Posted on: Monday, April 25, 2005
FITNESS PROFILE
Daughter came late to fitness
| • | Busy mother, daughter make daily exercise part of life |
Advertiser Staff
Name: Johanna "Jojo" Lani Chapman. Age: 18. Grade: Senior, Punahou School. Height: 5-feet-8. Workout habits: When her schedule permits, she does 30 to 45 minutes of cardio a day, then 30 minutes of weights and toning exercises. She's in school sports (varsity kayaking in the fall, varsity paddling in the winter and varsity water polo in the spring). Seventh-grade loss motivated her to focus on her health
Johanna "Jojo" Chapman recently began working with Karen Merrill of Body Resolve Inc., who has a master's degree in exercise science and sports medicine, for about an hour and a half on weekends.
"Recently I have decided to go to a personal trainer, because then I can focus on my personal fitness goals while improving my health and learning how to stay fit for life," she said.
When and why I started working out: "Your typical tomboy," Jojo has played sports since she was 6, including team soccer, volleyball and basketball. In the sixth grade, she began paddling for the Lanikai Canoe Club, running the loop in Lanikai as well as doing sit-ups and push-ups to stay fit. Getting cut from the water polo team in seventh grade made a big impact: "I really began to exercise daily and started focusing on personal fitness and health. I made the team in eighth grade, and have been playing ever since." Her paddling/kayaking teams have won two state championships and last summer competed at the world sprints races — "we won third in the world for our age group in the double-hull canoe race," she said.
"I've gone very far in all of my athletics and accomplished many goals for myself," Jojo Chapman said. "So, ever since I began exercising seriously in seventh grade, I've never looked back."
My biggest motivator: "Growing up in Hawai'i, there are many different fun outdoor activities to participate in, so staying fit and healthy are fun, easy things to do. Also, growing up a chubby kid, I think I will always have that image of myself in the back of my mind, pushing me to keep up my hard work. Also, with all of the sports that I participate in, it is important to keep myself in the best physical condition possible. "It is very important for me to be fit and trim in a healthy way and focus on health rather than my looks. Being a teenager, there are a lot of pressures to be thin and skinny, but I have always been more focused on being healthy and fit rather than thin."
What saves my sanity: "Athletics and exercise are my way of releasing any of the pressures I have in school and in life. I enjoy just being able to play a sport with my friends and not have to think about anything other than the task at hand. It is a great way to have fun, release stress and make friends." Advice for those in the same boat: "The most important thing is to be fit and healthy for yourself, in your own range for your own body weight, not for anyone else."
