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This is an exercise that can be done at your local football field. Start off on the goalline and jump as high and as far as you can off your dominant foot. When you land, go as high and as far as you can while bounding off your opposite foot. Continue in this manner until you have bounded for 20 yards. Then sprint for 20 yards. Follow in this patten until you get to the opposite goalline. You will have bounded 60 yards and sprinted 40 yards. Then turn around and go back in the same manner. This will increase explosiveness in your legs and help you run faster.

In high school, grades and extracurricular activities become part of that all-important “permanent record.” And if your child wants to get into a good college, she will have to go the extra mile.

If your child doesn’t use her time wisely and puts her schoolwork off to concentrate on her social life or after-school activities–and if her grades are showing this–gently prod her to get back to business

When School is Scary

Besides bullying (a longtime but nonetheless devestating concern), a serious issue facing many schools today is the presence of violence and atmosphere of fear

Many schools have instituted a policy of zero tolerance when it comes to guns (and drugs).

Preventing and Dealing with Burnout

School pressure can come from teachers and parents, and it can also come from the child herself. Some pressure is good—it keeps a teen’s eye on the prize at the end of four years: The college of her choice.

But too much pressure, whether it comes from an adult or the child, is counterproductive and will lead to burnout. Make sure your teen balances her schoolwork and her life outside it, and remind her that these overwhelming years are a transition into adulthood.

Alternative School Programs

If your child is one of the thousands of kids who just doesn’t seem to be able to handle school, it isn’t the end of the world. Talk to your teen about the consequences of dropping out, and if all else fails try to find an alternative program

provides the proper balance of carbohydrate, protein, and fat in our diets.

Remember that it’s difficult to reduce the amount of fat in the diet if we don’t intake more carbohydrates or protein.

Healthy eating provides plenty of waters in our body.

Healthy eating provides also sufficient but not excessive amounts of essential vitamins and minerals

boosts bone density and strengthens tendons,

Weight training vs. body building

Weight training focuses on improving musculoskeletal strength and total fitness

Fitness, not superhero

Middle- and high-school students should train to increase their strength and improve their physical fitness

good teen weight-training program focuses on toning muscles with lighter weights and a high number of repetitions.

Be responsible

Teens should be supervised at all times while strength training, and should always use safe equipment.

Start slowly

should begin slowly and increase gradually.

shouldn't be increased too soon or by too much.

emphasize proper technique

Two to three sessions a week on alternating days should be enough to strengthen and tone muscles.

Size matters

"Programs for teens often rely on free weights, such as dumbbells and barbells; rubber tubing; and calisthenics, such as abdominal curls."

Focus on the individual

should be individually designed for each adolescent

Make it fun

should be noncompetitive and fun

Stay active

Conditioning exercises should be part of an active lifestyle that includes plenty of other physical activity.

should feel comfortable with the weight-training program and look forward to it.

"Participating in a wide variety of physical activities helps teens stay balanced, trim and physically healthy."

second stage, Athletic Formation (ages 11-14), it's important to develop the core muscles (lower back, hips, and abdominals).

Balance and flexibility exercises are also important.

Young adolescents can participate in moderate anaerobic training

Three to four hours after a strength-training workout, you're still burning calories

The weight room at the gym, with all the buff bodies and complicated-looking equipment, can be intimidating to a beginner.

proper form: Without it, you could do more harm than good trying to build strength.

"I can't tell you how many people I see with a knee injury because they were not taught correctly how to do a lunge or squat