I own and operate a gymnastics gym for students from age three to twenty. I work directly with the kids, teaching them and helping them to accomplish new and more advanced skills. My job is very hands-on. I need to guide their bodies into the proper positions. It’s necessary to support their weight to prevent injury and inspire confidence. I am not a very big person. I am feet feet, two inches tall and I weigh around 115 pounds. To make sure that I’m capable of handling the demands of my job without injuring myself or allowing the kids to get hurt, I need to keep myself in peak physical condition. While spotting the students is physically demanding, it’s not enough to maintain my strength, balance, flexibility and range of motion. I need to workout everyday to stay fit. Because my classes don’t start until after school, I have my mornings free. Along with cleaning the gym, taking care of maintenance and handling paperwork, I set aside at least an hour to exercise. I am very conscientious about properly warming up my joints and muscles. The importance of a thorough warmup is something that I stress to my students. I concentrate heavily on strength training. Along with lifting weights, I go through push-ups, plank holds and chin-ups. I target all of the different muscles in my arms, shoulders and backs. I do a lot of lunges and squats as well as burpees, mountain climbers and jumping jacks. It’s necessary for me to move my body in all different ways and directions and keep everything flexible and loose.