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In fact, Kitsos thinks children should stay away from formal strength training exercise until the age of 14 or 15.
Ariel’s mother, Angela, hired a trainer because her daughter was having knee problems. “I noticed her alignment and her posture were all wrong and that her coach wasn’t noticing that,” explains Angela. “He was just teaching her technique; he didn’t have much idea of posture and alignment.” After many visits to physiotherapists and doctors, Angela hired a trainer. “He’s been very, very helpful,” she says.
Ariel says her trainer, Jarrod Jordon, has helped her performance on and off the ice. “I think it’s really cool, and I think he’s improved my back and stuff because I used to walk like a duck and now I don’t,” she reports.
Jordon trains kids ages 5 and up at all skill levels at Chelsea Piers. He says the majority of parents hire him to stop physical problems, such as painful knee or lower back conditions, from happening to their kids. “They feel that if they could have done it earlier, they could have had healthier 20s, 30s, and 40s.”
He sees a correlation between inactive kids and physical dysfunction. Kids ages 8 and up, for example, have been sitting behind desks for two or more years. “You start seeing the same things in (these kids) that you do in adults who have been sitting in cubicles: tight hamstrings, a forward tilt in the pelvis, lower back curve, the shoulders start to round forward,” he says. “It’s not quite as bad or quite as painful, but you can see the start of a trend.”
Jordon considers one of the root problems to be cessation of recess time around the third grade. “The kids love me for saying this, but I think they need more recess time. We know that inactive bodies or bodies stuck in certain positions lead to serious conditions, such as osteoporosis, arthritis, and at the very least, joint dysfunction.”
A child with joint dysfunction becomes inhibited from playing sports such as soccer, volleyball, or even skating because it can cause pain. “So they quit altogether and instead choose to play that same sport on their Sega,” Jordon says. “So what I generally try to do is get their bodies functioning properly.”
Jordon, who is also the strength coach for a junior hockey team in New Jersey, focuses heavily and most intensely on biomechanics. “I give them exercises to take the joint through a range of motion that increases its strength to keep it moving and functioning properly,” he explains.
He has kids doing balancing exercises using balls and wobble boards. “The kids are having a blast doing this, not realizing that at the same time they’re increasing their neuromuscular capacity,” he adds.
Kitsos agrees that using physioballs is an excellent way for kids to exercise. “It teaches balance and stability,” she notes. “But as far as picking up dumbbells and barbells and using actual fitness machines — I ask, why put your child on a treadmill for 20 minutes to run when you can let them run outside? We all know how much more fun it is for kids to run outside.”
