After School Trapeze Arts is Good Exercise

My mother is a Russian circus teacher. We recently went with her to a recital of a neighbor who teaches elementary trapeze arts. The performers, age about 10 to a women in her 50s, were having fun moving and pulling themselves up and down ropes, scarves, and hoops. It wasn't a polished performance or high technical ability. That wasn't the point. They were lifting their body weight, climbing, stretching, balancing, focusing, burning calories, learning safety and cooperation, exercising, developing arm, hand, wrist, and grip strength, and moving their bodies in functional ways.

Their over-dramatic costumes flopped over their faces when they hung upside down. One young performer wore fly-front long johns. They seemed to think they were great artists. True or not, they were moving, smiling, stretching, laughing, and exercising to do art and fun.

Check for fun safe programs near you of healthy movement of all kinds. Get the good they can provide of new fun ways to use your body and mind functionally. If they use traditional stretches and exercises to warm-up that are not healthful, change or skip them. These posts give ideas:

• Sitting Badly Isn't Magically Healthy by Calling It a Hamstring Stretch
• The Stretch You Need The Least
• Common Exercises Teach Hip Tightness When Kicking, Stretching, and on the Stairs
• Aren't You Supposed To Stick Your Behind Out to Sit Down or Do Squats?
• Better Shoulder and Triceps Stretch
• Change Common Exercises to Get Better Ab Exercise and Stop Back Pain
• Stop doing crunches (ever again) - Good Life Works Better Than Bad Ab Exercise
• Instantly Better Hip and Quadriceps Stretch
• Better Achilles Tendon Stretch