If you have a child of 6 to 8 years old that wants
to start exercising and lifting weights, you may
find yourself wondering what you should do. While
some think it is perfectly fine for children to
exercise, there are others that think differently.

The long and short of it is that yes, it is
beneficial for your child to partake in exercise
or a weight training regimen although there are a
few things that you should keep in mind once this
starts to happen.

No matter how you look at it, children aren’t
minature adults and therefore you can’t use the
same methods with growing children that you can use
with adults, as children are different from adults
emotionally, anatomically, and physiologically.

All children have immature skeletons, as their
bones don’t mature until they get 14 – 22 years of
age. With girls, exercise during childhood can
have very critical effects on bone health that
can last for their entire lives.

Children are often times vulnerable to growth
related overuse injuries such as Osgood schlatter
disease. Children have immature temperature
regulation systems due to their having a large
surface area compared to their muscle mass which
will cause them to be more susceptible to injury
when they aren’t properly warmed up.

Children don’t sweat as much as adults do, so
they will be more susceptible to heat exhaustion
as well as a heat stroke. Due to their low muscle
mass and immature hormone system, it makes it
harder for them to develop strength and speed.
Their breathing and heart response during
exercise are also different from an adults, which
will affect their capacity for exercise.

On the other hand, young boys and girls can
drastically improve their strength with weight
training although opposed to adults, neurological
factors instead of muscle growth factors are mostly
responsible.

When you consider programs for children, first and
foremost you should obtain a medical clearance.
The first approach to designing a program is to
establish a repetition range of 8 – 12 and keep
the work load appropriate for the range.

You should ensure that workouts are spread out
enough to have at least 1 – 2 full days of rest
between workouts. The main focus when working out
should be on the form of every exercise performed,
and not on the amount of weight being lifted.

Before weight training, warm up and stretching
should be done. Start your children off with light
loads and then make adjustments accordingly. No
more than 3 non consecutive exercise sessions
should be done in a week. You should also see to
it that they drink plenty of water before, during,
and after exercise. Getting enough water is very
important with exercise, as it is often times very
easy to get dehydrated – especially with children.

Something you need to keep in mind and never forget
is that when you exercise, you are training for
life. You still may spend an hour a day in the
gym, although that will still leave another 23 hours
or so for your muscles to function without using
any fancy equipment.

Whenever you do any type of exercise, the movement
of your body during the exercise is known as the
range of motion. The more difficult the range of
motion is, the more effective the exercise will be,
because your body has to work twice as hard to
perform the movement.

Take for the instance the classic dumbbell bicep
curl. If you aren’t familiar with the exercise,
it is performed by standing up straight with your
palms facing forward, and a pair of dumbbells held
down by your sides. You’ll contract your biceps
to bring the dumbbells up to your shoulder height,
then repeat the exercise as many times as you wish.

Using that same movement for exercise on a bicep
curl machine, you should sit down, brace your
upper arms on a pad, grasp 2 handles that are in
front of you, then perform the same movement as
above to move the handles in an upward motion.

Now, looking at the muscle contractions in this
exercise, you are contracting essentially your
biceps if you are using the curl machine, and
that is pretty much all you are doing. When you
use the machine you are sitting down, which will
limit just how much your shoulders give. The
machine has several muscles used in this
exercise limited to the biceps, as well as
the muscles in your forearms and fingers.

Most of the time, when using machine weights, you
will always be limited as to what type of exercise
you can perform. You must always follow a strict
procedure, which is pretty much the same with
free weights. Unlike free weights, machine
weights offer a certain degree of resistance.

One of the best thing about free weights is the
fact that you move a little chuck around to
select the weight you want to use. Instead
of dragging it over to your exercise area,
you simply select it on the machine. When
you are tired during a workout, this can be
a blessing.

A lot of people argue in the fact that free
weights are the best for your body. While this
is normally true, many people out there feel that
machine weights are the best. There are pros
and cons with both machines, although free
weights have been around a lot longer and have
been proven time after time to achieve dramatic
results.

Body builders for example, have used free
weights over the years to build very impressive
bodies. If you ask most of them about machine
weights, they would probably laugh at you and
tell you that you need to quit joking around.

In a nutshell, free weights will use more of your
muscles than the machines do, which makes them
more effective overall. This doesn’t mean
that the machines are a waste of use, as they
offer some great advantages. In some cases,
it is best to stabilize the muscles that are
being used in a movement, which is where machines
are the best to use.

The decision on which to use for you should be
based on what you hope to achieve with lifting
weights and where you plan to use the equipment,
such as home or at a gym. Both systems are
great for your body, although the free weights
are best to use if you want the best possible
workout, and always ensure that your muscles
are getting the right workouts they need.