Exercise for Children

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Like adults, kids need exercise. Most children need at least an hour of physical activity every day. Regular exercise helps children

• Feel less stressed
• Feel better about themselves
• Feel more ready to learn in school
• Keep a healthy weight
• Build and keep healthy bones, muscles and joints
• Sleep better at night

As kids spend more time watching TV, they spend less time running and playing. Parents should limit TV, video game and computer time. Parents can set a good example by being active themselves. Exercising together can be fun for everyone. Competitive sports can help kids stay fit. Walking or biking to school, dancing, bowling and yoga are some other ways for kids to get exercise.


Information

Children need at least 60 minutes of physical activity every day to be healthy. Lack of physical activity is contributing to a dangerous increase in childhood obesity.

Children should be given many opportunities to play, run, bike, and participate in sports, preferably on a daily basis. Exercise should be appropriate for the child's age. For example, a 6-year-old may play outside, while a 16-year-old may run at a track. Encourage your child to build strength, flexibility, and aerobic capacity (for example, through running).

Children generally shouldn't be expected to exercise in the routine, formal way adults do (such as walking 3 miles every day or lifting weights). Instead, children should have activities that are:

Aerobic (such as walking to school)
Muscle strengthening (such as climbing on playground equipment)
Bone strengthening (such as running, jumping rope, or playing basketball)

Aerobic exercises, muscle strengthening exercises, and bone strengthening exercises should be included at least three times a week. Many activities combine these different types of exercise.

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The Many Benefits of Exercise

Everyone can benefit from regular exercise. Kids who are active will:

* have stronger muscles and bones
* have a leaner body because exercise helps control body fat
* be less likely to become overweight
* decrease the risk of developing type 2 diabetes
* possibly lower blood pressure and blood cholesterol levels
* have a better outlook on life

Besides enjoying the health benefits of regular exercise, kids who are physically fit sleep better and are better able to handle physical and emotional challenges — from running to catch a bus to studying for a test.

The Three Elements of Fitness

If you've ever watched kids on a playground, you've seen the three elements of fitness in action when they:

1. run away from the kid who's "it" (endurance)
2. cross the monkey bars (strength)
3. bend down to tie their shoes (flexibility)

Parents should encourage their kids to do a variety of activities so that they can work on all three elements.

Endurance is developed when kids regularly engage in aerobic activity. During aerobic exercise, the heart beats faster and a person breathes harder. When done regularly and for continuous periods of time, aerobic activity strengthens the heart and improves the body's ability to deliver oxygen to all its cells.

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How Much Exercise Is Enough?

Parents need to ensure that their kids get enough exercise. So, how much is enough? All kids 2 years and older should get at least 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous exercise on most, preferably all, days of the week.

The National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE) offers expanded activity guidelines for infants, toddlers and preschoolers:

Age Minimum Daily Activity Comments

Infant No specific requirements Physical activity should encourage motor development

Toddler 1½ hours 30 minutes planned physical activity AND 60 minutes unstructured physical activity (free play)

Preschooler 2 hours 60 minutes planned physical activity AND 60 minutes unstructured physical activity (free play)

School age 1 hour or more Break up into bouts of 15 minutes or more

Infants and young children should not be inactive for prolonged periods of time — no more than 1 hour unless they're sleeping. And school-age children should not be inactive for periods longer than 2 hours.

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About Strength Training

Strength training is the practice of using free weights, weight machines, and rubber resistance bands, or body weight to build muscles. With resistance the muscles have to work harder to move. When the muscles work harder, they grow stronger and more efficient.

Strength training can also help fortify the ligaments and tendons that support the muscles and bones and improve bone density, which is the amount of calcium and minerals in the bone. And the benefits may go beyond physical health. Young athletes may feel better about themselves as they get stronger.

The goal of strength training is not to bulk up. It should not be confused with weight lifting, bodybuilding, and powerlifting, which are not recommended for kids and teens. In these sports, people train with very heavy weights and participate in modeling and lifting competitions. Kids and teens who do those sports can risk injuring their growing bones, muscles, and joints.

Safety

As with any sport, it's wise to have your child visit a doctor before beginning a strength-training regimen. If the doctor signs off on the idea, you'll need to make sure that your child will be properly supervised, using safe equipment, and following an age-appropriate routine.

Muscle strains are the most common form of injury, and the lower back is the most commonly injured area. But these injuries usually happen because the child has not used the proper lifting technique or is trying to lift too much weight.
As long as your child is using the proper techniques and lifting an appropriate amount of weight, strength training shouldn't have any effect on growth plates, the layer of cartilage near the end of the bone where most of the bone growth occurs.

Strength training should not involve the use of anabolic steroids. Some young and professional athletes have abused these drugs to build muscles and improve athletic performance and appearance. But these drugs, some of which are illegal, can pose severe risks to physical and psychological health.

Program Guidelines

The NSCA offers these guidelines for strength-training programs:

• An instructor-to-child ratio of at least 1 to 10 is recommended.
• The instructor should have experience with kids and strength training.
• When teaching a new exercise, the trainer should have kids perform the exercise under his or her supervision in a hazard-free, well-lit, and adequately ventilated environment.
• Calisthenics and stretching exercises should be performed before and after strength training.
• Kids should begin with one set of 8 to 15 repetitions of six to eight exercises that focus on the major muscle groups of the upper and lower body.
• Kids should start with no load (resistance). When proper technique is mastered, a relatively light weight can be used with a high number of repetitions. Increase the weight as strength improves.Progression can also be achieved by increasing the number of sets (up to three) or types of exercises.
• Two to three training sessions per week on nonconsecutive days is sufficient.

It's important to remember that strength training should be one part of a total fitness program. It can play a vital role in keeping your child healthy and fit, along with aerobic exercise such as biking and running, which keeps the heart and lungs in shape.



BizHat.com - Health

[wiley27804]

Really nice post.....now-a-days schedule of children are so hectic....that they can't even find time to exercise or play.....well...playing is the best exercise for children...i think one must allow his kid to play for atleast 2 hrs. in a day....my kid is so small to play outside in a playground and i get little worried whenever he goes out. so i have created a playground for him. I have installed really cool slides and swings for him and this will help him in gaining strength also.
If anyone interested in such playgrounds for their kids..they can visit to a website Playground Equipment for Outdoor Commercial Playground | AAA State of Play . They have very good collection of both indoor and outdoor playgrounds.