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Coming from a family of fatties, myself and Little Mint are rather on the porky side.
Little Mint has just started secondary school and it's a fabulous school for sport and so he's eager to join in and get fit. The teachers are fantastic and have had him running and doing press-ups. On Friday he had to go to school with paracetemol, he was in so much pain. I'm applauding them - I've tried hard to keep him active but I think a lot of his problem was a sedentary primary school life.
... so to help, I've been out and bought lots of fitness equipment to try and encourage him. I've bought:-
A skipping rope
A mini trampoline
Dumbells
Pedometers
A fitness ball - and DVD
A chin up bar
Some other bars that help with push-ups.
I think that's about it. We already do some good bike rides. He was in a swimming club but we're probably going to have to drop that in favour of school rugby club.
Oh, and I've got a lateral thigh trainer which I can drag out and dust down ready for some activity. I thought I would clear my laundry out of the conservatory and turn it into a mini gym. I can put the CD player in there as we rarely listen to music in the sitting room anyway. I thought maybe at Christmas, if we've kept it up, I could possibly stretch to a cheap treadmill or rowing machine.
Do you think the above will do the trick? I told him that we'll take our measurements and have a bit of a competition (a) who can do the most steps each day (we have a pedometer each) and (b) who can lose the most inches (to which he argued 'no, centimetres' - yeah, whatever).
Any other ideas for improving his fitness?
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Comments
walking - best exercise there is especially for kids!
to burn fat you have to do cardio vascular exercise, get the heart rate up slowly and sensibly.
Just being active, getting out and about and do things together
If you make exercise for kids a chore they will get bored of it - make it fun, not a issue and some thing for the WHOLE family
It a long term lifestyle change not a quick fix thats needed
GOOD LUCK
Sounds good! Do you have a portable telly that you could take in there? Might help on the evenings where there's some favourite on and there's not enough time for homework, telly, gym and cooking sensible supper .
How about a wall chart with weekly totals of pressups, chinups?
Enjoy
TV is a good idea - as is wall chart. I'm quite excited about the whole thing.
When we lived in London we did loads of long bike rides thanks to Ken Livingstone's cycle paths. We're now out in the back of beyond and narrow country lanes have scared me and put me off. However, he's a bit older now and so recently, having bought him a new bike for cycling proficiency (which he failed) we started to get out on long bike rides again. Unfortunately I'm waiting for a puncture to be fixed on mine before we can carry on but we do love a good bike ride and were certainly slimmer and fitter when we were doing that in London.
Watch out for the new skinny mints!
Minty4
Rugby will make the little mint fit. Keep the swiming up at the same time.
Also he has a bike now he could try the Steel kids challnge? Tri for kids is not that far a distance and the bike is on grass so MTB perfick.
Unfortunately swimming club and rugby club clash but I can always take him swimming myself. We can do this.
What is this Steel kids challenge?
I'll talk to him about the tri. He did run the mile for Sports Relief with me last year. Not that he found it particularly easy and he's put on more weight since then. His Dad assures me that he was equally as fat at 11 but he's now skinny so there is hope. I was overweight too at that age and grew into a slim teenager. I've got everything crossed that he will too but I'm also prepared to give him any help I can. He's making healthier food choices since starting secondary too. It really seems to be having a positive impact on him.
It's taken me ages to work out what your question meant PS! LOL
No, he's my baby boy! He's not interested in girls. He's got a girlfriend already ... me!
Seriously though. He's way behind in that department. Still hates girls. I keep telling him that that will all change but he's not convinced.
TT (speaking to me from the comfort of the sofa) says...
Steel Kids Challenge info is in this month's "220" (triathlon magazine) and you could have a look at the BTA website for some info on kids tris there.
Thanks. As you were, TT & Nam
I'll tell him that JB. He's certainly a good size for a prop. He's just so scared though, bless him. I've watched him play rugby and he treats the ball as though it were a bomb!
Perhaps we should go and watch one and then see. He tends to shy away from most things that involve other people because of difficulties with socialising - although we've been promised a bit of help on that front.
this might be worth a look
or get the library to order it in
Thanks Mouse. I do my best but I don't always feel fab - I often feel I've let him down and that I've 'allowed' him to become overweight.
Buney, I'll have a look later. Dashing off out for a massage now. Bliss!