Take a Hike with City Fitness - June 7

Join City Fitness Gym on Saturday, June 7 at 9:00 a.m. (sharp) for a hike through Rock Creek Park. Lucinda will be leading this 75-minute hike which is suitable for all abilities. The American Hiking Society has a yearly "National Trails Day" to promote the use and awareness of walking/hiking trails, and we are adding to their yearly events with our hike. If you have always wanted to explore the trails around Cleveland Park, this is your chance!

Mutts Strut 2008 - Sunday June 1, 9am

The Washington Animal Rescue League's Annual 5K Fun Run & 2M Walk is this Sunday, June 1 at 9:00 a.m. at American University. (Rain or Shine) Come on out for some exercise and help raise money for a great organization.

Fees: Online Registration: $25 per adult, $15 per child (<12),>

Online Reg. Closes: May 30, 2008 12:00 a.m. ES Time

Parking: Parking is available in the lot off of Nebraska Avenue. Please follow signs.

Doggie Details:

• Dogs are encouraged to attend, but for their protection, we ask that they participate in the walk portion only; please do not bring stress-prone or aggressive dogs.
• A water station will be provided.
• All guardians are required to clean up after their dogs.
• Dogs participating in the walk must be: licensed and have current rabies vaccinations; spayed or neutered; kept on a six-foot or shorter leash and under control at all times.

On-site registration: Onsite registration is available for $30 for Adults and $20 for children.

Pledge Information: Raise a minimum of $100 (which will include your registration fee) in order to get a Mutts Strut goody bag! The first 100 people to set up their online fundraising page will receive a free WARL hat! * We encourage you to use http://www.active.com/donate/muttsstrut2008 to collect your pledges. It's easy! * You can also use firstgiving.com/warl to get started with online fundraising. * Have checks made payable to you - then submit one check to WARL. Thank you! * Pledge prizes will be available for pick up on race day

International Food Information Council Foundation

IFIC's mission is to communicate science-based information on food safety and nutrition to health and nutrition professionals, educators, journalists, government officials and others providing information to consumers. IFIC is supported primarily by the broad-based food, beverage and agricultural industries.

IFIC's purpose is to bridge the gap between science and communications by collecting and disseminating scientific information on food safety, nutrition and health and by working with an extensive roster of scientific experts and through partnerships to help translate research into understandable and useful information for opinion leaders and ultimately, consumers. These groups find the IFIC reservoir of science and health data a valuable and easily accessed resource.

Based in Washington, DC, the IFIC Foundation and IFIC focus primarily on U.S. issues. It also participates in an informal network of independent food information organizations in Europe, Asia, Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand and South Africa.

Tidal Basin 3K - May 21

The Tidal Basin 3K is held the third Wednesday of each month. The run is informal and free, but they do record the results.

Meet at Tourmobile stand on Ohio Drive at West Basin Drive (West Potomac Park, the starting area used by many races), run east on West Basin Drive to Independence Avenue to 15th Street to West Basin Drive to Ohio Drive back to the start -- which is still 3 kilometers.

INTERACTIVE map

DIRECTIONS: From Independence Avenue, follow Ohio Drive south to the Tourmobile stand at the first cross street, West Basin Drive

REGISTRATION: Free, starting at 11:50 am, 10 minutes before the 12 noon race

BATHROOMS: Available at Lincoln, FDR, and Jefferson Memorials

PARKING: is free along the river in West Potomac Park and East Potomac Park, but not the Memorials themselves.

Share the City Fitness Love!

This is a reminder that we are still offering our "Share the Love" program. If you love the gym and want a friend or neighbor to join, just pick up a yellow coupon to give them. If they join on any of our regular month-to-month memberships, they get $50.00 off and you get one free month of membership (up to $80)...and we get a cool new gym member. It's a win-win-win program. There is no limit on the number of referrals, so if you are trying to cut back on your expenses refer a new person each month and enjoy City Fitness for free!

Capitol Hill Classic 10k, 3k & Kids Fun Run!

Race begins at 8:30 a.m. Online registration is closed, but runners can still register in person at Peabody School on Friday, May 16, from 5-7; Saturday May 17 from 9-2 and on Sunday, May 18, before the race. Also at 11:00 AM at Stanton Park (425 C Street NE, Washington DC) FIFTH MAN TRACK CLUB presents a once-in-a-lifetime seminar with Olympic track & field coach Brooks Johnson following the 29th annual Capitol Hill Classic 10K. Meet in the center of Stanton Park and look for the Redskins-topped tent. The Capitol Hill Cluster School The race benefits the Capitol Hill Cluster School, a wonderful DC public school serving approximately 1000 students from pre-school through 8th grade (for more information on the Cluster School, visit www.capitolhillclusterschool.org). In 2005, the Classic raised a record $45,000 for the Cluster School, and this year we aim to reach $50,000 for this key DC institution.

City Fitness Gym Intro Classes

We still have several "intro" level classes scheduled to celebrate our May "Fitness Fiesta." Each class listed will teach the basics including safety, terminology, and movement modifications appropriate for all levels and abilities. If you have always wanted to try one of these classes but have felt hesitant because you are new to them, this is your chance! • Wed 5/14, 6:30 am: Aerobic Boot Camp with Safisha • Wed 5/14, 3:30 pm: Fluid Movement with Donna • Sat 5/17, 11:30 am: Afri-Cardio with Sogbé • Tues 5/20, 7:30 am: Tai Chi with Taj • Thurs 5/22, 7:30 am: Qi Gong with Taj • Sat 5/31, 8:15am: Intro to Yoga with Terence

Women's Health Week - May 11-17

Today, Mother's Day, is the start of Women's Health Week. If you have been stuck doing the "same old exercise regimen," schedule an appointment with a City Fitness Gym trainer for a card review. We'll help to give you some new ideas and motivate you to be as healthy as you can be! Click the above title bar to be taken to the main site which lists activities in the DC area. From the site: "National Women's Health Week empowers women across the country to get healthy by taking action. The nationwide initiative, coordinated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office on Women's Health (OWH), encourages women to make their health a top priority and take simple steps for a longer, healthier and happier life. During the week, families, communities, businesses, government, health organizations and other groups work together to educate women about steps they can take to improve their physical and mental health and prevent disease, like:

• Engaging in physical activity most days of the week
• Eating a nutritious diet
• Visiting a healthcare provider to receive regular check-ups and preventive screenings
• Avoiding risky behaviors, like smoking and not wearing a seatbelt"

City Fitness Workout Focus - CrossFit

Some of you have seen the workouts some of the staff and members of City Fitness Gym have been doing and asked "What is that for?" This really intense full-body movement workout style is called CrossFit. Manager Tom Brose wrote the following description for anyone interested in learning more and click on the above title bar for the CrossFit website...or make an appointment with Tom or Alex to try the workout yourself!

What the heck is this CrossFit stuff I keep hearing about? Its in Men’s Journal, Muscle and Fitness, even the New York Times. Well, having been involved in CrossFit for more than 3 years, I can tell you about it in more detail than you probably want, but I’ll try to keep it simple. CrossFit is known for two things: really hard workouts, and really fit people. Although lots of people will try to deny it, I tend to think the two may be connected. The approach originated in California, and went online with a free daily workout in 2003. The City Fitness connection came in April 2005, when I traveled to Santa Cruz CA to attend a 3 day certification. Last December Alex also was certified as a CrossFit trainer.

The methodology of CrossFit is built on 3 principles: it is highly varied; meaning workouts are different day to day. Movements are functional, and replicate activities natural to our body’s movement. Workouts are done at high intensity, which is what illicits the powerful response and causes adaptation to physical stress. One of the things that first drew me to CrossFit was its starting point, an actual definition of the fitness it promised. Lacking in any one of the components detracted from overall fitness. This approach keeps us from specializing in one realm at the expense of all others. Lets look at how this actually takes place.

CrossFit workouts choose from a huge pool of training modalities. Running, rowing, jumping, lifting, throwing and climbing all are tools to be used. Often workouts are “couplets” or “triplets” a mix of two or three movements. Intensity is determined often by the time it takes to complete a specific set up tasks. A workout may consists of doing 3 rounds of running 400 meters, 21 kettlebell swings and 12 pullups, to be done as quickly as possible. The participants are “scored” by the time from start to finish. Part of the motivation of CrossFit is friendly competition, so the workouts work well for groups.

CrossFit training is hard, and participants take pride in their ability to push themselves past their comfort level. Just as important is the concept of “scaling” workouts to be appropriate for all levels. This begins by teaching the fundamental basic movements, working at a safe pace, only adding intensity as capability merits. The amount of work, the weights and even the range of motion can be modified to accommodate the individual. This is what makes CrossFit accessible to everyone!

Here are more links to specific web pages:

www.crossfit.com

www.mensjournal.com/healthFitness/0602/workout_20minutes.html

www.muscleandfitness.com/feature/189

http://www.crossfit.com/cf-download/CFJ-trial.pdf

Bike to Work Day - May 16

Next Friday, May 16 is Bike to Work Day. Click on the above title bar to be directed to the Washington Area Bicyclist Association site which gives detailed information including the locations of the 26 pit stops all over the DC area. Reduce your carbon footprint and get a good workout in at the same time!

May is National Stroke Awareness Month

Please click on the above title bar to visit the National Stroke Association website for more information about stroke prevention, awareness and treatment. Here is the focus of the awareness program: The goal of this annual campaign is to ensure that all Americans understand they can "Save a Life" by knowing about stroke risk factors, prevention, symptom recognition and Acting F.A.S.T. to treat stroke. In addition, this is a time for remembering those who have survived a stroke and to let them know that National Stroke Association supports them throughout their lifelong recovery journey.

This year National Stroke Association will focus its efforts on educating the public to recognize stroke symptoms, and to Act F.A.S.T.

F = FACE	Ask the person to smile. Does one side of the face droop?
A = ARM	Ask the person to raise both arms. Does one arm drift downward?
S = SPEECH	Ask the person to repeat a simple phrase. Does the speech sound slurred or strange?
T = TIME	If you observe any of these signs, it’s time to call 9-1-1.

City Fitness and Learnapalooza DC!

Saturday, May 10 is the Second Annual Learnapalooza DC. Check out their website (click on the title bar above) to see all kinds of free classes. Some samples include: Everything you want to know about Giant Pandas, Shoot Pool, Lose the Sugar Blues, Survival Skills in Mandarin, How to Dance at a Party, and so much more! Classes are held all over the city. City Fitness Gym will host a couple of classes - watch for flyers at the gym.

May is Fitness Fiesta Month

Our Annual Fitness Fiesta party was held May 3 and was a success! We raised over $2800 for H.O.M.E. (www.iwannagohome.org) through raffle ticket sales and donations. Those who entered the Cook-Off contest made some GREAT food and a good time was had by all. We continue the spirit of celebration by focusing on our array of Fitness Classes throughout the month. Watch the bulletin boards for special class announcements and for some "intro" level classes for those of you who are new to the class formats. We are also offering a May City Fitness Gym membership special - to celebrate our Fiesta, there is no initiation fee for new Fitness Class only members.