`Body Shop Buddies' has healthy message

      Pupils at Clyde Cox Elementary School are shaping up, with the help of a new exercise video series called "Body Shop Buddies."
      Curtis Aguiar, owner of Curtis' Body Shop, teamed up with Century Productions to create the series. Aguiar said he hopes the short exercise film clips, which are interspersed with positive messages, act as a self-esteem builder for the children and put them in the right direction each day.
      In between simple stretches and flexes, Aguiar tells his young viewers "you don't have to join a gang, you don't have to take drugs, you don't have to do things you don't want to do because you like you.
      "Listen to your teacher, study harder," he emphasizes.
      The two- to four-minute tapes, starring Aguiar and a select number of pupils from Cox Elementary, an at-risk school, are shown in the mornings in each classroom before studies get underway. Aguiar said pupils don't need any space other than a desk and a chair to perform the exercises, which work specific parts of the body each day.
      "It was time to give back to the community, and I have a soft spot in my heart when it comes to children. I knew the kids there could use help in self-esteem, feeling better and a positive influence. I've seen what exercise can not only do for me, but what it does for everyone, said Aguiar, 43, who was often teased as a child because he was underweight.
      "I was the kid that grew up in Hawaii that was thin and laughed at and had sand kicked in my face because of my skinnier, smaller stature. I can relate to these children when they are overweight and when their self-esteem is down," he said.
      Jan Musante, principal at Clyde Cox Elementary said: "These kids need self-esteem builders and role models.
      "There are a lot of working parents. A lot of families are working hard to make ends meet," she said, which makes it difficult for parents to spend time with their children.
      Musante said also sometimes a child will come to school after having an argument with a sibling or parent, causing them to be unhappy the rest of the day. She hopes the videos will help the children get their day started on a "positive note."
      "We want to encourage them to put everything behind (them), focus on learning. With this video, I'm hoping that will happen," she said.
      Aguiar, who has 20 years of experience in the fitness industry, said the videos do not promote a regimented exercise routine for children.
      "I say in these segments, get outside and run around and play. You don't want to take a child and make him just work out like an adult would have to work out. Their day will come that they have to do that. But now it's time to be a child and have fun. And that's what I try to instill to them in these segments," Aguiar said.
      According to the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, participation in all types of physical activity declines strikingly as age or grade in school increases. Nearly half of American youths ages 12 to 21 are not vigorously active on a regular basis. Also, inactivity is more common among females.
      "A lot of kids just need to be motivated, and that's what I do. I motivate adults all day long," said Aguiar, who opened his gym two years ago. "But when I can take a child and make him feel so much better, that's worth more than anything to me in the whole world."