Athlekinetix Blog

A new study has come out in showing that exercise in school is not all that it’s cracked up to be. Researchers studied three schools focusing on the amount of PE the students got each day. The kids at the fancy, private school had much more PE and overall physical activity before the end of the school day than the other two schools. But, interestingly, the researchers determined that the increase of PE or other physical outlet at school made no difference quantitatively in children’s total daily physical activity level.

The findings determined that students from all three schools got about the same amount of physical activity and intensity level over the course of an entire day regardless of whether there were additional structured periods of exercise at school. The idea being that if you as a student were very active during the school day, then when you got home you were more likely to take it easy. Conversely, if you sat at a desk all day, you would be playing outside or riding your bike after school to burn off the excess energy. Researchers said the key was to focus on the big picture of the entire day of activity, rather than look at what happens before the final bell rings at school.

The timing of this study seems awfully coincidental to me in these economic times of major budget cuts in schools. Recess and PE in schools across the country are becoming a distant memory. How convenient that science now says “Guess what, PE doesn’t matter anyway.” I respectfully disagree.

In this day and age, when children are popping ritalin like candy, it is an injustice to say that barely existent exercise in our schools could possibly be beneficial to the health and welfare of our children. In fact, studies have shown just the opposite. Intense exercise is especially helpful to children with ADHD in helping them stay focused.

The premise of looking at exercise as a whole entity rather than a segment of a day, is also flawed in my book. It sounds good to say that children will run home to engage in physical activity if they were sedentary all day, but the truth is children today have no problem being sedentary 24 hours a day. The primal urge to exercise is lost on this video game generation because they have never developed the habit of vigorously exercising every day. Call it me, but the lack of regular PE class in school can’t be helping in this regard.

In a perfect world of schools valuing the mental, physical, and emotional health of its students as much as the academic health, an hour of PE would be mandatory for all students kindergarten through 12th grade. PE, if done well, is so much more than releasing pent up energy. It establishes the lifelong habit of daily physical activity, teaches you skills to improve your game, and challenges your body physically. PE should, at a minimum, be the base line of physical activity for children of all ages. Whatever happens after 3:00 is just value added. In this time of alarming childhood obesity rates, it seems irresponsible to justify the absence of physical education in our schools as scientifically irrelevant. Nothing is more relevant for our future than the physical health and well-being of our nation’s children.

Competitive swimming has been life transforming for my son, both physically and mentally. What I didn’t know about having a kid that swims is that he would not be the only one to gain insight from this unique sport. I learn lessons daily from his swimming which I can apply to my own fitness and life.

Life Lesson #1: Just because you don’t excel in certain sports, doesn’t mean you’re not an athlete. Before the age of 12, my son played soccer, basketball, football, roller hockey, and baseball. A more accurate description would be that he was on the roster of these teams and warmed a lot of benches.  He discovered swimming 2 years ago and today he swam in the Junior Olympics.  Find your inner athlete.

Life Lesson #2: Everyone should train like an athlete. My son swims 18 hours a week and weight trains 3 hours a week. Of course most of us are lucky to find time to exercise an hour a day, if that. But, for a competitive swimmer or any competitive athlete, exercise is a non-negotiable. The inner dialogue of ‘I don’t feel like it today’ has no power over whether my son trains or not. He exercises because he knows the benefits regular training has to his sport and the positive effect it has on developing his muscular strength and cardiovascular endurance. Exercise because you know it’s good for you regardless if you “feel” like exercising.

Life Lesson #3: Competition and goals give purpose to your training. If it weren’t for swim meets and Junior Olympic times my son was striving to attain, there would be no purpose to his training and he would quit. Swimming laps day in and day out would be meaningless to him if it weren’t for a greater goal of being the best swimmer he can be. This applies to all of us. If you are literally spinning your wheels in spinning classes day after day, it is only a matter of time that your spinning days will come to an end. A better strategy for your mind and body is to use spinning as a training vehicle for something bigger. Plan a 50 mile outdoor bike ride with your friend, sign up for a duathalon or triathalon, or ride outdoors on a real bike a couple times a week. You would be amazed how much more meaningful your spinning classes will be when there is a purpose to why you are doing them.

Life Lesson #4: Know when to bring the intensity. Swimming is not just swimming your fastest until you reach the wall. It is about good technique and pacing yourself to bring out the best results you can. Anybody can go out of the blocks in life like a bat out of hell. It is almost a guarantee that that person will not reach the wall or finish line first. The swimmer who wins the race is the one who brought the intensity at just the right time. Life is an endurance race, not a sprint. Pace yourself and use your bursts of energy to empower you to finish the race as stronger than you were when you started.

Life Lesson #5: Even when you finish last, you are still a champion. Today at the Junior Olympics, my son finished last in his event. However, when he got out of the pool he was triumphant. How could that be? He swam with the best of the best. It was the fasted he ever swam and he dropped 2 seconds off of his time. When he saw me he said, “When you swim with the best, it only makes you better.” Surround yourself with people who are smarter than you, stronger than you, and more disciplined than you and you will be surprised by how much better you become as a person. When you surrounded by the best, it brings out the best in you.

The love of gymnastics is fostered in little kids from the time they go to their first Mommy and Me classes when they are babies. This love continues to grow during the preschool years with beginning gymnastics classes which focus on basic mat work, obstacle courses, trampolines, and the like.

Gymnastics is an excellent sport which exercises the entire body using the body’s own resistance. Flexibility, balance, core work, and muscular strength and endurance are all targeted during training. One of the most appealing aspects of gymnastics for young people is the variety of exercises and the different apparatuses to choose from which make gymnastic routines fun and challenging at the same time.

The downside of the popularity of this sport, is that children at very young ages are no longer taking gymnastic classes only once a week for 45 minutes. Starting as young as 6 and 7 years old, girls and boys are joining gymnastics teams. What this translates to is not only a major financial commitment on the part of the parents, but an astonishing time commitment on the part of the kids.

Depending on their abilities, young children are spending upwards of 20-25 hours a week training in the gymnastics studios around the country. This is not only
crazy, but it can also be detrimental to a child’s physical and mental health.

Granted, in this era of childhood obesity gone amok, it is refreshing seeing children place such energy and devotion to exercise. Their bodies are reaping the benefits of daily intense physical activity. However, taken to the extreme, the potential problems outweigh the benefits of taking gymnastics from a purely recreational level to a competitive one at such young ages.

First of all, little bodies cannot handle the physical or mental stresses that are put upon them at such early ages. Gymnastics is an extremely difficult sport on the body. Kids at very young ages are suffering from repeated stress fractures, tendonitis from overtraining, joint pain, and stunted growth from doing too much, too soon.

Not every child is going to be the next Mary Lou Retton or Shawn Johnson. Maybe it’s not a bad idea if gymnastics were to stay a recreational sport for children under the age of 10 until their bodies and their minds were more mature to handle competitive training. Because when done in moderation, gymnastics is a terrific sport working every muscle in the body. But if done to excess at very young ages, gymnastics can be very debilitating to growing bodies.

It is a common scenario in homes across the country to hear parents promise their kids treats if they eat their dinner nicely, if they behave, if they get good grades, or if it’s a special occasion. As if this weren’t troublesome enough, it is combined with teachers in schools passing out candy for behavior incentives, birthday parties, ice cream days, and holiday parties at school. Read more »

More children than ever are competing in recreational, school, and competitive club sports than ever before. In fact, sports that were once seasonal like soccer and basketball are now year round intensely competitive club sports for boys and girls of all ages. It is not uncommon to hear that children in sports like swimming and gymnastics are training up to 25 hours a week outside of school.

Coaches of all sports have become very well versed in training these young athletes, but are less knowledgeable about nourishing them. One of the greatest challenges parents of young athletes face is properly feeding their children in order to provide the necessary fuel their bodies need in order to perform at optimum capacity.

There are a few problems at play with athletes and food. A huge problem for competitive athletes is there are not enough hours in the day to consume the amount of calories required to compensate for the immense amount of calories they are burning in their rigorous training regimen. An athlete like Michael Phelps, for example, needed to consume a whopping 10,000 calories a day in order to make up for his daily expenditure of calories.

A typical workout for a teenage swimmer in competitive club swimming today consists of a 2 hour practice in the morning before school. There might be a 10-15 minute window to scarf down a quick meal before the morning bell rings.  After school, there is an hour of dryland training followed by 2 more hours of swimming. Before this intense afternoon practice, a swimmer doesn’t want to consume a big meal and by the time the swimmer arrives home for the day it’s already 8:00. For competitive student athletes, no matter what the sport, this is a familiar scenario. There just isn’t enough time in the day to consume enough calories.

Not only are these child athletes burning hundreds of calories a day through exercise, their bodies are also growing and developing at astounding rates. The best way for an athlete to eat in order to get the calories their bodies require to be in top condition, is to snack nutritiously throughout the day. It is unrealistic for them to be able to consume or digest large meals at one sitting.

The best strategy is to keep your child stocked with snacks that are nutritionally dense and satisfying. Teenagers are susceptible to junk food binges and fast food drive-thrus when they are starving and pressed for time. This not only is counterproductive to the physique they are striving for as athletes, but it also causes them to feel sluggish during their practices.

Excellent snack options are comprised of a healthy combination of fruits, lean proteins, low fat dairy, vegetables, and whole-grain carbohydrates. Celery and natural peanut or almond butter with an apple make for a great snack. Low sugar, lowfat yogurt with berries and sliced almonds or granola is another excellent option. Lean turkey wrapped in a whole wheat tortilla, carrot sticks, and apple slices or an orange provide good energy as well.

The important thing for parents to remember with their children who are exercising a tremendous amount of hours and growing at the same time is that healthy food is critical to not only your children’s bodies, but to the ability for them to compete at top form.

The quest for the perfect ‘six pack’ is not unique to adults only. Teenagers are involved in competitive team and individual sports in record numbers. In order to stay competitive and rise in their sports, teenagers are supplementing their practices with weight training and conditioning on their own. There is no doubt that strength training complements every sport. A stronger athlete is a faster athlete and a greater competitor.

The problem arising from teenagers weightlifting is not the weight lifting per se, but the fact that the weight lifting is being done without any adult supervision. Coaches of all different sports from tennis to basketball either strongly suggest or mandate to their athletes that they weight lift on their own in addition to their rigorous practice schedule.

When competitive teenage athletes are left to their own devices to weight train two things happen. First, teenage egos take hold and they believe they know how to create versatile, effective weight training programs on their own. Coaches are excellent when it comes to teaching specific techniques, proper forms, and drills to succeed in the sport that they coach. But, when it comes to weight training, however, coaches all of a sudden leave it entirely up to the individual athlete to figure out what sets to do, how much weight to use, and the amount of reps they should perform. There is no emphasis or training on proper form and technique. Weight training is no different than any other aspect of a sport that coaches are responsible for teaching their athletes. By being set free in weight rooms alone, teens are opening themselves up to injury and stress to their bodies.

Second, teenagers are competitive by nature. Especially with teenage boys, if there are no rules or proscribed programs, the amount of weight being lifted can get out of control. Everybody wants to out bench their friends. Not only are proper lifting techniques for all muscle groups not being taught or demonstrated, but the importance of spotting and working out with partners for safety purposes is overlooked as well.

By lifting weights that are too heavy and inappropriate for their abilities and growing bodies, teenagers are placing themselves in danger and putting their future career as athletes at risk.

The bottom line is teenagers should weight train to get stronger and leaner. But, the weight lifting should be done under the supervision of a trainer or coach. Developing good lifting habits and proper techniques as teenagers will be something they can take with them and benefit from for the rest of their lives.

A new word has been coined when it comes to the obesity crisis in this country and that is ‘recession obesity.’ Money, or more aptly put, lack of money is affecting the choices parents make when it comes to the exercise and nutrition of their children.

 Recreational sports leagues for children are suffering because of the economy. Parents don’t have extra money to pay for their children to participate in organized athletics. Between the cost of team membership, uniforms, equipment, and shoes, joining a team is cost prohibitive to more and more families. Additionally, rec leagues for all sports are having difficulty finding parent volunteers to coach these teams because the bad economy has made work for both parents in a family a necessity.

Just because kids can’t participate in sports formally because of economic setbacks, doesn’t mean kids can’t exercise. There are many ways for children to participate in exercise that does not cost a lot of money. Shooting hoops at the neighborhood park, rollerblading outside, jogging around the block, walking the dog, and taking a bike ride are good physical alternatives to organized sports in this economic downturn. The problem is kids are not choosing these exercise options because they are in daycare afterschool for long hours because both of their parents are working and the temptations of TV and electronics trump their desire to exercise outside.

Nutrition is falling by the wayside in this economy as well. Parents are working longer hours than ever and are also having to work double shifts. This means dinner for the family is fast food or pre-packaged food thrown in a microwave. It is no wonder that the profit margins of McDonald’s right now are skyrocketing.

Money woes are not easy on anybody, but the effect on children is immense. With parents losing their jobs or having to work more hours than ever just to make ends meat, the health of children is being compromised. An economy in recession has enough problems, children should not be the latest victims. The future health of our country depends on it.

The buzzword in parenting intended to create fear in us all is the daunted “over scheduling.” It is argued in all different social circles that children do too much. They need time to relax, to unwind, to be bored and do nothing. Their schedules are a dizzying blur of activity. We are led to believe that parents are universally failing our kids by forcing them to do too much.

Our society is one of excess. Why should it be any different when it comes to our children? There is too much facebook, too much TV., too much time spent playing computer games, too much junk food consumed. Sound familiar? The common theme of these overindulgences is they are making our kids fat. Our children may be overindulged in unhealthy ways, but unfortunately, they are severely under indulged when it comes to exercise and physical activity.

It is frightening the amount of kids, especially teenagers, who come home from school at 2:30 every afternoon and literally do not do one minute of exercise from the time they get home until the time they go to bed.

Parents need to let go of the fear of having their kids do “too much” and instead examine what exactly kids are doing too much of.  In your quest for providing your children down time, are you really creating an environment for your kids to have 6 or more hours a day of inactivity?

This is not a question of making your kids athletes if they are not. Though, joining a sports team or participating in an organized individual sport has been proven to enhance the self-esteem, academic performance, and physical health of children of all ages. Regardless of whether your child is part of a team or not, every day you are failing your child as a parent if there is not some component of physical activity in your child’s day.

Don’t leave it to P.E. class. In today’s reality of school budget cuts, P.E. barely exists. Instead, make it your daily mission to encourage your kids to get on their bikes, go for a jog, ride their ripsticks, rollerblade, or shoot hoops with friends. Better yet, don’t encourage them, make it a non-negotiable part of their day like brushing their teeth. They will thank you for this later when they are not a statistic on an obesity chart.

Exercises such as running release chemicals that relax your brain and relieve muscle pain during exercise. These chemicals regulate a person’s mood, pleasure, and pain. Exercising increases the levels of certain chemicals in the blood that control activity and attention as well. There are medications people can use to regulate these chemicals, but exercise is the best way.

Exercise is one of the best ways to help keep ADHD under control. It develops several main functions in the brain that control hyperactivity, especially in ADHD patients. It releases brain chemicals that regulate someone’s mood and develop focus and attentiveness. Studies show that these results can only be achieved by constant activity – exercising every day for 30 to 45 minutes several times a week. The key is to incorporate exercise into your child’s daily life.