Move EVERY Day

MOVE EVERY DAY

Liz Harris

Many of you with school-aged children may feel as I do that the summer is actually more hectic, busy, frenetic and slightly chaotic than any other season.  My school year schedule of morning drop off followed by an incredible workout (sometimes back to back classes) at Balance followed by focused work in the B Inspired office before after-school pick up and sports is an incredible, efficient and enjoyable routine I often dream about in the summer months.  

Summer brings additional work challenges of running B Inspired camps at two sites in north Philadelphia alongside my kids’ sports and  tournament schedules which bring us as far north as upstate NY and as far west as Colorado.  Amy and I are often running before, between and sometimes during tournament lacrosse games and we have been known to add in some pushups, planks and jump squats.  In the middle of these runs and sideline workouts Amy reminds me that “consistency is key” and I find myself feeling incredibly grateful that one of my closest friends is a personal trainer who keeps me moving and that my kids have ample opportunities over the summer to move and play sports outside and learn new skills.

Since the very early days of B Inspired Philadelphia and our pilot program at Tanner Duckrey School in North Philadelphia in April of 2019 we became acutely aware of our students’ lack of opportunities for movement during the school year. These middle school students have even fewer opportunities in the summer months because as we know many sports leagues and camps come at a high price and due to violence in the City, the days of unstructured play at local parks seem to be in the distant past.  

The Heights (Steppingstone Scholars and Philadelphia Futures merged in 2023 to become the Heights) offers “Out of School Time” (OST) academic enrichment programming after school and during the summer but their mission and focus remains academic and not focused on fitness, sports or play.  Therefore when the opportunity was presented to B Inspired Philadelphia to join The Heights to offer a fully comprehensive camp of academics, healthy and nutritious lunches, sports and fitness and electives of dance, art, culture, leadership and finance we were all in.  Our students have ample opportunities to move everyday and learn new sports and skills, as well. 

So when you come to Balance in the morning to train with Amy, Colin, Alex, Tank and Riley or join me for Barre at noon on Wednesdays or come to class on Monday nights with Jesse you will be training with the same trainers who are in North Philadelphia working out with our B Inspired Philadelphia students all summer long.   We know the value of movement everyday and as Amy says, “consistency is key.”