by Mark Smiley | Oct 2, 2018 | Feature Story Middle Left
by Kyle Wheeler
Have you heard of functional strength training? What exactly does that mean, and is it something you should incorporate into your fitness routine? The answer is yes! More than a buzzword in the health world, functional fitness can give you the overall strength you need to stay active throughout your life.
First off, what is functional strength? It’s what helps us physically take on the challenges we face in everyday life — carrying groceries, mowing the lawn, or climbing stairs. Without functional strength, these tasks get more and more difficult through the years, and we find we’re not able to do things “like we used to.”
The extent of functional strength you need varies by individual — some people’s lifestyles involve playing sports or running races. Others just need the strength and stamina to work in the garden or to play with the grandkids.
Training is tailored to individual needs and goals, and can be done by active older adults, elite athletes or teens and kids. Regardless of your level, functional strength can build muscle and bone mineral density that diminish as we age. It also allows you to add unique and fun movements to your activity repertoire, which in turn can stave off aging-related concerns.
To incorporate functional strength training into your routine, here are four factors to keep in mind:
- First, be fit.
Before starting a training program, establish a good base of cardiovascular health. Assess your overall fitness on your own or consult with a personal trainer. Also, don’t begin functional strength training without having done some steady resistance training using proper form.
- Explore the moves.
Functional strength exercises differ from other movements in that they engage multiple muscle groups. Instead of doing isolated exercises that may work the legs or arms, functional strength exercises incorporate broader movements that not only improve strength but also boost balance and improve joint control. Because of this, they help reduce the risk of injury you might experience in doing everyday “functional” activities.
Functional strength movements include:
- Suspension training
- Plyometric bodyweight movements
- Kettlebell training
- Mega-medicine ball training
- Battle rope exercises
- Olympic lifting
- Sandbag workouts
- Fully engaging core exercises beyond typical crunches or sit-ups
- Push-sled workouts
- High-Intensity Interval Training
- Balance work
- Stability (physio-ball) ball exercises
- Add a few moves slowly over time.
That said, don’t just jump in and try to tackle all these moves at once. Start by adding just one or two to your existing routine. For example, at the end of your current workout, try adding three 30-second sets of full-out battle rope movement. Aim to have great form — a neutral spine, tight core and stable base.
The next week, add kettlebell swings into the mix, and so on. If you choose something more difficult like Olympic lifting, make sure to do the lifts before your workout, instead of adding them on at the end. You don’t want to be doing the most difficult exercises last!
- Have fun.
As you incorporate functional strength training into your routing, celebrate the added flexibility, balance, and muscle you’re bringing to your life. Most importantly, as you train, remember to have fun. If you find you’re not looking forward to your workout, figure something else out. The beauty of functional strength training is that it comes with variations and new possibilities to explore. You don’t have to do moves you don’t care for — there are always more options.
Functional strength can keep you active and engaged and able to do the things “you’ve always done.” Stay strong!
Kyle Wheeler, NASM-CPT, is a Certified Wellness Coach and Fitness Coordinator. A personal trainer, certified pool operator, and small group instructor, Kyle has a master’s degree in exercise science and health promotion. He is a self-proclaimed nutrition nut who trains with a focus on core stability and functional strength. Kyle teaches at the Schlessman Family YMCA.
by Mark Smiley | Oct 2, 2018 | Valley Gadfly
Let the leaves fall where they may, October is about to come screaming back! A riot to the senses, the month is climaxed by Halloween and our need to be scared and terrified. Nevertheless, summer’s oppressive 90-degree heat will soon be a distant memory and golden leaves promise a Valley full of beautiful fall adventures.
Boo: “Halloween, ooh, Halloween ghostly things are gonna happen.” Darkness comes much earlier this month and you’ll soon be hearing spooky, silly noises outside.
Here are our supernatural choices for shopping, dining and entertainment as the wind nestles in the trees outside and spirits prowl the sidewalks like unseen cats:
3 Don’t miss the opening of JAAMM Fest, a one of a kind arts extravaganza on the JCC campus Oct. 4-Nov. 18. The high caliber of this year’s lineup includes music acts from all over the world. Information: 303-316-6360.
3 Be sure you have the “Write Stuff” including vintage pens at the Colorado Pen Show in the DoubleTree North, Oct. 5-7. Information: 303-322-6666.
3 Dance over to Colorado Ballet’s season opener featuring Sleeping Beauty at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House Oct. 5-14. Information: 303-837-8888.
3 Catch Emmy winner John Tesh as he sings, tells stories at the Grand Piano in Lowry’s Soiled Dove Oct. 10, 7:30 p.m. Information: 303-830-9214.
3 Let Total Wine & More — newly opened on East Evans Ave. — take part in all of your Halloween parties. Your spirits will soar with the unbelievable selection of wines and unique spirits. Information: 720-535-0027.
3 For a taste of October you’re certain to enjoy attending Joy Wine & Spirit’s 8th Chili Cook Off on 6th Ave. Oct. 21, 12-4 p.m. Amateurs and pros vie for critics’ and peoples’ choice awards. Information: 303-744-6219.
3 Join the Kidney Foundation’s non-competitive 5k walk-run at Sloan’s Lake Park on Oct. 14, 8 a.m. Information: 720-748-9991.
3 Escort the kids along Glow in the Gardens’ spooky Halloween pathways Oct. 17-18 and 23-25. Information: 720-865-3500.
3 You yearn for the crispest, clearest sounds to enhance your audio experience but with today’s advancements in technology you’re not sure where to turn. Start at this year’s 15th Rocky Mountain Audio Fest at the Marriott Tech Center, Oct. 5-7. At the world’s largest Audio Show, attendees will enjoy equipment show specials, prize drawings and live entertainment all weekend. Information: 303-779-1100.
The air begins to chill, slowly, first at night, and then during the day. The leaves start their colorful dance ushering in the final stage of their existence. Nature begins the preparation for a long winter’s nap. Everything alive seems to go to sleep or migrate south. Only we humans seem to stick around for the colder months ahead.
October in the Valley, with its warm days, cool nights, and colorful displays of foliage, is always a favorite month for most everyone — most of the living that is!
For the dead, the month signifies an unwanted awareness by the living that the dead may be lurking among us. As you enjoy Halloween costume parties this month remember that this freakish, bizarre season is a reminder to be adventurous, bold and daring or you’ll just be another “hoblin’ goblin.” Eat, drink and be scary. Bone appetit!
— Glen Richardson
The Valley Gadfly can be reached at newspaper@glendalecherrycreek.com.
by Mark Smiley | Oct 2, 2018 | Editorials
The inaugural Grandoozy music festival had a reported attendance of 55,000 over the extended weekend.
The inaugural Grandoozy Music Festival was held over the extended weekend of September 14-16, 2018, at the Overland Golf Course off of Santa Fe Drive in southwest Denver. Why at Overland Park Golf Course? At first it would seem a strange choice. With virtually no on-site parking the golf course site is stuck between the extremely busy Santa Fe Drive on one side and a raft of homes on the other. The lack of on-site parking necessitated free shuttles from far away parking lots with the vain hope people would hike in from the nearest, not so convenient light rail station.
As part of the June 2017 presentation for City Council approval of the event on public land a bullet point was the that the organizer, Superfly Productions, negotiate with RTD to include public transportation as part of the $270 event ticket. But Superfly Productions apparently was uninterested in paying anyone for anything. RTD offered additional cars for the extended weekend and requested from Superfly $72,000 to cover the additional service, security and personal costs and when Superfly said no RTD dropped it down to $33,000. But the production company was still uninterested, and no additional service was added for the event for public convenience.
Stevie Wonder performed during the final night of the 2018 Grandoozy music festival.
The RTD kerfuffle was emblematic of why Superfly was at Overland Park Golf Course in the first place and not at the many different existing concert venues in the area such as Fiddler’s Green, Mile High Stadium or Red Rocks. Superfly had come to Denver to take every last penny it could beg, borrow or steal from the community. The existing venues cost real money while Overland Park Golf Course is on public land and could be obtained for a fraction of the cost. The City and County of Denver under Michael Hancock is trying to get rid of, or alternatively monetize, every possible inch of open space under its control.
Superfly could get everything it wanted for a relative song from the mayor’s office and the always compliant Denver City Council. In turn, the production company brought in a hodgepodge lineup which was far skimpier than almost any other marque event it holds. Headliners being Stevie Wonder, Kendrick Lamar and Florence + the Machine, all of which have performed in Denver before. The gaps were filled with numerous local acts Superfly could get to perform at the Festival on the cheap.
The Denver golf community and the Overland Park neighborhood vociferously opposed the event which has partially destroyed the oldest golf course west of the Mississippi. But as one insider noted: “Those groups are composed of old white people who the city is hoping to drive out as fast as possible. No one is going to pay any attention to them.” She was right. The City Council blew right past them with hardly an acknowledgment at the June 17 meeting.
So how was the three-day festival? Depends on who you ask. For the neighbors and the golfers it was a disaster, but that was expected from them. For many festival concertgoers the event was okay, but lacked the big names they had expected. They are hoping in future years Superfly will spend the money it takes to bring them better lineups. Don’t count on it.
But for Superfly Productions, Stevie Wonder’s greatest hit “Isn’t She Lovely,” best summed up the event. They made a killing. Good crowds at top dollar prices and very low overhead. Nineteenth century con man Soapy Smith found that Denver was a perfect place to pull off his many scams with a rube seeming to be waiting on every street corner. In Michael Hancock’s Denver not much has changed. If you are unscrupulous enough and have access to the powers that be in Denver government, there are fortunes to be made in the Queen City on the Plains.
by Peter Boyles | Oct 2, 2018 | Blasting with Boyles
This should be in any other non-politically correct American newspaper a Pulitzer Prize winning photo. As I suspect most of you know there are Pulitzer Prizes issued up and down the dial in the media for award-winning journalism, television, radio, print and photography.
How in God’s green earth could this picture miss? What a dichotomy. An elderly security guard standing at attention in the tunnel while Denver Broncos Demaryius Thomas and the darling of the Front Range press Brandon Marshall taking a squat, not kneeling for our nation’s song, the National Anthem. Look at the woman at attention; hand over her heart, eyes straight ahead. All the time I’ve been staring at this photo I wonder exactly what she must be thinking. At her age maybe her father was at the Battle of the Bulge, maybe an uncle on Guadalcanal. Maybe one of her mom’s relatives on Pork Chop Hill. A brother at Khe Sanh in Viet Nam. A son or a daughter in the battle for Fallujah. You gotta ask yourself why this picture has never appeared in any Denver media outlet. We placed it on our award-winning 710 KNUS website and it received over 17,000 views. How can the Front Range corporate media not be humiliated?
I feel like monthly we come here to the headquarters of the Daily Planet and I play an ongoing game of whack a mole with The Denver Post, television stations and other radio outlets. We’ve become a voice in the wilderness. Why can’t someone else at least challenge the behavior of these players? I’ve said many times I know nothing about X’s and O’s, I know nothing about how football is played or operated or sold. But I do know a little bit about how the media business works.
We have talked and written for years about Brandon Marshall’s lies, but the showstopper on this one is Demaryius Thomas. I don’t know how many of you know that in this horrible racist country that we live in Demaryius’ mom and grandma have had their prison sentences granted clemency. Both of these women were doing a 20-year drug stretch for not only selling but also manufacturing crack cocaine. In fact Demaryius has spoken about the family cooking crack on the stove in the kitchen where he grew up. I can see why he’s mad. I was able to read about the raid where the cops found hundreds of dollars in rolled up cash in a drug ring led by Demaryius’ grandma Minnie Pearl [Thomas]. She took the beef on conspiracy to distribute crack cocaine.
Now under this current racist regime of Donald Trump, President Trump is currently working on commuting sentences of other African American women who also have taken some drug beefs. Donald has commuted a sentence of a grandma doing life on drug charges. The woman’s name is Alice Johnson. Alice is 63 years old, had been in the federal joint for 21 years and would have died behind bars without President Trump’s clemency. Donald Trump, along with an unlikely partner Kim Kardashian, working toward the release of other women facing similar sentencing.
So why, as my colleague Chuck Bonniwell has pointed out, why don’t Demaryius and Brandon go to Trump and seek help in finding more people who need the Presidential pardon. But that would take some effort.
According to the first couple of weeks of television ratings this NFL season is off to a resounding flop. So Demaryius Thomas was 11 when mom and grandma were jailed for 60 years. And in this bigoted system they squat because he [Trump] has released them. More women to follow and points like this as I look at our competitors in the Denver media scene and ask why the hell for once can’t you tell the truth, or better yet show the truth??
I’m glad Demaryius’ mom is home. You’d think he’d be grateful.
I guess its easier for these morons in television studios to turn Tom Tancredo into a Klansman than show a photo of disrespect that would get them an audience or sell them papers. You really gotta ask yourself why. Happy Halloween.
— Peter Boyles
