I've rarely worked up such a sweat and had so much fun at the same time - Steinmühle

I’ve rarely worked up such a sweat and had so much fun at the same time

Life at Boarding School, News, Sports & Health

Since October, eleven girls at the Steinmühle have been enjoying Jumping Fitness. Together with their instructor, Francine Olschewski, they meet once a week for this workout, which lets them really burn off some energy. “It’s the perfect balance to school.”

Endurance and Interval Training

Jumping Fitness is a form of endurance and interval training. This intense workout provides a strong workout for the cardiovascular system. To prevent overexertion, the instructor can incorporate short, gentler exercise segments. This automatically turns the Jumping Fitness class into an interval training session.

This sport therefore improves both endurance and strength. It is a full-body workout that trains and strengthens the deep muscles. It primarily targets the core muscles, but also very small muscles, such as those in the feet. In principle, all muscle groups are engaged, since the change in gravity during trampoline jumping causes every cell in the body to build up counterpressure against the resulting weight acting on the cells.

You’ll especially notice the workout for the major muscle groups in your legs and glutes, as well as your rectus abdominis and back muscles. Constantly balancing your body on the moving jump surface also trains and improves your posture and sense of balance.

Effective Calorie Burning

The Jumping Fitness workout engages over 400 muscles—far more than comparable endurance sports. According to Francine Olschewski, Jumping Fitness is significantly more effective than jogging and is gentle on the joints at the same time. In addition, the dynamic exercises improve endurance and help prevent back problems.

Perfect for Relieving Stress

According to the instructor, Jumping Fitness makes you happy because this workout triggers the release of happiness hormones. No wonder—Jumping Fitness fosters a great sense of community and offers an exhilarating workout set to energetic music.

Jumping Fitness is generally suitable for everyone, regardless of fitness level, age, or weight. The important thing is to pay attention to your own individual ability and accept your limits. Francine Olschewski: “Everyone sets their own intensity level, so they can work out and have fun in a group Jumping Fitness class.” The jumps are easy to learn and guarantee a quick sense of accomplishment, even for beginners.

Experienced Trainer

Coach Francine Olschewski, who has been working as an assistant at Hessenhaus since April 2018, completed her training as a Jumping instructor at the Fit For All studio in Rodgau in 2016 and regularly led several classes there each week. Even after moving to Marburg, her passion for the sport remained undiminished. What’s more, she was able to spark an interest in and enjoyment of jumping among the students at the Steinmühle boarding school.

We are still in contact with the former “Fit For All” gym in Rodgau. The trampolines for the Steinmühle boarding school were rented from there. This made it possible to offer Jumping Fitness as an extracurricular activity at Steinmühle.

By the way, on boarding school weekends, there are extra Jumping Fitness classes. The instructor is happy to report that every now and then, some boys show up, too. With loud music playing, the teens can really burn off all their energy and let off some steam.

24. April 2019

At “Bands on Stage,” the Steinmühle celebrated 20 years of the Stonemill House Band

Art, Music & Theater, Events & Celebrations, News

The students have graduated—but the band is still here. And has been for 20 years. Frank Wemme, educational director at Steinmühle, is the man behind the StoneMill House Band. Naturally, the educator and passionate musician didn’t miss the chance to host the evening himself at the Steinmühle music group’s anniversary concert—featuring many musical guests.

“Whenever something went really well, they graduated from high school,” he announced to the audience in the packed hall. To outsiders, it all seemed like a smooth transition over the years. That alone is worth celebrating. And a concert, of course.

The program kicked off with a performance by the 5th and 6th-grade band. Their singers demonstrated just how powerful even young performers’ voices can be. The following performance by Katharina Filin, accompanied by Olaf Roth, inevitably brought to mind the British rock and pop singer Bonnie Tyler. It was an impressive performance.

Talea and Fynn Konnertz surprised the audience with “Talk”—not a conversation, but an original composition by the guitarist and the singer, whose voice really shone in this piece. The duo also performed “Slow dancing in a burning room” and “Apologize,” accompanied by host Frank Wemme on drums and keyboardist Dirk Konnertz. In his “day job,” Dirk is the executive director of the Steinmühle School Association. But he’s also a musician at heart.

A little high, a little low: The Marburg Music School’s saxophone ensemble, conducted by Jörg Eichberger, provided one of the evening’s highlights with their performance of Queen’s ballad “Bohemian Rhapsody,” delivering a detailed rendition of the three parts of this legendary piece.

Following the *Rent* project—the distinctive follow-up to Talea Funk’s widely staged *Hamilton* project—the audience was left with goosebumps: Music teacher and concert tenor Daniel Sans, accompanied by his wife Marie on piano, Fynn and Dirk Konnertz on guitar and keyboard, Bodam Lee on violin, and Frank Wemme on drums, sang “You Raise Me Up” to the audience.

Following this impressive performance by the sextet and a rhythmic set by the jazz ensemble, the curtain rose on the birthday celebrants. Although the StoneMill House Band—currently consisting of 15 members—hasn’t actually been around for the entire two decades, the members were happy to be celebrated and performed their latest songs. Being part of this school band is truly not a matter of age, as their drummer, a seventh grader, impressively demonstrated.

Dressed in white, the upper-level choir, directed by Daniel Sans, bid the audience farewell after a varied evening of music. But not without first performing Pink Floyd’s “The Wall.” In true style—at a school. Because that’s exactly where the lyrics belong.