The Sportplex is located at 1717 Elphinstone Street and includes: 1717 Elphinstone Street Regina, SK 306-777-7529 (PLAY). Monday to Friday: 5:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Statutory holidays: 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Fieldhouse February Changes & Cancellations Winter/Spring Swim & Fitness Drop-in Schedule You can book this facility by calling the Fieldhouse at 306-777-7529. Rental applications are available for downloading. You can browse and register for fitness and sport programs being offered this season using e-registration. You can also view and download pages from this season's Leisure Guide. Lawson February Changes & Cancellations 2016/2017 Public Lane Swim Schedules: Thursday Friday Saturday & Sunday Schedules are subject to change due to events and programming. Updated schedules will be posted on the Lawson pool deck. Long course lanes will only be set up when sport groups are scheduled.
You can book this facility by calling the Lawson at 306-777-7529. You can browse and register for fitness and sport programs being offered this season using e-registration. You can also view and download pages from this season's Leisure Guide.As studies emerge classifying sitting for extended periods as bad to our health, wobbly stools and exercise balls are replacing office chairs, pedal sets are being installed under desks and everyone's talking about how to stay physically active while seated at their desk. But what can we expect from active sitting? L.A.-based trainer and martial arts expert Philippe Til weighs in on the facts and fables. Fact: Effective posture is the basis for active sitting, so if we start off slumped, we might not get anything out of it at all. "Doing exercises in a chair or on an exercise ball without taking posture into account is like stacking fitness on top of dysfunction," says Til. To get started, take what he calls the "horse ready" position.
"Sit on the edge of your chair with your spine straight and your shoulders squared," he says, "And open up your thigh-to-trunk angle so that it's obtuse -- this part is very important. Your feet will be directly under your shoulders." Fable: Active sitting is a good way to get in shape. Hardly, according to Til, who says that it should never be considered a substitute for whole fitness. "Active sitting is still sitting," he says. "It's not going to help you lose weight and it certainly won't increase your cardiorespiratory fitness levels. It will, however, get your blood flowing and can hinder some adverse long-term effects on the joints if done properly, starting with proper posture." Fact: Once good posture has been established, blood flow and oxygen intake improve. The simple postural adjustment that Til suggests can open the airways in your lungs. "I've had clients with frequently occurring headaches who have seen them stop once they changed their posture, which is most likely due to the increased oxygen intake and blood flow."
Fable: Active sitting will make joint pain go away. According to Til, desk jockeys are prone to pains in certain joints. Take the knees, for example, which weaken in the absence of a load. Active sitting might reduce the pain a bit, he says, but it won't replace actual exercise. Fact: Extended sitting is more likely the cause of joint pain than exercise. Indeed, says Til, when his clients complain of pain in, for exemple, the lower back, sitting is the culprit in most cases. The pain is the back's way of responding either to lack of use or poor posture, or a little of both. He advises keeping the thigh-to-trunk angle open during the day to avoid the tightening of the hips experienced by most desk jockies. Keeping up your regular exercise program, however, is essential if one is to benefit from active sitting. "Your joint pain will likely go away," he says, "and if it doesn't, it's best to see your doctor." Til suggests using a variety of tools, including barbells and exercise bands, that can add variety to your moves and perhaps even some calorie burn.
If it's not possible to take equipment to work, start by using your desk, subtly placing your hands on the top and pushing down -- and the opposite -- to get in some isometric moves. In the traditional seated position, push your heels powerfully into the ground. Shoulder rotations are important for keeping them square, says Til, and neck rotations engage the muscles in the spine. Til has an upcoming translation of French fitness expert Georges Hébert’s "Practical Guide to Physical Education" into English. To be released in January, it the second edition of "The Natural Method Book."Slash ExerciseExercise BallChair ExerciseExercise OfficePilates ChairWorkout BallBeginner ExerciseExcerciseChair SlashForwardAn office chair-slash-exercise ball. 22 Ingenious Products That Will Make Your Workday So Much Better WATCH ABOVE: A Sherwood Park school is putting a new spin on seating. Students in a Grade 6 class can choose from a variety of seating options, including spin bikes, exercise balls, rotating stools and standup desks.
As Su-Ling Goh reports, it's meant to keep the kids active. Step into Mr. Davison’s Grade 6 class in Sherwood Park, Alta. and yes, you’ll see desks and chairs, but you’ll also see stationary bikes and exercise balls.“It helps with their focus, helps with their creativity, helps promote problem solving, gives them some way to self-regulate as they have a place to burn off energy or to gain energy if they need it,” teacher Kurt Davison said. Using grants from BP Energy and Dow Chemical, Davison installed spin bicycles that charge devices like smartphones in his class. He also added standing desks, exercise balls and other alternative seating options.He noticed a change in the students immediately.“If they were at a desk and a chair, they might be fidgeting and moving and that’s what they were focused on – trying to burn off that energy.”Davison said kids still have the option of sitting at a standard desk and chair, which some of his students prefer. But having a wider variety of choice has helped a lot.“
It just gives them a different area to sit and to learn,” he explained. “It gives them a bit more ownership of it. They decide where they learn best.”“It gives them a place to fidget and wiggle. And be a kid.”The upgrades have changed the tone of the class and students are enjoying the change of pace.“In other classes, I’m sitting in desks and I’m bored,” 11-year-old Connor Harrower said.“I’m focusing but I’m also daydreaming. With this … my legs are moving. I can just look up at Mr. Davison and focus more because I’m having more fun and burning off energy.”READ MORE: Could standing desks in school be the answer to how to keep kids fit? “I like the bike because if you have a lot of energy you can let it all out,” Grade 6 student Kylie Smethurst added. “If you don’t have a lot of energy you can gain it on this bike.”The school is hopeful it can use some more funding to equip the Grade 5 class with some bikes and other alternate seating.The Grade 6 class at St. Theresa Catholic School has:Spin bikesExercise ballsStanding desksMuskoka chairsStoolsWobble boardsNew schools in the Edmonton public district offer a bunch of options outside traditional seating:Bean bag chairsRocking chairsMushroom chairsA spokeswoman for the district says it’s all about understanding that not every student learns best while sitting at a standard desk.
These options better accommodate different types of learning. They also let kids “self-regulate if their senses get overloaded,” Raquel Maurier explained.Teachers already try to adjust their teaching styles to reach students no matter how they learn. Now, the physical side of the education system is catching up with that idea, Maurier said.In other schools across Canada, yoga mats are being used in the classroom.READ MORE: Mississauga school incorporates yoga into school day Occupational therapist Shamala Manilall, who is an early learning specialist with Edmonton Catholic Schools thinks incorporating movement makes a lot of sense.She says humans, from a very early age, use small movements to quiet the nervous system.“We can sit for 20 minutes as adults and listen and focus, but for children, that’s much harder. They can manage maybe 10 minutes of focused attention and then they need to move,” Manilall said.“They start to feel a little restless and they don’t know why.”