you need a push to work out or eat right!

5. Fun-Wellness needs to be fun to be sustainable.  If you hate running, how motivated will you be to get up and run in the morning? But if tennis is fun for you, you will be more likely to play tennis than run. Wii Fit tries to make exercise fun for adults and children by integrating games in with the movement exercises. healthy food doesn’t have to be drab and boring. take a cooking class that specializes in healthy eating: Indian food, Middle Eastern Food , Chinese Stir Fry and even some Italian dishes can be low-fat and healthy.  Learn to add healthy spice to your food and “healthy” becomes fun and tasty! Make learning new fitness routines fun by trying them out with family and friends.

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How to Stretch Your Calves Properly

Posted in Fitness, Health and Wellness, tagged , , , , , on October 8, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Deep and superficial layers of posterior leg m...
Image via Wikipedia

By Sue Shekut, Owner, Working Well Massage, Licensed Massage Therapist, Certified Wellness Coach, ACSM Personal Trainer

Most people think of their calf muscles as those two bulging muscles below the back of their knees called the gastrocnemius muscle. These muscles have two “heads” like the biceps and are visible in most people. However, underneath this muscle is a very important muscle, the soleus muscle. It is a smaller, flatter muscle that attaches deep to the upper portion of your tibia and fibula bones as well as to the membrane that attaches the too bones together.

The soleus attaches at the bottom to your leg to the heel bone via the Achilles tendon (along with the gastrocnemius and plantaris muscles.) Because the soleus attaches to your hell, it is a primary plantar flexor of the ankle. this means the soleus is the muscle most responsible for letting you push down firmly with the front of your foot. this is useful for walking, running, cycling, jumping, dancing, basketball, climbing and any activity where you need to push off on the front of your foot. Soleus also helps you standing up!

The gastrocnemius muscle attaches  to the lower portion of the femur (upper leg bone) just above the back of the crease of the knee. About midway down the back of the lower leg, this muscle attaches to the Achilles tendon (which attaches to your heel bone). Because the muscle fibers in the gastrocnemius are longitudinal fibers orienting on a vertical (sagital in anatomic terms) plane, they allow you to left he entire weight of our body! You need this power to be able to jump, climb and walk down stairs and hills. The gastrocs also help stabilize the ankle and knee joints and help control balance in your feet. although most people think of their calves as primarily the gastrocnemius muscles, surprisingly, this muscle doesn’t do much to help you move forward. Its more of a power muscle for spurts of movement like jumping and climbing (versus walking or jogging).

People often experience “Charley horses” or cramps in their gastrocnemeus muscles. But cramps or pain in soleus muscles can lead to pain in your heel, calf and back of your ankle as well.  And since soleus is used in to help maintain a standing position and for walking and running, overly tight soleus muscles can also contribute to low back pain in some people.

How to Stretch Soleus Muscles

1. Stand with your legs  in a mild lunge position (one leg in front of the other), feet about 2 feet apart.

2. Bend your front foot upward (dorsiflex your foot) while bending your back leg. Keep front leg straight.

3. Hold for 10-15 seconds then repeat with the other leg.

You should feel a good stretch in your soleus, but not much in your gastrocs.

How to Stretch Gastronemius Muscles

1. Stand facing about 3-4 feet from a flat wall.

2. Lean your body into the wall so that your palms are touching the wall and holding you up.

3. Now step backwards with one foot, bending your forward knee and keeping the back foot as flat tot the ground as possible.

4. “Lather, rinse, repeat” with the other leg.

You should feel a strong stretch in both your gastrocnemeus and your soleus, but more so in your gastrocs.

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Top Trends in Fitness from ACSM

Posted in Fitness, Health and Wellness, tagged , , , , , , on October 6, 2010| Leave a Comment »

By Sue Shekut, Owner, Working Well Massage, Licensed Massage Therapist, Certified Wellness Coach, ACSM Personal Trainer

The American College of Sports Medicine tracks trends for the fitness industry and published their findings to show you what to expect in fitness in the coming year at the gym, in your doctor’s office and at work. Experienced fitness professionals topped the list while strength training, core work, special fitness programs for older adults, pilates and balance training also made the top ten. Dr. Walter Thompson, of the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) which conducted the poll, said that 1,540 ACSM-certified fitness professionals from all around the world took part in the online survey.

“We really wanted to look at trends,” Thompson, a professor of Exercise Science at Georgia State University, explained. “We instructed the respondents to ignore fads, like the devices you see on late-night TV infomercials.”

Fitness professionals and personal trainers captured the first and third spots in the survey, but according to Thompson, this increase is at expense of clients. Why? Because the increase in demand for personal trainers and fitness instructors has led to an influx of people entering the profession lacking the necessary training to avoid injuring clients. Thompson said, “There has to be some policing. People are getting hurt by trainers who just don’t have the qualifications.” Personal training was introduced about 10 years ago and was once a luxury for movie stars. Now most gyms provide personal trainers and some gyms are personal trainer-only gyms.

Children and obesity came in second in the poll. “For the first time in history the next generation of young people may not live as long as their parents or grandparents,” said ACSM representatives. Strength training  and core training were in the top five as well.

The stability ball  came in at number eight. (Note: The use of the stability ball did not even make the top 20 in an ACSM survey in 2007.)  Fitness professionals once thought this was a fad, according to the ACSM, but the ball has become into a versatile teaching tool for stability, balance and strength.

Balance training, which includes yoga, Pilates, tai chi and exercise balls, came in at number 10. (Two years ago it was not even in the top 20.)

The emphasis on comprehensive health promotion at the workplace was number 12. “The notion of wellness coaching (number 13) was also a surprise. Last year it was at the bottom.” said Thompson, adding that nutrition as well as exercise and wellness training points to a more holistic approach to fitness in general.

Thompson and his team don’t predict the future, but they believe that the trends they track to inform the fitness industry are also useful in educating the public. For example,  physician referrals to exercise professionals is a growing trend. “Exercise is medicine,” Thompson concludes. “We’re bridging the gap between fitness professionals and physicians.”

Read the full article  here.
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Urban Warriors, Test Your Mettle–Forget the Marthon, Race the URBANATHLON™

Posted in Fitness, Health and Wellness, tagged , , , , on October 1, 2010| Leave a Comment »

By Sue Shekut, Owner, Working Well Massage, Licensed Massage Therapist, Certified Wellness Coach, ACSM Personal Trainer

Are you looking for a really big challenge, fitness wise? Wanted to climb Mount Ranier and didn’t make it this year? Or not able to run the Chicago Marathon but still want a heavy duty fitness goal?  You are in luck. The people behind Men’s Health magazine have put together a rigorous obstacle source race called the URBANATHLON™. And it’s coming to Chicago on October 10-16-10.

What’s so cool about the URBANATHLON™? It’s all set up in downtown Chicago lakefront areas and consists of fitness challenges for men and woman that want to do more than run on pavement for 26 plus miles. Not to bash the Marathon, but some people want more than a running race. They want a climbing, jumping, sprinting and crawling race.

For example, the first challenge is:
Obstacle Course 1: Navy Pier
Violation of the rules of this obstacle course will result in a do-over.

Section 1

  • Get up on and move across the “JERSEY CONCRETE BARRIERS” as you would a balance beam
  • You must get from one end to the other without falling off

Section 2

  • Get up and over the “MONSTER TRUCK TIRE” obstacle
  • You are not permitted to go around the obstacle

Section 3

  • Move through the “TIRE” portion of the obstacle stutter-step style, touching the ground inside of each consecutive tire
  • Do not skip a tire or run on top of the tires

For a full list of obstacles on the  course click here.

For the obstacle course map click here.

And if you don’t want to race but want to participate, you can watch. For a list of where to watch the race, click here.

Registration Cost
Solo: $110.00
Relay: $180.00

Ipods Banned From the Race
iPods/portable media devices are strictly prohibited because of the unique urban makeup of this event. The obstacles involve jumping, crawling and climbing and thus lend themselves to headphone cord snags and dropped devices that result in back-ups and run-ins. This rule has been set to protect all involved parties from injury.

Please Note: Race staff will be aggressively enforcing this rule on race day.

What are the Rules?

For a complete list of rules to compete in the URBANATHLON™, click here.

Total Course Distance
9.75 miles, including obstacles.

Race Start Time
Wave One will begin at 7:45AM sharp, with each successive wave following according to the wave start plan.

Minimum Age of Race Participants
All racers must be 18 years of age or older to participate in this event.

If I can’t Make the Race in Chicago  in 2010, Where Else Can I Race the Course?
This year, the URBANATHLON™ will be held in Chicago only. We are looking to bring the race to other cities in the future.

Charity

Join the Men’s Health Mission, to raise funds for the Challenged Athletes Foundation® so people with physical disabilities can pursue an active lifestyle. Signing up for the Mission will provide you with:

• A fundraising kit
• A dedicated fundraising web page
• A CAF T-shirt

Your hard work will be rewarded with valuable incentive prizes: technical apparel, high-tech bikes, adventure trips, sports watches, digital cameras and more.

Click here to join the Men’s Health Mission.

Where to Pick Up Your Race Packet

Hard Rock Hotel
230 North Michigan Avenue
Chicago, IL 60601

Enter via the Michigan Avenue entrance, take stairs on left to the 2nd floor, Gibson Room

race Packet Pickup Dates and Times
10.14.10, 11:30 AM–8:00 PM
10.15.10, 11:30 AM–10:00 PM

Please Note: There will be NO packet pickup on the morning of the race.

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What the U.S. Fitness Industry Can Learn From the French

Posted in Fitness, Health and Wellness, tagged , , on September 27, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Personal trainer showing a client how to exerc...
A Non-French gym. Image via Wikipedia

By Sue Shekut, Owner, Working Well Massage, Licensed Massage Therapist, Certified Wellness Coach, ACSM Personal Trainer

This morning I was reading an article from Reuters about how the French culture is not adopting the “gym culture” as readily as people in the U.S., Spain and the United Kingdom. One of the reasons given for the French reluctance to leave the outdoors and go workout in a gym? The tendency of the French to play football, tennis and go cycling.

Now the gym industry is trying to determine the best ways to get people in France off their football fields, tennis courts and off their bikes so they can go work out in a gym. I find this really interesting because here in the U.S., people are more likely to go work out in a gym, compartmentalizing exercise into a 30-minute or 1 hour segment of their week. While in France, people tend to walk daily, eat smaller portions and incorporate exercise into their daily routine.  In the U.S., where obesity is a huge concern, we have created a sedentary lifestyle (suburbs, car based cities, supersized portions and a fast food mentality). Meals in France are more leisurely, people often shop each day for the evening meal. Meals are more often lingered over, a time for socializing and conversation, not wolfing down food while sitting in front of the television (which, I admit I’ve been guilty of at times.).

So, what’s wrong with this picture? For one thing, going to the gym when you have no other alternative for exercise is better than not doing anything. I am not anti-gym. In the U.S. our gyms and personal trainers have come a long way to helping more people get fit and adopt a healthier lifestyle. But to expect a culture to adopt a less healthy lifestyle (by giving up a natural incorporation of exercise and healthy portion size) to help build more gyms in France seems counterproductive.

If the gym industry could embrace France’s culture instead of the other way around, we might have a healthy U.S. gym culture too. For example, creating more outdoor running areas and cycling areas, making areas of the city car free so that only bicycles could ride in that area. Creating more opportunities for exercise in suburbs with more walkable downtown areas. And for those that want to eat more like the French, we already have a great cookbook: The French Women Don’t Get Fat Cookbook! Only $16.50 at Amazon.

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Kankakee River State Park Puts Great Hiking and Clean, Clear Water on the Map

Posted in Fitness, Health and Wellness, Nature and Stress, tagged , , , , , , on September 22, 2010| 6 Comments »

By Sue Shekut, Owner, Working Well Massage, Licensed Massage Therapist, Certified Wellness Coach, ACSM Personal Trainer

Recently I was reading Backpacker magazine’s top lists of hikes around the U.S. They  listed 3 of the top hiking places in Chicago: The Chicago Lakefront, Starved Rock and Kankakee River State Park.  The lakefront is more of an outdoor mall these days than an actual hiking path, but it is a well known Chicago route so I give Backpacker that much. But I was surprised that they did not mention any of the fantastic hiking paths in the rest of the Chicago Area: Tinley Park, Herrick Lake, Palos, Waterfall Glen, Sag Valley, and about 30 more. If you get out of Chicago proper, there are scores of really quiet, well maintained forests, meadows and trails.  I’ve been to Starved Rock a number of times, but had not yet to Kankakee. So, to verify Backpackers recommendation, my man and I bundled up our hiking gear and headed for Kankakee River State Park this past weekend!

Kankakee River. Image by Sue Shekut

The park’s trail system stretches for miles along both sides of the river. Hiking, biking and cross-country ski trails are on the river’s north side, while horse and snowmobile trails can be found on the south.

Kankakee River State Park Map. Image by Sue Shekut

On Sunday, we walked from a boat launch area on the West side of the park, over a suspension bridge, along a picnic area and then to Rock Creek trail where we climbed along the creek.

Kankakee Rock Creek Trail marker. Image by Sue Shekut

The 3-mile route along Rock Creek gives you a great view of limestone canyons and a smallish frothy waterfall. The park offers a bicycle trail that begins at Davis Creek Area and travels 10.5 miles of trails in the form of a linear trail along the river and with a loop in the west end of the park.

View from Rock Creek Trail, Kankakee. Image by Sue Shekut

This region is fairly flat with some nice hike-able cliffs and a few look out points along the river. But the Rock Creek Trail had some really steep paths along the way affording interesting lookouts of the clean clear water below.

Jason taking pics at Rock Creek Trail overlook, Kankakee. Image by Sue Shekut

On our way around the Rock Creek Trail we found a really lovely grove of pine trees. Walking into the trees we felt that special hush I often feel when I am in the presence of a grove of trees. It felt like a church or sacred space.

Pine forest along the trail in Kankakee. Image by Sue Shekut

No matter where we hiked, we could see through the water at every point!  That water is clean–at least to the naked eye–and it’s  a pleasure to be able to see such clear water in a local river.

Super clear water in Kankakee River! Image by Sue Shekut

At this point we had hiked about 7 miles and then got a bit lost finding our way back to our car which added another 2 miles to our hike. We took a wrong turn at fork in the trail and ended up by the stables.

Kankakee River Stables rents horses. Image by Sue Shekut

All told, according to my handy pedometer, we hiked 10 miles and still had another half of the park to explore on another day.

For directions, info on equestrian trials, biking, hiking, etc. click here.

A beautiful spot to relax in Kankakee River State Park. Image by Sue Shekut

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Breaking News About Breakthrough’s Clothing Drive!

Posted in Fitness, Health and Wellness, Stress Management, tagged , , , on September 3, 2010| Leave a Comment »

By Sue Shekut, Owner, Working Well Massage, Licensed Massage Therapist, Certified Wellness Coach, ACSM Personal Trainer

I posted today about the Breakthrough Running club serving the youth of East Garfield Park. If you don’t have time to be a coach/mentor, you can still help out. The Running Club is nearing their first race of the fall season. To help keep the excitement and motivation going for our kids we are asking all our friends to collect running clothing and gear, new or very lightly used, to give to the boys and girls running in this program.

Items needed:  all sizes-for both boys and girls! Boy’s, girls, men’s woman’s, running specific clothing (shorts, pants, tops, jackets) and accessories (socks, sport bras, gloves and hats) and any other gear you wish to donate that is running appropriate.  Please no cotton clothing and no shoes needed.

Thanks to a Breakthrough supporter, all participating kids just got brand new shoes from Fleet Feet Sports on Tuesday! Fleet Feet discounts the shoes and threw in a pair of running socks for each child- way to go Fleet Feet, they are an awesome partner to this program.

Breakthrough Runners get shoe fitting assistance

Breakthrough Clothing Drive Info

When: Sat. Sept 11th at the Breakthrough Joshua Center , (3330 W. Carroll, on Carroll just west of Kedzie)

Why: the kids are in need of real running clothes for the end of summer and fall season

How: go through your running drawer, or tote, or closet shelf and donate anything you can part with or go out and buy some running clothing at your favorite store!

Collect all items and just get in touch with me and I will make arrangements to pick them up.  If you would like to be part of the giveaway session with the kids you can bring them to the Joshua Center by 8am on the morning of the 11th.

You can also bring the items to the Joshua Center any time between now and Sept. 11th and drop them at the door, just label the bag ‘running club donation’ or ‘running clothes’ and they will get to the appropriate people.

Breakthrough Urban Ministries-Joshua Center

3330 W. Carroll, Chicago , IL 60624 (Just West of Kedzie)

ph: 773.722.0179
fax: 773.722.0280

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