The form is due, what do you do? We’ve all been there. Paperwork piles up, and sports physicals sneak up on us just before our children’s sport and activity begins.

To make life easier (and what parent wouldn’t like that), the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends asking to have a sports physical when scheduling your child’s next routine well-child visit.

Why all middle-school through college kids benefit from a sports physical during well-child visit:

The answer is simple: All kids are athletes-the high school soccer player, the junior high performer in the school musical, and the skateboarding middle schooler down your block. You don’t have to play an organized sport to be an athlete. Many children participate physically demanding activities like snowboarding, skiing, jogging, climbing, and hiking. Other children are not physically active at all. All these children should receive a sports physical from their pediatrician, also known as their medical home.

Why see the pediatrician for a sports physical:

Seeing your pediatrician for routine well-child visits and sports physicals helps keep your child’s medical records and health history up to date. Pediatricians are also trained to identify and treat both medical and bone/joint problems that are commonly seen in children and adolescents who play sports. And they can ensure your child is caught up on immunizations and discuss any concerns in a confidential setting. If your child is not as active as they should be, they counsel on the benefits of physical activity.

The AAP recommends making appointments at least 6-8 weeks before starting a season to give time for any additional evaluation or new treatments. The AAP is against mass physicals (such as in a school gymnasium) and using urgent care settings. These places often lack privacy and a healthcare provider who knows your child and has access to past medical records.

If your child is seen by someone other than his or her pediatrician for a sports physical, it is very important that you provide the clinic with accurate and complete medical information to receive the most appropriate care. Request that information regarding the visit be sent to your pediatrician so he or she can maintain a complete picture of your child’s care. If the clinic does not offer this service, be sure to get copies of the services your child received and share this information with your pediatrician as soon as possible.

What are some of the most important things examined in sports physicals?

• Heart health. Sudden cardiac deaths are rare in athletes, but they shock communities and are in the backs of parents’ and pediatricians’ minds. A sport physical exam should ask the athlete a list of questions about any symptoms that may suggest problems with the heart. The athlete should also report any past heart evaluations or history of high blood pressure. Questions should also be asked about any family history of heart problems or heart disease. Most athletes are cleared without restriction. Ultimately, the majority of those referred with red flag conditions are still cleared, but it may be important to get the pediatric cardiologist’s opinion.
• Mental health. Many children and adolescents have concerns with emotional health, and athletes are no exception. In fact, pressures seen in sports and performing arts may lead to special mental health demands― depression, anxiety perfectionism, stress, and attention deficits. Healthcare providers now ask questions about these sensitive and important issues in a private and safe setting to discover and recommend treatments.
• Unique concerns of female athletes. Sports physicals can help find unique concerns that may be found in female athletes and performers. These concerns, known as the female athlete triad, can include menstrual health, bone health, and nutrition/calorie intake. Young females are at a higher risk for certain bone and joint injuries, including ACL tears of the knee. Certain screening questions and tests can lead to treatment and prevention programs that will help keep athletes safer.
• Unique concerns of disabled athletes. Children with special needs deserve the opportunity to compete and participate in sports just like any other child. This includes children and teens physical disabilities such as lack of full vision, loss of use of arms or legs, or muscle control problems. A careful sports physical can help select the most appropriate activities and reduce the chance for problems that can occur during exercise.

• Concussions and head injuries. Any athlete with a known or possible concussion should not return to any exercise or sports without being cleared by a healthcare professional. A child who has had one or more prior concussions is at a greater risk for more concussions. A sports physical from your pediatrician can help determine best treatment if your child is still having problems from a past concussion―including headaches, trouble concentrating, trouble sleeping, and irritability. Your pediatrician can determine if your child needs any adjustments with school and social activities.

Keep Kids Safe With 10 Fun Trick or Treating Alternatives

Door-to-door trick or treating is a scary good time for children. For some parents, it’s just scary. Give your kids  time and eliminate your frightfest with 10 trick or treating alternatives so your children don’t go door to door in search of candy.

Host a Halloween Bash

Other parents may share your same concerns about turning the kids loose in the neighborhood. Plan a kid-friendly Halloween party and invite your children’s friends over for a spooky night of fun.

Create your own party invitations for parents and their kids. At the Halloween party, hand out treat bags, play Halloween party games, and eat themed foods like bloody eyeballs or kitty litter cake.

Plan a Family Night at Home

Make time more important than treats when the whole family spends Halloween together. Everyone must wear costumes, even the dog.

Put the kids in charge of answering the door for trick or treaters. Stay close by but hand over all the candy to your children. They decide who gets what type of candy and how many pieces per trick or treater.

In between visitors, try Halloween rubber stamping projects or make creepy crawly critter crafts. Eat homemade party treats and snacks together while you have a family movie night right in the living room. After the last trick or treater has come to the door, surprise your child with a tin can pumpkin filled with candy spiders or Halloween toys for answering the door all night.

Go Trunk or Treating

You may be surprised at how people can dress up the trunks of their cars to give out candy and offer festival games with prizes. That’s the idea behind trunk or treat. People line up their cars or park in a circle, decorate their trunks for Halloween, and pass out candy to the children.

Schools, local organizations, clubs, communities, and churches participate in trunk or treat. This safe alternative to door-to-door trick or treating keeps the kids together and is an experience you won’t soon forget. When your kids see dry ice fogging up an SUV’s pumpkin patch or a small petting zoo spilling out of the back of a horse trailer, your kids won’t regret skipping doorbell-ringing all night.

Trick or Treat at a Nursing Home

Trick or treating with your kids at a local nursing home combines fun with a kind gesture toward others. Some of these residents don’t get many visitors so seeing your children is a huge treat. They give your kids candy and make a big fuss over your children–the latter being each parent’s favorite moment of the trip, of course.

Call the nursing home ahead of time to arrange a visit. If you’re in a playgroup, see if you can all meet up at the nursing home to trick or treat together.

Spend an Evening at Church

Churches typically hold reformation parties or harvest festivals instead of billing the event as a Halloween celebration. Anyone is invited to attend. You don’t have to be a church member to bring your family.

Activities for the children include games, costume parades, inflatables, and hayrides. Candy is also handed out so the kids get to trick or treat at the church. Some churches may even provide a potluck dinner but you’re not required to bring food or pay an admission fee to participate.

Look for signs outside of churches or call any church to find a reformation party or harvest festival. The church secretary can probably give you a short list of churches with planned activities.

Visit Fire and Police Departments

To keep children safe, many fire and police departments plan a Halloween event at their stations. Firefighters and police officers hand out candy. Kids get a peek at the inside of a firehouse or police station. You might even get a personal tour and an up-close look at the fire engines or police cars.

Call your local police department’s non-emergency line to see what’s planned in your city. Most newspapers, radio and TV stations also promote the hours and locations that are open for trick or treaters.

Throw a Block Party for the Kids

Get your neighbors together and throw a Halloween block party for the kids. A few parents can help organize the event with face painting, simple food and drink booths, a costume contest and outdoor party games.

Set up a candy stand with a big selection of treats. Let kids create their own candy bag with non-toxic paints or markers and then let them pick out a certain number of goodies to customize their own treat bag.

Use home Halloween decorations to dress up your neighborhood. If enough houses participate, children can walk down the street with their parents to determine which house is decorated the best. Kid voters only!

Attend Community Events

Your local community may offer Halloween festivities throughout the month of October. Kids can trick or treat at the zoo, play games, and go on a hayride. A candy village might be set up in the park with activities and sweets for the children. Festivals could include music, a pumpkin walk displaying a variety of creatively-carved pumpkins, age-appropriate haunted houses, and trick or treating.

Check your local community calendar to see what your city has planned. You can also contact your convention and tourism bureau for more information on each event.

Take Trick or Treating to the Mall

Malls provide a safe environment for you and your kids to trick or treat. They’re especially nice if the weather is bad.

Children trick or treat at each store with some employees handing out candy right at the store’s entrance. You’ll probably find store clerks who are also dressed up in the spirit of Halloween.

After you’re done trick or treating, head to the food court for dinner. Letting the kids eat in their costumes will make your night more than a stop at the mall for candy.

Play at a Haunted Theme Park

Many theme parks transform from summer thrills to fall chills in October. Haunted houses are built and cobwebs are spun. The screams from roller coasters take on new meaning when ghosts and goblins are added to the fun.

Most parks separate adult and children’s activities so parents know exactly which ones are appropriate for their kids. Finding Halloween events that appeal to your family’s interests will lead to a memorable night that doesn’t depend on sacks full of candy collected from door-to-door trick or treating.

IF YOU HAVE AN ACTIVE child, you know just how busy life can be with added practices, team meetings and planning. Not only do we have to get the kids to practice, but we have to get food on the table, help with homework and meet the needs of other family members as well.

Even though our active kids know they have to feed their bodies, they may have no idea what to eat or when to eat it to maintain performance and their overall health. When we add very influential input from coaches, teachers and peers, there can be a great deal of conflicting advice. The same issues come up time and time again. Many sports dietitians agree and have offered their advice for avoiding these common fueling myths and misconceptions.

Myth: If they’re eating, they’ll get all the nutrients they need.

According to Heather Mangieri, Pittsburgh-based registered dietitian and author of “Fueling Young Athletes,” one of the most common mistakes she sees is when an athlete puts more focus on what to eat before, during and after activity than what to eat each day. She warns that “eating a perfectly planned recovery meal will never take the place of meeting daily nutritional needs.”

This makes a lot of sense considering that nutrient deficiencies don’t just happen overnight. “Deficiencies that could negatively impact sports performance, like deficiencies in iron or Vitamin D, can occur when the athlete fails to get adequate nutrition over time,” Mangieri says. “That’s why it’s so important to incorporate nutrient-rich foods into every day, not just on game day or after training.”

Clint Wattenberg, director of sports nutrition for the UFC Performance Institute, calls this attention to eating well throughout a season “proactive fueling.” He suggests that this is a key factor to developing a performance nutrition mindset that practices building nutrition into the foundation of performance. “Inconsistency and reactive fueling leads to a crumbling foundation undermining training adaptation, thus hampering athlete development and ultimately performance,” he says. “The more solid your nutrition foundation, the sturdier, more sustainable and consistent your performance becomes.”

Myth: Snacking isn’t necessary.

“One of my biggest pet peeves, is when an athlete forgets to fuel up before after-school sports,” says Wendy Sterling, a registered dietitian and team nutritionist for the Oakland Athletics. “Kids may eat lunch at 11:30 and then not eat again until after sports are over at 6 p.m.,” notes Sterling, who is also the co-author of “How to Nourish Your Child Through an Eating Disorder: A Simple, Plate-by-Plate Approach to Rebuilding a Healthy Relationship with Food” and “No Weigh!: A Teen’s Guide to Positive Body Image, Food, and Emotional Wisdom.” “Missing this critical after school pre-workout opportunity leads to tired, sluggish athletes on the field who often can’t get through practice – and if they do get through practice, it’s likely on fumes,” she says.

Much like her pro athletes, Sterling tells younger athletes that to elevate their training, they should plan to have an easy-to-digest, pre-workout snack that’s rich in carbohydrates and contains some protein. The amount of food varies based how much time the athlete has to eat, but some of her favorite basic options for after-school fueling include smoothies, yogurt with granola, apple and peanut butter, peanut butter-filled pretzels plus a banana, or half of a sandwich.

Myth: Drinking water on the way to practice is enough.

Hydration isn’t just a common discussion in my sport nutrition sessions, it’s a hot topic I broach with all my active clients. Whether I’m working with a recreational athlete or a professional, fluid intake is a key conversation for performance and overall health.

Sterling warns that kids should not expect to make up for poor hydration right before practice starts – by then it’s simply too late. “Chugging too much water before practice won’t sit well in the athlete’s stomach; it can often be felt sloshing around as they move,” Sterling says.

Like fueling well throughout the day, good hydration should start in the morning and continue on from there. Sterling recommends using urine color as one way to assess hydration status, “aiming for a light pale-yellow color, like lemonade, (which) indicates a good level of hydration, whereas a dark concentrated urine, like apple juice color, indicates dehydration.“

Mangieri says that “even with the best intentions, staying hydrated can be a challenge for kids. Some schools do not allow kids to carry water bottles to their classes, so they are relying on trips to the drinking fountain to maintain a healthy hydration status during the day.” She reminds young athletes to stop and gulp every chance they get. “Six large gulps of water is 6 ounces, so they should try to do that between every class,” she says.

When working with teams, Mangieri reminds coaches that they can also help keep young athletes hydrated by encouraging kids to drink fluids often and offering several water breaks throughout practices. “There is no cheaper, simpler or more effective way to help performance and protect health than staying hydrated during exercise,” Mangieri says.

Myth: Focusing on weight is helpful.

Time and time again, young athletes tend to focus on things they have little control over. With a dieting culture that’s overly focused on weight even though it isn’t a behavior, young athletes can impair they’re health and performance when trying to manipulate their weight.

“Many athletes and coaches mistake body weight and body composition for a controllable variable (especially when attempting to develop performance),” Wattenberg says. He points out that weight and composition are one of many adaptations to training that are a result of a variety of behaviors including training intensity, duration and frequency, as well as nutritional habits, stress, sleep, genetics and an individual’s medical or nutrition history. And just like training adaptations, such as strength, speed and endurance, body weight and composition are an adaptation to these stimuli, he says.

Wattenberg, who is very familiar with weight-class sports, warns that young athletes can get into trouble when they (or their coaches) prioritize weight and body composition as a representation of performance. He cautions that when a priority is placed on body weight and composition, those negative weight control behaviors can undermine all other training adaptations and performance. Wattenberg recommends young athletes, parents and coaches instead “focus on behaviors that impact performance and allow body weight and composition to naturally optimize to support performance.”

Sports nutrition doesn’t have to be complicated. Like most areas of health, fueling young athletes requires planning things like family meals, having fluids on hand, packing snacks, getting enough sleep and allowing for adequate recovery time.

While nutrition is a key factor in growth, development and performance, so is realizing that young athletes can be great without an over-focus on body weight or shape. Fueling young athletes well and teaching them to appreciate the strength of their unique bodies can be a life-long victory. 

Planning children’s meals during the school week can be made simple when providing nutritious foods. Alicia Beltran, research dietitian at the USDA/ARS Children’s Nutrition Research Center at Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children’s Hospital, maps out healthy meals and snacks to feed your child before, during and after school.

Breakfast

Protein fills you up for longer, so you should always include protein in your child’s breakfast. Eggs are a perfect and flexible meal that keep your child full, especially if you incorporate vegetables, which adds more fiber to the meal. Another simple morning meal is a quesadilla with chicken and cheese. Make this with a whole wheat flour or corn tortilla for more fiber and less fat. Serve this with a side of fruit and milk to give your child energy for school.

For a quick breakfast, you can give your child yogurt with fresh fruit and granola so they get their dairy and grains. You can also make them a fruit smoothie. According to Beltran, parents often serve their children orange juice, which is simple sugar since you are not incorporating the fiber of a fresh orange, and is not filling. Instead, make a fresh fruit smoothie with no added sugar to get more nutrients that will keep them full.

Lunch

Make sure you always include protein, whether it’s baked or grilled chicken or low-sodium deli meat. For adequate dairy intake, pack cheese, yogurt or milk in your child’s lunch. Be careful when purchasing yogurt, as many of them contain added sugars. Fruit flavored yogurt also can double as dessert for the meal. It’s important to always include fresh fruit or vegetables in their lunch – preferably both. Talk to your child to learn which produce they prefer, and pack them for lunch daily.

Parents often choose easy meals over nutritious foods for their children’s lunches. Buying processed foods seems easier, but you spend more money purchasing this instead of taking time to prepare healthier meals for lunch. Beltran suggests making tuna or chicken salad with Greek yogurt instead of the traditional fatty mayo. Children can enjoy this in a sandwich with whole wheat bread or in a whole wheat wrap. You can also change it up and serve it with crackers. You can use the same protein in different recipes, depending on what your kid prefers.

Avoid packing sports beverages or juices that are not 100 percent juice, since they contain added sugars. Chocolate milk should not be their main source of dairy for the meal, but can be packed as a dessert or treat. Pack plain milk for dairy. Children should drink water throughout the day. If they want flavor, try adding fresh orange slices or other fruits to their water. Make sure your child always has water and can refill their bottle at school.

“Add a little treat or note for dessert. It’s ok to pack a small cookie or piece of chocolate from time to time. Just choose wisely,” Beltran said.

After-school snacks

Children should eat a snack after school to keep energized for homework and extracurricular activities. Beltran lists nutritional snacks that will keep kids full until dinner:

• Cheese sticks or string cheese
  • Cut up fruits and vegetables
  • Raisins
  • Trail mix
  • Plain popcorn
  • Fruits they can easily peel, such as citrus like mandarins or cuties
  • Carrots with hummus or low-fat ranch
  • Small peanut butter and jelly sandwich with a small amount of jelly

Refrain from giving children sugary cereal, candy or other snacks that are high in sugar after school. These snacks will not fill them up or hold them over for dinner. They will grow hungry and cranky quickly.

“Plan ahead. Making lunch doesn’t have to be a nightmare,” Beltran explains. “Take your kid to the grocery store and involve them in the preparation. This makes it fun for them, and they will enjoy it more.”

Tablets, smartphones, laptops, adapters and Bluetooth devices weren’t always on back-to-school shopping lists.

But there’s no way around the fact that technology is a much bigger part of our children’s lives than it was for most of us when we were their age. Whether your child is in middle school, or flying the coop for college, there’s a good chance they’ll be taking devices with them.

Consider adding some of these cybersecurity best practices before the first day of school:

1. Familiarize yourself with the school’s device policies

This one’s more for parents (and college students). Most educators acknowledge and accept technology’s role in learning, but not all educational institutions take the same approach to device management.

Some public schools prioritize putting laptops or tablets in the hands of every student free of charge. Others might rent out devices or allow students to bring their own devices for learning purposes.

Whatever the case, make sure you’re up-to-date on the school’s device policies. For starters, find out if there are any restrictions on device usage to avoid confiscation. If the school provides the device, ask if you’re responsible for installing cybersecurity software, downloading certain apps, having a data backup, etc.

Also, it never hurts to ask the school what they’re doing to keep kids safe online.

2. Phishing: The other ‘stranger danger’

From email accounts to social media, your children will inevitably come into contact with phishing scams at some point. These manipulative or deceitful messages trick users into giving away sensitive information and downloading malware.

Social media platforms and email providers have gotten better at flagging and quarantining phishing attempts, but it’s still important to make your children aware of their existence, and how to spot them. That means encouraging them not to engage in conversations with strangers online. If they’re into online gaming or active in another digital community, they may already be in contact with strangers. In that case, tell them not to give out personal information. Tell them to avoid clicking on links or downloading attachments from unknown senders. Caution them against responding to emails that use urgent language (“Reset your password NOW!!”) or are rife with misspellings.

Phishing scams like fake coupons and untrustworthy links in emails promising “big savings” are prominent during back-to-school shopping season, so be vigilant.

3. Have a backup

Say your high school student gets ransomware on his or her laptop. First, you can tell your kids not to pay the ransom in this situation, because there’s no honor among thieves. Who’s to say they’ll keep their word?

You can tell your kids to create backup versions of key documents. And if they don’t know how, help them. Encourage them to save important documents (college essays, homework assignments) to the cloud. Google Drive, Apple, DropBox and others offer free and inexpensive secure storage options.

4. Public Wi-Fi: Beware all ye who enter here

Make sure your kids know that “free” Wi-Fi isn’t always free. Your elementary school student probably won’t bring her laptop to the cafe down the street to write a research paper, but your 16-year-old who recently got her driver’s license might.

Man-in-the-middle attacks and fake Wi-Fi hotspots posing as say, a Starbucks network, can easily lead to data theft. Encourage your kids (and other adults for that matter) to stay off public Wi-Fi. And if they must use public Wi-Fi, encourage them to use a virtual private network (VPN).

5. Keep your passwords to yourself

That’s passwords, plural. Each account your kids create will ideally use a unique password, preferably one that’s 15 characters long and contains numbers and special characters (read more about password best practices here).

We realize that’s a lot to remember, but if one password gets hacked, then all the passwords go with them. We recommend using a free password manager to make it easier to keep track of them.

Other password tips:

• Caution against sharing passwords with friends.
• Encourage kids to lock their devices with a fingerprint or face scan when the option exists.
• Consider physical passwords – that is, cable locks to keep laptops secure.

6. Have a frank talk about cyber responsibilities

Parents often give children devices so they can do their homework, work on school projects and collaborate with other students. Digital devices also help students learn more about technology, which has become integral to functioning in society.

Still, kids will use their devices for entertainment and other functions that extend beyond school. Parental-control tools can help you blacklist certain content, and in some cases even log call and text history. But they aren’t substitutions for communicating the risks of poor security hygiene.

Caution your kids against sharing information with strangers online the web. Make them aware of the signs of cyberbullying on social media and encourage them to notify a responsible adult if they see it happening. With middle-schoolers and high-schoolers especially, remind them that anything they share via text or social media can easily end up on the internet, and once it’s there, more often than not, it’s there for good.

It may be a touchy or even contentious subject, but technology is part of our world, and we need to encourage its responsible use among our children – in school and in everyday life. Don’t shy away from having these conversations with your kids.

Yes, kids can handle – and even benefit from – weightlifting and plyometrics. But if you get a pit in your stomach when you see a nine year old walk into your gym, read this to learn how you can help kids strength-train safely.

As a trainer, as a parent, or as both, you may hear questions and statements like these:

“Kids can’t do strength training; they’ll get injured.”

“Won’t too much fitness training stunt my kid’s growth?”

“How can I safely help my kid train to be better at soccer?”

Yes, while strength training can be dangerous for children if not done properly, here’s the truth:

Kids can strength train.

And they can benefit from it.

Don’t stop reading this article until you’ve seen the science and learned the techniques to keep kids safe when you’re training them.

(At end of article, you can also share the infographic of 12 exercises for kids as a starting point toward strength training).

Fitness is important, but it also needs to be age-appropriate. The latest research tells us that strength training is not only NOT dangerous for kids, it’s actually good for them if done properly.

But wait, you can’t start a five-year-old out with a twenty-pound clean and press, right?

Training for kids is only safe and beneficial when it’s age-appropriate, when it’s progressive, and when they’re taught and monitored for correct form.

With childhood obesity on the rise, youth training programs have become increasingly widespread and popular. You need to know what to recommend to parents who want to get their kids started in fitness or conditioned for a sports team.

Where Does a Trainer Start With Children?

Just as adults need to build a foundation for strength training with exercises in balance and proper form and movement, children also require practice and strategies that match their age and fitness levels.

A 2015 study by Lloyd et al describes a plan known as the Composite Youth Model, which provides an appropriate progression of skills specific to foundational motor skills, muscular strength, psychomotor ability, and sport specific skills for kids beginning at age two.

Phase 1: Ages 2 to 4

In this earliest phase, children are just learning fundamental motor skills and building the neuromuscular pathways they need to coordinate movements.

The simplest exercises are appropriate at this age, for example, bouncing a balloon from one hand to the next.

Also important at this age is making movement and exercise a positive and social experience.

Phase 2: Ages 5 to 12

During the middle phase, children should be introduced to multiple sports and activities.

Placing emphasis on just one might be tempting, but it can lead to burnout, boredom, and repetitive motion injuries. This is the time to teach kids fundamental skills for movement, agility, strength, endurance, and hypertrophy, as well as specific sports skills.

This is when you can start basic strength training.

Phase 3: Ages 13 to 20

In the third phase, teens can get into more advanced strength and conditioning training, but focus should also be placed on socializing, building self-esteem, and developing a regular and consistent workout or sports routine.

Emphasizing the importance of regular activity develops an attitude that will carry over into adulthood and prepare teens to live active and healthy lifestyles. It is crucial to remember that a one-size-fits-all approach cannot be used with children because in any age group there will be different talents, abilities and maturation rates.

Really? Strength training at age 5?

Here’s what the experts say.

Kids don’t need to be lifting weights or learning any complicated moves before age 5.

But during Phase 2, you can start to introduce strength training and other more targeted exercises to improve conditioning, movement, and overall fitness.

Studies support this…

Study: Can kids benefit from more than striker clinics?

A group of eight- and nine-year-old soccer players were put through strength training and high-intensity conditioning a couple times a week in addition to soccer practice; this included squat jumps, weighted jumps, and sprints. The control group added more training, too – but their additional training was just more time spent on their usual soccer-specific training.

What they found:

All of the boys were tested before starting the new routine and several weeks after. Those doing weights and intense conditioning showed significant improvement compared to the control group. They were more flexible, could jump higher, had increased power, and showed greater endurance.

IMPORTANT: Strength training, weight lifting, intense conditioning, and plyometric exercises can benefit children, but it must be done progressively and with proper instruction. The children in these studies were taught proper form, started out lifting light bars only, and were always monitored.

Reps and sets: Do you know how much kids can handle?

Kids can’t and shouldn’t do the same workouts full-grown adults do.

The primary goal is to keep the repetitions higher and sets lower to first create muscle memory.

This ensures that kids develop proper form.

Only when a child has the form down should you add weight and additional sets.

When you have a child lifting with good form, you can determine an appropriate weight by testing increasing weights with ten repetitions.

When the child starts to lose form or can’t complete ten reps, you have gone too high and need to step down to a lower weight..

Why Should We Put Kids Through Strength Training at All?

Research has proven kids can train safely and that doing so improves certain fitness measures.

But do we really need to train kids this way?

Why not just stick with playing sports and having fun?

Yes, it will take more time and effort to teach a child to properly do Olympic-style lifts and plyometric moves, but the benefits are worth it. Here are just 4 of them:

1. More complex exercises put more emphasis on multiple joints, flexibility, and complicated muscle coordination, which is powerful for growing bodies.
2. Strength training improves many measures of fitness that are important to sports like soccer, basketball and volleyball.
3. Strength training and plyometrics can be fun too. It’s all about attitude. Make it fun for kids, and they’ll have fun while being healthy – even if there’s no game involved.
4. This kind of training sets kids up for making a lifelong habit of strength training and good fitness.

Intense training can make kids better at sports, but that’s not the only reason to do it.

Weight lifting, plyometrics and conditioning are good for adults and kids alike. It makes us fitter and healthier.

Some athletes have begun to abstain from drinking fluids during hot weather workouts, in hopes that the deprivation might somehow make them stronger. A new study suggests it doesn’t.

But the new study finds that it is likely only to make them more physically stressed. And very, very thirsty.

Working out in the heat is inherently difficult, as any of us who exercise outside in summer knows. When ambient temperatures are high, we generate internal heat more quickly than if the weather is cool.

To remove this heat and maintain a safe body temperature, our hearts pump warm blood toward the skin’s surface, where heat can dissipate, and we sweat, providing evaporative heat loss.

These reactions become more pronounced and effective with practice, a process known as heat acclimation (also referred to as acclimatization). During heat acclimation, which can require several weeks of sultry exercise, we begin to sweat earlier and in greater volume.

This and other changes help our hearts to labor less, so that, in general, the effort of being physically active in high temperatures starts to feel less wearing. A run on a sizzling summer day in August should feel easier than a similar run on an equally hot evening in June, if we have been running outside in the meantime, because our bodies will have acclimated to the heat.

But athletes being athletes, some of them and their coaches began to wonder in recent years whether, if heat acclimation taxes the body and makes it stronger, would exacerbating the physical difficulties of acclimation lead to greater adaptations, in approved Machiavellian style?

They settled on not drinking fluids during exercise in the heat as the way to increase efforts, since mild dehydration is known to be hard on the body.

They had some evidence to back up that plan. At least one study, from 2014, had suggested that athletes adjusted more quickly to the heat if they avoided fluids during the first days of acclimation.

But Joseph Costello, an exercise physiologist at the University of Portsmouth in England who has long studied the effects of heat and cold on athletes, was skeptical. He and his colleagues suspected that this so-called “permissive dehydration” would be stressful for athletes’ bodies, but not advantageous.

So for the new study, which was published recently in Cytokine, he and his colleagues had a group of eight, fit young men complete two different courses of heat acclimation.

Both heat acclimations took place inside, in a physiology lab with the thermometer cranked up unpleasantly high. There, the men rode stationary bicycles at increasingly higher intensities for 11 consecutive days.

On most of these days, they rode for 90 minutes, but on several days, the exercise was briefer and the lab’s temperature higher to test how well they were acclimating.

The scientists drew blood and weighed riders at the start of the study and before and after each ride.

The only difference between the two 11-day acclimation sessions (which took place three months apart) was that, during one, the men drank plenty of fluids before and during each ride, downing 1.75 liters (almost 60 ounces) in every workout.

In the other 11-day session, the cyclists permissively dehydrated, drinking no fluids before or during their exercise. They did drink afterward, swallowing the same 1.75 liters as in the other acclimation program and more if they still felt thirsty.

The scientists then checked a variety of blood markers of stress, inflammation and heat acclimation.

They found that markers of inflammation mounted in the men after rides in each session, suggesting that the process of heat acclimation strains the body, whether people hydrate while exercising or not.

But, more interesting, they also found that levels of cortisol, a hormone that indicates physiological stress, rose only when the men acclimated without also hydrating.

The riders also reported feeling quite thirsty.

There were no signification differences in how quickly or fully the men’s bodies acclimated to exercising in the heat, whether they drank often while riding or drank nothing.

So, in effect, not drinking during hot workouts had caused “more physical stress but no particular physical benefit,” such as faster acclimation, Dr. Costello says.

The extra stress might also contribute to heightened risks for infections like colds or general fatigue, he says.

Of course, this study was small and involved only men, all of whom were young and in shape.

“Women and older people thermoregulate, or control their body temperature, slightly differently than young men,” Dr. Costello says.

But there is no reason to think that anyone is likely to benefit from deliberately desiccating themselves during workouts, he says.

“Have a drink before you exercise in the heat,” he says, and carry and consume fluids throughout the activity.

“I would suggest that everyone try to stay hydrated when performing in the heat,” he says.

Reprint from https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/08/well/exercise-water-drink-hydration-heat-summer-dehydration-athletes.html