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Fitness Fun: An Exercise Method for Parents With Young Children

by Dr. John Krogh

81 pages; Spiral coil; catalogue #04-1371; ISBN 1-4120-3543-0; US$15.50, C$17.00, EUR12.50, £9.00

Would you like your child to really enjoy exercising and develop lifelong exercise habits? Using Fitness Fun you can accomplish this and develop a healthy, intimate relationship with your child.

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about the book      about the author      Table of Contents and excerpts      catalogue info

About the Book The book begins by explaining the goals of the excercise program - for childeren (1) to have fun while exercising with their parents, and (2) to develop early excercise habits. For parents the goals are tok assist them in developing a strong, intimate relationship with their children while participating in a good exercise program for themselves. There are chapters for the single parent family and for the two-parent family. The exercises are varied according to the sizes of the children and the strength and fitness of the parents. Each exercise has variations, ranging from very easy to very vigorous, with explanations on how to progress from one level to the next higher level. A parent can use these exercises to simply have fun with their children. On the other hand, parents can get a heavy duty, sweaty workout for themselves if that is what they want. In fact, a parent using this method doesn't need to leave the family at home and fun off to the gym or to the jogging trail to get a workout. Each excercise that is used consists of chairs, a bed, pillows, a blanket, a carpeted floor, plus a board, a piece of rope, and a bar or piece of pipe.

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About the Author Dr. John Krogh is a licensed physical therapist, having practiced part-time for over thirty years. Many of the excercises in this book were developed in that practice. He is also an anatomist, and has taught gross anatomy to medical students and allied health students for over 30 years. He is currently a regional dean in Utah for the Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine. The medical school is located in Kirksville, Missouri, and Dr. Krogh works with 3rd and 4th year medical students who are assigned to the Utah region where they complete their clinical education in hospitals and clinics througout the state. He is the father of six married children and has 25 great grand children. He and his wife, Karen, live in a small rural town in the mountains above Provo, Utah.

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Table of Contents and Excerpts

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter 1 The excitement of exercising as a family

Chapter 2 Information for parents

Chapter 3 Exercises for one adult with small children

Chapter 4 Exercises for one adult with large children

Chapter 5 Exercises for two adults with small children

Chapter 6 Exercises for two adults with large children

Chapter 7 Exercises for two adults

CHAPTER 1 THE EXCITEMENT OF EXERCISING AS A FAMILY

Any parent will agree that raising a child is a serious responsibility a responsibility that should include helping the child develop healthy exercise habits. One of the most effective ways to discharge this responsibility is by setting a good example the example of the exercising parent. But there is something even more effective than seeing parents exercise doing it with them!

However, exercising as a family is difficult, because individual family members need different types of exercise. After all, the father is bigger and stronger and obviously needs to run farther and faster and lift heavier weights than the mother, and she in turn needs a different type of workout from that which the children would enjoy doing. For the father it is usually a serious undertaking. For the mother it is usually a combination of serious and fun. For the children it simply has to be fun. Consequently, everyone assumes that there is no way that they can all exercise together and have each member of the family get what he or she needs.

There is a method, however, that will allow all members of a family to exercise together, and each member can get an appropriate workout. Be forewarned, though, that once you start this program it will be difficult to stop because your children will "bug" you every day to do these exercises! So, if youre ready to commit to an exercise method that your children will love so much that they wont let you quit, then lets get started!

What is this method?

Its an exercise method in which you lift and swing your children. They climb onto your back while you do squats or pushups, and there are substitute exercises if you cant yet do a squat or pushup. They sit on boards while you lift the other end, and their position on the board is adjusted so that you lift the amount of weight that is right for you. The children, using lighter weights, also do some of these exercises themselves. All of this is great fun for the kids, and can be an excellent source of exercise for mom and dad.

Do Children Need to Exercise?

Many people are of the opinion that its only the parents who need to exercise because they feel that children are naturally in good physical shape and dont need an organized program of exercise. As a result, few exercise programs are directed towards children.

Consequently, in a typical family with small children the father may or may not exercise regularly, but if he does, it is on his terms, doing what is best for him. The mother also may or may not exercise regularly, but if she does, it is sandwiched in between all of her other family duties at a time when she can get away from the kids. And the kids exercise is left as something that just happens as they play around the home.

But do children need more than just to be left to play by themselves? Todays children are more sedentary than ever. Many of them are obese. Many who are left to play by themselves end up spending way too much time sitting at a computer or watching television. Many of them are left alone for too much time where they just sit and snack on non-nutritious food. The method explained in this book provides an opportunity to change this - to change the exercise habits of your family. It will not only improve the health and fitness of your family members, but will also teach your children that exercise is fun. It can be the start of a habit of exercise that will last throughout their lifetime.

Family Physical Activity Goals Research has shown that it is difficult to improve strength, aerobic fitness, or coordination in small children. On the other hand, exercise for children can be particularly meaningful if it is fun, and if these early experiences result in positive attitudes toward exercise that carry over into adulthood. Consequently, our primary goals for children are: (1) to have fun, and (2) to develop positive exercise habits that persist into adulthood.

For the parents, these exercises can be as rigorous as they want them to be. The father doesnt need to worry that he will not get enough of a workout if he exercises with his wife and children. These exercises can be easy and gentle, or they can be very rigorous, even taking him to the point of total exhaustion if thats the kind of workout he wants. Of course, the same is true for the mother the exercises can be as intense as she wants them to be. The way that you vary the intensity will be explained for each exercise.

Advantages of These Exercises Over Other Methods

At this point you are probably about to ask the question, "Why not just buy a family membership at the local YMCA?" The problem with this approach is that once your family arrives at the YMCA, they usually split up with each member going off to do his or her own thing. It seems that the only thing they do together is travel to and from the gym. In our exercises, on the other hand, all family members are together, not just doing exercise in the same building or even in the same room, but doing it in such a way that they are physically in contact with each other, and, in fact, they depend on each other to do the exercises. Indeed, the beauty of this method is that you cant do them alone. You must include your family even if your family just consists of a single parent and one small child!

The YMCA does offer some wonderful opportunities for families to exercise, but when you go there what do you do with your 2 year old? The Y doesnt have an activity that will provide good exercise for both you and your 2 year old. Some YMCA members arrange for a babysitter on their exercise night. Many, unfortunately, opt to just not exercise at all until the child is a few years older. In our exercises you dont have to exclude the child or postpone your own exercise program. Even the smallest infant can participate by being held. Thats right, by being held by a parent who is doing a stepping exercise or a squatting exercise, or by another child who sits on a board while both of them are lifted up and down by mom or dad.

Other advantages of these exercises have to do with privacy, convenience and expense. These exercises can be done in the privacy of your own home and at a time that is convenient for you. Many families choose to do them in the evenings just before bedtime, because it is a convenient time when everyone is together. It has also been found that regular vigorous exercise helps children settle down and it improves the quality of their sleep. Remember that these exercises must be vigorous for the children. If you only get them excited and "wound up" they will not be ready to drop off to sleep.

Your participation in these exercises does not require the purchase of expensive weights or exercise machines. In fact, the few equipment items that you will need can probably be found in your home or in your garage. You may have noticed, in fact, that spending a lot of money does not always assure a successful family activity. An expensive trip to a theme park or a family ski trip may include a lot of "boring" travel time for kids. Some of the most memorable family events occur when the family gets snowed in, or when they take the time to simply go fly a kite together. These low budget events are often remembered longer than the expensive yearly family vacations. You can easily create this kind of event regularly by doing these exercises. Family Values

Politicians talk of an erosion of traditional family values in our society. Much of this could be eliminated if families just spent more time doing things together. The most significant feature of this method as compared to other exercise methods is that it builds family values. Seeing their parents interacting appropriately in these exercises and participating with them, children learn invaluable lessons as to how to properly interact with loved ones.

The example of a father and mother exercising with their children teaches a valuable lesson regarding respect for the opposite sex. Little boys learn, for example, that little girls also do well with exercises, and that exercise is not strictly a male activity. Children learn to be polite, to share, to take turns, and to help each other.

Cooperation develops as family members literally serve as weights and supports for each other, since family members are the weight machine, the barbells, and the dumbbells.

How this book is organized.

The next chapter contains some important information for parents. Then, there are four chapters of exercises. Each of these chapters is designed for a particular type of family.

There is a chapter (Chapter 3) for the single parent who has one or more small children. Our definition of "small" is "under six years of age."

Then there is a chapter (Chapter 4) for the single parent who has one or more children who are "large", and we define large as "between six and twelve years of age."

A single parent who has both small and large children will be able to use exercises from Chapter 3 for the small child and exercises from Chapter 4 for the large child.

There are two chapters for two-parent families. The first of these (Chapter 5) has exercises for families in which there is at least one small child.

Chapter 6 has exercises for two-parent families in which there is at least one large child.

Two-parent families in which there are both small and large children should use Chapter 5 for their small children and Chapter 6 for their large children.

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Catalogue Information

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