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fitness kids
- Thread starter fitgrl
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I have a nine year old daughter and she wants to lift with me. I have had people to tell me to wait until she is 12, but I can barely keep her off of the machines now. I let her use the small dumbells to do curls but after one set she loses interest. Should I put her on a schedule or just let her play around for now? She really wants to do fitness one day. When I practice my holds and routines she is right there trying to do them also.
You said "machines" so I assume you train at a gym. How do they feel about this? Do they need you to sign a waiver?
When I was 9, my brother wrote my first workout on a sheet of yellow legal pad paper. He was 25 at the time, and was my "coach," so to speak. I still have that sheet of paper around here somewhere...from 18 years ago. He had me doing a lot of warm ups before and stretching after. Since I was sprinting competitively at the time, I didn't need any additional cardio. We did lunges walking around the perimeter of the house (which was uphill on 3 sides) with dumbbells. I think I used 5s and 10s at the time. He made sure I took deep steps, and my knee never went forward. We did weighted ab work, db squats, db calf raises, curls, kickbacks, rows, and a lot of "PE CLASS" type moves like shoot the cannons. I was also in gymnastics at the time, so I got a lot of core work doing that. I didn't stick with gymnastics past about 6th grade though. I was very good at floor work/tumbling, but I quickly got way too tall for a lot of the other apparatus. About that time I switched to martial arts, which was equally taxing on my core. If she's interested in fitness then gymnastics and/or acrobats are going to help her develop her core too. There's no question that she's ready for that at 9. Handstand push ups and other body weight resistance moves are great too....AND FUN! So maybe she'd be less inclined to get bored after a few reps.
I never used machines, and my brother encouraged me to use free weights, since that's what I had at home. The opportunity to learn balance and coordination was more important than the weight, at the time.
I never felt over trained, and it certainly didn't interfere with my growth. I had a lot of fun, and I think it gave me a solid base to work with physically. Making training a regular part of my life, and doing it for fun, also developed an appreciation for training as part of a lifestyle, not just a quick fix. Having a schedule appealed to me, as I think it does to most kids, and helped me learn a great habit of making time to train as I got older.
I had two years in my life, from the time I was 9, that I wasn't lifting regularly. Those years, I was not myself. I can look back and see how much differently I look, act, and feel when I'm not active. I would say it has been a positive learning experience from day one. Instead of slowly building over a few years, I've gotten to slowly build over 18 years. I was grateful for that when highschool rolled around.
What I'm saying is that I don't think your daughter is too young, because I was her age when I started. However, I wasn't allowed to go hit the machines unsupervised. I had one on one attention and used free weights. I think both of those aspects were important, looking back.
When I was 9, my brother wrote my first workout on a sheet of yellow legal pad paper. He was 25 at the time, and was my "coach," so to speak. I still have that sheet of paper around here somewhere...from 18 years ago. He had me doing a lot of warm ups before and stretching after. Since I was sprinting competitively at the time, I didn't need any additional cardio. We did lunges walking around the perimeter of the house (which was uphill on 3 sides) with dumbbells. I think I used 5s and 10s at the time. He made sure I took deep steps, and my knee never went forward. We did weighted ab work, db squats, db calf raises, curls, kickbacks, rows, and a lot of "PE CLASS" type moves like shoot the cannons. I was also in gymnastics at the time, so I got a lot of core work doing that. I didn't stick with gymnastics past about 6th grade though. I was very good at floor work/tumbling, but I quickly got way too tall for a lot of the other apparatus. About that time I switched to martial arts, which was equally taxing on my core. If she's interested in fitness then gymnastics and/or acrobats are going to help her develop her core too. There's no question that she's ready for that at 9. Handstand push ups and other body weight resistance moves are great too....AND FUN! So maybe she'd be less inclined to get bored after a few reps.
I never used machines, and my brother encouraged me to use free weights, since that's what I had at home. The opportunity to learn balance and coordination was more important than the weight, at the time.
I never felt over trained, and it certainly didn't interfere with my growth. I had a lot of fun, and I think it gave me a solid base to work with physically. Making training a regular part of my life, and doing it for fun, also developed an appreciation for training as part of a lifestyle, not just a quick fix. Having a schedule appealed to me, as I think it does to most kids, and helped me learn a great habit of making time to train as I got older.
I had two years in my life, from the time I was 9, that I wasn't lifting regularly. Those years, I was not myself. I can look back and see how much differently I look, act, and feel when I'm not active. I would say it has been a positive learning experience from day one. Instead of slowly building over a few years, I've gotten to slowly build over 18 years. I was grateful for that when highschool rolled around.
What I'm saying is that I don't think your daughter is too young, because I was her age when I started. However, I wasn't allowed to go hit the machines unsupervised. I had one on one attention and used free weights. I think both of those aspects were important, looking back.
The owners at the gym let her in with me. It is a small gym. Everyone knows everyone. They know she is interested in weight training so they let her follow me around.
She is never unsupervised. She stays right there with me and watches every move I make. And it is mostly free weights that I let her use.
She takes gymnastics and this year she will be playing soccer. So she knows how important warming up is. She is very active. Not your typical child now days. She is not into T.V., video games, or just being inside. I wish I had half of her energy.
What about the nutrition side of it? She is tall and weighs about 72lbs.
She is never unsupervised. She stays right there with me and watches every move I make. And it is mostly free weights that I let her use.
She takes gymnastics and this year she will be playing soccer. So she knows how important warming up is. She is very active. Not your typical child now days. She is not into T.V., video games, or just being inside. I wish I had half of her energy.
What about the nutrition side of it? She is tall and weighs about 72lbs.
Perfect! Sounds like she's right on track, and has a great role model too!
Let's see...hehehe, I busted out my baby book. I was 60" and 82 pounds at 9 years old. My brother wrote my diet too. Mostly a lot of clean carbs and TONS of protein and veggies. My diet has been over 50% protein since about that age. That may not be for her though. Just a lot of quality carbs, lots of vits and mins.
My son eats like me (when I can get him to eat). lol
Let's see...hehehe, I busted out my baby book. I was 60" and 82 pounds at 9 years old. My brother wrote my diet too. Mostly a lot of clean carbs and TONS of protein and veggies. My diet has been over 50% protein since about that age. That may not be for her though. Just a lot of quality carbs, lots of vits and mins.
My son eats like me (when I can get him to eat). lol
Robert Jan
New member
One thing to keep in mind is that skeletal growth can only take place with a caloric surplus, and weighttraining increases the maintenance level of ones metabolism. In other words, lil kids can train more than their peers, but they should eat more then too
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