Lift, Stretch, Pull, Sweat, and Now Recite Your ABCs

Picture a health club without Lycra, where members lift half-pound weights to tone 7-inch biceps.

At Children’s Health & Executive Club, one of the nation’s first fitness centers exclusively for youngsters, even 2-year-olds can pump iron, and the stair machines are equipped with Magna Doodles.

Unlike Gymboree classes, which offer mostly jumping, tumbling and other kinds of play, CHEC features free weights and weight machines like those in adult health clubs, scaled down for its pint-size members.

Although some adult clubs are adding similar equipment to attract adults with children, CHEC’s estimated 350 members are all 2 to 17.

The image of kids playing endless games of hopscotch and kick-the-can is being replaced by a reality of youngsters living in dangerous neighborhoods, watching too much TV and eating too much fast food, says 42-year-old Latrice Lee, who founded the club a year ago.

Dominique Reese, an 8-year-old in black corduroy overalls, gaily sings along with a recording of “Space Jam” as she works out on the Gravitron weight-resistance machine. She also enjoys some instructor-led aerobics.

“It’s fun,” she says, sweat forming on her forehead. “We learn how to work our biceps and triceps. I know my calves and my hamstrings.”

The goal, says instructor Abdul Hassan, is not to turn the children into miniature Arnold Schwarzeneggers but to help them learn about their bodies and develop lifelong habits.

“We want to create a new generation of kids to learn fitness and keep fit all of their lives,” Hassan says.

At a time when more and more schools are eliminating gym class, studies show that more than 13% of youngsters ages 6 to 17 are overweight and getting fatter.

“Children are suffering from adult maladies. They just kind of need an adult solution for these adult problems,” Lee says.

Some members are normal-weight kids who use the club as a sort of day-care center, Lee says. Others, like a 180-pound, 6-year-old girl, are seriously overweight.

Daphne Hayes enrolled her portly 12-year-old son to help him lose weight. “It’s good for his self-esteem, and he started dropping inches and pounds.”

In between workouts, the children learn about nutrition and play chess and other games for the mind.

Pediatrician Larry McLain says competitive body-building should be avoided until the body matures. But he says children’s use of weights, if properly supervised and part of a program that includes nutrition and cardiovascular exercise, can do some good.