Fit For Life: Back to School

Fit For Life: Back to School

Throughout my career I’ve trained all kinds of people. Men, women, young people, older people.  From 14 to 90.  Something I’ve done for a few years now which is particularly satisfying is to work with a high school football team as their strength and conditioning coach.  It really doesn’t matter if they are a football players, because my training advice would be the same, pretty much, for all age groups.  With kids going back to school, being fit and healthy means they’ll be better at reducing injuries, being more focused, and having more discipline – all things you need to be better students.

Athlete or not, it all starts with basics.

Strengthen the core.  Condition the body.  Eat a healthy diet.  Get enough sleep.  Watch unhealthy habits.  This advice goes to all types of young people – the athletic, the sedentary, the in-between, the boys - and the girls.  My observations are that teens in general, are awkward. They have weak cores, poor balance and stability, and lack coordination. This goes for athletes with the exception of those who are gymnastic athletes. Part of this is due to poor programming and improper training.   I find that they go to YouTube or muscle magazines for their workout direction, where there is a generalized lack of attention to core and proper movement patterns. Even on an athletic level, most coaches at high school levels, know the game and strategy of the game, but lack resources and time to provide proper strength and conditioning training.  Same goes for gym programs – it’s often playing a low intensity game that everyone can do, rather than learning about strength and conditioning?

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Injury prone without property conditioning.

Teens playing contact sports without the proper conditioning are at higher risk of injury. It's like your spine in an accident without a seatbelt. Another reason for their awkwardness is that they are not fully developed at this age. They are still growing and sometimes not uniformly. Their bones grow faster than their muscles in some cases, causing long lanky limbs, with loose, unstable joints. Doing the proper types of exercise is extremely important at this age because their bodies are still developing and high-risk exercises that load the spine should be avoided until an individual is strong and stable enough to support such activities. Attention must be paid to movements and addressed accordingly. When trained and fed properly, this age group responds quickly to exercise and conditioning. Whether your child is an athlete or not, it is a good idea to give them incentive to, and educate them about, exercise. It will pay off in the long run. Girls need to be handled carefully when it comes to eating. I helped a friend’s teenage daughter lose 65 pounds by educating her on food quality, then she took over and did it on her own in a healthy way.

The football team didn't win the title last year, but we exceeded the coaches’ expectations, and injuries were lower than usual, with the team maintaining high levels of energy – and there’s always this year – we’ve already started working out at Providence Fit Body Boot Camp.

I always start by developing a mutual respect between us, and explain what and why we are doing something. Exercise is important at any age, but safe exercise is essential at this age.  So, along with shopping for new clothes and supplies, let’s get our kids off to a healthy start – it’s a holistic approach that makes for smarter kids, healthier kids, and happier families, too.

I was very pleased to work on 2 segments of WJAR-TV10’s Alison Bologna’s special on Getting Back to School.  In these segments I review 10 exercises good for kids going back to school – here are the links:

Back to School Fitness Part 1

Back to School Fitness Part 2

Matt Espeut, GoLocal's Health & Lifestyle Contributor has been a personal trainer and health & fitnesss consultant for over 25 years. He is the owner of Fitness Profiles, a one on one, and small group personal training company, as well as Providence Fit Body Boot Camp, located at 1284 North Main St., on the Providence/Pawtucket line. You can reach Matt at (401) 453-3200; on Facebook at "Matt Espeut", and on Twitter at @MattEspeut. "We’re all in this life together – let’s make it a healthy one!"