Is 10 year old too young to exercise?

dinsfamily

earlnabby wrote: »

I agree that there is nothing wrong with it. Most play is exercise anyway, be it running, biking, playing sports, swimming, etc. I do wonder about the "building muscle for competitions". IIRC, weight training to build muscle shouldn't start until they hit puberty and they have the hormones flowing. I could be wrong and welcome correction or clarification.

I agree with that, but it sounds like she is doing a cardio/body weight based program with her mom (that's what T25 is, right?). That should certainly build some strength and help her swimming. I think it is good that she wants to get better at her sport (without doing anything unhealthy to achieve it).

No_Finish_Line

piperdown44 wrote: »

My peers and I all grew up on farms....we called it work or chores, but it was in addition to playing or sports. Also used to drag feed bags around, buckets of corn, picking rock, and moving armfuls of syphon tubes around. <-sounds a bit like weight lifting.

that's a good point, but it doesn't mean there were not any potential draw backs you did or did not avoid.

if its part of your way of life, or your child is that gung ho about doing lifts with almost no weight, your probably not in a whole lot of danger.

I think its more to deter the extreme of going for one rep max every week at 11 years old.

piperdown44

No_Finish_Line wrote: »

piperdown44 wrote: »

My peers and I all grew up on farms....we called it work or chores, but it was in addition to playing or sports. Also used to drag feed bags around, buckets of corn, picking rock, and moving armfuls of syphon tubes around. <-sounds a bit like weight lifting.

that's a good point, but it doesn't mean there were not any potential draw backs you did or did not avoid.

if its part of your way of life, or your child is that gung ho about doing lifts with almost no weight, your probably not in a whole lot of danger.

I think its more to deter the extreme of going for one rep max every week at 11 years old.

True but we didn't think it was out of the ordinary.
Definitely no one rep maxes! But then I don't think anyone was promoting that.

dinsfamily

jemhh wrote: »

I think that a certain amount of weight lifting at an early age is fine. When I say a light bar for my daughter, I mean a really light bar. The one in the picture below is one from a beginner's weight set and when I use it I don't count it as any weight. When she uses dumbbells, she's using 5-7.5 pounds most of the time. But I know plenty of kids, especially farm kids, who are hauling around more weight than that while doing their daily chores. I'm not loading up a bar and expecting her to bench 55# (her bodyweight) but reasonable weights are fine for her right now.

I agree with this too. My boys will do VERY light kettlebell or bar work, but really nothing more than they could do lifting things at home or outside. They are just learning the proper movements and how it feels with a little weight. There is no finding a 1RM or anything of that sort. When I think of no weightlifting for kids, I'm thinking more serious stuff.

Packerjohn

jemhh wrote: »

Not at all. Exercise is just purposely doing physical activity in order to get in shape or stay in shape, rather than having that activity built into your normal everyday activities. Kids usually get enough activity (or at least should) by their normal running around and playing so they don't generally exercise for the sake of exercising. g.

As you say, they should. Judging by the levels of childhood obesity, it's not happening.

JustChristy79

My 10 year old does P90X when she's bored. I think it's awesome!

5BeautifulDays

My 10 year old does gymnastics (so body-weight exercise) basically every day. She's also a typically active kid who bikes/runs/swims etc. She needs extra food and rest when she's unusually active, but otherwise I just let her figure out how much to do (except hiking--that requires a cattle prod. She doesn't find it nearly as entertaining as I do!)

I think as long as you aren't pushing her to do more than she's comfortable with, her own sense of what is "too hard/too painful" will kick in before she risks injury.

ForecasterJason

When I was 10-11 I was in a PE class in which I was running and doing pushups and pullups. I think these types of exercises are great and safe for kids at that age.

rosey808

Thanks!! I really appreciate all the responses.

My daughter is very athletic and is all muscle. She's very thin and tall (5ft), weighs 100lbs. Doctor said it was pure muscle. She's very competitive and became more so when she swam with one of her teammates that qualified at the Olympic trials, so now that's her goal.

It's kind of funny how easy T25 is for her, while I'm busting my hump doing the modified version.

Anyway, thanks again!

dubird

I think it'd be to young to focus on an actual exercise program for her, but if she joins you in yours, that's good. Means she's staying active. My mom actually got the Sweatin' to the Oldies when it first came out and my sister and I would join her because we thought it was fun, we didn't care that it was exercise she was doing to try and lose weight.

beastmode2718

I don't think it's too young at all. I would never suggest a child count calories but I would look into her needs and make sure she is eating enough as children have high metabolisms. It could be a start to a healthy life and make her feel good about herself preventing depression and an eating disorder. Like I said though if you notice her not eating and becoming super aware of her appearance it may lead to dangerous behavior. Unfortunately ten is not too young to have an eating disorder

Sam_I_Am77

If she's serious about swimming competitively then you should most definitely get her into some strength & conditioning; she is definitely not too young. Finding a trainer that is knowledgeable in managing that training of an athlete would be ideal for you. There seems to be a common thread today as I've said this a few times, but for athletic training specifically an intelligent trainer with a NSCA - CSCS or NASM - PES would be a good start. They tend to be a little more knowledgeable about managing the training of athletes. The NASM PES is all about performance training (athletics).

erimethia_fekre

No. Technically when the play is kids it's a form of exercise