Mission

Get Excited and Move strives to provide those with movement disorders or difficulties with sustained opportunities to move and exercise as elite athlests, allowing themselves to improve the quality of their lives, as well as that of their families.

Category

Health

Additional Information

INITIATIVE FOCUS GEM’s creator, Mr. Michael Cohen, who is an Olympic and Paralympic Coach for Team USA, and a former a Olympian, employed a progressive strategy when he developed the GEM program.  Mr. Cohen looked at research for Parkinson disease, which breaks down the nervous system over time. He researched other exercise programs that are currently on the market. Michael also pulled from his knowledge of “normal” athletes, as well as his knowledge of physical and psychological impediments often encountered by handicapped or injured athletes. In the end, GEM integrated as much of his knowledge as possible; especially the knowledge relating to the relationship between the brain and the body, how they function in tandem, and how they function in isolation. Most exercise programs are developed to create or define athletes.     Individual exercises and activities focus on building muscle, decreasing body fat and mastering muscle memory.  GEM functions from a completely different focus.                                                    GEM has been developed with a focus on neurological needs.  The brain though not technically a muscle, can be trained like a muscle. Therefore, training of the brain becomes critically important. The goal of GEM is to train the body and the mind concurrently. The goal is to reach a point where the body can take in information quickly and respond to it automatically, with little active thought, regardless of age or level ability, or disability.  Sustained exercises, recommended three times per week; short, programmed activities that are easily mastered; and a combination of those short, mastered activities direct the GEM athletes.  Emphasis is on regaining brain function that has been compromised or isolated, on retraining the brain, and integrating that function into daily life. GEM is therapeutic, but has little in common with traditional physical therapy techniques.  GEM combines traditional therapeutic rehabilitation with the focused training of an Olympic athlete.  GEM’s goals are long-term, realizing that altering body function require time, repetition and consistency.  Participant centered milestones are short-term, in most cases, especially at the beginning of the GEM program.  However, at the participant works through GEM, milestones begin to take longer to achieve, in direct correlation to developing health GEM has also been developed with an eye on costs, for the participants and the provider.  Running the program for a year, with 5-6 classes per week, can be mastered for around $20,000 per year.  $3000-$5000 will purchase any additional equipment needed, and approximately 50 people can be served. Participants are charged nominal fees, guaranteeing equal access, regardless of age, race, ethnicity, or faith.  The objective is to provide high quality instruction at an affordable price.                                                                                                                                                                              Executed correctly, and given time, GEM’s focus begins to shift.  Focus is better geared to prevention (e.g., teaching athletes how to stand from sitting on the floor, how to throw a ball without losing balance, or how to force the body to start and stop at will).  Prevention focuses more on responding in a proactive manner, and maintains a positive, responsive tone for exercise, activity and daily life skills.  These changes have a profound effect on the participant’s outlook, and caregiver’s vision of the participant’s achievements and capabilities. Positive and powerful change, can be seen in individuals, in families, and even in communities by starting at the most basic level.  Success breeds success. The community also celebrates and shares that success, creating a sense of neighborhood safety and emotional wellness that is unparalleled.