Accomplished Bay Area athlete, former Olympian rolls out exercise videos for kids

OAKLAND, Calif. - The shelter-in-place order has triggered a wide breadth of exercise videos to help people release energy and stay active at home.

One Bay Area ultra athlete has produced a series of YouTube videos geared toward young children.

"I have a passion for helping people stay active, and with the school district closures in the Bay Area announced a few weeks ago, I noticed an urgent need for kids and families to find ways to stay active indoors,” Oakland resident Elizabeth Swaney told KTVU.

Former Olympian and Bay Area resident Elizabeth Swaney rolls out kids work-out video to help families during COVID-19 shelter in place.

Her easygoing, slow-paced, low impact workout regiment is tailored to kids ages 3-8 years old. But Swaney said it’s something the entire family can take part in and can also be good for adults seeking a light workout or break from their normal exercise routine.

Swaney is a former skiing Olympian and a long distance runner, who has completed 15 marathons just in the last year, and she has also worked with kids as a ski coach, to name just a few of her accomplishments in the sporting arena. 

As an undergraduate at UC Berkeley, her athletic skills served as coxswain on the men’s rowing team. She went on to row for Harvard, where she attended graduate school and earned a master's in design studies.

Thereafter, Swaney said she focused on training in Utah for several winter sporting events. “...first in skeleton sliding for USA Bobsled and Skeleton, then in freestyle skiing,” the athlete explained.

And then in 2018, she reached her goal of making it to the Olympics, competing in PyeongChang, in the women’s half-pipe skiing event, as she represented Hungary, which is where her grandparents were born. 

For all of her athletic accomplishments, which also includes competing in the obstacle course television series, American Ninja Warrior, as well as working as a stunt performer, Swaney is now putting her energy toward helping families with young kids get through the long days brought on by the shelter-in-place directives.

“My routines combine a story with fitness and are typically around 20+ minutes, keeping kids active and engaged,” Swaney said, and noted that for her, it allows her to live out her passion of helping people get fit and healty.

All of her videos are posted on YouTube and includes a session in Spanish.