LINKEDIN
" În ceea ce priveste pegatirea fizica pe uscat pentru
formarea unui nivel ridicat al formarii rezistentei , parintii si antrenori ar
trebui să aiba grija faptul că copiii nu sunt adulți în miniatură
", a declarat Martin Reuters Health .
Guidance is key for kids' resistance training: experts
By Kathryn Doyle
NEW YORK | Thu Oct 3, 2013 1:03pm EDT
(Reuters
Health) - Resistance training is good for kids, but needs to be supervised and
tailored for them by a qualified professional, according to a consensus
statement by 20 doctors and fitness experts.
The
statement appears in the British Journal of Sports Medicine and is endorsed by
the American Academy of Pediatrics, the International Federation of Sports
Medicine and the U.S. National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).
Resistance
training - which can include light free weights, resistance bands or medicine
balls, as well as push-ups and other body-weight-bearing exercises - can
benefit young bodies and prepare them for active lives, the authors point out.
"You
can look at the data from the Centers for Disease Control, kids are becoming
less and less fit all the time," said Dr. Tim Hewett, director of the
Sports Medicine Biodynamics Center at the University of Cincinnati, who was not
involved in the statement. "There are lots of problems related to our
current lifestyles."
Lack of
strength and overall fitness, cardiovascular and musculoskeletal strength all
contribute to poor health for kids, and resistance training can be a great
option to help, but moderation is key, he told Reuters Health.
Though
many parents fear their children will be injured during exercise or will damage
their growing skeletons, childhood is actually the best time to use
weight-bearing activity to build bone mass and kids are less likely to suffer
sprains than adults, according to the statement.
Programs
designed to promote conditioning and correct form for specific sports can also
reduce the risk of injuries by 50 percent in kids and teens, the authors write.
"Clearly,
participation in physical activity should not begin with competitive sport but
should evolve out of preparatory fitness conditioning that is sensibly
progressed over time," they write.
But
these activities need to be supervised by "qualified professionals,"
like trainers or coaches, with strength and conditioning certifications.
These
leaders need to know how to effectively communicate with kids and teens, as
well as what exercises are best for kids and teens, and "how much is too
much."
Position
statements in support of resistance training like this one make it easier to
inform parents and coaches who may still be hesitant, said Jeff Martin, who
co-founded CrossFit Kids, a branch of the popular and sometimes controversial
training program geared to kids from preschool age and up.
"With
respect to resistance training, parents and coaches should always keep in mind
that children are not simply miniature adults," Martin told Reuters
Health.
Children,
especially the youngest ones, benefit most from doing many reps of little or no
weight, he said.
Hewett,
a former power lifter, agreed with that premise, but expressed concern that
CrossFit in particular may be too intense for kids.
"We
have to get our kids more active but we can't overdo it," he said.
Kids
need to have fun to be engaged, and can vary widely in their ability to pay
attention and focus during sets of many reps of the same movement. When they
drop weights, he said, they could injure themselves.
Martin
recommends that preschool kids never use weights, and should focus instead on
fundamental movements like squats.
The
American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that eight year olds can start using
light weights, but children mature at vastly different rates, Martin says, and
some five year olds in his program start using very light objects or dumbbells.
"The
key points are moderation, supervision and qualified professionals,"
Hewett said.
He and
Martin agree that "qualified professionals" need more than just
certifications, they need experience working with kids so they can assess a
child's developmental and emotional maturity, since that can often be an
important factor in how much is too much for each child.
"Parents
should watch their children's trainers and see how the children react to them.
Do they relate well and vice versa?" said Martin. "All the
qualifications in the world will not help someone who cannot speak the language
of the children or teens in their care."
SOURCE: bit.ly/19VElvQ British Journal of Sports Medicine, online September
20, 2013.
Sports Publications International
