Get your kid in action - the importance of exercise

In order to live a well-rounded healthy lifestyle physical activity should be incorporated into your child’s daily activities.  Exercise helps our bodies to reach peak performance and is known to reduce health risks like cardiovascular problems.  Exercise also aides in building overall strength, bone density, healthy joints and muscles all while helping to maintain a healthy weight.
                In addition exercise has also been shown to help in other ways as well.  Children who get the appropriate amount of daily exercise also enjoy the ability to sleep better as well as reduce stress levels.
                Even given all the health benefits that come with exercise 50% of American adults still don’t get enough exercise.  Just like with our nutrition, the exercise habits we create when we’re young are usually carried over into our adult life.  So get your kid moving now to keep them healthy well into future.

Scary Stats
There are some disturbing trends that are forming among children and teens as far as the level of physical activity they’re getting.  Overall kids 2-19 aren’t getting nearly enough exercise to maintain a healthy lifestyle.  Below are some recent statistics on children and exercise.

• As of 2006 less than one third of 15 years olds got the minimum amount of required physical activity during the week and on weekends it dropped to just 17%
• On average kids spend 5 ½ hours a day on media driven sedentary activities
• 3 hours of the 5 ½ is spent watching television
• Teens spend an average of 6 hours a day on media driven sedentary activities
• 1 in 3 children in America are overweight or obese
• The likelihood of cardiovascular disease, Type II diabetes, asthma, sleep apnea, and certain types of cancer in children is increased by obesity
• Only 10% of schools offer daily physical education classes, and many of those don’t meet the time requirements of weekly exercise

How much physical activity does my child need?
Studies by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) have revealed that the majority of children should be getting approximately 60 minutes of physical activity basically every day.  The activity itself isn’t as important as making sure it hits on the 3 criteria of healthy exercise: strength, endurance and flexibility.

You can use a calorie calculator to estimate about how many calories each type of physical activity burns.

Exercise for ages 2-3
At this age toddlers are developing their motor skills, such as running and throwing.  Children at this age have energy to spare for physical activity, so they can benefit from up to 1 ½ hours of daily exercise.  A good exercise plan is to allow them 60 minutes of unstructured activity that is something they’re conducting as well as 30 minutes of structured exercise time.

Recommended exercises for this age group include traditional games like tag and leap frog as well as activities that include age appropriate toys.  Even a trip to the park is an easy way to get in an hour of exercise with your child.

Exercise for ages 4-5
By the time your child is 4-5 years old they have developed their motor skills enough to control the basics.  At this stage they are working on further improving balance and increasing their physical skill set.

Though an hour is the minimum required amount of physical activity in this age group up to 2 hours of exercise is beneficial.  The exercise should be split between an hour of structured activity that you plan and an hour of unstructured activity that the child is able to decide on.

At this age focus on activities that help them work on their balance and hand-eye coordination like catch or gymnastics.  Depending on your child’s physical abilities and comfort level more involved exercises like learning to swim or ride a bike is also an option.  From 4-5 years old is also when your child can start participating in smaller scale sports centered activities.  However, you should try to limit the number of people involved and only focus on the basics of the game.

Exercise for ages 6-12
During the age from 6-12 it’s important to start really laying the groundwork for healthy exercise habits.  This is the time when kids can really start becoming more involved with the decisions they make in regards to exercise.  This is also when many children start participating in organized sports teams.

From 6-12 years old 60 minutes of exercise is the required minimum.  This is when you can help your child really develop a fitness routine with team sports that meet a few times a week as well as activities they can do regularly at home.  There’s also the option of enrolling them in activities like a yoga class, rock climbing or even a kid-friendly gym.

Exercise for ages 13-18

Friend-Uhl & Faigenbaum

Performance Nutrition Show

Click Play To Start The Show. Interview with Sonja Friend-Uhl & Avery Faigenbaum, Ed.D. Distance Runner & Professor. Topics: Distance running and nutrition, Common mistakes made by runners, Youth weight training & plyometrics, Myths surrounding youth fitness.

June 7, 2006; 57:00 minutes; 13.0 MB  

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Sports PREP: Pre-season Recreation and Exercise for Preteens

by Avery Faigenbaum
Over the past twenty years there has been an explosion in the popularity of youth sports in the United States. More than 30 million children and adolescents play on organized teams and in many communities sports programs are available for children starting at age four or five. But along with this staggering number of youth sport participants there has been a concomitant rise in the number of overuse injuries. While muscle imbalances, hard playing surfaces and improper footwear are recognized risk factors for overuse injuries in children, a recurrent theme in almost all overuse injuries in young athletes relates to training errors (i.e., inappropriate changes in the intensity, volume and/or progression of training).

In a growing number of cases it seems that boys and girls who enter sports programs are generally unfit and ill-prepared to handle the duration and magnitude of forces that develop during practice and game situations. According to the Surgeon General’s report on physical activity and health, only about one-half of young people regularly participate in vigorous physical activity and daily attendance in physical education is declining. Further, sedentary pursuits such as television viewing and “surfing” the internet continue to occupy a significant amount of time during childhood and adolescence. Some health care providers believe that approximately 50% of overuse injuries sustained by young athletes could be prevented if children were better prepared to play the game.

Physical Fitness and Physical Activity During Adolescence as Predictors of Cardiovascular Disease Risk in Young Adulthood. Danish Youth and Sports Study. An Eight-Year Follow-Up Study

H.  Hasselstrøm1, S.  E.  Hansen1, K.  Froberg2, L. B.  Andersen1 1 Institute of Exercise and Sports Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Denmark 2 Institute of Sports Science and Clinical Biomechanics, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark Abstract The purpose of this study was to determine if physical activity, aerobic fitness and isometric strength during adolescence were predictors of cardiovascular risk factor levels in young adulthood. The following measurements were carried out: maximal oxygen uptake (V˙O2max), maximal voluntary contraction (MVC) in four muscle groups, physical activity (questionnaire), blood pressure (BP), total cholesterol, high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), triglycerides, anthropometric variables and body fat % (sum of four skinfolds). The data were collected from the Danish Youth and Sports study, an observational longitudinal study in which two measurements were carried out over an eight-year period. The findings in this study indicated that the relationships between the absolute levels of physical fitness and activity in adolescence and the subsequent level of CVD risk factors are weak. However, the changes in physical fitness and physical activity were related to the absolute levels of CVD risk factors in young adulthood, especially in men. Weak relationships were found between the changes in physical fitness/activity and changes in CVD risk factor levels in both sexes. In conclusion, many subjects changed their levels of physical activity and physical fitness between adolescence and young adulthood and the changes, especially in aerobic fitness, seemed to be the best predictor of CVD risk factor levels in young adulthood. Key words Cardiovascular risk factors - physical activity - aerobic fitness - isometric strength - adolescence - young adulthood

Evidence Based Physical Activity for School-age Youth

Objectives

To review the effects of physical activity on health and behavior outcomes and develop evidence-based recommendations for physical activity in youth.

Study design

A systematic literature review identified 850 articles; additional papers were identified by the expert panelists. Articles in the identified outcome areas were reviewed, evaluated and summarized by an expert panelist. The strength of the evidence, conclusions, key issues, and gaps in the evidence were abstracted in a standardized format and presented and discussed by panelists and organizational representatives.

Results

Most intervention studies used supervised programs of moderate to vigorous physical activity of 30 to 45 minutes duration 3 to 5 days per week. The panel believed that a greater amount of physical activity would be necessary to achieve similar beneficial effects on health and behavioral outcomes in ordinary daily circumstances (typically intermittent and unsupervised activity).

Conclusion

School-age youth should participate daily in 60 minutes or more of moderate to vigorous physical activity that is developmentally appropriate, enjoyable, and involves a variety of activities.

HDL-C, High-density lipoprotein cholesterol level, LDL-C, Low-density lipoprotein cholesterol level, MS, Metabolic syndrome

Recommendations for appropriate amounts of physical activity for the US population, including school-age youth, have been developed by several organizations and agencies.¹ Although recent reviews have summarized the benefits of regular physical activity on the health of youth and its potential for reducing the incidence of chronic diseases that are manifested in adulthood,^2-5 a more systematic approach is indicated. This report presents results of a systematic evaluation of evidence dealing with the effects of regular physical activity on several health and behavioral outcomes in US school-age youth, with the goal of developing a recommendation for the amount of physical activity deemed appropriate to yield beneficial health and behavioral outcomes.

Back to Article Outline

Method 

Under a contract with the Divisions of Nutrition and Physical Activity and Adolescent and School Health of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Constella Group, an expert panel was convened to review and evaluate available evidence on the influence of physical activity on several health and behavioral outcomes in youth aged 6 to 18 years. The co-chairs of the panel selected panelists on the basis of expertise in specific areas: adiposity, cardiovascular health (lipids and lipoproteins, blood pressure, the metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular reactivity, heart rate variability, inflammation, and cardiovascular fitness), asthma, several domains of mental health (self-concept, anxiety, depression), academic achievement, injury associated with physical activity, and musculoskeletal health (bone mineral, muscular strength, and endurance). The epidemiology and tracking of physical activity and overweight in youth were also reviewed because of their public health implications, but are not included in this report.

Paleo Kids

It seems like an elusive concept.  Kids eating veggies, meat, and healthy fats and enjoying it? Aren’t kids supposed to eat kid food?  According to our media, kids will only eat foods that taste insanely sweet, salty, or comes neatly packaged in bright colored superhero boxes. I challenge you to consider this: Who made this rule and why are we supposed to follow it? Something is wrong here, really really wrong. Think back not so long ago to Little House on the Praire days.  Could you imagine Laure Ingalls refusing to eat her home cooked meal and her Ma giving in and making her a “special” kid dinner?  Holy cow, no way in Prairie heck would Ma have done that.  So, why do we?

I used to feed my kids special kid food, that’s for darn sure and I did it because I fell into a routine of giving my kids “kid” food thinking that it was the only way I would be able to get them to eat at all.  It became easy, convenient, and my kids would eat a lot of that “kid” food without any argument.  Another falisy we seem to have adopted; children for some reason need to eat three gigantic meals a day in order to be healthy.  Again, we are have missed the mark. Kids have an innate ability that if not tampered with, will allow them to eat when they are hungry and stop when they are full.  Often for active kiddos a day of eating will look more like grazing rather than sitting and wolfing down gigantic portions of foods.  Think about how small a toddlers tummy is and how much food it actually takes to fill it up and relax a bit if your little ones are not wolfing down adult sized portions at every meal.

Let’s think a bit more about  kiddos.  Are their taste buds different than a grown-ups?  Sure, of course they have a more sensitive palate, especially the younger ones who are developing faster than the speed of light and kids are different every single day.  Feeding kids healthy paleo foods does not mean expecting your little ones to love kale and collards or to hear them beg for more asparagus; it’s about offering them healthy choices and revelling in the fact that kids will eat real food when that is what you have to offer!!

Remember when you first started eating paleo?  You really craved those carbs, you cried for your daily doses of sugar, you probably, if like me, hated everyone in your family for at least a week because they were an easy target as you longed for your nightly bowl(s) of banana nut clusters.  But what happened next?  You started to feel better.  The cravings went away.  You realized that you loved how real food tasted and you started looking forward to your paleo meals and stopped wanting to die for your old food.

Physical Fitness and Physical Activity in Obese and Nonobese Flemish Youth

Benedicte Deforche^*, Johan Lefevre^†, Ilse De Bourdeaudhuij^*, Andrew P. Hills^‡, William Duquet^§ and Jacques Bouckaert^*

1. ^*Department of Movement and Sport Sciences, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
2. ^†Department of Sport and Movement Sciences, Faculty of Physical Education and Physiotherapy, Catholic University Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
3. ^‡School of Human Movement Studies, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia
4. ^§Faculty of Physical Education and Physiotherapy, Free University Brussels, Brussels, Belgium

Correspondence: Benedicte Deforche, Ghent University, Department of Movement and Sport Sciences, Watersportlaan 2, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium. E-mail: benedicte.deforche@rug.ac.be

Received 20 May 2002; Accepted 11 December 2002.

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Abstract

Objective: To assess different aspects of physical fitness and physical activity in obese and nonobese Flemish youth.

Research Methods and Procedures: A random sample of 3214 Flemish schoolchildren was selected and divided into an "obese" and "nonobese" group based on body mass index and sum of skinfolds. Physical fitness was assessed by the European physical fitness test battery. Physical activity was estimated by a modified version of the Baecke Questionnaire.

Results: Obese subjects had inferior performances on all tests requiring propulsion or lifting of the body mass (standing-broad jump, sit-ups, bent-arm hang, speed shuttle run, and endurance shuttle run) compared with their nonobese counterparts (p < 0.001). In contrast, the obese subjects showed greater strength on handgrip (p < 0.001). Both groups had similar levels of leisure-time physical activity; however, nonobese boys had a higher sport index than their obese counterparts (p < 0.05).

Discussion: Results of this study show that obese subjects had poorer performances on weight-bearing tasks, but did not have lower scores on all fitness components. To encourage adherence to physical activity in obese youth, it is important that activities are tailored to their capabilities. Results suggest that weight-bearing activities should be limited at the start of an intervention with obese participants and alternative activities that rely more on static strength used.

Keywords: 

physical fitness, physical activity, adiposity, children, youth

E.O.T.D.

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Coach March1

What Is CrossFit Kids?

CrossFit Kids is the principal strength and conditioning program for many young athletes and the primary P.E. program for many home schools, charter schools.   It is used by athletic teams, martial arts schools and many parents that want their kids to grow up healthy, strong and have a life long love of working out thus avoiding the common problems associated with childhood inactivity and obesity.
 
Our program delivers a fitness that is, by design, broad, general, and inclusive. Our specialty is not specializing. Healthy living requires that our kids push, pull, run, throw climb, lift, jump, effectively and safely regardless of whether or not they play athletics. Athletics is a specialized pursuit.   Our goal is to support the specialist, but reward the generalist.

The CrossFit Kids program is designed for universal scalability making it the perfect application for any committed individual regardless of experience. We've used our same routines for 4 year olds and elite high school athletes. We scale load and intensity; we don't change programs.   The needs of our second graders and our high school wrestler differ by degree not kind.

CrossFit Kids is a minimalist program.  It is not expensive, often requires little or no equipment therefore can be used  across broad socio economic groups providing an easily accessible cost free resource for Elite Physical Fitness to everyone.
 
We also publish the CrossFit Kids Magazine designed to support the CrossFit community as a whole as well as teachers, trainers, and parents actively engaged in coaching CrossFit Kids. The CrossFit Kids magazine details the theory, techniques, and practice used by our coaches in our gym, in essence bringing your garage or gym into ours,  making you part of our Crossfit Family.

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