Slow children

What can be done for children (5 years) who are slower than many? Are there any games, activities that can be done? I know this is young and I dont intend to takethe enjoyment away. Would jumping rope or simply running around the yard be enough? When is it a good time to do calithenics? I know gymnastics use bodyweight exercises at age 5.

Keep them active that’s all you can really do. Put them in as many different sports as they want. When they get older and stronger teach them how to run that way when and IF they decide to play sports later they will have the fundamentals of running.

Agreed.

Let them develop all aspects by playing and enjoying.

I know my answer is prob what you did not want to hear but :slight_smile: My girls (6/9/10)love the med ball accels and the push up sprints and they really like the isorobic… Right there you cant go wrong. They hate drills cuz the coordination is hard for them so if you want, just keep it to skipping and high knee marches and progress from there.

haha, i got 2 x kids - 5 and 7
they could both be used as examples of how to Squat throw a med ball correctly - only cause they love it.
one wants to start using the Sled - but i dont trust them yet - they get carried away and be silly at the blink of an eye.
belly starts - they absolutely love em

although, they might only do these type of exercises like once per wk at most, maybe once every 2wks.

they also like Cone running - but not too much

and BMX bike riding on a proper track - since at the start they are not that strong to get up the hills - i was running behind them and pushing them up the hard bits - once they are used to that, they are fine on their own - tiring work by the way - running them hills after a bike.

Gymnastics is the single best activity for children as a precursor to almost anything else.

Then get them involved in some kind of ball game, soccer or basketball. If you want a game that develops acceleration, agility, co-ordination and some plyometric elements with a high degree of aerobic fitness built around short sprints and jog recoveries then get them into basketball where they can also develop eye-hand coordination while catching, passing and dribbling the ball. It’s also a team sport so there are things to be learned through interaction with others. They also get really fit without realising it because they’re chasing a bouncing ball all over a court that is no longer than 28 metres baseline to baseline. From there they can come to sprinting or many other sports. If they don’t want to do any of that, then dance (modern) is also fantastic for developing proprioception and ballistic qualities.

I work as an occupational therapist and surgeons earn a living from gymnasts and netball players. Those two sports my kids will never do.

The spine isn’t meant to hyper extend and knee isn’t designed for the torsional forces during netball.

I think if you keep it “recreational” 1-2x/week it works very well. I have my kids doing this and the results are pretty good. They are stronger and very muscular and defined. Thier running is better too. Now on the other end of the spectrum, their friends who are 11-12 years old and are doing it at the state level are constantly in physical therapy and always injured. The work my kids do can be done at home or in a park but but I dont have the time. I did however, sit down one day for a class and plagiarized :smiley: I mean took note of some of the work outs that can be done without the gymnatics equipment. I will post up when I have some time.

how about ballet for little ladies?? :smiley:

My kids did gymnastics for four or five years and never did anything involving hyperextension of the spine - “back-bends” or the like. There simply wasn’t anything like that involved in the program. It was more like artistic gymnastics than rhythmic; rhythmic certainly has all of those nasties, but fortunately or by design, none of those elements were ever present where my kids went. They did forward rolls (tumbles), rings, balance beam, springboard, rope climbs and uneven bars. It was fantastic for their overall strength, their proprioception, balance and self esteem. As I said Highly recommended.

Best money I have ever spent on their physical development. I would even pass on track training until 12 or 14 years old and let them do gymnastics and something else like soccer or b ball. I would LOVE for them to take up tennis. They could be like the williams sisters :smiley:

Another thing I have my two older girls do is the triathalon (200-HJ-SP) and the LJ they do that in the summers only.

Tennis is great… I think it beats basketball, much more explosive!

That’s quite a big call there Stefanie: :stuck_out_tongue: Tell it to … oh, anyone who can really play hoops.

but I can really play tennis :stuck_out_tongue:

ok, but I’ll shut up with this:

http://www.charliefrancis.com/community/showthread.php?t=17552
:o

And I loved being at Wimbledon and the US Open, but those guys cannot dunk! :smiley: