Spring 2018
| Saturday, February 24 and March 3 | Brunswick Square Mall Series - RU Fit? (OPEN INVITE) 1-3pm |
| Saturday, March 3 and 24 | Assisted Living Home Visits |
| Friday, April 13 | Bingocize at North Brunswick Senior Center |
| Saturday, April 14 and Monday, April 23 | Bingocize at Piscataway Senior Center |
| Monday, April 16 | Senior Center Visit at Rutgers University |
| Monday, April 23 | Senior Center Field Day at Rutgers University |
April 23 - Senior Center Field Day
On April 23, 2018, Dr. Kaplowitz’ Exercise and Aging class held the Senior Field Day at the Cook Student Center. This event was meant to bring in senior centers from our community, South River & Monroe Village, to interact with the students, and to participate in games and activities planned for them. This event was a great opportunity for the students, who are pursuing careers in the healthcare field. They were able to interact with the senior population first-hand and were able to apply everything they learned in class to the events they planned, as well. This day was also great for the seniors because they had the opportunity to participate in games and activities that are different from the ones they are used to participating in. The seniors took part in a warm up and then challenged their motor and cognitive skills in a more physical way with the students. Overall, the event was a success and the students and seniors were ecstatic to learn a lot about each other. We would love to have these senior centers back!
April 16 - Rutgers University Senior Center Visit
On April 16, 2018, the Rutgers University Exercise and Aging class held the Rutgers University Senior Center Visit event at the Loree Gymnasium. We were very excited to have the Franklin Township Senior Center and the Sayreville Senior Center join us for the event! We started the event with refreshments and an introduction which was then followed by exercise warmups. The students from the Exercise and Aging class designed poster boards for the following topics: Balance, Cardiovascular Endurance, Dexterity, Flexibility, Strength, Mental Health and Nutrition. For each topic, the students utilized fitness assessments and also created a fun activity related to the topic. Among the fitness assessments used were the stork stand test, 2-minute step test, soda-pop test, chair sit and reach, arm curls, mental health questionnaires, and reading nutritional labels. The students were able to utilize knowledge they learned in the class and apply it during the event. The older adults were able to go around to the different tables and learn more about each topic as well as participate in the assessments and activities. There was a variety of different activities that the older adults could engage in. They were able to participate in the warmups, test their balance by balancing a ping-pong ball on a spoon and walk in a straight line, and work on their dexterity through dexterity games such as writing sentences. They were also able to do yoga poses, resistance band exercises, play video games and play a game relating to nutrition as well. Overall, this was a great experience as the students and older adults learned from and interacted with each other!
February 24 and March 3 - Brunswick Square Mall Series - RU Fit?
Overall, the RU Fit program was a success at The Brunswick Square Mall in East Brunswick, New Jersey. The students from Dr. Kaplowitz’s Exercise and Aging class were able to interact with a variety of age groups, ranging from toddlers to older adults. Luckily, we were able to have Kim LoSacco, regional fitness instructor, and George Saliba, coach of strength training, attend the event to provide the general public with fun and lively exercises! Kim demonstrated how to do exercises involving balloons, which definitely attracted a great amount of the younger population to come and join the activities at hand. The following week, Kim performed a workout involving primarily aerobic movements, along with some strength training elements, such as squats. George was able to inform everyone about myths pertaining to strength training and showed us how to use the agility ladder he brought from his own facility. In addition, the students incorporated the knowledge that they acquired in the classroom setting to the plethora of activities with which they came up. For instance, the students had games for everyone, which encompassed “Simon Says Flex,” a life-size maze, and more. Also, students had brain games, such as the Stroop Test so that individuals could test their mental abilities. Among the most popular games were those involving dexterity, such as the Soda Pop Test, and balance, such as the Tissue Dance. To conclude, we had a leader board, for which we came up with four different exercises per week. Some of these exercises included planks, squats, stork stand, tricep dips, and so on. The mall was kind enough to provide us with prizes to give out for the winners of the leader board activities — these prizes ranged from gift cards to the AMC theaters in the mall to Old Navy gift cards! In the future, we would love to partner with the mall again in order to give to the community once more.
