by P\u00e4r Karlberg, M.S., CSCS, USAW, CISSN<\/p>\n
Have you ever seen some buff dad at the gym with his preteen\u00a0next to him lifting more than a third of his body weight?\u00a0In that moment, did you question this father\u2019s ability to\u00a0keep his child safe? You may have heard that young children\u00a0should not lift weights because it could stunt their growth\u2014\u00a0but this is simply not true. And if you think you\u2019re raising the\u00a0next superstar athlete, strength training is a necessary thing\u00a0for young kids to be involved in. Even if you\u2019re not raising the\u00a0next star athlete, strength training is an important aspect of\u00a0you and your child’s fitness for a lifetime of improved health.<\/p>\n
When children see their parents working out they\u00a0immediately want to join in on the fun. Start early to\u00a0encourage the good habits of exercising and nutrition,\u00a0something that will help both you and your children. Even\u00a0the youngest athlete can complete strength training in the\u00a0form of light resistance and body weight exercises.<\/p>\n
To begin, be sure to consult a trained weightlifting coach\u00a0on form. After consulting with a professional, be sure to\u00a0monitor your child\u2019s activity to ensure proper technique.\u00a0Strength training can have many benefits for both young\u00a0children and grown adults including developing proper\u00a0technique that can prevent injury, increasing muscle strength\u00a0and endurance, and, of course, improving performance in\u00a0any sport (as strength training transcends sport). Other key\u00a0benefits include maintaining a healthy weight, improving\u00a0confidence and self-esteem, and strengthening bones.<\/p>\n
Do be sure to incorporate proper warm-ups and cool-downs\u00a0including foam rolling, dynamic movements and aerobic\u00a0activity. Supervise your child to ensure proper technique, and\u00a0better yet, do the workout with them!<\/p>\n
Lastly, remember when getting your child involved in a\u00a0strength-training program, or any fitness program, to make\u00a0it fun for them. If they\u2019re not having fun, they won\u2019t want\u00a0to keep up this essential-to-your-health activity. There are\u00a0many different movements and exercises that can be done.\u00a0Listen to your child and find\u00a0out what they like and don\u2019t\u00a0like and move forward with\u00a0what they enjoy. Working\u00a0out together should be a fun\u00a0activity for both you and\u00a0them.<\/p>\n
Here is a list of strength\u00a0training exercises that\u00a0you can draw from when\u00a0starting your strength training\u00a0program. All can be\u00a0done with or without extra\u00a0weight. However, the ones\u00a0with a (W) work best with\u00a0weight. Don\u2019t have weights?\u00a0Children can try a couple of\u00a0cans of food to start out!<\/p>\n
Focus on the legs:<\/strong><\/p>\n Squats (single leg, front,\u00a0back, jumping)<\/p>\n Lunges<\/p>\n Calf raises<\/p>\n Step-ups<\/p>\n Focus on the arms\/pecs:<\/strong><\/p>\n Push ups<\/p>\n Flyes (W)<\/p>\n Curls (W)<\/p>\n Pullups<\/p>\n Shoulder press (W)<\/p>\n Focus on the abs:<\/strong><\/p>\n Russian twist<\/p>\n Plank<\/p>\n Situps\/crunches<\/p>\n Leg lifts<\/p>\n Full-body exercises:<\/strong><\/p>\n Romanian deadlift (W)<\/p>\n Clean (W)<\/p>\n Burpees<\/p>\n Jumping jacks<\/p>\n P\u00e4r Karlberg is a Certified\u00a0Strength and Conditioning\u00a0Specialist, USA Weightlifting\u00a0Coach, Sports Nutritionist\u00a0and graduated from Florida\u00a0State University with a\u00a0master’s degree in exercise\u00a0physiology. He currently\u00a0works as a coach at Ernie Sims\u00a0Big H.I.T.S. Performance.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by P\u00e4r Karlberg, M.S., CSCS, USAW, CISSN Have you ever seen some buff dad at the gym with his preteen\u00a0next to him lifting more than a third of his body weight?\u00a0In that moment, did you question this father\u2019s ability to\u00a0keep his child safe? You may have heard that young children\u00a0should not lift weights because it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":854,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_cbd_carousel_blocks":"[]","footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[235,253,254,255,252],"class_list":["post-853","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health","tag-exercise","tag-lifting","tag-strength","tag-training","tag-weight"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/tallahasseefamilymagazine.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/853","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/tallahasseefamilymagazine.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/tallahasseefamilymagazine.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/tallahasseefamilymagazine.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/tallahasseefamilymagazine.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=853"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/tallahasseefamilymagazine.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/853\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":855,"href":"http:\/\/tallahasseefamilymagazine.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/853\/revisions\/855"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/tallahasseefamilymagazine.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/854"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/tallahasseefamilymagazine.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=853"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/tallahasseefamilymagazine.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=853"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/tallahasseefamilymagazine.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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