Eideard

GARY SPEED
September 1969 – November 2011

Jumping with excitement, First Lady Michelle Obama and hundreds of local school children attempted to make their way into the next edition of the Guinness Book of World Records.

Mrs. Obama, also known as the “Jumper-in-Chief”, led 400 kids from schools in the DC area ages 8-14, to break the record for the most people doing jumping jacks in a 24-hour period. She kicked the challenge off at 3:00pm, Tuesday, on the South Lawn of the White House with one minute of continuous jumping jacks. The attempt will continue with groups of children around the country jumping until Wednesday afternoon. More than 20,425 jumpers are needed to break the record.

The event was witnessed by officials from the Guinness Book of World records, along with former Olympic skater Michelle Kwan who served as an independent judge…

Ms. Obama used the event as a way to promote her initiative “Let’s Move!” which promotes healthy eating and exercise for America’s children.

“What we’re going to show people today is that moving is fun, right?,” she said. “You can do it just dancing around in your backyard. You can get moving if you’re walking your dog. Or you can get moving doing some jumping jacks, right? There are so many ways to keep moving. “

And keep moving is what they did. Once the one-minute of jumping jacks was over, Mrs. Obama was mobbed by children wanting to meet her…

My kind of First Lady.

Did you ever see an interesting class at the gym that you were too intimidated to try? Or maybe you need to freshen up your current workout routine..?

For my first Gym Class I tried AntiGravity Yoga, a fitness class that adapts the poses of traditional yoga for a large silk hammock raised off the ground. Sometimes called suspension or aerial yoga, AntiGravity Yoga was developed by Christopher Harrison, a former aerial acrobat and gymnast who found traditional yoga too hard on his injured wrists. The weightless poses can be used to strengthen the core as well as relieve aching joints and stretch tight muscles…

To see what happens during an aerial yoga class, watch the video, taken at the Om Factory Yoga Center in midtown Manhattan, and check out the Gym Class ratings below.

 
Gym Class Rating (from 1 to 5):

Difficulty: 2
Intimidation factor: 4
Workout intensity: 1
Fun quotient: 5

I might add Looking silly: 5

Having an even sillier name: 10

Luckovich most always does a good sendoff.

Don’t be put off by the middle. Let it play through to the end – it’s worth it.

Thanks, Jägermeister

Saudi women could see their private sports clubs and gyms closed down because the government seems likely to agree licensing of the clubs for men only…

The problem that has emerged in recent months is that women’s gyms are unlicensed and so illegal. Female fitness fans complain of a lack of places to exercise outside the home since they cannot use men’s clubs…

This month a group of Saudi women launched a campaign entitled Let Her Get Fat, in opposition to a decision to close down all-female wellness centres that are not under the supervision of a government hospital or clinic.

Leading Saudi clerics have condemned the gyms and clubs as “shamelessness” and warned that women would be tempted to leave their homes and neglect their husbands and children…

Last month Prince Nayef, the powerful interior minister and half-brother of King Abdullah, said the kingdom had no need of either women MPs or elections. Shortly afterward he was named second deputy prime minister, boosting his chances for the succession.

Another wonderful fracking ally. I can’t think of anything “accepting” to say about theocratic royalty this backwards.

The royal bureaucrats at the top of the heap in Saudi Arabia are only ensuring that their eventual downfall will not be tidy, shall we say.