How Should Children Exercise?
People often write in with questions about raising kids Primally. And you might find this surprising, but the plurality of kid-related questions I receive pertain to exercise. Not food – though I do still receive a lot of questions about feeding kids Primal food, I guess people are finally realizing that babies don’t have to be weaned with grain mushes and that kids can actually thrive on the foods their parents eat – but fitness. So I’ll go through two of the most common queries, paraphrased, and answer them, then follow up with my recommendations for ideal – but totally achievable and realistic – kid fitness.
But first, let’s go over the dire situation we currently face. Kids are not very active. They are fatter, more sedentary, and more unhealthy than the previous generation of kids. Whereas in 1969 42% of American children walked or biked to school, just 16% did so in 2001 (and I imagine the number has decreased since then). This isn’t me crowing about the good old days of kids walking uphill backward and barefoot in freezing snow to school while the blazing hot sun paradoxically burns overhead and having to stop along the way to haul hay bales and fistfight bullies all while doing arithmetic without calculators and researching term papers without the Internet (although let’s face it – those were good times). These are incontrovertible facts, confirmed via empirical evidence and by counting the number of kids you see with noses buried in iPads. Preschoolers are sedentary (even during outdoor playtime), children from low socio-economic households are sedentary (PDF), teens are sedentary, and don’t get me started on those lazy infants.
And the evidence is pretty clear that active kids and teens become active adults, while sedentary kids and teens become sedentary adults. If that’s true, the next generation of adults is going to be more sedentary than the current group unless you guys – the parents – do something about it. Notice that I said nothing about the government stepping in. They can make recommendations (the same ones they’ve been making for decades to little effect), but it comes down to you. Are you going to start walking and exercising and playing so that your kid follows your example and maintains interest in movement from an early age? Because that’s what it’s going to come down to. It’s not even a big deal. Kids love to move. They are born with the desire and innate drive to move throughout the world, climbing and lifting and throwing things. We stifle that with our chairs and school schedules and passive modes of entertainment, but the drive to move is there. This isn’t an obese diabetic with bad knees you’re trying to motivate. This is a kid brimming with kinetic energy who will engage in intense activity, given the chance. Take advantage of that and give it!
Okay, now that the ugly stats are out of the way, let’s get to the meat.
Does lifting weights stunt growth?
Everyone’s heard that kids who lift weights will suffer stunted growth. When Carrie and I were having kids, it was even the official recommendation of the American Academy of Pediatrics that children not be allowed to strength train, with the justification being it would damage growth plates and retard bone growth (and thus height). Before we examine the evidence, let’s talk about growth plates. What are they, exactly?
At either end of “long bones” (bones that are longer than they are wide) are epiphyseal plates, also known as growth plates. A bone grows at the ends and as it does, the growth plates are constantly in flux. The chondrocytes are always dividing to produce more and newer bone, and this renders the “energy-absorbing capability” of the growth plate “lower than that of bone, ligament, or tendon.” In growing kids, the growth plates are more susceptible to injury than ankles or other common areas of injury because they will “fail first.” About 85% of people with growth plate injuries enjoy normal, uninterrupted growth, but the potential for interrupted growth nonetheless exists.
That being said, no research has ever shown that weight training actually stunts growth in youth. In fact, just like adults who lift, kids who lift enjoy stronger bones (which extends into adulthood), increased lean mass, improved insulin sensitivity, and overall better health. A recent review (PDF) of all the epiphyseal injury literature found that the bulk of epiphyseal injuries occur on the football field, and that of the injuries attributed to weight training, 7.4% were epiphyseal. Of “all sports,” 10% of injuries were epiphyseal. The takeaway from the review is that growth plate injuries can occur in any sport, not just weight training (and even there, it’s not as heavily represented).
So, you see, the answer isn’t as simple as “yes” or “no.” Weight training with excessive loads, improper technique, and/or poor programming can lead to epiphyseal growth plate injuries, just as they can and do lead to general injuries in weight lifting adults, but so can football hits, snowboarding accidents, and bike mishaps. Injury can happen anywhere and in any activity. I’d even argue that because strength training takes place in a controlled environment – no bodies flying at you from across a field, no split-second decisions, no quick movements in either direction, just you and the weight – it is safer than many other forms of childhood physical activity. The evidence (what little there is) seems to support this contention.
If your child is going to lift weights, get the kid’s form dialed in and checked by an expert. Have him or her lift for higher reps and lower weights; no heavy singles or five rep maxes until later adolescence, when the growth plates have closed. Lift with your child, and don’t let them lift alone. If enthusiasm gets the better of them and they try to go for a max and you’re not there to supervise, bad things could happen.
Can kids benefit from regimented programs like Primal Blueprint Fitness?
Potentially. Fitness programs are only necessary because physical activity is no longer required for survival. I have to make the decision to go for a walk or a hike because I no longer have to walk to get food or water. I lift heavy things in the gym because I no longer have to do manual labor or hunt animals to live. All exercise programs are replacements for once-compulsory activity that’s no longer compulsory. Of course, I’d argue that activity is compulsory, but not in the sense that most people mean it. Being a couch potato won’t kill you today. It’ll kill you down the line.
However, if your kid is naturally active, a highly regimented program isn’t really necessary. Strict programs will help kids who have “forgotten” how to play and move around.
PBF’s movements are perfect for younger kids because they focus on manipulation of their own bodyweight. Even the most strident naysayer of youth weight lifting would admit that kids are equipped to safely move their own bodyweight.
My “Guidelines” and Recommendations
Here’s what I’d do if I had to raise a Primal kid all over again and I wanted them to become a healthy, active, strong human. These are my soft guidelines and recommendations.
Provide Ad Libitum Play
Play must be the foundation. Play is fun, and the way kids play is usually active. You let kids play, then, and they’ll do so by moving their bodies and exploring the world, and this will create a powerfully positive association with movement and physical activity. Then, if you want to introduce something more regimented later on, they’ll be more open to it. But play must always form the basis of children’s movement.
Many adults can get away with grueling workouts as the basis of their leisure time (not me), but kids cannot.
Focus on Form and Technique
Untouched, unmarred kids will generally show pretty good – maybe flawless – form when squatting and lifting things. They’re bendy and flexible and mobile and their connective tissue hasn’t hardened or stiffened up from misuse or disuse. Thus, if you can instill excellent form and make sure they maintain that form from an early age, they’ll be set for life.
Most exercise injuries come from bad form and technique. If you want to avoid those dreaded growth plate injuries, whether your kids are weight lifting, doing plyometrics, running, playing sports, or just playing, focusing on form is essential.
Keep “Workouts” Short and Snappy
Don’t linger too much on one exercise. Instead of putting your six year old on Starting Strength for toddlers, work the movements into everyday life so your kid gets short bursts of activity. Bust out with squats in the middle of a walk to school. Do some Grok crawls down the produce aisle. Sprint to the stop sign. Pick up every rock you find on your hike, making sure your kid displays a proper hip hinge every time (this is a good way to cement excellent form for both parent and child).
When you do a workout, keep things moving. Don’t prescribe specific reps and sets every single time you exercise.
“Disguise” Your Workouts
Instead of five founds of Grok crawls, box jumps, and pullups, set up an obstacle course in the front yard or at the park. Tunnels that you have to crawl through, cones that you have to jump over, and a tree that must be climbed. Let kids be kids and keep things fun.
Push sports, but don’t put too much pressure on your kid, especially by focusing obsessively on one sport or activity to the detriment of overall general development.
Pressure breeds resentment and kills enjoyment. While an adult weight lifter going for a max deadlift probably benefits from his workout partner (read: peer) screaming in his ear to “Pull!”, a ten year-old kid isn’t going to get better at free throws because his dad (read: parent, authority figure) screamed at him to do so. You’re trying to organically foster enthusiasm for movement, sport, and fitness, and you do that by letting the kid discover his own path and being there to nudge him in the right direction when asked.
Get baseballs, soccer balls, footballs, and basketballs. Your kid should play the sport your kid wants to play, not the one you wished you could play.
Participate!
You’re not a coach. You’re the parent. Join in with your kid. Use him or her as a weight. Wrestle with them. Go outside with them. Race them. Climb trees with them. I see parents at playgrounds staring at their phone while kids play, often alone, and I shake my head at the missed opportunity. Get in there and play too!
Buy a small kettlebell for your kid. Make some sandbags, clubbells, and slosh tubes in adult and kid sizes.
Let The Climb Stuff
Trees, pullup bars, ropes, fences. If you can, see about installing a pullup bar or rope climb at your place of residence. Have that kid climb on that thing as much as possible as soon as those opposable thumbs are functioning.
Let Them Jump Onto and Off of Stuff
Kids fall, a lot. Teaching them how to launch themselves into the air and handle themselves while there will help avoid many of the potential downsides of the inevitable descent. It may even lower the incidence rate of accidental falls, and it will certainly improve their ground-foot interfacing skills.
Let Them Balance on Stuff
Balance is an essential skill that will pay dividends down the line, in both everyday life and athletic endeavors. Simple planks of wood laid out in the yard make for a safe, effective balance beam. This will also make expert maneuvering of the cracks in the sidewalk (and avoidance of maternal lumbar fractures) possible.
Let Them Swim
Swimming is a valuable skill that will stay with your child for life. It’s like flying. At least, that’s how I saw it when I was a kid.
Relax!
Kids do dangerous things as a rule. They ride skateboards and make jumps. They climb trees and fall from them – sometimes on purpose to “see what happens.” They play football, get in scuffles, and make hairpin turns at breakneck speeds while dribbling a ball (with either hands or feet). Sports are dangerous, sure, but so is just about anything you do involving your body and the laws of physics. Let them figure it out. You’ll be there if something goes wrong.
It basically boils down to this: get kids moving and balancing and playing early, get them strong, mobile, and agile, and you’ll improve their ability to handle their own body in a dangerous world, thus reducing the chance that any serious injury will occur. And just like you never forget how to ride a bike or swim once you’ve learned it as a child, a kid who is active from the start will never lose that ability – or desire – to move as an adult.
That’s about the best gift you can give your child, if you ask me. (And in case you didn’t notice, all those guidelines are pretty effective for non-kids, too.)
So, parents and everyone else, what do you think?
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Posted By: Mark Sisson
Having two (pretty hyper) twin boys, exercise (just informal) was a necessity when they were younger – for all our sakes. Then they went through a period where it got hard to motivate them and we had to ‘disguise’ it. Now they are older (11) suddenly the team/competitive thing has come out and we’re all over the place at practices and games. It’s been interesting to watch that progression.
Oh and swimming is a lifeskill, IMO. Exercise yes, but an essential skill too.
Oh, and I forgot to say that we have a pullup bar in our kitchen and it has been amazing seeing the kids use it. Wish I was half as good.
I try to keep my kids active. They are ages 8 and 5.
Both are soccer players by choice. The three of us spend a lot of time actively playing soccer together in the front yard – not just kicking the ball around but playing games. They play pick up with friends too. It gives them the chance to play without pressure of yelling parents and the normal pressures of team sports.
They both ride bicycles. We’ve never bought a motorized riding toy in our house and plan to maintain that despite the appearance of electric scooters in our neighborhood. They ride around our house, in our neighborhood and on trails at local parks.
Both learned to swim at a fairly young age and are independent in the pool.
They still spend time at the playground both at school and the park – climbing, jumping and running. Tag, and hide and go seek are still played. (I’ll jump in occasionally for tag.)
I plan to involve them this spring and summer in home food growing – which will involve at time carrying heavy bags, tools and digging in the ground.
So I think they are covering a range of activities – moving slow, sprints, structured, unstructured, upper body and lower body!
This is great, Mark. On the flip side, I try to exercise like a kid would. Good, old-fashioned play is soul food.
I love playing with my girls. We roughhouse a fair bit and I love to use them as “weights”. Our oldest is a little fearful of moving quickly but loves doing pullups (assisted, of course) and other more static movements. Our youngest is just fearless at this stage. I so love playing with them. It’s one of the greatest joys in life.
Oops! I should have written that my daughters are 5 and 2 years old.
hahaha…maternal lumber fractures!
I was going to comment on the same thing. It made me chuckle.
Yeah I had a chuckle about that one, mind you took me a moment to get it.
Just bought a 25′ 1.5″ rope that I’m hanging in a backyard tree, for the kids (6 &
& well me too! We also have a trampoline that they love & med too.
We set up hurdles in the yard & have races. Trying to keep them off the couch & active as much as possible.
I also love doing Turkish Get-ups with one of them wrapped around my arm, they love having me hold them above my head with one arm, while they hang on. We also see who can do the most pull-ups, where my arms are the pull-up bars & they each grab on & go for it.
Ha! When my 4-year-old girl is ON the couch is when she just about her most active: climbing, leaping, jumping and balancing. Not to mention heavy work with fort building as she deconstructs the cushions.
We love this kind of stuff in our house! We usually have to try to channel the boys energy some how…which turns into wrestling matches on the living room floor, climbing play structures at the park and we love obstacle crosses in the front yard!!
Just like for adults it should be about Play!!
I have been wondering how to do this when I have kids. I work with kettlebells and happy to see them mentioned, though I’d go with a much less intense session like Enter The Kettlebell’s Program Minimum. A swing and a get-up instead of the Rite of Passage.
Great post. I would add: never utter the words, “Don’t run…” And don’t let them watch TV or play on the computer when the sun’s out.
I get my kids to bench, deadlift and squat twice their bodyweight 5×5 everyday, or else its no desserts for them!
Unfortunately rewards are the enemy of activity. I do applaud you for having them lift heavy weight though. Just be careful to not spoil intrinsic motivation with the reward. Feeling great is a good enough reward anyway. Don’t you think?
My mother calls ages 18 months to 7 years the Age of Running. Why walk when you can sprint from one place to another? I’m trying to sprint whenever my 3 year old sprints. It adds up!
I think that’s a great way to exercise with your kids! When I have kids, I’ll give it a try.
My dad always told me to “have a fall plan,” then turned me loose up a tree, in the woods, through creeks, or in a playground (I suspect he was trying to scare the other parents with that one). I had no injuries worse than a single mild sprain until I started practicing martial arts at 17, still never a break or fracture, and my peers are surprised by how confident, agile, curious, and functionally strong I am. I still climb trees, run through and along creeks, ignore trails, and scare parents at the playground. I’m grateful that I had the opportunity to test my limits as a kid and learn what I could do.
Taking young kids to almost any park pretty much covers everything mentioned above. Making the primal on the playground video for last years primal fitness entry showed me how much could really be done. Dancing is a good one for kids too!
My kids adored tree climbing (and still do, aged 26 and 30!), as the videos showed I did – although I don’t think I could have filmed a 30ft tree-climb happily, as my mother did. My kids had one rule, if you climb up, you have to climb down! They never got stuck, although I rescued (talked down) several friends’ kids.
Love this! I’ve got my first little one in my belly right now (expecting in 7 weeks!) and this mirrors my philosophy. Thanks for hammering it home!
I don’t know if swings are good exercise but I couldn’t get enough of it when I was young.
Swings are wonderful full body/core movements. Also strong input for the sensory kiddos
I have 4 boys and 1 girl. We have a basketball hoop, climbing rope, pull up bar, bikes, scooters, swing set, climbing tree, more sports balls than I could count, and a punching bag. Our kids love to play ultimate frisbee and soccer. We have a huge park behind our home and we use it all the time.
I believe that free play is the best exercise for kids. I’m not really the “play date” kind of mom and I think it has been good for my kids to have the freedom to move whenever and however they wanted.
I have honestly been worried about weight lifting for my kids, so thanks for putting my fears to rest. But I still think I might try to put it off as long as I can! I really, really like unstructured play-as-exercise for my clan.
You’ve got my wheels turning Mark – my kid is only a few months old but I think like most dads with a son – they have plans for EPIC journeys and adventures with their boy! Mines the only boy in the family so the in-laws have already decided he will be hunting, fishing, hiking, camping, etc….and hopefully if dad can get healthy with PB, he can keep up! My wife’s side of the family are not the lazy type so the bike trip last year through the NC mountains was a little tough for me. This year I’m on PB so hopefully when my son is older dad won’t be worn out after a one mile (practically straight up the mountain) hill climb. Good read Mark!
Let’s not stereotype too strongly. My parents owned their own business and worked 7 days a week when I was a kid. I’m a female, but I would have LOVED to go fishing or camping. Alas, my dad was a science teacher and most definitely a “city” guy. I wouldn’t have wanted to hunt back then, and I probably still don’t. But I’d be happy to try my hand at cleaning and cooking whatever someone who *did* hunt brought home!
Anyway, don’t leave your daughters out of the epic journeys! We like to play in the great outdoors too!
Great job even agreeing to go on the bike ride. NC mountains are no joke on mountain bikes. You should be proud of yourself and just keep going.
You’re bringing back some great memories, Mark!
I remember growing up in the late 70′s and 80′s, running around outside with friends until well-past dark, playing flashlight tag, backyard football, swimming in the local pool, and about anything else where we could get out our extra energy.
No kids for my wife and me at the moment, but in light of today’s childhood obesity epidemic, and so many societal factors toward a sedentary lifestyle, it’s easy to forget about kids’ need to play until someone points it out-as you just did.
Thanks for the great post.
can’t imagine “sedentary” kids, you would have to tie mine on to keep them still! they are super active, very sporty and will eventually Crossfit….we are just trying to be good role models for them but they don’t really need much encouragement, they are naturally energetic on their own
“This will also make expert maneuvering of the cracks in the sidewalk (and avoidance of maternal lumbar fractures) possible.”
I see what you did there Mark. lol
You should have seen the stuff my brothers and I did as kids. We grew up in the country, and my grandfather had a (then defunct) sheep farm. We spent a lot of time running around in pine trees and sheep runs all by ourselves. Grandpa was never worried about us for some reason, and I only got injured once – but that was more the dirt bike’s fault.
I think encouraging the parents to get out there should be its own separate subtopic. Face it: kids mimic those present in their lives, and if their parents are being lazy slobs, it’s no surprise the kids might probably be the same.
Like they always say, the apple doesn’t fall far into the couch and eat a whole pizza in one sitting (something like that)
I have a 12 year old daughter who LOVES to climb trees and swim. Right now she’s not as active in the evenings because I haven’t been. That’s changing because we’re walking together. This kid is very active during her school day as I’m always hearing stories of what she’s been up to.
Does anyone have an opinion on kids drinking coffee? My (mostly primal & very athletic) 13 & 14 yr olds love coffee in the morning. And otherwise eat & drink really healthy. I personally have always felt it was fine, but just wondering what you guys think. Thanks!
Just make sure you put enough butter & coconut oil in it.
…and KIDS do dangerous things! I was swinging my kids around (they loved it, “just one more time Daddy”, when one of MY discs ruptured. It took me out of work and training for many weeks. That said I really wish I had spent much more time playing with them as Mark advises instead of “babysitting” watching over them, making sure they don’t hurt themselves. It’s too late for me, don’t let the time slip by for you.
Great article. My boys are young adults, and grew up without the Internet on a farm. We had huge piles of boulders scattered around the farm which were turned into cubbies, pirate ships and hiding places. Unstructured play is so important to exercise the mind as well as the body. Too often these days I think kids are directed in how they should play, through preschools and long day care, and micro management of nearly every aspect of their lives, when what they need is a bike, a paddock full of boulders and trees and a sandpit
I agree with the micro management of Play time! I’m a PE teacher and have to do more structure than I’d like -but as much as I can get away with it, I take the kids outside with a few activity choices and tell them “go play”. The kids in the grade level who are new to me have a very difficult time with this. Constantly wanting me to tell them how to play, if someone was “out” or not, etc. I tell them it’s their game so they need to figure these things out on their own- of course we’ve already learned the basics so it’s up to them to play as the group wants. My co teacher sees this as me having a lazy day- I honestly think its the most important thing I teach them. By the time they’ve experienced a couple of these free days, they are constantly begging for them. It’s like free play is a new concept they’ve never experienced before.
Andi, you are a hero! Thank you, thank you, thank you for letting the kids play! I think a ton of kids lose their desire to be active when faced with a P.E. class that only “plays sports,” some of which they may not be good at! I was a super-active, healthy, running, bike-riding, tree-climbing kid, but put me in a P.E. class with a basketball, and I froze. Your approach sounds fantastic.
Hooray! Seriously a hero. Those kids will remember you and remember those days the rest of their lives. I will be forever grateful to the teacher at my elementary school who advocated for us to be able to play in the woods at the edge of our playground during recess. We ran, climbed, built forts, waded through the big gully and even worked together with the boys to build a bridge out of sticks and logs across it. So much good movement and so many foundational memories. When I think about what I learned in elementary school, those half-hours of free play always rise to the top.
That reminds me of Jr. High- our PE coaches told us the rules, then let us do our own thing. We didn’t get into trouble unless we couldn’t agree on how to cheat.
I think they were just happy to get us moving and running.
Yay! Thank you!
it’s sad that there needs to be a post like this. let ‘em play!
Excellent article. As stated, “growth plate injuries can occur in any sport, not just weight training.” I agree, but would like to suggest that if proper instruction and guidance is provided to a child that the risk for injury could be eliminated. Weight lifting removes the unknown variables other sports have inherently due to the addition of multiple players, constantly changing movement patterns, and unpredictable terrain. So, if training technique is perfected the risk should be zero and the benefit spectacular in terms of improved neuromuscular coordination.
I take my two year old to the gym with me sometimes. His form on lifting is completely perfect. He loves lifting medicine balls, he looks like a mini strongman doing atlas balls, its hilarious.
You are the most bad ass, knowledgeable, inspiring, impressive, motivating,dude on the web. Wow!! I am glad I found your site. You need your own talk show and or reality show! Seriously… not kidding.