Basic fitness skills will set kids up for life
During the course of our lifespan, our bodies go through many physical, hormonal and physiological changes. Exercise, nutrition and lifestyle habits will all influence our quality of life and be a determining factor in the way we depart this world.
During this series of articles, we will look at the journey your body takes as it progresses through the decades and its response to exercise in each one. To get started we will focus on pre-pubescent teens.
We all know that children today are much less active than the teens growing up 20 years ago. Each year I see fewer and fewer children playing soccer on the street, hop scotch, skipping -- many of the games that introduced us to exercise growing up. These games not only improved our social interaction with other children but they also improved co-ordination.
These outdoor games have been replaced by computer games. Sitting in front of a screen every day alters a child's posture. Too much gaming can also make kids more introverted because there is less social interaction.
Inactivity and poor nutrition are contributing to obesity, lack of self-confidence and lack of self-esteem in young boys and girls.
A 2009 study showed that schools that have PE have seen the number of injuries that occur in physical education classes increase. Between 1977 and 2007, the study in the journal 'Pediatrics' said that injuries rose by 150pc and the number of head injuries had doubled in children of ages five to 10 years.
PE in schools should focus on helping to develop the primal movement skills of running, bending, throwing, kicking, tumbling and jumping.
As most of the injuries listed in the study happened in sports, it seems that children are playing sports before they have learned to become athletic.
We need to teach them how to crawl before they can walk. Break down the movements individually, and as they master one movement, let them graduate on to the next.
Training kids, whether they are pre-teens or adolescents, is different to training adults. It is not just about running and putting in a treadmill in a teen gym. They need distinct programmes based on an assessment, because their bodies are still growing, bones are still developing and many have flexibility or mobility issues that need to be addressed and improved so they can perform at their best.
They also mature at different rates. Some 13-year-olds may have the physical maturity of an 11-year-old and others may have the physical maturity of a 15-year-old. That's why a qualified coach should assess the children.
A growing body is not a deterrent to exercise, especially resistance training. Resistance training does not stunt growth, cause injury or decrease bone strength. With the correct, supervised programme, it has been shown to thicken the elbow and wrist joints in kids, which prevents sports and recreational injuries, improves self-confidence and develops co-ordination and neuro-muscular strength.
Children's exercise should be fun. Their attention span is short and that is why I said treadmills are a waste of time for them. Adults may be able to tolerate boredom but kids need exposure to different exercises.
A study of overweight children from Canada in 2008 showed how a six-week resistance training and diet programme improved strength, which resulted in changes in self-confidence, body composition and improved feelings about endurance.
In addition, it improved social interaction and mental discipline, in a similar way to those who play team sports.
If properly supervised, resistance training in children doesn't increase injuries. The National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) in America looked at the injury data compiled in emergency room departments from resistance training to look at the sources of injuries in children. The main injury was weights dropping on the participant.
Exercise should be the first step. After that you can educate a child on how resistance training improves your body's ability to use sugar and prevent diabetes, and you can also tell them about the different macro-nutrients in nutrition, proteins, carbohydrates and fats.
Proteins repair the muscles, hair and nails, improve the immune system, detoxify the liver and improve our satiety from eating.
Fats are needed to balance our hormones, keep us warm and provide energy when there are less carbohydrates to use for fuel.
With children, the focus should be on building habits for health and not changing body composition. Girls today are very susceptible to images which, coupled with peer pressure, can lead to eating disorders.
Research has shown that what you have at breakfast will dictate your mood for the day. Children who eat a healthy breakfast with optimal protein, fat and carbohydrate rations are less likely to be overweight, have better cognitive function and test scores, and achieve higher overall education levels than their breakfast-skipping peers. It also influences them to make better food choices throughout the day.
This is a hard change to make for children so you may need to negotiate with them to move the breakfast cereal to later on in the day, before bed. The best thing for parents to do is to lead by example.
An apple never falls far from the tree and if you and your children eat your meals together, they will adopt your habits as their own.
All it takes is one family to make the change. Make one behavioural change at a time and then let the snowball effect take hold to change to a healthier lunch, dinner and snacks -- leading to healthier children!
www.befitforlife.ie
Originally published in
