New Fitness Programs at Cincinnati Children's Provided for Local Children and Parents

Monday, January 01, 0001

CINCINNATI – Three new fitness programs are now being offered to local children and their parents through Preventive Cardiology at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center.

"I hope these programs will encourage parents and children to be inspired by one another and pass along good habits to others in order reduce the prevalence of obesity in our community," says Renee Jeffreys, MS, RCEP, new exercise program supervisor and co-author of Fit to Deliver. Jeffrey's interests include exercise during pregnancy and parents as healthy role models for their children.

The community classes will include a combined pre- and post-natal fitness class, a class for children ages 2 to 5 with their parents and a personal training class for children ages 5 to 19 with or without their parents. All classes will begin March 20.

The pre- and post-natal fitness class will be on Tuesday's and Thursday's at 5 pm. Fifteen women from conception up to delivery and six weeks after birth can take place in the fitness classes with consent from their obstetric / gynecology doctors. Classes are $15 per class or $120 for 10 classes.

My Kids and Me fitness class for children ages 2 to 5 will take place on Monday, Wednesday and / or Friday. For 4- to 5-year-olds, classes will be from 10 - 11 am or 1 - 2 pm. Children 2 to 3 years old can take the classes from 11 am - noon. Attendance can be all three days or just one day a week. Classes can hold 12 kids and their parents. Parents attending must take a written health screening to be accepted into the program. The hour-long class is $150 for ten weeks or families can try a class for $7. A sample class would include:

• Welcome song and warm up
• Group activities
• Animal count down
• Parent tag
• Circuit training in five stations
• Sit-stands
• Tummy crunches
• Stork
• Snake
• Kangaroo hop
• Good-bye song and cool down
• Stretching

Personal Training is a one-on-one exercise session with a personal trainer to work toward meeting individualized goals to lose weight. Every day during after school hours, children 5 to 19 years old with or without and their parents can take part in this fitness class. Cost per class is $50 per child or $90 per child and adult.

The new fitness classes were made possible, in part, due to a generous Hammer Strength / Life Fitness, Inc., equipment donation and the addition of Cincinnati Children's staff.

All classes will be held at the HealthWorks! building Cincinnati Children's Winslow location (2850 Winslow Ave). For registration, call 513-636-4305.

Cincinnati Children's is a 423-bed institution devoted to bringing the world the joy of healthier kids. Cincinnati Children's is dedicated to transforming the way health care is delivered by providing care that is timely, efficient, effective, family-centered, equitable and safe. It ranks third nationally among all pediatric centers in research grants from the National Institutes of Health. The Cincinnati Children's vision is to be the leader in improving child health.