Teach your children or teens to make fitness a habit, and it may be a habit they take with them into adulthood. Children and teens should aim to get one hour of exercise most days of the week. A well-rounded fitness program includes cardiovascular training through aerobic activity, strength training for muscles and bones. In adolescence, flexibility training should be added as well. As always, consult your child's physician before she embarks on a new fitness journey.
Aerobic Activity
Aerobic activities are those that steadily involve the large muscles of the body, such as walking, running and swimming. Children and adolescents should engage in aerobic activity nearly every day. In fact, most of your child's daily exercise total should be comprised of aerobic activity. Make workouts fun by offering variety and by participating with your child. Also teach children to recognize the fitness benefits of everyday activities such as walking the dog or raking the lawn.
Muscle Strengthening
At least three times per week your child or teenager should partake in activities that strengthen muscles. Workouts such as rock climbing, gymnastics and calisthenics are all muscle building. Simple strength-training workouts with resistance bands are also great ways to build the strength of young muscles. Many of the aerobic workouts your child chooses will also count toward building muscle. Climbing and swimming are both good examples of workouts that are aerobic and also build muscle.
Bone Strengthening
During childhood and adolescence, it is very important to incorporate activities that strengthen bones too. Any activity that involves impact is bone strengthening. For example the impact of your body on the ground when you are running is a bone-strengthening activity. Any aerobic workout that involves jumping, like jump rope, basketball, and volleyball, strengthens bones as well. Make sure that at least three times per week your child does activities with impact.
Flexibility
Flexibility training does not need to be incorporated into your child's fitness routine until adolescence. In the teen years, bones grow faster than muscles, which makes it a good time to start incorporating workouts aimed at increasing flexibility. Teenagers can use yoga or simple stretching routines for increasing flexibility. A flexibility workout should always be preceded by a thorough warmup, and proper form should be maintained to prevent injury. Stretching should be done daily to improve flexibility.
Member Comments