A question that always comes up is when is it too young for kids to exercise.
I believe that exercise can only help the youth, especially with our growing obesity problem and subsequent health issues that go along with it. What we have to figure out is how much is too much and what should they do.
The argument I have heard is since kids are still growing, especially in the joints and ligaments, they shouldn’t do things such as weight train.
While this may be true, there is a big difference between exercise that can help as they grow, and serious weight training.
Developing good, healthy habits at a young age can only help kids as they get older to continue on a healthy lifestyle. I have trained many kids and use weights in their routines. However I don’t recommend they focus on building muscle, rather general, simple strength moves with the bigger muscle groups and higher reps. The reality is there is a bigger health risk when we don’t implement those good habits when kids are young than there is doing some easy strength and conditioning work. While we do need to be aware of growing bodies we can really help them in the long run by showing them exercise should be safe and beneficial to their health.
Until next time…
