Paul Szmal: Welcome back to FLX Morning on Finger Lakes News Radio. It is 8.38. Proud to welcome a first-time guest to the program from the Wayne County branch of Cornell Cooperative Extension. It's Adam Bullock. Adam, good morning. How are you this morning?
Adam Bullock: Good morning, Paul. I'm doing well so far. It's good to be here with you.
Paul Szmal: Can you tell me a little bit about what your role is with Cornell Cooperative Extension?
Adam Bullock: Certainly. So I am a nutrition educator and school wellness coordinator with SNAP-Ed. We offer nutrition classes for the public, for adults, and in schools for youth. We offer lifestyle management within the curriculum, fitness, and cooking education. So we will do that during school days and an after-school program, whether it's a one-time or a series of sessions for students to get those new experiences that are going to prepare them for life.
Wow, it sounds like a lot. There's a lot we can do. We can work with a range from youth to older adults. So within the fitness curriculum, we newly have established from Missouri Extension called Stay Strong, Stay Healthy, allows us to do fitness classes. So it's a 16-session routine that runs for eight weeks. And it's not limited to any age range, even though it focuses on seniors and older adults. And we're offering that at Cooperative Extension office on the corner of 88 and Hydesville Road. We're at 1581 State Route 88 there in Newark, New York. And we will be having a couple of new sessions coming up here soon.
So the first option coming up that folks can look to register if you're interested in, May 2nd is our orientation day from 9 to 1030. And then that runs on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 9 a.m. And option two begins on Friday, May 16th for orientation from 130 to 3 p.m. and continues on Wednesdays and Fridays at 130. So we have a morning session and afternoon session starting for that program.
Paul Szmal: And tell me a little bit about, let's split this off into the two groups because we're talking about nutrition and we're talking about fitness at the same time. Let's start off with the fitness end of things. What are some of the basic principles involved in what it is that you are presenting?
Adam Bullock: Yeah, so the goal of this curriculum is to enhance muscle strength so that we can reduce risk of falls among older adults. And the program reinforces creating cohorts thereafter to continue working out with each other. And whether that's in a gym or at a public space, using your own weights and resistance equipment so that we can also focus on the increased isolation of older adults that we're seeing that's trending, not only countywide but statewide. So we're really trying to manifest more situations for people to come together, to socialize, and to meet some of their goals with one another.
Paul Szmal: So the prevailing logic here is that sometimes an exercise program is better when you have a partner.
Adam Bullock: Totally. We all know it can be hard to find that motivation when we work out on our own. So being able to have the accountability from the class initially, understanding how to do the routine, how to do it correctly, and finding reinforcement from others coming together afterwards is a wonderful experience.
Paul Szmal: Can you kind of walk me through an example of what one of these routines is?
Adam Bullock: Yeah, so we start off with an aerobic warm-up. We'll take five minutes to move our body simply to get the blood flowing. Then we go through a dynamic warm-up where we're going to exercise the muscles in very easy movements like a quarter squat where we're just bending our knees and our hips. We may be doing scarf tosses to get the arms up and down. And this is going to prepare us to focus on the main lifts or the main exercises throughout the program such as leg extensions, leg curls, and glute kickbacks where we can add resistance through weights to make it challenging so that individuals can increase their muscle and increase their strength.
Paul Szmal: A couple of key things I picked up on there. Number one is the warm-up and the dynamic warm-up, which you should always do at least some type of warm-up before you do any kind of strenuous exercise. And then the other thing that popped into my head is technique and learning the proper technique for things like curls and stuff like that.
Adam Bullock: Yeah, definitely. We're very focused in keeping importance on the movement technique, the pace. We're going to really keep everyone on pace to move slowly so that they can reduce risk of injury and maximize those strength gains. And we will have water available, but we totally are going to invite everyone to bring their own water, bring their own towel, and bring loose-fitting clothing so they can feel ready and prepared to go.
Paul Szmal: We're talking with Adam Bullock from Wayne County Cornell Cooperative Extension. We're kind of doing a deep dive into the SNAP-Ed program that Adam is a participant in as both nutrition and fitness elements to it. Let's segue over and talk a little bit about the the nutritional elements. What are the main goals for the nutrition program as it's being presented in this context?
Adam Bullock: Yeah, so our three main goals are to help people save money, save time, and eat healthy. So when I talk about lifestyle management, our curriculum often offers ways for us to discuss budgeting, meal planning, how to prepare meals so that they are most healthy, what does healthy look like. It may look differently from individual to individual. So just breaking that down, using MyPlate to talk about the food groups, and figure out what style of preparing meals works for different people. So we deep dive from planning to preparing where we offer the cooking classes. So when we offer cooking classes, we're talking nutrition at the same time and helping prepare people to use various equipment, stovetops, skillets, and even instant pots, which are pressure cookers. So we're getting granular here. We're going right down to the fine details.
Yeah, most of the time we're working, we're demonstrating how to make a healthy meal with any of those equipment. We do that in schools or for adults. Occasionally, we have programs where adults can cook along with us. And so we do partner with Pivotal Health to offer one program. And that program is similar to our fruit and vegetable prescription programs. I can't think of the name of it right now. But details to that is at Cornell Cooperative Extension website, ccewayne.org. And you can call to ask about more details. That program, along with some of these others, do require registration. So we do need to know if you're interested in planning on making it so we can get you on the roster.
Paul Szmal: As a matter of fact, a couple of the events that are coming up, one of them is coming up on Thursday, and I just love the name of it right off the tap. Cornell Cow Convos. So I think that might be our 4-H program. And so Cornell Cooperative Extension is, CCE Wayne is a nonprofit independent from Cornell University. So we offer and we offer a range of synergistic programs. The 4-H youth development offers clubs for families. They work with schools for youth offering different programs for youth development. They co-manage the county fair and bring youth into the county fair and state fair. So I believe that is a 4-H activity.
There's some other stuff coming up soon too. And to connect that with the different programs, we have an agricultural economic develop educator who supports farmers and offers extensive resources. We also have master gardeners who support field tests and all gardeners ranging from beginner to advanced. And then we have SNAP-Ed. So any of your interests with farming, gardening, with nutrition, you can reach out to us and we can be sure to have something going on for you.
Adam Bullock: As a matter of fact, speaking of master gardeners, the annual master gardeners plant sale is coming up on the calendar here that's slated for Saturday, May 10th. And that's kind of going along side by side with a 4-H teen exchange pancake breakfast.
Paul Szmal: That's correct. So those are annual events we do every year. That breakfast runs from 8 30 to 11 a.m. You can pre-purchase those tickets. I believe it's $10 pre-purchase and $12 at the door. And so please come on down on Saturday, May 10th. The plant sale is usually pretty busy. We're full. It's a great time to connect with other people at Cooperative Extension and in your community to purchase things for a good cause for the youth development programs.
Adam Bullock: And you were right on point. It is $10 pre-sale, $12 at the door for that event. So pancakes, choice of meats, sausage or bacon, coffee, tea, orange juice, and the proceeds go directly to support the Wayne County 4-H teen exchange program.
Paul Szmal: Yep.
All right. It is 8 48 on FLX morning. We're talking with Adam Bullock from the Wayne County Cornell Cooperative Extension Group. I'm curious as to what some of your long-term goals are for these programs. Are we looking at trying to, we're looking at both youth and adults here. So what are the long-term goals for the youth and the adult programs that you help to administrate and make happen?
Adam Bullock: Yeah, I can speak to a couple that I work with. And so I'll jump over to our fruit and vegetable prescription program as I answer your question, Paul.
Paul Szmal: Sure.
Adam Bullock: You know, one of the long-term goals is to help folks maintain food security. And so whether we can do that through educating how to keep a budget and plan for meals that work within their budget, or if we can even offer vouchers to help them try different foods that they may not normally try or eat, that they realize now they can fit into their budget. So our fruit and vegetable prescription program offers $15 in vouchers every session. There are six sessions. So you have a total potential of $90 in produce vouchers that you can obtain if you register with this program. And you can use those vouchers at local farmers markets, at Wegmans, Patton's and Sotus and other large retailers to purchase fresh produce and even pre-cut produce.
Paul Szmal: Wonderful. All right. I think on that note, we can wrap things up. Adam, any other pertinent information we want to cover?
Adam Bullock: I think that's all. I definitely want to direct you to ccewayne.org or you can call the office at 315-331-8415 for more information.
Paul Szmal: Thank you so much, Paul.
Yeah, no problem. Thank you, Adam. Much appreciated, sir.
It is coming up on 850 on FLX Morning.
