Children and fitness

I've had my 4.5 year old daughter in tumbling. She loves it.

My family do this as part of our wake up routine - 7 yr son, 5 yr daughter, 1 yr son - all do circuit calisthenics (pushups, situps, planks, jumping jacks) each morning and motivate each other to see if we can top yesterday's count.

What you are doing is imprinting essential habits onto your kids. Never too early to begin this. Everything in moderation.

I think it's wonderful that your son is showing such an interest in fitness & like the previous posters, I would encourage you to nurture and foster this interest. To answer your specific question, there is no harm whatsoever in your son participating in the cardio and bodyweight portions of your circuit training. As long as he is not lifting heavy weights (too much weight and improper form can pose risk to growing children's growth plates) & is still enjoying himself, I say go for it!!

YES ke

I've had my nine year old daughter do the same thing with me. Always wants to join in with me, I understand your concern about body image issues. I worry about that too, maybe more so with a girl.

I think as long as you guys are open with him and emphasize the health aspects of it and kind of glaze over the way it makes your body look better, you're on the right track. Also use it as an opportunity to teach him, and yourselves, about the nutrition aspects.

You said he comments on making sure he gets enough protein, which is good because he's not thinking about limiting his eating, but the protein requirements aren't all that high, even for a growing boy or someone trying to gain weight. Carbs and fats are given too much of a back seat, in my opinion, by a lot of people. They're key for energy, mood regulation, and growth.

I just recently cut the butter out of my morning oatmeal for a week because my fat macro was a tad high. I felt drained and sluggish and generally crappy all week. Decided to put it back and boom, overnight my energy level felt back to normal. It was one teaspoon of butter a day, but what a difference!

I helped a co-worker come up with a simple strength-building workout plan for his 10 year old son. It's a 2x week program. It alternates between bodyweight and very light dumbbell exercises.

Day 1 (bodyweight): Walking Lunges, Push-Ups (beginners can start on their knees), Pull-Ups (beginners might need someone to help give them a bit of a boost by holding their legs), Sit-Ups (beginners can just do partial reps, focus on keeping lower back straight, hands on chest), Planks/Side Bridges
Day 2 (light dumbbells): DB Step Ups, Bench Press w/ DBs, DB OHP Standing Press, Partial Sit-Ups, Planks/Side Bridges .. evaluate form/technique.

Aside from them getting good warmup first, jogging in place, jumping jacks, stomach vacuums, etc., and making sure their form is decent, you'll want to monitor their attention spans. If they seem distracted or whatever, then terminate the workout. If kids' focus isn't on the lifting, they could end up with an injury.

EmmaReed84 wrote: »

Thank you, I just don't want to damage him, he is still so young and growing. He loves fitness, he is a super healthy eater, loves fruit and veg and always goes on about 'getting enough protein' lol, it's rather sweet and funny at times! I just want to be careful not to give him a complex about his body.

If he’s fully healthy, then there is little risk. On the runs, realize that kids don’t have a mental gearbox like we do. He will push harder than he should at times, but will bonk out before he does too much damage. If you’re concerned, buy a heart rate monitor with bluetooth and track his heart rate on your phone. He should spend most of his time below 190 and not go much above 200 without slowing down. But running with you all, he’ll be ok.

EmmaReed84 wrote: »

My son is 9 years old and has so much energy. Just recently my husband did a 5k Park Run and took my son, who begged to go and was he apparently really good, he ran pretty much all of it, did it in 30 minutes and was encouraging everyone else, running with them, telling "Come on, don't stop you can do it, carry on" He has also started doing athletics 1 day a week. He keeps asking to go to circuit training with me, I know he isn't allowed to do weights, but wondered if he would still be okay to do bodyweight and cardio stuff./

If he sees my husband and I exercise, he always tries to join in with sit ups, push cups etc, and again, he is really good! I want to encourage this, but obviously not too much... any advice?

Kids should do some basic strength training especially if they're going to participate in sports. Hopefully you can find this online but here's a good peer-reviewed document related to resistance-training in children.

Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology position
paper: resistance training in children and
adolescents

David G. Behm, Avery D. Faigenbaum, Baraket Falk, and Panagiota Klentrou

If not, here's the abstract but I recommend you read the full article if you can. I can't share it unfortunately unless you want me to email it to you.

Abstract: Many position stands and review papers have refuted the myths associated with resistance training (RT) in children
and adolescents. With proper training methods, RT for children and adolescents can be relatively safe and improve
overall health. The objective of this position paper and review is to highlight research and provide recommendations in aspects
of RT that have not been extensively reported in the pediatric literature. In addition to the well-documented increases
in muscular strength and endurance, RT has been used to improve function in pediatric patients with cystic fibrosis and
cerebral palsy, as well as pediatric burn victims. Increases in children’s muscular strength have been attributed primarily
to neurological adaptations due to the disproportionately higher increase in muscle strength than in muscle size. Although
most studies using anthropometric measures have not shown significant muscle hypertrophy in children, more sensitive
measures such as magnetic resonance imaging and ultrasound have suggested hypertrophy may occur. There is no minimum
age for RT for children. However, the training and instruction must be appropriate for children and adolescents, involving
a proper warm-up, cool-down, and appropriate choice of exercises. It is recommended that low- to moderateintensity
resistance exercise should be done 2–3 times/week on non-consecutive days, with 1–2 sets initially, progressing
to 4 sets of 8–15 repetitions for 8–12 exercises. These exercises can include more advanced movements such as Olympicstyle
lifting, plyometrics, and balance training, which can enhance strength, power, co-ordination, and balance. However,
specific guidelines for these more advanced techniques need to be established for youth. In conclusion, an RT program
that is within a child’s or adolescent’s capacity and involves gradual progression under qualified instruction and supervision
with appropriately sized equipment can involve more advanced or intense RT exercises, w