Childrens fitness – your role

The benefits of all age groups exercising every week are astounding, when you look at the positive impact exercise has on life limiting, serious illness and conditions. So it goes without saying for most of us, that getting our children into the habit of exercising as early as possible in life, is going to be a priority.

A recent report from Ukactive ‘Start Young, Stay Active’ reports what we probably all know, that there is a declining standard of fitness across children in the UK. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that the unfortunate swap from bikes to Xbox, hasn’t been the greatest phenomenon for the health of our children!

Finding a sport or activity that engages your child and makes exercise fun rather than a chore, is something that we all endeavour to do, and racing from club to club after school is a common parental responsibility. However, the latest research from Cambridge and Southampton universities takes things one stage further. A study of 500 mums and their 4 year old children found a direct link between a mothers and her childs activity levels. Children learn the fitness habit best from us.

The study showed that for every 1 hour of moderate to vigorous activity that a mother engaged in, her child was likely to engage  in 10% more of the same level of activity.

From my own experience, mums and dads who bring their children to our fitness classes and take part together, have fun, learn together and generally stick at the workout for longer. Similarly, all of our on line classes are appropriate for children as well as adults and can make the whole experience more engaging and even competitive !

Yet another incentive to get active 🙂

Cathy Mansell

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