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Mr. Bain talks home fitness

The COVID-19 Virus has triggered a Stay at Home order by Montana Governor Steve Bullock and with that came temporary closings of gyms around Phillips County and the state.

Dan Bain, the physical dducation teacher at Malta Elementary School has a couple of ideas on how to keep the family active during the governor's order, which is slated to continue to Friday, April 24.

"Kids can definitely get out of shape because they're not as active as they would be during a typical school day and they might see a weight gain, as well," Bain said. "Boredom can lead to senseless eating. I also think that the more they sit, the less their motivation to do things will be."

His first suggestion is to grab a deck of cards to participate in a group of exercises called "Playing Card Fitness". He said that all you need is the deck of cards and open space. Given that a deck of cards has four suites (spades, clubs, diamonds, and hearts) assign an exercise to each. The examples he gave were burpees, mountain climbers, bicycles, and jump twists.

"Draw a card, and the number will tell you how many repetitions to do," Bain said. " Aces will count as one, Jacks-11, Queen's 12, and Kings 13. You can go for a certain amount of time, or if you have multiple players, you can go until the entire deck has been drawn."

The next suggestion is UNO Fitness, and while the rules are similar, this one comes with a spin more specific to UNO cards.

The 0 card will count as 10 repititions, if you pick up a Draw 2, draw two cards and then complete the exercise. If you draw a Wild Card then Bain said to choose the exercise that you would like to do. If you pick a Draw Four cars, then pick four cards and complete the exercise.

"You can either bypass the Skip and Reverse cards, or, you could skip down the hallway, for example, or jog backwards down the hallway," Bain said.

Bain said that if it is nice, you can do these exercises outside and he recommends doing these activities for 10 to 15 minutes. He shared what he tells his kids.

"I always tell kids that exercise is like an electronic charger," he said. "It recharges your brain and body and enables you to carry on with everyday activities. Plus, it's just a great way to get rid of excess energy."

If you cannot find a deck of cards to do the aforementioned workouts, Bain said that if you have an electronic streaming device, you can find all kinds of workout videos on streaming platforms. He suggests searching for Just Dance for Kids, and to try to follow along.

"I have done it in the classroom, and the kids love it," Bain said.

Bain is a graduate of Conrad High School and went on to receive his Bachelor of Arts in Elementary Education at The University of Montana. Over the course of his tenure at Malta Public Schools, Bain had taught fifth and sixth-grade history and is in his sixth year of teaching physical education and keyboarding for grades kindergarten to fifth.

 

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