Lifestyle changes have been enormous for both children and adult for the past two decades. Physical fitness activities have been substituted with television, computers and video games and many schools have lost enough funding that Physical Education classes are a thing of the past. Children are becoming more overweight each decade and adults are following suit.
Fitness and exercise seems to have taken a backseat to video games, computers, and television. Consequently giving rise to several health issues like obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes. Good thing though that technological advancement helped developed many exercise equipment which can be brought home to be used by children.
Exercise equipment for children can be simple or more complex pieces. They can be expensive or very cheap. The choices aren’t really about the expense but rather about how to get the kids excited about moving and working their muscles and bodies. Movement will help to improve their muscle strength, endurance and maintain a healthy body weight. Exercise habits that are developed as children will help them as adults to prevent diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure and a myriad of other immune mediated illnesses.
There is a lot of exercise equipment which is now available in the market, one of which is the rebounder. This looks like a trampoline for one that has a handle to hold on to for balance. The rebounder isn’t always safe for women over 40 but for children it is a great exercise they can do in the house on rainy days. NASA uses them and states they are one of the most efficient and effective exercises.
Another is the jumping rope which is a great exercise for children that requires a simple piece of equipment that can actually be made from a piece of rope. Children also enjoy using a balance board. This is a small board with a ball underneath. The child will stand on the board and try to balance the board so the sides don’t touch the floor.
Several innovative equipment resembling the style and motion of adult equipment has also been out in the market but on a smaller scale. These include a moonwalker junior that resembles a large triangular piece of equipment where the child is on pedals that move forward and backward without weight bearing. The difference is that they are made the size of an elementary age child and not the size for a teen or adult.
Other machines that are made for children are treadmills, semi-recumbent bikes, rowing machines and elliptical trainers. These machines are good for children who live in environments where they aren’t able to be outside frequently or they are not interested in sports or playing outside. Sometimes children enjoy using a piece of equipment that is the same as their parents, side by side.
Again, it is always a best option to get in touch with the pediatrician of your children before engaging them to any of these activities so both the parent and the child will get to enjoy the exercise equipment without having to worry about health but think only of its positive effects on health.
RESOURCES
The Fitness Store: Children’s Fitness Equipment
FitExpress: Kids Fitness Equipment
Fitness Zone: Kids Fitness Equipment