Work Report- Mobilize Change
Work Report Assignment
Mobilize Youth
KIN 3090
Field Placement 1
Denise Gardner
Mobilize Youth is a program founded and run by Dina Liberman which promotes a lifestyle
change for overweight children. This program has a group exercise component for
the children but it also focuses heavily health promotion. We promote a healthy
lifestyle for these children and their families by educating them on nutrition
and exercise in a practical application. There are three group exercise
sessions a week that last an hour and a half each. Also, once a week the
children have a nutrition session with our holistic nutritionist Susanne. While
the children are in the Tuesday exercise session, the parents also have a
session with the nutritionist. Our nutritionist makes house visits for many of
the families to see what they eat and to show them how to make meals that are
healthy and pleasing for the whole family. The nutritionist also does taste
testing and grocery store trips with the children to help them make smart
choices and introduce them to new healthy foods.
The exercise component is similar to the nutrition in the sense that we expose the
children to a variety of exercises and different ways to work out and stay
active. Every session we start with a warm up, then a cardio session, followed
by a full body workout, and finishing with a cool down and stretch. For the warm
up and cardio session we use many different methods including track, bike,
elliptical, rowing, or treadmill. Since not all of the children come three days
a week we do a full body workout because it would not be as effective if we did
a split routine with them. Cool down and stretching is pretty standard based on
the workout we did that day.
My job title at Mobilize Youth is assistant coach. I often create and conduct
workout programs for the children. I get to the Columbus centre half an hour
before the session starts to review the session plan, collect the children and
start to set the mood by pumping the children up. On days that the head coach
Bernie is there he heads the session while Daniel and I assist by taking smaller
groups aside and modifying the program for certain individuals. We also walk
around and ensure proper form and mechanics of the children while performing
their workout. On days that Bernie and/ or Daniel don’t show up, it is up to me
to direct the session. This can be difficult if you have lots of
children.
I conduct a body composition assessment once monthly for each child which includes
height, weight, heart rate, and circumferences of their chest, waist, hips,
thigh, calf, and bicep. I conduct the fitness assessments on all of the children
who wish to track their progress. I also take a small group of children to
conduct a fitness assessment which includes a 12 minute run, sit ups, push ups,
and wall sit. At the end of each session I give Dina a brief synopsis of how the
session went. I also talk to the children and their parents to give them an
idea of how their progress is going and what they need to work on.
Exercise prescription and health promotion were the most helpful courses to prepare me
for my placement position. There were no certifications or experience required
for this position, though I believe that a personal trainer certificate and a
basic applied nutrition course would be helpful.
Working with a largely special needs population was a new experience for me. Many of the
children and families are special needs who attend this program. I have never
worked with a special needs population so it was an eye opening and educational
experience for me.
My special project was to create workout programs for individual children based on
what they wanted to work on and what they enjoyed doing. These workouts were
printed up and put on lanyards so they had a plan when they wanted to work on
their own, during or outside of the program. I have also implemented an
incentive program for the children. This enables them to set goals for
themselves and strive to achieve them. Once completed they will receive a
certificate. I think it is important to keep the incentive program linked to the
fitness assessment component and not the body
composition.
The most difficult part of my job is keeping the children motivated and moving. They
live very sedentary lifestyles outside of the program. Most of the children are
not attending the program by choice so it is up to the coaches to keep the
program motivating and fun for the children.
I believe that the most valuable and important aspect of my placement is to
teacher these children or at least plant a seed in their heads that the children
can carry with them and apply throughout their lives. There is a huge importance
to teaching children how to live out a healthy lifestyle. There are not many
programs that have the same kind of approach as Mobilize Youth, and many other
programs are not for children. Childhood obesity is a rising epidemic in North
America and therefore this program is highly applicable in our society.
Unfortunately, I have also seen the struggle that Dina faces daily. She is
trying to recruit new children but doctors don’t want to refer them, they would
rather medicate and many parents are reluctant to admit there is a problem with
the way they are raising their children. Seeing this gave me a greater
appreciation for health promotion and the road blocks that these workers face. I
believe this relates to kinesiology because as kinesiologists it is our job to
use other health professionals to benefit our client or patients overall health.
This means connecting and promoting referrals between health professionals.
In terms of my learning objectives, I have learned a lot about fitness protocols;
these protocols helped me to apply what I have learned in exercise prescription
and gave me ideas to use with my client.
Further development for myself in my placement would be to have a greater
understanding of special populations and ways to communicate with them. I think
it would also be helpful to have a psychologist or social worker talk to the
children because they have a lot of family issues and depression issues that I
am not trained to deal with. Even if we had one of these health care
professionals come in once monthly at the least to address some of the issues
that come along with obesity, such as the depression and bullying that a lot of
these children face.
Throughout my placement I have learned more and more about how to structure a workout
protocol and use exercises described in class as well as new ones I learned from
the coaches. I don’t believe I received adequate training or supervision because
many times I am coordinating the session on my own or with another placement
student. The head coach doesn’t really explain anything so everything I have
learned is from observing how he conducts the sessions once a week. Prior to
this placement I wanted a better understanding of how to apply all the
exercises we have learned and how to structure them in a program, I feel I have
learned a lot about how to structure a program from this experience and I have
even applied this to my clients sessions as well.
Insight I have gained into my future is still unclear. I want to get into something more
clinical and I now know that I don’t want to do personal training or health
promotion, however I do enjoy working with children and would consider even
teaching.
http://www.google.ca/imgres?q=mobilize+youth&hl=en&qscrl=1&nord=1&rlz=1T4ADFA_enCA347CA347&biw=1168&bih=649&tbm=isch&tbnid=VY1z46lyLP6i4M:&imgrefurl=http://www.toronto4kids.com/newsletter/T4K_2011_Jan12
.html&docid=d5wzXEi0vCmxXM&imgurl=http://www.toronto4kids.com/newsletter/image2011/article-mobilize-youth.jpg&w=435&h=156&ei=rMV7T4yVDcTzggfg-4D9Cw&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=447&vpy=276&dur=1799&hovh=124&hovw=348&tx=248&ty=70&sig=116581589334489544032&page=2&tbnh=71&tbnw=197&&ndsp=20&ved=1t:429,r:7,s:15,i:117
Mobilize Youth
KIN 3090
Field Placement 1
Denise Gardner
Mobilize Youth is a program founded and run by Dina Liberman which promotes a lifestyle
change for overweight children. This program has a group exercise component for
the children but it also focuses heavily health promotion. We promote a healthy
lifestyle for these children and their families by educating them on nutrition
and exercise in a practical application. There are three group exercise
sessions a week that last an hour and a half each. Also, once a week the
children have a nutrition session with our holistic nutritionist Susanne. While
the children are in the Tuesday exercise session, the parents also have a
session with the nutritionist. Our nutritionist makes house visits for many of
the families to see what they eat and to show them how to make meals that are
healthy and pleasing for the whole family. The nutritionist also does taste
testing and grocery store trips with the children to help them make smart
choices and introduce them to new healthy foods.
The exercise component is similar to the nutrition in the sense that we expose the
children to a variety of exercises and different ways to work out and stay
active. Every session we start with a warm up, then a cardio session, followed
by a full body workout, and finishing with a cool down and stretch. For the warm
up and cardio session we use many different methods including track, bike,
elliptical, rowing, or treadmill. Since not all of the children come three days
a week we do a full body workout because it would not be as effective if we did
a split routine with them. Cool down and stretching is pretty standard based on
the workout we did that day.
My job title at Mobilize Youth is assistant coach. I often create and conduct
workout programs for the children. I get to the Columbus centre half an hour
before the session starts to review the session plan, collect the children and
start to set the mood by pumping the children up. On days that the head coach
Bernie is there he heads the session while Daniel and I assist by taking smaller
groups aside and modifying the program for certain individuals. We also walk
around and ensure proper form and mechanics of the children while performing
their workout. On days that Bernie and/ or Daniel don’t show up, it is up to me
to direct the session. This can be difficult if you have lots of
children.
I conduct a body composition assessment once monthly for each child which includes
height, weight, heart rate, and circumferences of their chest, waist, hips,
thigh, calf, and bicep. I conduct the fitness assessments on all of the children
who wish to track their progress. I also take a small group of children to
conduct a fitness assessment which includes a 12 minute run, sit ups, push ups,
and wall sit. At the end of each session I give Dina a brief synopsis of how the
session went. I also talk to the children and their parents to give them an
idea of how their progress is going and what they need to work on.
Exercise prescription and health promotion were the most helpful courses to prepare me
for my placement position. There were no certifications or experience required
for this position, though I believe that a personal trainer certificate and a
basic applied nutrition course would be helpful.
Working with a largely special needs population was a new experience for me. Many of the
children and families are special needs who attend this program. I have never
worked with a special needs population so it was an eye opening and educational
experience for me.
My special project was to create workout programs for individual children based on
what they wanted to work on and what they enjoyed doing. These workouts were
printed up and put on lanyards so they had a plan when they wanted to work on
their own, during or outside of the program. I have also implemented an
incentive program for the children. This enables them to set goals for
themselves and strive to achieve them. Once completed they will receive a
certificate. I think it is important to keep the incentive program linked to the
fitness assessment component and not the body
composition.
The most difficult part of my job is keeping the children motivated and moving. They
live very sedentary lifestyles outside of the program. Most of the children are
not attending the program by choice so it is up to the coaches to keep the
program motivating and fun for the children.
I believe that the most valuable and important aspect of my placement is to
teacher these children or at least plant a seed in their heads that the children
can carry with them and apply throughout their lives. There is a huge importance
to teaching children how to live out a healthy lifestyle. There are not many
programs that have the same kind of approach as Mobilize Youth, and many other
programs are not for children. Childhood obesity is a rising epidemic in North
America and therefore this program is highly applicable in our society.
Unfortunately, I have also seen the struggle that Dina faces daily. She is
trying to recruit new children but doctors don’t want to refer them, they would
rather medicate and many parents are reluctant to admit there is a problem with
the way they are raising their children. Seeing this gave me a greater
appreciation for health promotion and the road blocks that these workers face. I
believe this relates to kinesiology because as kinesiologists it is our job to
use other health professionals to benefit our client or patients overall health.
This means connecting and promoting referrals between health professionals.
In terms of my learning objectives, I have learned a lot about fitness protocols;
these protocols helped me to apply what I have learned in exercise prescription
and gave me ideas to use with my client.
Further development for myself in my placement would be to have a greater
understanding of special populations and ways to communicate with them. I think
it would also be helpful to have a psychologist or social worker talk to the
children because they have a lot of family issues and depression issues that I
am not trained to deal with. Even if we had one of these health care
professionals come in once monthly at the least to address some of the issues
that come along with obesity, such as the depression and bullying that a lot of
these children face.
Throughout my placement I have learned more and more about how to structure a workout
protocol and use exercises described in class as well as new ones I learned from
the coaches. I don’t believe I received adequate training or supervision because
many times I am coordinating the session on my own or with another placement
student. The head coach doesn’t really explain anything so everything I have
learned is from observing how he conducts the sessions once a week. Prior to
this placement I wanted a better understanding of how to apply all the
exercises we have learned and how to structure them in a program, I feel I have
learned a lot about how to structure a program from this experience and I have
even applied this to my clients sessions as well.
Insight I have gained into my future is still unclear. I want to get into something more
clinical and I now know that I don’t want to do personal training or health
promotion, however I do enjoy working with children and would consider even
teaching.
http://www.google.ca/imgres?q=mobilize+youth&hl=en&qscrl=1&nord=1&rlz=1T4ADFA_enCA347CA347&biw=1168&bih=649&tbm=isch&tbnid=VY1z46lyLP6i4M:&imgrefurl=http://www.toronto4kids.com/newsletter/T4K_2011_Jan12
.html&docid=d5wzXEi0vCmxXM&imgurl=http://www.toronto4kids.com/newsletter/image2011/article-mobilize-youth.jpg&w=435&h=156&ei=rMV7T4yVDcTzggfg-4D9Cw&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=447&vpy=276&dur=1799&hovh=124&hovw=348&tx=248&ty=70&sig=116581589334489544032&page=2&tbnh=71&tbnw=197&&ndsp=20&ved=1t:429,r:7,s:15,i:117