CrossFit for Kids

When we talk about exercise, gym or fitness clubs, our minds immediately think about grownups, adults and teens, kids don’t come into our mind. We assume that the equipment's used in the gym are not kid friendly and have damaging effects to them. Over the years we have built a mental model and whenever we talk about fitness, we keep kids out of it and assume that these places are for adults/grownups and teens.   Looking into the CDC website, we could see that “Childhood obesity has more than doubled in children and quadrupled in adolescents in the past 30 years. The percentage of children aged 6–11 years in the United States who were obese increased from 7% in 1980 to nearly 18% in 2012. Similarly, the percentage of adolescents aged 12–19 years who were obese increased from 5% to nearly 21% over the same period.”

In order to get healthy, kids should have fun, they should take part in games, play for at least 60 minutes a day. There are many activities like gymnastics, swimming, sports, Karate, Taekwondo, jogging etc that kids can take part and begin leading a healthy life. “CrossFit for Kids” can be considered in the same bucket, it introduces the Mechanics of gymnastics, weightlifting, running, rowing and more for kids ranging from 3-18 years. Kid’s minds and bodies are like a sponge, they absorb everything they come across and they learn quickly. Once a kid learns something new it stays with him for a long time and that is the reason why kids are being trained young at gymnastics, swimming and other activities. CrossFit Kids is meant to be BIG fun for all ages. It is alternate for other kid’s activities and this can bring down child obesity and better health for children at a young age.  Just like other CrossFit workouts the workouts are scalable according to the age of the kids. In the CrossFit Kids program kids don't lift weights heavier than one or two kilograms, they do push-ups, squats, cartwheels, perhaps climb a rope. CrossFit Kids is moderated by trained certified professionals.  The trainers know the techniques on how to overcome the unique challenges of teaching kids. The children's class is half an hour long and portion of it is dedicated to other games. CrossFit Kids is inexpensive and often requires little or no equipment, which makes the program affordable. This program provides an opportunity for kids to be physically fit and physically active throughout their lives. CrossFit Kids programs can be found in over 1,800 gyms and more than 1,000 schools worldwide.

Cross Fit Challenges

Weekly challenges are an interesting way for keeping the athletes encouraged and refreshed during the course of the week. These challenges look very simple but have proven to be very effective and increase the athletes’ core strength and stamina. Every week there are few challenges out lined for the athletes, which help them get stronger during the course of the week. These challenges need not be completed at the gym.
These challenges can be done anywhere, at home, at work, at the airport and they don’t require any special equipment.  In fact you don’t need to join cross fit to do these challenges. What makes it interesting to do it at a box is that the intrinsic and extrinsic motivation provided by coaches and athletes, who want to get the best out of everyone.   Some of the challenges include the following   1) Accumulate a total of 5 minutes in either a plank hold or handstand hold.
2) Achieve 25 Strict Pull Ups using whichever variation of the movement that will best help you build strength. This means selecting something that will make the 4-7 rep range challenging. This could vary from an appropriately challenging body angle on the ring row, to bands, to weighted strict pull ups. If you can crank out more than 7 at a time, it's not challenging enough for the purposes of this challenge.   3) 1 Minute of couch stretch for every hour of sitting for 3+ days.   Good luck everyone on these challenges.