Fitness Programming for Obese Students

Strength training is the best form of exercise to help middle school-aged children fight obesity, according to a recent report by the American Academy of Pediatrics. In an effort to combat the growing issue of obesity, Life Fitness is providing comprehensive fitness programming to the students of Albany Park Multicultural Academy (APMA), a Chicago public school, through its Circuit Series strength-training system.

Life Fitness has the products and the experience to lead the charge in addressing this issue of obesity. Its a growing concern in our state and across the country, said U.S. Representative Rahm Emanuel (D-IL) who helped APMA secure this equipment. The sooner we can educate families and children on the importance of health and fitness, the sooner our young people will have the tools to lead healthy adult lives.

Circuit Series is a space-efficient line of 11 strength-training machines designed to deliver time-efficient, total-body workouts in a non-intimidating, easy-to-use format. As part of the partnership, Life Fitness is providing programming support and ongoing education through the Life Fitness Academy, the training and education arm of Life Fitness, to bring workout routines for the students to use and the faculty to administer. Additionally, Life Fitness is working with the school to track trends in a number of categories, from weight loss to attendance records, and document data that can assist other schools and youth centers.

As the global leader in fitness equipment, Life Fitness wants to be the loudest voice in educating schools, parents and kids on the simple ways to bring fitness and healthy living into their lives, said Kerri OBrien, director of the Life Fitness Academy. Its been so exciting to work with the students and faculty at Albany Park Multicultural Academy a group whos devoted to bringing health and fitness into all aspects of school life.

About Circuit Series

Circuit Series combines a user-friendly design, patented resistance system and superior biomechanics to give users an effective, easy-to-use, non-intimidating exercise experience. Its ideal for those who are new to strength training.

Innovative Resistance System

The Circuit Series Lifeband Resistance System uses a new type of patented resistance system that utilizes bound and covered groups of poly-elastomer bands. The bands mimic gravity, providing both concentric (shortening) and eccentric (lengthening) resistance for the greatest strength-training results. The resistance varies appropriately through each movement for a natural, biomechanically-correct feel. This innovative system also eliminates acceleration at the top and bottom of the exercise, which allows exercisers to execute the fast movements of an express-style workout but enjoy the feel of traditional strength-training machines.

Design Minimizes Intimidation, Makes Workouts Feel Good

A variety of features make the units easy to use and minimize intimidation, including a low-profile, easy-to-enter-and-exit design and a resistance system without weight selector pins or weight plates. Also, exercisers dont need to make any machine adjustments before working out, which will be especially appealing to strength-training novices.

Exercisers easily set resistance by pushing and pulling buttons. The low minimum starting resistance is ideal for those who have never done strength training or have minimum strength capability.  The small resistance increments let users measure their progress and feel a sense of accomplishment, which helps them to stay motivated.

In addition, biomechanically-correct movements that follow the bodys natural path of motion ensure that workouts feel good to exercisers.