When Can A Child Start Strength Training?

Discussion Exercise is an important part of health and daily life. A review of recommendations for general exercise for children and adults can be found here. Many people use pedometers as a marker of their activity and a list of activities and their equivalent steps can be found here. The benefits of strength training includes improved performance, injury prevention and rehabilitation, improved cardiovascular fitness, improved bone mineral density, improved blood lipid profiles and mental health. Improvements in strength can be found in properly structured programs of at least 8 weeks duration occurring at least 1-2 times/week. Strength training more than 4x/week does not add to strength and may lead to overuse injuries. The most common risk is injury and most of these “…occur on home equipment with unsafe behavior and unsupervised settings.” Children with hypertension, seizures and obesity should be evaluated first and monitored closely. Children with Marfan syndrome, congenital heart disease, or history of cardiotoxic medication such as chemotherapy are often counseled against participation but should be appropriately evaluated and counseled. Body-building involves strength, endurance, and flexibility and balance as integral parts of the sport. Additionally there can be additional benefits such as improved nutrition (including possibly lower cholesterol and bone strength) and improved stress management. The International Federation of Bodybuilding and F...
Source: PediatricEducation.org - Category: Pediatrics Authors: Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: news