My mom is fitter than you!

Middle aged people are more likely to be active and enrolled in
extracurricular sports than youths are!

Really? Why is that?

Kids today are not encouraged to go outside. In fact we go to great
lengths to make sure they are not.

Video games. Drives everywhere. Computer time. No gym at school, my
personal fave.

As a result the parents of the kids I work with are often in better
shape than their kids.

Parents had complete athletic development by going outside and
pushing, pulling, jumping, climbing, skipping.

All those things go a long way to creating a very complete athletic
body that is capable of adapting and playing sports. Almost any
sport at that. And that is fun.

So if our kids are uncoordinated and winded, how much fun do you
think they are having?

The answer is NOT putting them on a treadmill, for too many reasons
to lay out here.

The answer is NOT joining a gym. Resistance is only one tiny aspect
of overall health.

That is why I train for complete athletic development. It doesn't
mean Olympic style. Just looking at the whole picture. Balance,
coordination, stamina, strength, health.

Look at all of it before we start trying to figure out what to do.

The difference in kids that I work with who get outside and play
and those who don't are staggering.

But don't just take it from me.

Check out what the experts have to say. Here is a blog I posted a
little while back.

http://mysportspeed.blogspot.com/2008/04/complete-athletic-development-for.html

It is still relevant now and I have a bad feeling that it will be
for a while.

Please read it. Check it out.

Obesity Recognition Doesn't Happen?

Parents don't recognize obesity in their own children.

Believe it.

Here is an article referencing research into this area.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6451015.stm

So it has to be asked how active are our children? Are we over
protective?

It's a difficult place to be but it is necessary to look at what is
really happening.

Take a look at how much time our kids spend being active every day.

That doesn't mean playing sport. It doesn't mean winning
competitions.

Just being active.

We joke about being kicked out of the house until the street lights
came on. It shouldn't be. It might have been the best thing that
could have happened to us.

All that climbing, pushing, pulling, crawling and jumping we did as
children is extremely important. It was during some of our critical
development periods. That means we take those skills through life
and can use them in all of our activities.

That makes everything that much more fun.

That means we are more likely to do something active and stay
healthy.

So I ask again: How active are our children?