The Student Fitness Experts Podcast Karen Gilbert & Farrah Zweig

“If you really try to give too much instruction at this age, you can really cause a child to struggle later on. So, just being supportive and motivating them to do the best of their abilities is really what we're going for.”
The Student Fitness Experts podcast is a very intentional venture that aims to create a playful movement to help students grow up with inner confidence and self-awareness and a healthy body and mind. 
Fundamental movement skills are important through the ages of two to five. Children grow and learn through their own developmental experiences, which creates unique challenges to their balance skills. In Part Three of the Fundamental Movement Skills Series, Karen and Farah discuss how we give children just the right amount of and right kind of instructions. Sometimes it can be tricky to balance the child’s mental development with their physical progress. In this age range, they should develop skills for purposeful play where they can explore life independently!
Tune in to understand how to help children find balance and set them up for ultimate success!
TimeStamps:
[00:30]  Understanding physical literacy
[03:53]  Having balance across different ages
[05:08]  Is there a long term advantage of future sports?
[08:43]  About a child’s way of finding balance
[13:36]  Why should you limit the instructions you give children?
[19:13]  Communicating with your kids in the right way
[21:38]  What kind of instructions should you give your children?
Quotes:
“It [Physical Literacy] describes the ability of a person to instruct their body to confidently perform any action accurately. And it's the motivation, confidence, physical competence, knowledge and understanding to value and take responsibility for maintaining purposeful physical pursuits and activities throughout the course of life.”
“I'm a huge proponent of just supporting the skills supporting the skills [...], while every child is unique, preschool students thrive with activities that focus on the means, rather than the ends. ”
“By understanding these range of capabilities of your students, you can ensure that they can all participate, find success, you know, and feel included in the class.”
“You're teaching them body awareness, they're also learning spatial awareness, they're learning how to start and stop their body, they're getting core work in there. So there's a lot of different things that are included in these games that might seem really simple, and there's lots of different ways to play this game and challenge them.”
“We want to teach them to hone in on that skill, so that they learn that there's always ways that they can challenge themselves in different ways.”
“If you really try to give too much instruction at this age, you can really cause a child to struggle later on. So, just being supportive and motivating them to do the best of their abilities is really what we're going for.”

“If I can feel them pushing down on my hands, if they're able to do it, when they're holding my hands, then we can kind of progress from there to kind of get an understanding of why they are struggling with doing it.”
The Student Fitness Experts podcast is a very intentional venture that aims to create a playful movement to help students grow up with inner confidence and self-awareness and a healthy body and mind. 
In Part Two of the Fundamental Movement Skills Series, Karen and Farah discuss how to support children in their developmental stages based on the way they learn. Every child develops a unique personality that dictates how they approach learning and what works for them. Some are visual learners while others are hands-on learners. The goal is to understand them through their movement, speech, social interactions, and style of learning - you'll be able to better support them with their journey.
Tune in to understand learning styles and set your children up for ultimate success!
TimeStamps:
[02:12]  Explore early childhood
[05:46]  Offering your child a helping hand
[09:09]  Understanding your children better to identify their problems
[13:12]  On changes and growth
[16:18]  Balance and coordination struggles in children
[21:45]  Helping your kids build resilience and confidence
[27:00] The challenges of growing up
Quotes:
“If a child is really struggling, just maintaining their balance, while not moving, it's going to be really hard to maintain balance while trying to walk or run or climb.”
“If I can feel them pushing down on my hands, if they're able to do it, when they're holding my hands, then we can kind of progress from there to kind of get an understanding of why they are struggling with doing it.”
“You want to start to take away the thing that you think might be the problem and then if the issue improves, then you know that's where you need to work on it.”
“If they are struggling to do this motor planning, that kind of thing, that's an indication that they may have an issue with balance or coordination.”
“What we just want to instill in them is that self confidence and motivation and resilience, so that they're willing to just again, show up and do their best and be positive.”
“Body control and body awareness are so important that if we can focus on that for our students, then they can start to be more attentive, especially as we're talking about older students.”

“As they [children] continue to grow, they keep building these little blocks on top of each one. And that's what enables them to be able to do these more complicated skills as they get older.”
The Student Fitness Experts podcast is a very intentional venture that aims to create a playful movement to help students grow up with inner confidence and self-awareness and a healthy body and mind. 
In Part One of the Fundamental Movement Skills Series, Karen and Farah explain fundamental movement skills and their importance in a child’s growth. They explore how sibling relationships, exposure, and environment could play a role in shaping a child’s movement skills and why, as parents and coaches, we need to familiarize ourselves with the three blocks of FMS in children. We also dig into understanding muscle memory building and how to help your kids in the process even if they’re having a hard time fitting in!
Tune in to integrate fundamental movement skills in your child’s play curriculum and set them up for ultimate success!
TimeStamps:
[01:34]  What are some fundamental movement skills?  [02:43]  Why is it important to build fundamental movement skills at certain stages of life? [04:06]   How do sibling relationships positively impact a child’s growth? [05:37]  What are the three blocks of fundamental movement skills? [10:12]  Familiarizing yourself with the fundamental movement skills [11:35]  Why is it important to build movement skills in children? [15:53] The age when muscle memory starts to get hardwired Quotes:
“As they [children] continue to grow, they keep building these little blocks on top of each one. And that's what enables them to be able to do these more complicated skills as they get older.”
“If we could teach kids how to move in all different directions, and then teach coaches the importance of why we should be doing this, then, maybe we wouldn't have so many injuries down the road.”
“If you're familiar with these building blocks of these skills, and you're looking at rotation and coordination and balance, then you can take a step back, and you can say, does this child have those skills? Are they lacking in an even simpler way of moving? That's why they're struggling.”
“If they're [fundamental movement skills] not properly developed, or mastered, there is a likelihood that they will have more trouble academically and behaviorally.”
“Understanding these environmental factors, our vision or hearing or something like that can also be one of the issues. It is really helpful to be able to understand your students and what they need and be able to support them.”
“They can learn how they're moving, understanding their body, how they're moving it through space, and then have that confidence to take on all these different skills. So that when you want to go into teaching them more specialized, be more specific, go into the complex skills.”

“No matter how successful you are or whatever success means to you, you can always benefit from a mentor- learning and growing, there's always so much more to do.”
The Student Fitness Experts podcast is an intentional venture that aims to create a playful movement to help students grow up with inner confidence and self-awareness and a healthy body and mind. 
Fearless is a term we use in this podcast a lot - it’s one of our favorite things to ask our guests! From being fearless in the face of failures to being fearless in the face of great obstacles, there is nothing like that feeling. But what does being fearless mean to us? In this episode, Farah and Karen share their ideas on being fearless. They discuss ways by which they train themselves and their kids to face any obstacle that comes their way. We also learn to develop self-love and use it as a powerful means to overcome fear that surrounds new opportunities or situations in life.
Tune in to the episode today to learn how to help your kids face challenges fearlessly and set them up for ultimate success!
TimeStamps: 
[01:42] Farah’s thoughts on fearlessness [05:29] How does self-love help us face the most challenging situations? [06:40] Changing your mindset to always look for opportunities [07:38] What you get from being fearless [08:13] Focussing on what you want [08:55] Understanding fearlessness [12:48] Building tough skin and what fearlessness means to Karen [18:17] Why to make a decision, move forward and feel good about it Quotes: 
“It's not about fear or being scared, angry, fearless, brave, strong, it's about the feeling of self-love that keeps us moving forward on the perspective that you can always find a way to do so”
“If we want to constantly see the world as a place of struggle with no alternative, then that's what we're going to see. But if we want to look at the same world as a constant place of opportunity, that may involve struggle, then we're always looking for solutions.”
“And oftentimes, I think we even surprise ourselves with the capacity we discover; we have to grow and to continue to become our best selves.”
“Every time that you do it, it's going to be just a little bit easier because you're going to remember that oh, I did this before and whether or not it went well you're gonna remember the feeling that you experience or that feeling of perseverance and grit. And that is going to carry you on, moving you forward.”
“My theory on regrets is that you do the best with the information you have at the time.”
Resources Mentioned:
 
Fear less is by Dr. Pippa Grange  
 
 

“If they're struggling to gain a skill, and you directly focus in a way that they learn really well, it might be a much easier way for them to at least understand what you want them to do, and then have a greater willingness to want to keep trying.” 
The Student Fitness Experts podcast is an intentional venture that aims to create a playful movement to help students grow up with inner confidence and self-awareness and a healthy body and mind.  
In an entertaining and informative episode, Karen and Farah talk about the different types of learners. One could determine the styles in the early stages of their kids' childhood. Quite surprisingly, almost 65% of our population consists of visual learners! We also have multi-modality learners who resort to more than one way of learning. Today, we discuss why it is essential for coaches to understand different learning styles and know their students individually. Karen and Farah also reveal their ways of learning and how they shaped their career ahead. With the pandemic still lingering large, it is crucial to help children realize that they can be adaptable and persevere in different learning situations.
Tune in to find out how you can help your kids excel in their learning and set them up for ultimate success!
TimeStamps:  
[01:18] Karen and Farah talks about her learning styles [08:10] Karen’s experience taking online classes [09:11] Farah shares her experience taking online classes  [10:45] Why should coaches be prepared when engaging a new group of students? [12:40] Farah talks about verbal learners [13:25] Learn about kinesthetic learners [18:09] What do you mean by social learners? [18:52] Farah talks about solitary learners  [19:30] Homeschooling and virtual learning due to the pandemic and how it’s affected coaches and children  
Quotes: 
“It's so helpful to understand how you learn because if you think back to when you were in school and just how the classroom is set up and how we kind of expected kids to learn, it can be really challenging.”
“It’s okay to challenge kids outside of their learning.”
“Understanding your students and yourself and being able to be flexible makes for the best situation of successful learning.” 
“You're more than one thing.”
“If they're struggling to gain a skill, and you directly focus in a way that they learn really well, it might be a much easier way for them to at least understand what you want them to do, and then have a greater willingness to want to keep trying.” 
“Sometimes we have to be challenged and we’re put into a position where we have to figure out a way to make this work out best for us.” 

“No matter how successful you are or whatever success means to you, you can always benefit from a mentor- learning and growing, there's always so much more to do.”
The Student Fitness Experts podcast is an intentional venture that aims to create a playful movement to help students grow up with inner confidence and self-awareness and a healthy body and mind.  
Having a mentor in the early stages of your child’s adolescence could phenomenally help their overall development. That is why in today’s episode, Farah and Karen speak about the importance of a mentor or guide for children. Considering every child is unique and has different social, behavioral, and cognitive abilities, they require unique mentors to support them in their various stages. We also see through the advancements that have happened in the fitness world since the early 2000s. Women trainers of the past weren’t as approachable as they are today. Attitudes and ways of connecting have significantly changed for the better, and there are plenty of genuine mentors available in the field of fitness now!
Tune in to the episode today to learn the role of mentors in your child’s life and set them up for ultimate success!
TimeStamps: 
[01:07] Farah talks about the importance of having a mentor in middle school [05:54] Farah shares the story of how her PE teacher and tennis coach instilled in her values like sportsmanship and team spirit [09:15] Key elements of being a mentor [10:42] How the world of fitness training evolved from the early 2000 [13:02] Why do we say that the mentor needs and expectations of each child are different? Quotes: 
“There's research to show that middle school is when kids really need to have an adult in their life, who they can talk to, and they can feel safe with, who's not a parent.”
“My favorite thing to say is how my eighth grade PE teacher said in my yearbook, 80% of life is going to be about being on time and being dressed appropriately.”
“No matter how successful you are, whatever success means to you, you can always benefit from a mentor- learning and growing, there's always so much more to do.”
“It's cool to see how mentorship can go in so many different ways... how we can as peers  provide mentorship to our friends even just on a daily basis.”
“I love that we also provide our coaches with all that support to understand the different social, emotional, cognitive and behavioral differences that can take place between the ages.”
“It's just a constant reminder to us as well to believe in myself, and remember why we're doing this. Because I wish I had that as a kid and knowing how much fitness and strength from the inside out, impacted me at different junctures in life.”