Personal Training for Kids
by Bonita Porte and Tracey Gilbert

“You’ve got to be kidding!” many people react when we tell them we have a company providing personal training for children: why would any child need a personal trainer?

Their skepticism is easy to understand. The logical assumption is that most children, barring a handicap, get all the exercise they need either through hours of rambunctious play or via their school physical education program. Little League, other sports teams and dance and gymnastic classes, for example, provide ample opportunities for physical activity for older children.

However, let’s delve further. According to a recent report on obesity by the U.S.Surgeon General, the number of overweight American children has jumped by 50% since 1986. Type II diabetes now afflicts children as well as adults. One of the main strategies for managing this illness, previously referred to as adult-onset diabetes, is physical activity that results in decreased body fat.

Read almost any health magazine and you’ll find a number of theories on the increase in overweight, under-exercised children. But it’s simply common sense that there are few opportunities for spontaneous, active play in major urban centers, where there are no lawns on which to run and jump, no streets for bike riding and little sidewalk space for hop scotch or jump rope.

“Play Dates” after school must be arranged, often days in advance, and this is not always an easy task, especially when both parents have full-time jobs outside the home. Play dates for urban children are often inside apartments, where space limits the amount of cardiovascular exercise available to them.

And how many children take advantage of opportunities for active play when they are enticed by such options for sedentary activities as the Internet, cable television and video games? Youngsters who are overweight or for whom sports don’t feel natural may feel uncomfortable with physical exertion.

A 1999 national survey found that those aged two to eighteen averaged more than four hours a day watching television or videotapes, playing video games or using a computer. A third of this age group viewed television for more than three hours a day, with 17% of them watching TV more than five hours daily.

According to a National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey of U.S. adoles­cents aged 12 to 19 for the periods 1976 - 1980 versus 1988 - 1994 the number in that age group who were overweight increased to 9.7% from 5.4% for girls and to 11.3% from 4.5% for boys.

“Our nation’s young people are, in large measure, inactive, unfit and increasingly overweight. ...Enhancing efforts to promote participation in physical activity and sports among young people is a critical national priority,” stated a recent report   by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention that was submitted to the President by the Secretaries of Health and Human Services and Education.

Parents are puzzled why their children, who have physical education in school, are still overweight, uncoordinated, can’t catch and can’t swing a bat. But a responsible, caring adult, be it a parent or personal trainer, can show children what they are capable of doing physically that can lead to improved coordination and aerobic fitness. A young person’s self-esteem will rise dramatically with each skill that he or she was once too embarrassed to even attempt.

We have found that as children experience the fun and good feeling of physical activities, they become comfortable with participation and suffer less stress and anxiety. These positive feelings often are reflected in their schoolwork.

The International Consensus Conference on Physical Activity Guidelines for Adolescents recommends that all adolescents:

• Be physically active daily, or nearly every day, as part of play, games, sports, work, transportation, recreation, physical education or planned exercise, within the context of family, school or community activities.
• Engage in three or more sessions per week of activities lasting 20 minutes or more and requires moderate to vigorous exertion.

Motivation to be physically active begins at home. Parents can be role models who encourage their children to be active on a regular basis. A little activity together can go a long way. Go! Have fun!

Bonita Porte, a mother, owns Energetic Juniors in New York City. Tracey Gilbert is a certified personal trainer for Energetic Juniors.

References:

1. Kids & Media @ the new millennium. November monograph. Kaiser Family Foundation. 1999.
2. U.S. National Center for Health Statistics. 2000.
3. Physical Activity Guidelines for Adolescents: Consensus Statement by J. F. Sallis and K. Patrick. Pediatric Exercise Science. 1994.