Fitwize 4 Kids Teams Up with President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports to Get America Moving

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Established by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1956 as the President's Council on Youth Fitness, the Council was later expanded to include Americans of all ages and abilities. Today, the Council is a federal advisory committee of up to twenty members, who recommend programs and initiatives on physical activity, fitness and sports to the President through the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS). President George W. Bush established the HealthierUS initiative in 2002 to stress prevention through healthy lifestyle choices, including daily physical activity, sound nutrition, preventive screenings, and safe behaviors.

"We are honored to be working with the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports as a 50th Anniversary Partner to Get America Moving," said Warren Gendel, Founder of Fitwize 4 Kids, Inc. ï¿½We congratulate the Council for fifty years of challenging Americans, especially kids to be active, healthy and fit.ï¿½

Fitwize 4 Kids was created to help address the rising epidemic of childhood obesity and Type II diabetes, as well as the increasing need for children's sports strength training.
According to the Center of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the prevalence of overweight children aged 6 to 11 more than doubled in the past 20 years, going from 7% in 1980 to 18.8% in 2004. Several studies have shown a strong correlation between lack of physical activity and increased risk of childhood obesity.

Additionally, each year more than 775,000 children ages 14 and under are treated in hospital emergency departments for sports related injuries. Most organized sports-related injuries (62%) occur during practice, rather than games. Sports conditioning is an integral part of participation in athletics and leads to higher performance with a reduced chance of injury.

Fitwize 4 Kids is a fun filled environment where kids ages 6 1/2 to 15 learn about fitness, nutrition and living a healthy lifestyle. Everything from the décor, to the equipment is planned with kids in mind. The environment is energetic and lively and the equipment is specifically designed for the physiology of a child's body. The program focuses on supervised, 45-minute, full-body, circuit- style workouts and is complimented by monthly nutrition seminars, home-school PE education, kidï¿½s night out events, field trips, birthday parties, and other fun activities.

"We're delighted to have Fitwize 4 Kids as a 50th Anniversary Partner to Get America Moving," said Melissa Johnson, executive director of the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports. "We've established the 50th Anniversary partnerships to recognize the valuable contributions in health and fitness of our longstanding colleagues and friends and to establish relationships with new partners who are doing this vital work today. We're fortunate at this time in our history to have a President who 'walks the talk.' For those who say they have no time to be active, we answer that the man who is arguably the world's busiest person understands how important it is to make time for physical activity in his day. If there were a prescription medication that produced all the health benefits of daily physical activity, everyone would take it. Physical activity is truly 'the magic' pill."

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recommends that Americans of all ages and abilities incorporate physical activity into their daily lives to help prevent cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and certain cancers; to attain and maintain a healthy weight; to promote healthy bones and joints; and to relieve symptoms of anxiety and depression. The year 2006 marks not only the 50th Anniversary of the Presidentï¿½s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports but also the tenth anniversary of the Surgeon Generalï¿½s Report Physical Activity and Health (1996), which stated that regular moderate physical activity produces significant health benefits. HHS guidelines call for adults to engage in at least 30 minutes of moderate activity on five or more days each week. Small steps, such as 30 minutes of walking a day, broken up into shorter increments of 10 or 15 minutes, can greatly improve health. For example, choosing to walk instead of driving, taking stairs instead of elevators, or pushing a lawnmower instead of riding all add up to better health. Children need at least 60 minutes of active play daily to be healthy. They need to run, climb, jump, and just get up and move around, away from their desks, the television and computer games.

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