Friday, May 4, 2012
The two towns will both be demonstration communities for the Blue Zones Project, which seeks to make health an integral part of the community.
In a happy surprise for the Cedar Valley, both Waterloo and Cedar Falls were chosen as Blue Zones demonstration communities today. The two communities, along with Mason City and Spencer, were chosen from 11 finalists. Among other things, the chosen communities will receive funds to hire full time staffers dedicated to bringing a culture of health and wellness to the community. That includes working with local schools and business on health initiatives. The Blue Zones Project is part of the Healthiest State Initiative, which seeks to make Iowa the healthiest state by 2016. What exactly does it mean to be a Blue Zones community? Blue Zones are place in the world where people live longer for a variety of reasons. Cedar Falls Patch blogger …
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Gyms that focus on intensive workout sessions are growing in popularity in Cedar Falls.
Lauri Lumm-Usher lost more than 30 percent of her lung capacity to cancer seven years ago, but that doesn't stop her from keeping fit. Really, really fit. Lumm-Usher, 38, co-owns Farrell's eXtreme Body Shaping with her husband Chris Usher. Together they run a gym that does just what it's name implies - it builds muscles, sheds pounds and shapes bodies during an intensive 10-week workout program. Farrell's is just one of a number of such intensive workout centers that have sprung up in Cedar Falls within the last five years. Besides Farrell's, which opened in May 2009, there is Next Level Extreme Fitness , which opened in Jan. 2011, and Roc Fit, which has been in Waterloo for years but recently opened a Cedar Falls location. Another …
Saturday, March 10, 2012
The competition to be named the best place to workout in Cedar Falls was fierce last week, with more than 1,000 votes and dozens of comments.
After a close race, we named Farrell's eXtreme Body Shaping the Cedar Falls Patch Readers' Choice 2012 winner for best place to workout in Cedar Falls. Part of the criteria to win was comments and reviews, and we at Patch were impressed with the high level of enthusiasm fans showed in those reviews. We wanted to share a few of the things people said, for both Farrell's and Next Level Extreme Fitness, the close second-place finisher in the contest. Both Farrell's and Next Level are workout centers featuring intense 10-week fitness programs. Lauri Lumm-Usher, who co-owns Farrell's with her husband Chris Usher, said she was out of town for part of last week, and so at first wasn't able to read the comments people were leaving about her gym. …
Friday, March 9, 2012
We asked Cedar Falls which workout center they liked best. It was close - very close - between Farrell's and Next Level Extreme Fitness.
More than 1,000 votes were cast in the best place to workout contest that began on Cedar Falls Patch Feb. 27. The contest was part of our Readers' Choice 2012 series, which seeks to find out from you, Patch readers, which places in Cedar Falls get top honors. This one was really, really close, with lots of enthusiasm being shown for the two top contenders, Farrell's eXtreme Body Shaping and Next Level Extreme Fitness. If we could, we'd give this award to them both. But in the end, Farrell's took the top spot, with 508 votes and 49 comments and reviews. Next Level had 407 votes and 18 comments and reviews, a strong showing, especially considering they weren't added to the contest until into the second week of voting. Most of the votes, …
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
A site visit by the Blue Zones Project team Tuesday will help determine if Cedar Falls is selected to receive expert help and resources to become a healthier community.
About 100 people welcomed a Blue Zones Project team to the Cedar Falls Public Library Feb. 28. The group, which will select three Iowa towns as Blue Zone Communities, was in Cedar Falls to hear directly from community members why their town should be chosen. The Blue Zones Project will bring health and wellness experts to the selected demonstration communities. Those experts will work with community leaders, local businesses and town residents on collaborations to develop the health of the entire town. The project is part of Iowa's Healthiest State Initiative, which aims to move Iowa toward being the healthiest state in the nation. According to the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index, Iowa is the 16th healthiest state, up from it's …
Friday, February 24, 2012
UNI's Dance Marathon will raise money for pediatric cancer research and care.
With less than 24 hours to go until the University of Northern Iowa's first Dance Marathon, the number of participants keeps growing. If you haven't heard about it, Dance Marathon is a student-run fundraiser for pediatric cancer research and care. "It is going great. We actually are 25 hours away," said Chelsea Hartman, a senior at UNI and director of public relations for Dance Marathon. "We’re really excited." The main event begins Saturday at noon in the Maucker Union on UNI campus. Families of 16 to 20 pediatric cancer patients will attend the event, as well as numerous student dancers, games and themed rooms. The families will have their own room. Also, they will be out and about during activities, and there will be families speaking …
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Iowa Patch Editors were up late last night with social media queen Arianna Huffington, who, somewhat incongruently, is an advocate for getting more sleep.
Arianna Huffington is arguably the queen of social media and connectivity. She admits to being obsessed with her three Blackberrys, and seems to be constantly reading, tweeting, and traveling in addition to her job as president and editor-in-chief of AOL Huffington Post Media Group. She appears on talk shows and speaks on lecture circuits and ostensibly knows and socializes with anyone and everyone important, as comfortably as she does with average folks like Iowa Patch employees. She is one of those people who thrives on people, ideas, and action. But one day during a particularly busy period in her life several years ago, Huffington passed out, hitting her head and gashing open her cheek. After a battery of tests, the doctors told her …
Friday, February 17, 2012
Local bike shops said they've seen interest and thus spending related to biking grow in recent years.
A University of Northern Iowa study says biking brings $364.8 million in economic benefit to Iowa every year, and local bike shop employees say Cedar Falls is getting its piece of that pie. “I mean tourism-wise, it’s awesome. That’s kind of one aspect. In Cedar Falls we’ve got super sweet trails, and that brings people here," Bike Tech owner Brent Johnson said. "Health-wise it’s awesome too, because you’ve got tons of people out riding." The study, by UNI's Sustainable Tourism and Environment Program, estimated biking saves Iowa $73.9 million a year in health care costs. Do you bike? Do you consider Cedar Falls a bike-friendly community? Tell us what you think in the comments. Both Johnson and Brian Bottke, who works at Europa Ski and …
Friday, February 10, 2012
What this means for the Cedar Valley and what happens next.
Updated at 4:26 p.m. Cedar Falls and Waterloo are among 11 finalists for the Blue Zones Project. Selected towns will receive help from international experts to transform their towns into centers of health and wellness as part of the Iowa's Healthiest State Initiative, which strives to make Iowa the healthiest state in the nation by 2016. Other finalists are Ames, Cedar Rapids, Clinton, Davenport, Mason City, Muscatine, Ottumwa, Sioux City and Spencer. "Oh we’re excited. This is a good thing for the Cedar Valley thing," said Marabeth Soneson, who helped write Cedar Falls' application. "We continue to grow the pledges. As of this morning, we're at 14.66 percent of residents." The percentage of a community that pledged their support on the …
Thursday, February 9, 2012
The UNI-born Interlude Dance has been performed at hundreds of sporting events around the country, by soldiers in Afghanistan, and now by the first lady. Obama spoke to about 10,000 Iowa schoolchildren today in Des Moines about fitness and healthy eating.
First Lady Michelle Obama danced the Interlude dance today, alongside University of Northern Iowa students, Iowa's Olympic gold medalist Shawn Johnson, Gov. Terry Branstad and 14,000 sixth- to ninth-grade students at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines. Click here to see Obama do the dance with its originators and schoolchildren, plus Gov. Terry Branstad and former governor and current U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. She was in Des Moines promoting the second anniversary of her "Let's Move" campaign to fight childhood obesity. She touted Iowa's Healthiest State Initiative as the reason Iowa was the first stop of her three-day tour. The Interlude Dance, created by UNI students Ian Goldsmith, Scott Connerley, and Tyler Wright, went viral…
Julie Kramer Gowans
7:50 pm on Tuesday, March 27, 2012
I've participated in both of the above mentioned programs, and they are both excellent! The advantage of going to fitness classes for me is that I am much more likely to keep going and work harder when I'm in a group. I tend not to push myself as much when I'm working out on my own. It's also really encouraging to see everyone else working out at such intense levels, and truthfully I don't want … more ›