How do you start your day? What is the best way to get your body and mind moving in the morning, so you feel like you are ready to tackle the day with optimism and energy? This was the question given to the teens at the National Home. The members of the Life Skills were given the opportunity to join a new club that would help them explore those questions. Simply called Fitness Club, this group met every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 8:50 am on the softball field to start their day on the right foot. The goal of this club was not to get into great shape but simply do acts that got the heart rate of the participant up and the blood pumping. Over the summer weeks the group did several styles of exercises that gave them a different start to the day. Exercises ranged from simple static stretching to circuit training with new agility equipment. The new experience of not only walking or running up a hill but turning around and walking slowly backwards up the hill, feeling new muscles come alive. Again, these simple workouts were just meant to wake the body and mind up. No workout was longer the 25 minutes long and that included several minutes of static stretching while talking about plans for the upcoming day. As the summer weeks went on and the routine became consistent the group started to comment that they felt this was helping them be more productive in their everyday lives. Whether it was heading to their summer jobs or even going and getting a good breakfast the group felt a notable rise in energy and productivity. Finally, in August after nearly 11 weeks of rain or shine morning workouts the group was rewarded to a trip to a high ropes course in the Detroit area. A perfect reward for a group that challenged themselves, supported each other and sacrificed simple comforts all summer to achieve a personal goal.

To see more photos of Fitness Club 2018, visit our flickr album.