Off to a Great Start

From your reports we are off to a great start.  Sharing your successes and some of your barriers to reaching your weekly intentions with your team and the entire group was very inspirational. 

A big THANK YOU to Greg Schlacter for helping with the fitness testing and teaching us about physical activity.  The fitness testing was actually fun and informative and many people were surprised and happy with their results.  It will be even more fun at the end of the challenge to see how much we have improved. 

The current physical activity norms for our country are for 30 minutes of moderate intensity activity at least 5 days a week.  We have asked you to commit to at least 20 minutes every day during the challenge, at a minimum.  One of the biggest questions we hear is what in "moderate intensity"? Greg talked about  "The Borg Category Rating Scale" of perceived exertion.  "Your exertion rating provides a fairly good estimate of the actual heart rate during physical activity" (Borg, 1998)   Greg explained that a rating between 12 to 14 is suggestive of moderate intensity.  6 is "no exertion at all" and "20 is maximal exertion".  This is how hard you feel you are working thus it is a "relative" scale ~ meaning it is your own feeling of effort and exertion, not how it compares to other people's.  So at "moderate intensity" we can somewhat carry on a conversation being able to say our name, but not our name and address, and if we can sing we need to step it up.  Challenge yourself this week to check where you are on the scale and make the adjustments you need to improve your fitness. 

The Well & Fit Community Council January Activity Event is a Snowshoe Hike up to Lilly Lake on Saturday, January 21st at 10:00am. The cost is $5, but if you bring a friend they go free!  Snacks and drinks will be provided and Alaska Mountain Guides has donated some snowshoes if you don't have any.  Put it on your calendar now as it will be an extra challenge next week and earn you extra points.