Warrior Fitness for Kids!

This will be the first in a continuing series of posts chronicling my thoughts and discoveries on Warrior Fitness for Kids.  As the father of 2 young girls, ages 9 and 1, I have a very vested interest in assuring my daughters are among the healthiest, fittest, and most well-informed kids out there.  Follow along and yours will be too!

It doesn’t take a genius to see that America has become a nation of over weight, physically lazy, comfort-seekers.  The saddest part is the effect this perverse attitude has had on our children.  How can we call ourselves responsible parents when our kids consume more McDonald’s than broccoli, and watch more TV than play outside?  What happened to running, jumping, playing tag, climbing trees and fences, or riding bikes as fast as you can just for the sheer thrill of it?  Has watching Sponge Bob and playing video games replaced playing outside from the time school lets out until dinner is ready?  I remember my mother having to shout for my brothers and me almost on a daily basis to call us home for supper.  And, in the summertime, we were playing outside until well after dark!

What Can We Do to Reverse This Trend?

To me, the answer is simple: Lead from the front!  What impetus do your children have to eat healthy and exercise if you do not?  You, as a parent, must set the example for your kids.  My daughters constantly see me exercising, whether it’s stretching, working on the technical details of an exercise, practicing martial arts, or a full-blown conditioning routine, I’m setting an example for them on a daily basis.  Coming home from work and sitting on our butts in front of the television while we “relax” and “unwind” is more than just detrimental to your health.  It sets up a poor pattern of conditioning that you’re children will follow for a lifetime.

Train With Your Kids

Want to spend some quality time with your kids and help them become fitter in the process?  Workout with them.  Make it fun, not drudgery.  That means stay out of the commercial gym and away from the damn treadmills!  You’re people, not hamsters.  One of the ways my oldest daughter and I spend time together during the warmer weather is to go on walks after dinner, while the sun is still up.  But just walking around the block is boring, so we found a couple ways to spice it up:

• Pick a landmark – mailbox, telephone pole, tree – and race to it.  Recover by walking a little bit, then race again.
• Leap like a frog until you get tired – see who gets tired first!
• Crawl on hands and feet (be careful of the terrain), then get up and run.
• Let your child ride their bike and you try to keep up, or you ride a bike and let them keep up!

These are just a few examples of how you can change a simple walk around the block to a fun workout for you and the kids.  Shhh… don’t tell them they’re doing High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT)!

As this series continues, I’ll be sharing more ideas about how to workout with you kids in ways that are fun and effective for both of you.  Additionally, I have workouts that I’ve designed for my 9 year old daughter that I’ll be sharing here as well – stay tuned!

How about you?  Do you workout with your kids?  What are some of the things you do to help keep them inspired and keep going?

Jon

Jon Haas, "The Warrior Coach" has been training in Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu for more than 25 years and is currently ranked as a Kudan (9th degree black belt) under Jack Hoban Shihan. He has also trained in Okinawan Karate, Tae Kwon Do, Russian Systema, BJJ, Krav Maga, as well as Internal Martial Arts of Yiquan and Aiki.He is a certified Underground Strength Coach-Level 2, a certified Personal Trainer as well as founder of Warrior Fitness Training Systems. In 2008, Jon wrote the book, Warrior Fitness: Conditioning for Martial Arts, and since then has created numerous other online training and coaching programs helping people around the world become the strongest, most capable versions of themselves!

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