A week does not go by that a morning or evening newscast does not delve deep into the epidemic of childhood obesity. They outline the issue at hand, interview a pediatrician, and dish out a 5-point plan how you and your family can get lean and stay in shape together.

Seldom do we hear the reports of the opposite side of the spectrum, which is equally as damaging to our kids – overuse injuries. This can lead to stress fractures, early onset of inflammation disorders (tendonitis, bursitis, etc.), and even growth plate issues. Dr. Eric Small, who has a family sports-medicine practice in Westchester County, in a recent article, defined how excessive activity has been cast off as the norm for many of today’s athletes. In the article, Dr. Small states, “It’s not enough that they play on a school team, two travel teams and go to four camps for their sport in the summer, they have private instructors that they see twice a week. Then their parents get them out to practice in the backyard at night.” Quite simply, the volume of training at that point has far surpassed their bodies’ abilities to withstand it.

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During one of my season’s working under Greg Brittenham at the N.Y. Knicks, not only would we require a lot of hard work and sweat out of the players, however we showed them we were ready, willing, and able to work just as hard physically ourselves.

Starting with the first game of the season, we completed 100 Push-Ups. Then, each subsequent game, we added another ten (10) Push-Ups. By the final game of the regular season, we were up to completing five hundred and ten (510) Push-ups!

This was in addition to running drills, running stairs in Madison Square Garden, and finishing by riding stationary bikes for 30 minutes. Our only stipulation was that the Push-Ups commenced once both of us were at The Garden, and once pre-game workouts began (about 5pm) and ended by 8pm. It generally was a competition between Greg and I who could get it all done first. In the beginning, we were trying to get all of them in while we waited in the N.Y. Rangers’ locker room for players to come in so we could get to work and then eventually led to us “sneaking” in Push-ups out on the court, in our locker room, or in whatever room Chapel was in waiting for it to start. Wherever we were, we were getting them in, in between working with and stretching players. Then we would keep our tallies posted on the Rangers’ white board to keep track.

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Keeping your eating on target throughout the year is a daunting task to begin with. However, come Monday, January 2 nd, it’s a whole new ball game!! The dining room table is still lined with leftover holiday desserts, half filled bottles of soda (or some various form of libation) sits atop the counter, and the refrigerator is somehow still jam packed with salads, containers of assorted meats and a half filled tub of string bean casserole. You’re holiday recovery program kicks into full gear. Did your season of joy put on an extra 10 pounds, or just feel that way? "Most people don't gain as much as they think they will," says Althea Zanecosky, a registered dietitian and spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association. The trouble is, "the weight they do gain stays with them," she says. Will your committmnet to recommit every Monday be your plan of action for the next 52 weeks?

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We teach our clients and athletes to approach each season or each year with a goal. Yet we seldom set goals (personal or professional) ourselves and look back with regret when we realize we could have done better. Just like the seasonal exerciser / dieter, we becomer seasonal entreprenuers. Only, instead of fad diets or trendy exercises, we settle for logging more clients, more hours, more numbers.

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