Tom Sheehan, general manager of Sunrise Health & Racquet in Massapequa, already sensed that his club’s foray into kids’ fitness was a success. Since its inception in September, about 100 kids ages 7 to 12 had signed up for the eight-week weight training and exercise program, called “Sunrise Beginnings.”
But what clinched it for Sheehan was the day recently when a little girl in the class came up to him. “She was so excited,” Sheehan said. “She said she had been in gym class in school that day and she was the only one that could do a pull-up. And it was because of her participation in our class that she was able to do it. She was beaming.” |
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| At Sunrise Health & Racquet Club in Massapequa, it’s circuit training for ages 7-12; from left: Ryan Melton, Michael Spinelli, Paul Ferguson,trainer, Priscilla Pereira, and, at right, Thomas Amato. |
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| Gym programs aim to help a generation of sedentary kids get fit |
So was Sheehan—and so is the entire health club industry—as it embraces an audience that until recently was not very welcome in the neighborhood gym. Membership numbers of children under 18 in commercial fitness facilities have increased by more than half a million per year since 2000, up to 5.1 million last year.
“It’s a big trend and a growing trend,” says Joe Moore, president of the International Health, Racquet and Sports Club, which represents 6,500 of the largest commercial fitness facilities here and abroad. “We’re seeing health clubs spending a tremendous amount of money on kids-only wings, adding activities, equipment and programs.”
While their motives may be commercial, some experts welcome the new programs and classes that give an increasingly sedentary and obese generation of American children more options to get moving.
“It’s a positive trend, because whatever has been going on in the past hasn’t been working,” says Dr. Stephen Virgilio, chairman of the department of physical education at Adelphi University and author of “Active Start for Healthy Kids” (Human Kinetics, 2006). “I also like it because it gives children who are not athletic an opportunity to be physically active in a non-competitive environment.”
That’s the kind of environment Sheehan has tried to create in the 2,000-square-foot Sunrise Beginnings space, located apart from the adult fitness area, on the second floor of his club: There, for about 60 minutes most evenings, up to 12 children rotate between supervised training on kid-sized weight machines and riding on the popular GameBikes (where the child controls an onscreen PlayStation character by pedaling). Games of catch, jumping and exercises on the stability ball are also part of the workout, which tries to de-emphasize the “work” part, in order to help kids learn to enjoy regular physical activity. (The cost for the child of a non-member for the 8-week exercise program at Sunrise is $175; for children of members it’s $125.)
Gym-within-a-gym programs such as Sunrise Beginnings or KidFit at Synergy Fitness in Farmingdale are not the only place you’ll find fitness classes for kids. There are some gyms geared specifically to kids (such as Active Kidz Long Island in East Hills), as well as sports-oriented facilities that offer exercise classes (such as the Gym-Nest in Medford, a gymnastics and cheerleading gym that also has fitness classes), not to mention family facilities in which exercise is part of the menu (such as Orly’s Treehouse in Westbury, which bills itself as “part child-care center, part educational facility, part health club, and part spa”). Many yoga studios now offer kids’ classes, as well.
Whether it’s an established gym or a single class in an otherwise all-adult or sports facility, there are certain things you should look for:
_ A clean, safe environment: Check for plenty of room between machines and a matted floor.
_ A kid-friendly, non-competitive atmosphere: “Exercise should be part of it, of course,” Virgilio says, “but it should also be combined with fun activities and games with other kids. Socialization is an important part of the experience.”
_ Caring, qualified personnel: Virgilio says that the person overseeing the facility should have a master’s degree in exercise science, and that the instructors should at least have a certification from a reputable fitness organization such as the American Council on Exercise. And check their commitment along with their credentials. “You want a staff that’s really interested in children’s fitness and cares about kids,” Moore says.
Remember, the success of a child’s fitness program isn’t measured in pounds lost or muscle gained. “The idea,” says KidFit’s Maria Yakkey, “is to build a foundation for them to continue exercising for their entire lives.” |
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| Should Kids Lift Weights? |
| It’s a matter of getting it right, keeping it safe |
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Despite the rows of treadmills and elliptical machines, the yoga classes and aerobics studios, the cornerstone of most health clubs is still weight training equipment. This is true even at most kids’ facilities, which are generally built around circuits of kid-sized weight training machines.
Children lifting weights, even light weights, was once verboten. But in recent years, exercise scientists have taken a closer look at the issue. In a 1998 paper, the American College of Sports Medicine determined that “strength training can be a safe and effective activity for children and adolescents, provided that the program is properly designed and competently supervised.”
The group cited studies showing that strength training may not only increase the muscular strength of children and adolescents, but may also enhance such fitness skills as jumping and sprinting, and sports performance.
Still, some are skeptical. “When I give talks to parent groups and come to the part on strength training, I often get quizzical looks,” says Dr. Jordan Metzl of the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York. “ ‘Julia is only 9,’ parents say, ‘and I don’t want her to look like Arnold Schwarzenegger.’ ”
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The problem, Metzl says, is that people equate strength or resistance training—which he defines as the repetitive lifting of light weights to increase baseline strength by developing more muscle fiber—with power lifting, heavy movements designed to maximize muscle bulk.
“Strength training is safe for kids,” he says. “Power lifting is not.”
Most of the new wave of kids’ fitness facilities includes strength training of the type that Metzl advocates— emphasizing lower weights and higher repetitions, usually on kid-sized weight training machines.
More info: For a good home strength-training routine, see Metzl’s 2002 book, “The Young Athlete: A Sports Doctor’s Complete Guide for Parents” (Little Brown.) |
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