At Home Workouts

Resting on a yoga mat, workout equipment surrounds an open laptop displaying an exercise video off of YouTube. Many have begun focusing on their health during quarantine and starting to workout more routinely. Chloe Ting, a YouTuber, has become a popular resource for workout routines. (Photo by Avery Witherbee)

MAINTAINING FITNESS

As the weeks go by, people have begun to find a new normal. A new way to learn, not leaving the house as often-- it’s all so new. Though finding ways to keep everyone physically healthy is just as important as keeping your mental health up.

“I encourage others to take time to work out,” senior and dancer Grace Lindstrom says. “It allows me an outlet to get out all the frustration with what’s going on with the virus.”

Keeping your physical health up is good for the athletes during this off-season. Staying in shape will help ease the transition back into the season.

“I’m an athlete and there is nothing worse than going back to your sport and being completely out of shape,” sophomore soccer player Makenna Davis said.

Taking a small portion of the day to workout will help keep the brain focused and healthy.

“Working out in times like this benefits me by mentally and physically making me stronger,” Lindstrom said. “Sitting around all day everyday on my phone or watching Netflix isn’t healthy.” (Brief by Abby Martinez)

AT HOME WORKOUTS

1: HIILT(High Intensity Interval Training)

Find any exercise that causes you to move around a lot. Perform this exercise as hard as you can for about 30 seconds and rest for about 15-30 seconds. Repeat as many times as desired. The goal is to increase your heart rate as much as possible then bring it back down.

2: Yoga

Uses breathing techniques, exercise and meditation to help improve health and happiness. You can find yoga videos on youtube or just simple stretching alone can help reduce the stress your body and mind has.

3: Cardio in the neighborhood

Simply walking, jogging, running or biking as long as desired in the neighborhood to get your heart pumping and muscles moving.

4: Ab variations

Variations of abs can be done anywhere in the house. Simple crunches, russion twist and different types of planks are just a few of the many easy ways to keep in shape. Do these once or twice a day and you’ll be good to go.

5: Arm and leg workouts

Workouts such as burpees, squats, and pushups are all very useful to keep your body active. Also, using common household items, such as chairs and books, can help add variety and intensity to these workouts. You can simply use a chair to add levels and increase the intensity for pushups. Books are a good thing to use as simple weights for most ab workouts you do, like abdominal twists. (Content by Abby Martinez)

With spring sports being canceled, athletes are now focusing on staying in shape for next season. Because baseball is a sport that uses many skills, there are a lot of things these athletes can work on.

“Staying in shape helps you keep your stamina and that is very important for baseball,” sophomore Dominic Henning said.

First, a balanced, good diet will help athletes tremendously. It will help you build muscle which is very important for any sport. It will also keep you healthy.

“You want to make sure your body has all of the right nutrients it needs to function and play a sport,” Henning said.

For baseball players, there are many ways to stay in shape and keep their skills sharp. One exercise is the drop lunge. The drop lunge improves flexibility in the hips and glutes. Another exercise is mini-band lateral walks. To do this, place a band above the knees and move to the right by pushing with the left leg and moving. Once a set amount of reps is done, move to the left by pushing the right leg.

According to FHN’s athletic trainer Jackée Hill, cardio short-shorts are a good way to stay in shape. 30 to 40 yard sprints will help with speed while 10 to 20 yard runs help with acceleration. A simple jog every day will help with building stamina. Squats and leg workouts are also very important exercises to do while trying to stay in shape.

“[These exercises] are similar to when sprinting base to base and take offs from each base,” Hill said. “Squats help create a strong base and strength through quads, hip flexors and extensors,and hamstrings.”

Shoulder work such as horizontal front and lateral raises help maintain a 90 degree angle for pitching and throwing.

It is important to not forget about hitting drills. The one-handed hitting drill helps find flaws in an athletes swing. To do this drill, grip the bat with the bottom hand and place the other hand on the opposite hip. From there players would swing as if they have both hands on the bat. This drill will help build forearm strength and improve the two-handed swing.

Fielding exercises such as taking ground balls or fly balls will help keep fielding sharp. A fast hands drill will also help with fielding. With a partner, athletes will play catch and get the ball out of the glove and throw it back as fast as they can. A bare handed ground ball drill that is similar to taking regular ground balls can also be done.

Fielding, throwing, and hitting drills mixed with eating healthy will help to stay in shape during the offseason. (Brief by Abby Akers)

Covid-19 has taken a toll on all of FHN, but sophomore Rana Shaker doesn’t let this affect her running progress. Shaker has been on the cross country and track and field team ever since her freshman year.

“I was really upset at first because I wouldn’t be able to train with my team and be on a strict schedule that the coach would give you,” Shaker said. “I really like doing track during school because I know after school I’ll have time to run and I can just go home and do my work, but now it’s kind of hard to have that motivation to keep running.”

Since this year’s track and field season as a distance runner has been cancelled Shaker has been trying to keep participating in the workouts her coach, Kim Martin, texts to the cross country group chat.

Shaker has found that doing workout routines as well as running allows her to achieve the best physical fitness she can while in quarantine. For her workouts, Shaker sometimes uses videos on Youtube by fitness influencer Chloe Ting.

“I haven’t been running as much as I want to, but I’m doing at-home workouts just to keep my

TO RETURN FHN track and field distance runner, Rana Shaker maintains a healthy lifestyle and keeps up with fitness routines by Emma Musselman emmalavone04@gmail.com

After winning the match, senior Will Schellman and graduate Sachin Milli shake hands with the opposing team. The varsity boys tennis team had a 9-1 record last year and sent many of its players to state. (Photo Submitted)

endurance and to stay fit,” Shaker said. “I have been doing a lot of ab workouts to stay toned that I can find on YouTube.”

Along with working out, Shaker continues to eat healthily as if school and track season were still taking the place. Eating healthy and working allows Shaker to maintain the best overall health and wellness.

“It’s important to me to keep a balanced diet because when I do any type of physical activity I get really dizzy and not to my full potential, so I make sure that I eat so I can last through a workout,” Shaker said.

Shaker’s diet and rigorous workout routines help keep her in shape and healthy during these trying times in quarantine. Staying in shape will not only benefit her as if now, but it will also benefit her in the future.

“If I stick with [the workouts] I feel like I will be in good enough shape to be at the place that I was last year,” Shaker said. “So, I am going to try and push harder so that I can come out strong for cross country.” Focused on finishing the meet, sophomore Rana Shaker attempts to fun past her opponent in a cross country race on Oct. 18. The cross country team competed in a meet called Border Wars at McNair Park and is one of the last meets of the regular season. Shaker has been running cross country and track since her freshman year. (Photo by Allie Moore)

FUNDRAISER POSTPONED

There were high hopes for the FHN boys tennis team this season after their success the previous year. With many returning from states and with high scores and plans for a conference wide cancer awareness event, the next year was looking bright. Unfortunately, the season was cancelled and courts were left empty.

“I felt really confident [in the team for the season] I thought we had a really strong team,” junior player Rayan Amir said. “Our top players were looking really strong. I thought we were going to have a really good season before it was cancelled.”

In collaboration with other schools, the tennis teams were organizing a fundraising event towards cancer foundations. The GAC conference was to be focused on spreading awareness as well as selling shirts in order to raise money for the cause. The coaches were looking forward to this event and due to the unfortunate situation, had to postpone the event till next year’s season.

“Each team in our conference [was going to] try to sell shirts to spread awareness [for cancer],” coach Samantha Soltysiak said.

Despite the season being cancelled, players are trying to still practice as much as they can while practicing social distancing within their homes. [player] has been continuously exercising and practicing the skills he can away from the court.

“[The cancellation of the season] is unfortunate but at the end of the day it’s for the best,” Amir said. “I’m trying to keep my cardio up and every once in a while I’m hitting against the wall. I’ve been wanting to go out and hit but I can’t because of the quarantine but I’m definitely going to try and hit as much as I can once this is all over.”

While the team was looking forward to the season and had high hopes, they are trying to maintain this optimism towards the following season.

“I have all the hope that we can achieve [the successes of the 2018-2019 season] again but it will just take a lot of hard work,” Soltisyiak said. by Karsyn Williams karsyn.williams15@gmail.com The FHN boys tennis team had prepared a fundraising event for cancer later this season was sadly postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic

Fighting to keep the ball, junior Julia Kristensen moves around the defenders in a game against Fort Zumwalt South. Kristensen has been on the Varsity Girls Soccer team since her freshman year and has committed to continue playing for SLU. (File Photo) MAKING NEW GOALS

After a long history of being on the field, junior Julia Kristensen pursues a future with soccer in college

The soccer field holds some of junior Julia Kristensen’s finest memories. Her parents, both having played soccer, encouraged each of their children to take part in the sport from a young age, and as a toddler Kristensen would run up and down the field kicking the ball in either goal. Thirteen years later, the sport has developed into a huge passion for her, and she plans to dribble a soccer ball into her future.

“Ever since I was little, my parents have always pushed me to do the extra stuff once I played soccer, like going to extra training with my other siblings,” Kristensen said. “I got pretty good, and then whenever I started getting competitive, I couldn’t want anything more except for to be on the best team possible.”

As a third grader, Kristensen joined the Saint Louis Scott Gallagher Junior Elite Clubs National League (ECNL), where she competed and grew in her skills alongside girls her age. Over the years she has formed long lasting relationships with her teammates and coaches.

However, one year things changed. In early middle school, Kristensen was cut from her club’s team, which was considered to be the best team in the club.

“Then it was just my main goal to get back onto that team,” Kristensen said. “ That was probably one of my hardest obstacles.”

This hiatus was not to be long, as Kristensen was determined to get back onto the team. A soccer trainer and friend of her father’s helped Kristensen practice in order to bolster her skills and reclaim her place.

“She basically had me at all these practices,” Kristensen said. “I worked a lot on my foot skills and stayed mentally ready for all of my games so that I could get back to where I was.”

Kristensen’s hard work paid off. About two years later, she made it back onto the team, and has stayed with the club ever since. Once she reached high school, she tried out for FHN’s soccer team and made the varsity team as a freshman.

“Julia’s pretty unique in the sense that she’s one, an outstanding soccer player, but she’s also a very versatile player,” head girls soccer coach, Mark Olwig, said. “I think that’s one of the challenges to high school soccer, is that sometimes you by Chloe Horstman clshorstman@gmail.com

have to get out of your comfort zone of maybe what you did on your club team or with other teams you play for because in high school, we get who comes through the door, so sometimes we have to make adjustments. That’s one of the things Julia was really good about. She’s such an all around good soccer player that she could play multiple spots on the field. She has a very high work rate, which is really nice to have and then just the versatility and the way she plays is outstanding for a team to have somebody who can fill in wherever we need her. She can and does make other players around her better with her skill level, so that’s another positive.” In January of her sophomore year, she verbally committed to play soccer for Saint Louis University, a large division one school, which in turn offered her a full ride athletic scholarship.

“The main reason why I chose SLU was just because I love the coaches and the players that I already know there,” Kristensen said. “A lot of the girls that play at my club go to SLU for college, and the coaches are like my best friends.”

Although the coronavirus pandemic has cut her seasons short, Kristensen stays fit by running and doing exercises that her club coach creates, then exercises her core and practices foot skills and shooting, even though social distancing has limited her access to soccer fields.

She maintains close contact with her future team and looks forward to continuing to improve and play with teammates, many of whom will be familiar faces from her club team. She plans to add more new memories in addition to her fond memories of last summer.

“One of the biggest ‘wow, soccer’s amazing’ moments for me was over the summer 2019,” Kristensen said. “My team was at ECNL Nationals, which was like our leagues’ playoffs. It was the group stage and the bracket was tied at the end of our game. The game that was deciding if we went through or not was playing right next to us, and our game ended first, and the team that needed to lose, lost. Whenever the final whistle blew on that game, our whole team went crazy because it was one of the first times our club has ever done that at playoffs. It felt like we were making history.”

THE TRUE (FIRST) ORDER

In 1977, “Star Wars: A New Hope” was released into theaters and quickly became a box office hit. Despite being the first “Star Wars” movie ever released, it was actually the fourth episode in the main nine movie series. The movies were released out of chronological order and instead the main trilogy (episodes four, five, and six) were released first, then came the prequels (episodes one, two, and three), and then latest three sequels (episodes seven, eight, and nine). It’s a common debate among fans whether or not it’s better to watch the movies in the release order or the chronological order, but it’s better to watch in release order as it adds an interesting element to the overall story.

While the “Star Wars” movie series is known as one of the best, it does have some flaws. One of those being, the three prequels are known by critics and fans alike to not be all that good. Between poor acting and confusing plot lines, the prequels pale in comparison to the original trio. Especially for first time watchers, three bad movies aren’t the best introduction to a series. With the prequels alone being almost seven hours long, it’s not easy to get through without the support of the original three giving the audience a reason to even be interested at all.

The out of order release has been done before and often is used to add more to the story in a unique way. This technique was also used in “The Godfather” trilogy, but the audience wouldn’t opt to watch those movies in the chronological order since it would take away from the way the story is told. The movies first released in the “Star Wars” series are good for introducing the world of the galaxy, along with key characters, before tracing back to further worldbuild and show some history through the fictional universe the first few movies created.

Overall, “Star Wars” is a cinematic classic that is enjoyed by thousands today ever since its first release in 1977. With the canon series consisting of multiple movies, shows, comics and even video games, the world can be enjoyed in many ways. Though for decades, the movies were originally enjoyed through a scrambled order of movies, that ultimately is a more enjoyable way to watch the series. (Story by Karsyn Williams)

(Illustration by Jena Pae) PRIVATE HEALTH INSURANCE MUST GO Healthcare in America is currently expensive and inconsistent. A single payer healthcare system can fix those issues

In 2019, the U.S. spent about $3.5 trillion on healthcare costs, or about $11,000 per person, according to the Peter G Peterson Foundation. One would think that, with so much spending per person, our healthcare system is very effective in serving the needs of Americans at a low price. In reality, compared to other developed countries, the U.S. has one of the most problematic healthcare systems.

For normal citizens in the U.S., healthcare is expensive. Bloomberg reports that the average person spends about $1,200 in prescription drugs every year. In Sweden, that number is under half at $524. A knee replacement in the U.S. can cost up to $28,000, while only costing $6,687 in Spain. This is because Spain and Sweden both have a single payer system. Costs shouldn’t be this high in a country with an economy worth over $20 trillion. Fortunately, insurance companies cover a lot of the cost, but there are many instances where they don’t.

Insurance companies in America have a network system. When people choose their healthcare plan, they are bound to the network the plan provides. If a doctor accepts an insurance plan, they are considered “in network”. Hospitals as a whole can also be in or out of the network. A big problem in this system is in the case of medical emergencies. If someone were to require immediate medical attention which required an ambulance, that person doesn’t get to choose which hospital he or she is going to. If the hospital is out of network, the costs would be very high for that person. Even if the person was taken to an in network hospital, he or she may be treated by a doctor out of network, which means potentially crippling healthcare costs.

Even if someone has insurance, goes to the right hospital and sees the right doctor, costs still may be astronomical. Insurance companies can choose to deny coverage to people in the interest of money, or if they don’t think it is “medically necessary”. There may also be alternatives available that might be covered. However, there may be only one treatment that is effective. Someone requiring that treatment would then have to appeal to the insurance company if they deny coverage. If the denial is not overturned, the only option is to pay the full price for the treatment.

So what can fix all these problems and ensure that people are covered well? Medicare for all, a bill which, if passed, would provide comprehensive coverage to all Americans, with absolutely no out of pocket expenses. Additionally, prices for prescription drugs would be lowered substantially. By consolidating all insurors into one, the government will have much more leverage to negotiate with companies to lower the price of prescription drugs. Over 10 years, implementation of this generous healthcare system may cost up to $36 trillion according to the Center for Health and Economy. Even with the seemingly astronomical cost of implementation, this system would actually yield net savings over several years, according to 19 different studies, One of which was conducted by the Congressional Budget Office.

The Census Bureau found in 2019 that 27.5 million Americans are uninsured, and that 43.8 million are underinsured, meaning that those people either have high copayments or gaps in coverage. The most common reason for bankruptcy in America is health expenses per the American Public Health Association. This doesn’t have to happen. Americans shouldn’t have to deal with astronomical medicine and procedure costs. Americans shouldn’t have to deal with denied coverage for treatments. Americans shouldn’t have to choose between going without treatment or bankruptcy. By supporting Medicare for All, people can voice their want for an affordable, generous, comprehensive healthcare system. by Justin Christensen 11justintc@gmail.com

MORE INFO Check out more info on single-payer healthcare here: bit.ly/NShealthcare