To wrap up our December focus on kids I interviewed Gavin DeWitt, our Fitness Director, who is the father of two young girls, Kasia and Zosia.
Carol: We are familiar with training for adults, we know that it can help to motivate, educate and give us accountability, help with boredom & stagnation in our workout and to target specific goals and help clients see progress and achieve their goals. What about kids? How can personal/professional coaching help kids?
Gavin: Exercise has been shown to have positive impact on mood, to reduce stress, encourage better sleep. Children, teens and young adults all could use some help with these! In addition, working with a trainer gives them another adult ‘on their team’. Learning to incorporate regular exercise when you are young encourages good habits as we age. Exercise is like any other new behavior, it can be hard at first, but becomes self-reinforcing as you feel successful.
The biggest thing from a physical perspective, is that with training, we can identify compensations early. The body learns faster when we are younger, professional Ortho-Kinetic training can be used to help correct imbalances quicker and teach correct technique. This sets up young athletes and active kids to be more stable and strong, and helps to disrupt the compensation/ injury cycle. Compensations can often lead to injury in the short term and over time can cause issues that can become serious or limiting for them as adults.
Carol : So catching the compensations early & correcting them is important, whether they are an athlete or not?
Gavin: Yes! Athletes who strength train will be better at stabilizing during quick stop & go movements, that can lead to imbalance, compensation and injury. Also, proper training can identify the weak links in an athlete’s performance. We can break down and retrain those movements. But for kids in general – working on learning proper patterns of movement can help with coordination, balance and CONFIDENCE! Think about your own experience walking into PE classes or going to try-outs for team sports. When we remove self-doubt from their thinking and can’t from their vocabulary. You give them the confidence to go after whatever they want!