Hey, Camp Fans!

With a fast-approaching camp season, Everything Summer Camp wants to help out. That’s why we’re giving tips on fitness for your camper every Monday in April. Camp is fun, but the activities can be strenuous—lots of camps will actually refuse a camper if they haven’t had a thorough physical examination to guarantee that their body is well enough in shape for the rough and tumble lifestyle at summer camp.

Last week I talked about general stretches and exercises you can do to help get yourself into shape for traditional camp sports and activities that will involve a lot of stamina, flexibility, and strength. But today’s post is all about conditioning your body specifically for horseback riding.

Of course, riding is a work out in itself, but the best way to develop your equestrian ability is to work on your fitness outside of the saddle. Here are five effective exercises to help build your core strength and suitability for riding. Watch the video at the bottom of this post to get a great visualization on how to perform these exercises. Experienced riders recommend 8-12 repetitions of each workout:

Seated Ball Squeeze
Work your inner thigh muscles by sitting on a chair, placing a kickball/soccer ball between your thighs, and squeezing the ball firmly for 5 to 10 seconds. This exercise builds your adductors—critical muscles for horseback riding.

Bridge with Ball Squeeze
This exercise is meant to strengthen a rider’s inner thighs, gluteus, and core muscles. The idea is to lie on your back and bend your knees with or without a ball between your thighs—then lift your buttocks off the floor and  squeeze the ball. You should hold this position for 8 to 15 seconds.

Forward Lunge
Excellent conditioning for the proper seat, this exercise works on your quadriceps, hamstrings, gluteus, abdominal muscles, and spinal erector muscles in your back. You can do practice this exercise with or without dumbbells in your hands. You should stand upright with your feet together and then take a large stride forward with your right foot until your left light is just about straight. Push yourself back to the starting position. And then repeat with your left foot.

Skater Style Lateral Lunge
For further conditioning, this exercise will have you looking like a speed skater. Stand with your feet wide apart and bend your right knee while touching your right foot with your left hand. Your back should be flat and your head up.

Front Squat
Lastly, give everything a once-over with this all-encompassing exercise. Simply stand with your feet at shoulder-width apart and, with your back straight and head up, bend at the knees until your thighs are nearly parallel to the ground. Then push yourself back up.

Check out this video to get a clearer ‘picture’ of how to perform these exercises. Be sure to tune in next Monday when I’ll be talking about how to prepare yourself for Rockwall Climbing and, as always, thanks for reading!

- John

Hey, Summer Campers!

The camp season approaches so fast and brings so much to do to get ready for! It’s smart to start preparing now. One thing you can take care of right now is to make the appointment for your camper’s physical. Camp activities are fun, but strenuous on the body which is why any soon-to-be-camper should have a thorough examination to ensure their physical fitness is adequate. In fact, many camps will refuse a camper who hasn’t had their physical.

Every Monday this month, we’ll be focusing on fitness and how to condition yourself for the rigors of summer camp. I’ll give you great tips about stretches and exercises you can do in preparation of particular summer camp activities. But before we get into any specifics, today I’ll be sharing general ways to make sure you have the energy to get through an average day of summer camp.

For most camps, traditional sports are a staple of the camp activities they offer. Campers might find themselves playing a sport they don’t otherwise play very often like basketball, soccer, tennis, and plenty others. These sports all require you to be quick on your feet with a good amount of running as well as upper and lower body strength.

Similar exercises will cover multiple athletic activities—pretty much all of the traditional sports. You can get yourself into better shape with simple routines. Try pushups and chin-ups (if available) for building your upper body strength. Here’s a helpful video to show you a proper push-up and this video shows you a proper chin-up.

Squats and lunges are great means of building your hip and leg muscles. And jump rope is especially great for conditioning your calves. Here’s a video that’s targeted toward tennis players, however it’s a helpful workout for all types of activities. On top of all this, running or jogging is a wonderful calisthenics workout and builds stamina for all the back and forth running you’ll do playing these sports.

Just as important as good exercises, stretching is key to your flexibility which is called upon a lot in sports that you’ll likely play at camp. Try stretching as shown in these drawings to get yourself limber. 

                                            l   l  Don’t forget to tune in next Monday when I’ll cover more specific exercises and stretches you can do for horseback riding. Get fit and, as always, thanks for reading!

- John

Hey, Camp Seekers!

Throughout March, I’ve been posting a series on Mondays about how to ‘Choose the Right Camp’ for your soon-to-be-camper. Today is the last post in the series. I’ve been spilling constructive tips and advice from Dr. Chris Thurber and Dr. Jon Malinowski’s awesome guidebook, ‘The Summer Camp Handbook’ all week and today I’m giving you one last juicy morsel of great advice on the subject of finding the right camp. We’ve talked about ‘Where do you want to go to camp?’, ‘How long do you want to stay at camp?’, and, last week, we asked ‘Do you want a single-sex or coed camp?’ Today’s question:

WHAT KIND OF ORGANIZATION DO YOU WANT?

You want to know what kind of setup a camp has. The two major components to focus on with this question would be the camp’s living quarters as well as the activities they offer. All camps have different types of organizational structure. Some take in 90 campers for their summer sessions while others might take in 400. Some camps have a full day prepared for their campers while other camps give kids complete freedom.

Organization of living quarters
Campers typically share a cabin with other campers of the same age or school grade. This is the probably preferable to a camp that will stick the older kids with the younger kids which can make it awkward or intimidating for a younger camper to change clothes in front of cabin mates. Grouping without consideration toward age will also disrupt cabin leaders’ abilities to pick age-appropriate activities for the whole cabin or for the cabin to develop its own identity.

Organization of activities
All camps do things differently, but many will let their campers pick from a variety of available activities to create their own schedule for each day. Some camps have activities scheduled for nearly every hour while others offer more free, leisurely, and personal time for their campers. Most camps will try to balance the two of these organizational schedules with downtime and time for mandatory activities.

If you found this information or any from my previous posts in this series to be helpful, there’s a lot more where that came from in ‘The Summer Camp Handbook’ available right here at Everything Summer Camp. Check it out for yourself right here! And, as always, thanks for reading.

- John

Hey, Camp Seekers!

March Mondays are all about how to ‘Choose the Right Camp’. Naturally, you want camp to be a wonderful experience for your soon-to-be-camper. Selecting the right camp has a lot to do with what they get out of the experience. Our March Blog series about how to choose the right camp is using valuable information that can be found in the indispensable guidebook ‘The Summer Camp Handbook,’—written by camp experts, Dr. Chris Thurber and Dr. Jon Malinowski.

In the previous two Mondays of March, we’ve covered the questions ‘Where do you want to go to camp?’ and, last week, ‘How long do you want to stay at camp?’ Today’s question:

DO YOU WANT A SINGLE-SEX OR COED CAMP?

Here are some benefits for both types of summer camp environments.

Single-Sex Camp:
•    leaves less room for romantic distractions. When campers leave their concerns about how they come off to the opposite sex allows for a more concentrated experience in personal growth and development of independence.

•    Single-sex environments allow campers of the same gender to bond differently than they would otherwise and help each other to reinforce the best things about their gender.

•    Staff at a single-sex camp make excellent role models and help to reinforce gender identity for campers.

•    Single-sex staff members are less distracted by other staff members of the opposite sex and therefore, naturally more committed to the job.

Coed Camp:
•    One of the goals of summer camp is to sharpen social skills with your community which is only fully represented in a coed environment.

•    Coed camps are also extremely convenient for families with both boy and girl campers—they offer just one location for dropping off, picking up, and visiting.

•    Coed camps could be a great change and healthy exposure to an inclusive and healthy community living experience for kids who attend private, single-sex schools. 

You can learn more about the differences between single-sex and coed camps and everything else you need to know for sending your kid off to camp the right way in ‘The Summer Camp Handbook’—check it out right here! Make sure you tune in next Monday for the final question you need to ask yourself when you’re choosing the right camp for your camper: ‘What kind of organization are you looking for?’ As always, thanks for reading.

- John

Hey, Camp Seekers!

Last week I posted our first installment in our March series all about how to ‘Choose the Right Camp’. This helpful series covers information that we’ve learned from the incredibly informational and easy-reading guidebook, ‘The Summer Camp Handbook’, written by summer camp experts Dr Chris Thurber and Dr. Jon Malinowski. Each installment of this series poses its own question that will help you to narrow your search for the right camp.

Today’s question:

HOW LONG DO YOU WANT TO STAY?

It’s a good idea to focus on a range instead of trying to pinpoint a set amount of days or weeks. Start by asking your kid how long of a stay would be most comfortable. All kids are different—some will prefer to try a week or less, others want a solid two weeks, and some want a whole month or more!

When it comes to approaching your soon-to-be-camper on the topic of the length of their camp stay, you want to be aware of key phrasing when asking certain questions: It’s always helpful to children when you make comparisons when talking about lengths of time. Try to avoid such an open question like, “How long sounds good to you, Joe?” Instead, ask “What do you think about a two-week stay; that’s how long you stayed with Uncle Matt last summer. Does that seem like a good length to stay at camp?”

Of course you should respect your kid’s choice for a shorter camp stay if that is so desired, but if they’re okay with it—the longer the better! While a specialty camp could get boring, concentrating on the same activities routinely, but traditional camps that offer such long camp sessions are typically exceptional, advanced, and well-rounded programs with a variety of choices in activities and more than just one or two visiting days.

A major benefit to a longer stay a well-designed camp is that campers have the opportunity to grow and develop significant skill levels in the activities of their choosing. As Dr. Thurber and Dr. Malinowski put it in their book, “You simply cannot go through all the archery or riflery marksmanship rankings, or learn the finer points of English riding, or earn a SCUBA certification, or become and expert sailor, in one short week. Those sort of accomplishments require a longer session.”

Help your kid to consider a longer camp stay for a fully immersive experience to get the most out of camp. Be sure to tune in for more great tips and advice next Monday and, as always, thanks for reading!

- John