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    7:00am - 7:00pm

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Shabbat candle lighting: 7:48pm

Shabbat candle lighting: 7:48pm

JCC Blog

JCC Blog

Category: Fitness, Wellness, & Sports

Apr16
by admin
Aquatics
JCC Swimming Receives 2022 Grant Funding From USA Swimming Foundation

Grant supports efforts to offer free or reduced-cost swim lessons 

Earlier this year, our aquatics program, JCC Swimming, receive a grant from USA Swimming Foundation to help us provide free and reduced-cost swim lessons to new program participants. The USA Swimming Foundation has awarded a total of $898,184 to programs across the country. The USA Swimming Foundation vetted more than 250 applications through a competitive annual review process and chose 102 youth and 40 adult programs to receive funding.  

 “We are thrilled to be chosen for this grant,” says...

Aug11
by admin
Congratulations J Swim Team!

A note from our J Swim Team JCC Barracudas Head Coach, Brendan McElroy,

I wanted to share the incredible success our J Swim Team had this past year. Congratulations to all of the coaches, staff and volunteers for an amazing job done with both our year-round and summer teams!

J Swimming year round team continued to train and compete through the challenges of COVID-19. Throughout our season, we participated in the MD Swimming Virtual Meet Series as well as in person meets later in our season. In July, J Swimming sent 16 athletes to the MD Swimming Junior Championship meet in Sterling, VA. In addition,  we culminated our season by sending 4 athletes to the MD Swimming State Championship meet in Sterling, VA. We are proud of Hiro...

Dec11
by admin
JCC news JCC Staff
Meet Sherri Zaslow: LifeBridge Health Living Well at the Weinberg Park Heights J

Meet Sherri Zaslow
Community Wellness Coordinator
LifeBridge Health Living Well
at the Weinberg Park Heights J

We are excited to welcome Sherri Zaslow. As the new Community Wellness Coordinator for LifeBridge Health at the Weinberg Park Heights JCC, Sherri will be coordinating health and wellness programs and services for the Park Heights community. Her office will be adjacent to the new, soon-to-be-open Sinai Wellness and Education Suite, which will be dedicated to wellness educational programming. 

Q. Why...

Feb13
by admin
Health
Helping JCC members have #StrongerHearts

Did you know that heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States?

Educating Baltimoreans about the prevention and treatment of heart disease is the main goal behind a new innovative collaborative initiative between LifeBridge Health (LBH) and The American Heart Association (AHA) called #StrongerHearts.

“This dynamic partnership between LifeBridge Health and the American Heart Association is already translating into new resources and programs designed to help JCC members enhance or improve their cardiovascular health,” says Barak Hermann, CEO of the JCC of Greater...

Jan22
Bodybuilder Yaakov at the J
by admin
Fitness Exercise Health
BODYBUILDING 101: The Importance of Discipline and Diet

There are a lot of benefits to taking up bodybuilding but quick results are not one of them, at least not according to JCC trainers and veteran bodybuilders Yaakov Bar Am and Abbie Friedberg. The way Yaakov and Abbie tell it, bodybuilding requires tremendous self-discipline and meticulous nutrition, years of hard work to start getting the results you want, and even more hard work to maintain those results once they do start showing up.

“You have to want to do it,” Abbie says. “First and foremost, you have to have the drive to do it because it’s a huge commitment. It’s like with any sport: just to go through the motions of doing it, it won’t get you to where you need to be, you really need to have that drive to get up there and do it.”

At least during competition season, Abbie says the source for that drive is...

Dec13
Fitness Center
by admin
Personal Training Fitness Exercise
JCC Members Become Fitness Trainers

Much of the appeal of the Jewish Community Center of Greater Baltimore is right there in our name: Community. That’s especially the case for the Fitness Center, where many of our instructors and trainers started out as JCC members. Here are the stories of three of those members who made the jump to the other side of the gym.

Shelly Cohen

Shelly Cohen originally became a JCC member to take advantage of membership discounts on her children’s camps and after-school programs. When Laura Fink, an instructor she was taking several fitness classes with, suggested Shelly become a BODYPUMP™ instructor herself, she initially laughed the idea off. “I thought she...

Nov14
Thanksgiving Dinner
by admin
Health Holidays
A Healthy Thanksgiving…is it possible?

From Amy Schwartz, Senior Director, Fitness and Wellness 

A cup of common sense, a few calorie-cutting tactics, and a newfound emphasis on family rather than food can add up to a healthy Thanksgiving.

Healthy Thanksgiving Meal Tips

1. Chicken Broth. Use it to moisten stuffing, baste the turkey, and braise pearl onions. Make your own or choose low-sodium canned broth.

2. Trim the fat from recipes and side dishes. Make simple switches…
- Roast the turkey on a rack so that the fat will drain off.
- Buy French baguettes for stuffing. They are made without fat or sugar.
- Roast, don’t boil, sweet potatoes to bring out their natural sweetness.
- Replace mashed potatoes with low-calorie squash.
- Flavor food with spices like cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg.

...
Oct09
Breast Cancer Awareness Pink Ribbon
by admin
Fitness Health
Can Exercise Prevent Breast Cancer?

Amy Schwartz, Senior Director, Fitness and Wellness 

October is breast cancer awareness month and I thought I’d take a look at the relationship between physical activity and breast cancer risk. Researching this, I found that there is substantial evidence that higher levels of physical activity are linked to lower risks of several cancers – including breast cancer. Physical activity includes working, exercising, performing household chores, and leisure-time activities such as walking, tennis, hiking, bicycling, and swimming.

Many studies show that physically active women have a lower risk of breast cancer than inactive women. In a 2013 analysis of 31 studies of the correlation of exercise to breast cancer risk reduction, the average reduction associated with physical activity was 12%! In contrast, a large study showed an increase in...

Sep18
Aquatics Park
by admin
JCC news
The Shapiro Aquatics Park

40 Incredible Years

It’s probably not too much of an exaggeration to say that without the Shapiro Aquatics Park, there might not even be a Rosenbloom Owings Mills JCC. The two institutions have been intertwined from the very beginning. In fact, the first outdoor pool in the Aquatics Park was actually built in 1977, one year before the rest of the JCC opened. In the ensuing 40 years, the Aquatics Park has been essential to growing the JCC’s membership, giving people some of their first jobs, and showcasing its commitment to fitness and families.

Ilene Heneson was with the JCC’s Teen Advisory Board when The Associated, the Jewish Community Federation of Baltimore, decided to build a new JCC in Owings Mills and what at the time was known as the Shapiro Recreation Park. There...

Jul25
Indoor Lap Pool
by admin
Fitness JCC news
Making a Splash

Summer Renovations to Make OM Indoor Pool More Energy Efficient

For its 40th birthday, the Owings Mills JCC’s indoor pool is getting quite the birthday present: its first real makeover. Starting Monday, July 31 and continuing throughout the entire month of August, the pool will be shut down and will not reopen until approximately September 1. During that month, the JCC will install new roofing, new coping and tiles, a new deck, and a new motor for the pool’s fan. The goal, when renovations are finished, is to make the indoor pool more energy efficient, user friendly and flat out higher quality than it’s ever been before.

JCC Senior Aquatics Director Bill Kirkner calls the makeover “the first major aesthetic renovation” since the indoor pool first opened. Even so, it’s a renovation about six years in...