Years ago this question was never asked because children went out and played very hard everyday. They were able to use their yards and their neighborhoods to get the best workout possible. Everyone was walking, riding bikes, jumping rope and more.
Unfortunately in these troubled times, when you are not sure what is going to happen with your child outside or away from the house it may be difficult to know how to get them moving and keep them moving.
A Queen's University study has solved this problem by finding out that the longer you can keep a child moving the better. The study suggests that children need to continue exercise for at least 5 minutes in order for them to stop obesity.
The study actually supports Physical Activity Guidelines for Children and Youth that has come out from Canada to insure that children get enough exercise. This report suggests that kids get 90 minutes of exercise everyday and that they do this in 5 or 10 minute intervals. The exercise should be moderate to intense in order for them to get the most benefit from it.
The other point of the exercise is that it should be sustained. In other words, a gym class probably won't do it because there is time that students are sitting out and receiving instruction instead of getting exercise.
The researchers at Queens worked with 2,498 youth between the ages of 8 and 17 and they put them into an exercise program. Some used a sporadic amount of exercise while others used a short or longer period of time. The times ranged from 1-4 minutes to 10 minutes or longer. They found that 35% of the students who worked within the sporadic amount of exercise did not develop obesity later. In effect this also adds weight to the idea of interval training.
Some parents find it difficult to get their kids up and moving but those who have home gyms have added programs like
Shaun Ts Fit Kids® Club because it is fun and they see kids working out on the DVD. This gets kids up and moving and they understand the music. Any kind of
home workout routine that gets the child moving, rather than playing a video game or watching tv will help them in the long run.
