Fitness Fun for Women on the Run

Healthy Fun is a project designed by the John Marshall High School Health Sciences and Technology Academy to increase physical activity and reduce health risks in our area. We intend to provide a support group for women in our county who are at least 20 pounds overweight and are between the ages of 25 and 45. We will conduct a focus group to determine the primary barriers they have to physical activity and come up with some strategies to overcome these obstacles. Participants will increase knowledge of the benefits of physical activity for themselves, their families and our community.

We will issue each woman a free pedometer to record their steps over a period of 8 weeks. We will also provide exercise logs that will include space for any other physical activity they experience. The students will assist these women in the calculation of their weekly kcal expenditure and encourage them to find ways to reach their goal of expending an additional 1,400 kcals per week. The students will also map out an indoor and outdoor walking loop at the school meeting place that will burn 200 kcal to compete at each meeting.

Throughout the project we will keep a journal, create a website, and provide the women with opportunities to increase their knowledge of other forms of physical activity available to them in our area. We will highlight activities such as classes offered at local fitness centers, walking clubs and organized sports. We hope these efforts will give the women in our area the confidence and desire to increase their physical activity and share their enthusiasm with others who touch their lives.