Fitness with NIFS

Last Friday, Forever-Fit campers had the pleasure of taking their fitness elsewhere—this time to the National Institute for Fitness and Sport. The facility is located downtown on the Indiana University—Purdue University Indianapolis campus and is a research partner of Indiana University’s School of Medicine. Needless to say, NIFS has its fair share of fitness credentials.

When we arrived, we first had a short presentation about the importance of fitness and eating right, and then we got right down to business: treadwall climbs (a rotating rock-climbing wall), obstacle courses, track relays, basketball shoot-outs, and of course, lots of exercise balls. The campers finally got to cool down with some yoga, during which they demonstrated—well, enough grace and balance. Hey, it’s hard to hold a half moon when you’ve just been exercising all day; we’ll hand it to them this time.

During all of the exercise, one of the trainers came up to me to tell me what a great bunch we had here. I agreed, of course, but then she continued to say that it’s the first bunch of kids that she’s seen without any cliques—they’re really here as a unit.

As I watched the kids exercise throughout the day, I saw them cheer on opponents during competitive activities and pause to wait for a friend to shoot first in knock-out (politeness that’s NEVER present in that game). I realized that what that trainer said was absolutely true. The Forever-Fit campers are now a unit, completing this journey to a healthier lifestyle together. Little do they know that the subtle group effort evident at NIFS will ultimately have a prominent effect in the long run.

Don’t forget to check out the video of our day at NIFS!