The gym? For kids, it’s different
See Jane. See Jane pedal an elliptical trainer. Go, Jane, go!
Jane may be only 8 years old, but she can now work off those juice-box calories on kid-size elliptical trainers, treadmills, stationary bikes and weight machines.
Schools, health clubs, YMCAs and kids-only gyms across the country are adding more child-size machines in an attempt to get kids moving. After all, these are the contraptions that grown-ups typically glom onto when they’re battling the bulge or getting in shape -- until, that is, they become completely bored and frustrated, then stop.
Encouraging kids to be active and to enjoy exercise is a noble pursuit. But simply plopping a 6-year-old on an elliptical trainer, as occurs in some gyms, borders on the absurd. And, ultimately, it may do more harm than good. If many adults can’t stand the thought of pedaling ad infinitum, why would a child?
Perhaps adults are simply interpreting what kids want through a grown-up perspective, thereby making exercise drudgery instead of fun. But that sense of fun is a critical element to any youth exercise program -- and should be an important element of adult workouts.
“Children are not miniature adults,” says Avery Faigenbaum, professor of health and exercise science at the College of New Jersey. “Simply because you have a computerized gizmo or a fancy treadmill in no way suggests that the child will enjoy exercise.”
At the crux of the matter, says Faigenbaum, who has spent years researching youth fitness and developing programs, is a difference in motivation. “Adults exercise to improve health and body composition and approve appearance,” he says. “Kids exercise to have fun, make friends and learn something new,” which doesn’t usually happen while parked on a recumbent bike.
“The more like play it can be, the more enjoyable it will be, and it’s that fun aspect that will keep the activity going,” says Tara Scanlan, professor of psychology at UCLA and director of the school’s International Center for Talent Development. The center studies motivation and emotion in youth sport. “We know that fun is the No. 1 motivator for kids in sports, and that’s true for everyone, through world class performers.” What children need is not terribly difficult to achieve.
“Your objective with kids,” says Michael Bergeron, a physiologist and assistant professor at the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta, “is to improve cardiovascular fitness, overall flexibility and motor skills.” That’s best done, he believes, with full-body movements -- aka functional fitness -- done in play-type settings. “Kids know how to play,” he adds. “They know when to stop and when to start. They’re not going to go for 30 minutes at their target heart rate.”
That’s not to say that such machines can’t help kids physically. In one study, boys and girls ages 7 to 9 worked out with child-size weight machines and medicine balls for eight weeks. The findings, published in 2001 in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, showed improvements in strength and muscle endurance. Even the American College of Sports Medicine and the American Academy of Pediatrics support strength-training programs that are designed for kids and appropriately supervised.
Still, too much weight lifting, too soon -- especially if it’s unsupervised -- can put a child at risk for injury. It also teaches nothing about teamwork and may encourage an unhealthy preoccupation with body size and musculature. To their credit, some adults have figured out the right formula for integrating machines into safe, suitable -- and fun -- exercise programs.
At the Franklin County Family YMCA in Rocky Mount, Va., executive director Russ Merritt says it’s often tough to get kids off the cardio machines in the new youth fitness center that opened last November. Part of the facility, dedicated to 5- to 12-year-olds, boasts an elaborate tree house and various weight and cardiovascular machines.
“We have to limit them to 20 minutes,” he says, referring to the cardio machines. “But they want to stay longer.” The secret to his success is that instructors are always engaging the children in imagination-fueled games -- pretending they’re champion cyclist Lance Armstrong, for example. “When you get to be a teen,” Merritt says, “you become more aware of your goals. But for this age group, the goal is to be pirates or cowboys,” or members of an expedition scaling the Alps, which is really the gym’s rock wall.
Fitwize 4 Kids, a chain of Curves-like gyms for children, offers supervised, play-infused workouts, including weight-training circuits.
The Hoist machines set up along two walls are more kinetic than the adult versions. Pushing up on the shoulder press, for example, also moves the seat back at an angle, making it more like a ride, a deliberate design element that the company hoped would appeal to kids.
The red-walled room also features a basketball hoop, balls, jump ropes, an agility course and two stationary bikes hooked up to TV monitors. The facility also offers classes such as hip-hop and kickboxing.
Parents drop their kids here to supplement meager school PE programs, encourage weight loss, keep them away from the TV after school, or complement other activities such as sports.
Kevin Gonzales, 11, of North Hollywood has been coming to the gym since it opened last August. His first reaction on seeing the weight machines was: “I thought these were for adults, and I was like, oh, my God, they have these. Once I started trying them, I felt good. I feel stronger.”
Tina Sahnaz was surprised to see the machines when she came in to enroll her 10-year-old daughter Megan. “I got so excited,” she says.
The grown-up cachet appeals to Megan, who was busy running an agility course. “She likes to do the same thing as Mommy and Daddy,” her mother says. “She also likes to be active and try anything and everything that’s different.” During a break, Megan, who’s been involved with gymnastics, says that she feels “healthier and stronger” since coming here, and appreciates the difference between this and her school PE classes: “At school you don’t get as much attention because there’s a lot more people. And here, if you’re doing something wrong, they’ll show you and correct it.”
Of course, push kids too far for too long in anything and they’ll get sick of it and want to quit -- that goes for music, the 4-H Club or exercise. The initial experience is what’s important, Scanlan says.
“If it’s been a drag from Day One,” she says, “then it’s going to be a bigger drag” down the road. Yet an early positive experience can be beneficial later: “If you’ve experienced what exercise gives you, and you’ve done that your whole life, then you miss it when it’s gone.”
Burnout seems to be the last thing on Kevin’s mind. “I’m going to keep doing this,” he says. “I like to lift weights.”
Still, kicking a ball around with a bunch of friends shouldn’t be abandoned and might be a better activity in the long run. It might not be a bad idea for adults, either.