Using Bodybuilding Principles to Help Overweight Kids

With childhood obesity on the rise, parents, teachers, and adults everywhere are concerned with what to do to help prevent or even stop the childhood weight gain. It is possible to use the principle of bodybuilding to help kids lose weight and get fit.

The first concern most people say have about kids and weight lifting is whether it will stunt their growth. This is a genuine concern. But it had been taken way out of proportion. The kind of weightlifting that could stunt a kid's growth is the kind no child or teenager should be doing. A small amount of weightlifting, though, will not hurt the child. In fact, the same benefits that adults get from weightlifting are also available to children.

The idea of getting your child involved in a weight training routine is simply to help them get more active and to have a more healthy lifestyle. By combining the weights with cardiovascular workouts and good eating habits, you could see a great difference in your child's health.

If you want to start you child on a weightlifting workout plan, there are some things you need to know and do to ensure their safety. Make sure it is all right for them to begin an exercise program. If they have a preexisting condition they may need to get the doctor’s okay before they go ahead with anything.

Also, be sure that anytime they are going to lift weights that they are supervised. Make sure they have someone to teach them the proper technique, to watch them lift the weights to make sure the child does not get hurt, and to help motivate them. Also, your child needs to drink plenty of water.

When beginning the weight lifting routine, you need to bear in mind that your child only need to lift weights about two times a week to see results. Doing a full body routine with free weights and your child’s own body weight is generally the best method for kids to use. There are some great exercises that kids can do, such as:

• Push ups, with the knees on the floor if needed


• Squats


• One arm rows


• Wide stance squats


• Lateral raises


• Calf raises


• Biceps curls


• Overhead triceps extensions


• Crunches


• Leg raises

As you can see these are not high intensity exercises that will cause huge muscle gain. The majority of these exercises use the child’s own body weight, which is the best way to gain muscle for a person at any age. Since you or another adult will be supervising the child, you can ensure they don’t use more weight than they can handle.

Try to have the child to about three set of each exercise with 15-30 repetitions for each set. The rest time should be about 30 to 60 seconds. A child should not really need more than 5 pounds of resistance. Make sure that your child is using the correct form at all times. Do not allow them to increase the weight they are using until they have mastered the form they should be doing for each exercise.

If you choose to add more exercises to this routine or to increase the weight it is your decisions. Be sure to talk to your doctor about what is right for your child. Be sure that your child is getting a good diet and plenty of cardio as well, or else the weight lifting will do nothing.