There is not much to report. We are waiting for Carley to get better. There has not been much feedback from her corner. We are happy to announce Rob Caliendo, one of our trainers, has completed and passed his Level I Olympic Weightlifting certification. He has been officially credentialed. We hope Rob will be helping us with his background and weightlifting skills in Project Perfection. When we hear from a healthy Carley, we will add a new post.

Happy Memorial Day weekend. We hope everybody is enjoying time with their families and remembering those who aren’t with them anymore. We hope you are especially thinking of those who fought for and are fighting for our freedom. The thought for this newsletter comes after my return from the Cub/Cardinal game yesterday. As my wife and I were sitting on the train, going home from the ballgame, she pointed out some people on the train who sat in front of us at the game. It wasn’t hard to identify them. They were all heavy set and all had the same posture. Unfortunately for the child, he looked the same as the adults, but he was 25 years younger. The government and scientific agencies spend tons of money doing research on why we as a society are so heavy and our children are getting even heavier. Take a look around. People aren’t taking care of themselves. The parents lead by example. It only makes sense kids take their parent’s leads. Unfortunately, parents aren’t doing a good job leading. As a result, kids are getting larger. Rather than saying we are victims of our society, take a stand and do something about it. Be responsible for yourself and your children. Start eating healthy. Start exercising routinely. Take an active involvement in your children’s physical activities. You will be surprised at how much influence your actions have on your children.You don’t want to be somebdy your children are remembering on Memorial Day.

A few items of business, deadline for sign-up for our summer camps is Friday, June 4th. If you have any questions, call either Steve or Larry (847-395-6100). Our Saturday and Sunday workouts at Grass Lake School are on hold as we make preparations for our summer camps. We can arrange workouts upon request. Once again, call either Steve or Larry if you would like us to meet you at Grass Lake School the weekend of June 5th or June 12th. We are happy to announce we will have a summer intern from the MCC F.I.T. program interning with us during the summer camp. We are happy to be starting an affiliation with Mchenry County College. This affiliation will help us stay on track in providing the most up-to-date training techniques science and research can provide. We hope to see more of you in our programs as time goes on. If you have any questions or comments, please do not hesitate to call us or e-mail us. Have a good week.

The Staff at Kinetic Connections

Good news and bad news. Carley has been battling a bug and probably has a strept throat. The good news is, she has lost 4lbs. while being sick. That’s not really funny, but you have to look for a silver lining in every cloud. I did talk with Carley and she is really happy with the new workout. She said the running hasn’t been that hard. Her greatest problem is sore feet. We suggested she get fitted with a proper pair of running shoes. She is presently using a pair of fashionable shoes. The other thing she noted was the change to a 4:1 lifting ratio was surprisingly hard. She didn’t think it would be a big deal, but it has been leaving her with a little post-workout soreness. Thank you Beth Koch for the recommendation. Carley has not contacted Jennifer to go over her diet. She will be doing that this week. We’re pulling for Carley to feel better this week and get back on track.

Just one thought. Juggling daily activities, outside activities, and trying to maintain a regimented exercise routine can be very stressful on the immune system, thus causing one to become less resistent to illness. Carley has just completed her semester at school, changed jobs, changed workout routines, and seen her friend Jon go through a rough patch in his life. Could this illness be telling us trainers something? Something to think about. We’ll check back next week.

It’s time to blow our horn. We work with our clients to bring out the best in them. Our goal is to provide you with the proper exercise environment to move on to the next level. You can’t keep doing the same thing over and over and expect different results.That’s the definition of insanity. Last week I spoke of the staff’s constant pursuit of knowledge in the world of exercise and strength and conditioning. Science and research has produced constant changes in the training world. It is our goal as a staff to keep up with the changes and present them to you. We have been fortunate enough to have some athletes come to us with a desire to become better at their sports. These athletes were already above average, but they wanted to get to another level. Not only were they practicing their sports with their teams, but they also came to us early on the weekends (7:30-8:30a.m.) to do something extra, something different. The results have been excellent.

First of all, we would like to congratulate Andy Dana, an alumni of Kinetic Connections. Andy is a freshman at Dubuque. He was awarded team MVP in baseball. Andy worked with Kinetic Connections for 3 years. We saw him at Christmas for a couple workouts and he said they did a lot of the stuff we did over the years, but our workouts were harder. We have two athletes presently attending Antioch High school who have been working with us since late last fall, Pam Rodriguez and Josh Antilla. Josh has worked with us for the past two years. A year ago he was playing baseball in the spring. He went from one of the slowest on his team to one of the fastest. This year he switched to track and is running the 200 and 100. We were able to watch Josh run the 200 last Friday. He came in 3rd in his heat and missed qualifying for state by one place. His time of 24s. flat was a PR. He has gone from the back of the pack to the front throughout the season. We expect greater things next year. Watch for Josh next fall during the football season. Pam is our hardest worker. She has made a commitment to becoming better at track. She runs the 100, 200, and the 4×4 relay. Pam’s times have improved steadily throughout the season and she has PR’d in all distances throughout the season. She was the start of the 4×2 in the sectionals and her team took third in their heat. They did not qualify for state, but they also are improving. Pam has made a commitment to improve herself over the summer through weightlifting and conditioning. Watch for her next spring, she is only a sophomore.

I said before, everybody that comes to us is a good athlete, but the ones that come to us come to get that edge. Do something different. Something out of their comfort zone. We watched the track events the past two weeks. It was great to see the people who have come to us are continuing to get better. They haven’t reached their highest potential. We watched others who have done well in the past just do the same thing. They stay at their level and place according to the competition.Our hats off to those that come to us. The results speak for themselves.

Have agood week. Hope to see some new faces. We’ll take you where you want to go.

The Staff at Kinetic Connections

Carley has her new found enthusiasm and  confidence since attending a live competition last week. She feels she is not too far away from competing. She has started her new workout regimen on her own. Today we officially reviewed it. She will be working on this program for six weeks. Our goal is weight reduction and body sculpting. She will be contacting Jennifer to work on her diet and her and Beth will be working out together. See week 16 for the parameters of her new program.