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Hi Carol.
I am hoping you could recommend a good overall fitness program for my son.
He is 8-1/2 yrs. old and is a big kid - (his Dad is 6'4" with a large frame).
We moved from CA last year and ended up not taking any extra curricular
sports programs while going through the transition of rental, house, etc. I
had no idea how out-of-shape aerobically he had become. Our goal is to get
him back in shape aerobically so that he may play basketball and wrestle this
winter. Right now he would not be able to run up and down the court. ugh!!
I have started a running program with him by run/walking for a mile. I think
it was too much and have cut back to trying to jog for a 1/2 mile with the
intent to get to a mile.
He wants to get the physical fitness test award this year in school so I have
also started circuit training in our basement with him - jump roping,
sit-ups, pull-ups, etc. How much circuit is too much?
Any suggestions you may have would be greatly appreciated. We are definitely
going to start limiting his Nintendo and Gameboy usage!!!
Thanks!!
Lori
Dear
Lori,
Here's a low keyed, simple fitness schedule for your son.
It's important for kids to stay active and eat healthy diets in order to maintain fitness. I have written the following schedule assuming that you will adapt it to meet the needs of your child. Your child should have two periods of exercise each day. If he follows this schedule in the morning then there should also be an afternoon exercise period of at least 20 minutes when he plays at a playground, shoots baskets, kicks a soccerball around, plays tag with friends etc.
Since you indicated that your son doesn't have good endurance for aerobic activity, I started him out with a 5 minute Run/Walk period. He should run his own comfortable pace. If you run with him, make sure he can talk to you without labored breathing. If he can't, he is going too fast. If the 5 minute period is too long for him cut it down until it's not too taxing and then gradually increase it.
He can adjust this as he becomes stronger, increasing the time and running proportion of this activity. The cross training days should be other aerobic acitivity. On the strength days he could do the circuit activities after his Run/Walk that you have him started on. He shouldn't do free weights but using his body such as for crunches is fine. The interval days are fun for kids. It's interspersing jogging, sprinting, jogging, walking and then doing the sequence again.
Number of minutes/activity
R/W = run/walk, R = Run XT= Cycle or Swim I= Intervals, S= Strength
| Week # | Mon. | Tues. | Wed. | Thurs. | Fri. | Sat. | Sun. |
| 1 | R/W 5 | XT | R/W, S | XT | R/W 5 | XT | R/W 3 |
| 1 | R/W 5 | XT | R/W, S | XT | R/W 5 | XT | R/W 3 |
| 3 | R/W 7 | XT |
R/W 7, S | XT | I 10 | XT | R 3 |
| 4 | R/W 7 | XT | R/W 7, S | XT | I 10 | XT | R 5 |
| 5 | R/W 10 | XT | R/W 10, S | XT | I 10 | XT | R 5 |
| 5 | R/W 10 | XT | R/W 10, S | XT | I 10 | XT | R 5 |
The strength training should consist of pushups, crunches, and squats, etc., just with his own body weight, not with hand held weights.
Please make sure that his workouts are fun. If you want to track his runnining or Run/Walk mileage, he can fill out one of our Log-a-Mile charts and work towards a KR/RW ribbon. Good luck and let us know how he does.
Run for a lifetime,
Carol
 Note from the kid's editor: Staying active and eating nutritious foods are two important ingredients to becoming a healthy and fit kid.
Do you have any questions about a child's running program? Feel free to email the kid's editor at carol.kids@rodale.com.
 
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