Have some fun with fitness

Get in shape with childhood sports.

There's a scene in the movie "Dodgeball" where the coach, played by Rip Torn, tells one of his students, "If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball," at which point he hurls a wrench at the man's head. The subsequent pain, unfortunately, is not far from the results of real life childhood dodgeball games. As an adult, however, you have an opportunity to reclaim your past by using other childhood sports to get in shape. Adult kickball and Frisbee ­ even "Ultimate Frisbee" ­ have grown-up people hooting and hollering like they were back on a grade school playground, burning calories and toning muscles all the while. Only now, everyone heads out for a beer after the game.

Are you WAKA? If you think kicks are just for kids, consider this: The World Adult Kickball Association (WAKA) now boasts more than 20,000 registered members nationwide. "They are from all walks of life," says Heather Taylor, spokesperson for WAKA. "Members range in age from 25 to 40 with incomes between $40,000 and $275,000 a year." And the male-to-female ratio is split down the middle, at 51% female and 49% male. "We require women on the field as one of the rules of the game." Founded eight years ago, WAKA has been featured on Nightline and the CBS Early Show, and written up in the New York Times. Kickball attracts people who like to have fun and socialize while exercising ­ and maybe even meet someone special. "We've had a wedding on home plate for a couple that met at a game," Taylor says. The game lends itself to a great aerobic workout. Short bursts of all-out effort burn calories. Kickball's base-running burns about 400 to 600 calories per 50- minute game, depending on whether you're a 135-pound woman or a 200-pound man. Now combine that with a healthy diet and weight training, and watch the pounds drop off. WAKA makes the following recommendations for proper sprinting:

• Do not run on your toes. The toes offer no power or stability and do not enable you to run fast. Instead, stay on the balls of your feet and push against the ground.

• Do not over stride. Placing your foot in front of your center of gravity will cause "braking forces" that slow you down.

If kickball can't lure you out of the hammock, what about a game of Frisbee? William Russell Frisbie could not possibly have known that his 1871 bakery pie tins would become the basis for a sport that now includes 100,000 participants nationwide. Inspired by the UFO craze at the time, Walter Frederick Morrison took the flying pie tin and, after much trial and error, created a toy that would become the Frisbee of today. Now a registered trademark of Mattel, more than 100 million discs have been sold since the late 1940s.

So what's the attraction? For one, running around on a beach tossing a disc around is a lot more fun than sharing an exercise bench with some sweaty guy at the gym. In addition, all that running and jumping burns 200 to 300 calories an hour. If you've never thrown a Frisbee before, try the following recommended steps, and you'll be a pro in no time:

1. Curl your hand around the disc in the backhand grip, thumb on top, index finger following the curve of the rim, the other fingers fanned out on the underside with the little finger pressed against the inside of the rim.

2. Hold the disc in front of you and swing the disc away from your body, smoothly uncurling your hand.

3. Release the disc with a snap of your wrist. To make the disc curve in flight, tilt it at the time of release and use less snap wrist snap.

If you seek a challenge beyond the basics, Ultimate Frisbee may be the ticket. This team sport takes the game to the next level. Described as a combination of soccer, basketball and football, the game requires speed, stamina and agility. Yet, the simplicity of the game makes it easy for newbies to learn. Check out the website for all the Ultimate game rules. Whether you decide to kick around a big red ball or flick a saucer-shaped plastic toy to have fun and get it shape, once thing is assured: It's a lot less painful than a wrench to the head.