An Early Start

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An Early Start

Egyptian parents, worried about their children'shealth, have started

to enroll them in specially tailoredfitness programs. Is five too

young to start working out at the gym?

AT FIRST, the idea of plunking kids on a treadmill or handing an

eight-year-old weights with which to work out sounds a bit odd:

Shouldn't children be out running wild, having fun and enjoying the

fresh air?

Those were the first thoughts of many parents who recently learned

that both the Creative Dance and Fitness Center (CDFC) and Gold's

Gym have launched " fitness training programs " for kids.

The problem, fitness experts claim, is that children no longer enjoy

outdoor physical activity as they once did. Won over by video games

and equally addictive TV programming, many (perhaps most) would

rather sit on a couch, slurp a soda and munch on a bag of chips,

unwittingly piling on pounds.

According to a ground-breaking national study on obesity conducted

by the National Nutrition Center in 2002, 4.5 percent of Egyptian

boys and five percent of the girls between the ages of 6 and 11 are

overweight — and 2.5 percent of the boys and 4.5 percent of the

girls in the same age bracket are obese. The results are even more

shocking among older kids: 10.6 percent of the males and 19 percent

of the females between the ages of 12 and 19 are overweight, while

obesity affects 5.8 percent of the boys and 9.7 percent of the girls

of the same ages.

A visit to the Maadi branch of the CDFC confirms that today, for

their own good, children have to be pushed to do some physical

activity. Remon Medhat, supervisor of CDFC's Youth Fitness Program,

says that 70 percent of the youngsters who have joined the program

since its launch four months ago are obese.

Most enrolled due to parental concerns regarding their health.

Medhat, who has a degree in physical education and who is currently

working on his master's degree in muscle balance, believes that gyms

can be suitable places for children or, as he prefers to call

them, `youth,' provided they work out under careful supervision.

" We work with [children who are] 5 to 16 years old, but of course we

do not work with them as we would with adults. Repetition, weights

and time vary for children. We have to be careful, as their

ligaments are not yet strong enough. Kids who over-exercise can

dislocate a shoulder or a hip. We work a lot with resistance bands,

for example, " he explains.

Motivating a child to work out, however, can be a daunting task.

Medhat points out that the younger kids, aged 5 to 8, are the

easiest to work with, despite their short attention spans. The Hulk,

Spiderman and other cartoon heroes seem to be helping: " They love

the idea of coming to the gym. They are into all their superheroes

and believe that coming to the gym will make them as strong as their

idols. Older kids, 13 to 16 years old, are also motivated. They have

their own agendas. The boys want to become more muscular, and the

girls want to be thinner because they have started to develop an

ideal body image that they want to reach, " he says.

The real challenge for trainers are kids between the ages of 9 and

12, Medhat explains.

" They want to play soccer, they want to eat what they want and they

want to play video games. They are not interested in exercising, " he

says. To overcome this hurdle, the gym has opted to train the kids

as a group in the hope that working out with their peers will be a

motivation to exercise. " Placing the kids in a group of friends

seems to work, " adds Medhat. " They chat and joke together, which

keeps them from getting bored. "

The ultimate goal, according to Medhat, is to bring the kids' fat

levels to normal in the cases of obesity, and to increase muscle

mass — and consequently the weight — in children who are very

skinny. This does not mean, however, that all children should have

the same weight.

" Some kids are naturally heavier, because of muscle or bone

density, " continues Medhat. " What we rely upon is the fat percentage

index, which in boys aged 13 to 16 should not be more than 24 and is

a little higher in girls. But some kids, who play sports like judo,

for example, cannot afford to have their fat level come down too

much, as they need some fat to ward off falls and prevent injuries.

A healthy fat percentage is important for the body. Too little fat

and the body's internal organs will suffer, " Medhat adds.

Kids enrolled at the center's youth program are also encouraged to

follow special diets. " But we keep in mind the fact that they are

kids. They can have treats every two or three days. You cannot let

them feel that they are too different from other kids or they will

feel frustrated, " Medhat explains. He adds that, " When they find

that their shape has changed to the better, some kids stop coming

for weeks. They think they can afford to relax, then they come back

again when they start gaining weight. "

With some 90 kids enrolled at the CDFC's branches in Maadi and

Mohandiseen, Medhat is sure the youth fitness program is catching

on — and not a moment too soon.