Join the UCO Young Professionals as guest speaker David Herd, Director of Talent Acquisition and Compensation, talks through ways you can work with your supervisor to cross train, how development plans work, how you can review benchmark positions to get an idea of skills required for certain positions, and other tips for building your career.

Date: February 4, 2021
Time: 2:30 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.
Location: Please email Jakey Dobbs (jdobbs5@uco.edu) for the Zoom link and passcode

There are many elements that are very important to practice when trying to live a healthy and fit lifestyle, but the most important thing is stretching! Stretching has many benefits for everyone, young and old and should be a part of everyone’s daily routine, even if they aren’t planning to exercise. Have you ever wondered why you feel the need to stretch right after you wake up? We subconsciously do it because when we sleep the muscles lose tone and fluid builds up in your back. So, when we stretch it helps to gently massage all the built-up fluid back to where its’ supposed to be and realign all muscles. Stretching all together is the key factor to activating the parasympathetic nervous system which is responsible for the body’s ability to rest, digest, recover and increase blood flow allowing us to return to consciousness and regain control over our muscles. It is especially important to stretch before and after workouts because it gets your body ready for any exercises you may have planned, and after to reduce the probability of delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) and increase your level of flexibility. Dynamic stretching should be done before a workout and be specific to the activity of your choice and static stretching after the workout. Why? Because dynamic prepares your muscles, ligaments and tendons for the workout improving one’s performance in any given activity and static helps improve the range of motion (ROM) in joints, in which promotes greater balance, stability and flexibility. Not only does stretching improve one’s flexibility and circulation of blood, but it is also responsible for several other factors like reducing the risk of injuries, improves posture, and plays a hand in reducing and managing stress levels by releasing the tension in muscles caused by physical and emotional stress.

Take a moment to think: When was the first time you saw a Dance Dance Revolution Machine? At the mall? At your local arcade? Somewhere in a movie? Maybe you know someone that owned the game, or you had a similar one called the “Power Pad” for your Nintendo Entertainment System. What if I told you that plastic mat or that bulky electronic dance floor will impact the future of technology and fitness?

Flash forward to the future when you heard squeals of excitement as you or a loved one tears open that holiday wrapping paper to reveal a white box labeled “Nintendo Wii”. You can probably say the same thing about the XBOX Kinect or any other gaming system in the present day. Did you noticed that more companies are incorporating movement within their systems? In this article we will go over the Pros and Cons of today’s technology and how it will impact exercise.

EXERGAMING – WHAT IS IT?

So, what is this kind of exercise? The Home Fit Freak (2020) states that “Exergaming is what you get when you cross exercise with video gaming (exergaming is sometimes also called ‘gamercising’). Exergames are video games, usually played on consoles like Nintendo, Xbox and PlayStation, in which the aim is to move your body (exergames are also known as ‘active-play video games’). In fact, you can’t progress or win the game without being physically active.” Basically, when you are working out with any kind of fitness related activity on the screen, you won’t be able to progress much unless you put effort into it.

EXAMPLES OF SYSTEMS + GAMES

• NINTENDO Wii/Wii U: Wii Fit + Wii Fit Plus Franchise, Zumba Fitness, EA Sports Active, Wii Sports, Just Dance Franchise (All/Some games utilizes Wii Remotes, Nunchucks, and/or Fitness Board)

• XBOX 360/One: KINECT Games such as Sports and Adventure, Just Dance, UCF Personal

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