Childhood obesity & a specialist exercise program

Enjoyable & ‘effortless’ – a Primary School exercise program

Earlier this year PWF heard from a qualified personal and group trainer keen to develop an exercise program, using familiar play, that she believed would set healthier attitudes towards physical activity and address many concerns regarding primary school age children – from poor literacy levels to childhood obesity.

The idea behind the program was to incorporate pmp style (perceptual motor skills program), and plyometrics (jump training). The end result would not only be beneficial but enjoyable and ‘seemingly effortless’ for kids.

Plyometrics was designed to deliver the speediest and maximum results for elite athletes. With minimal equipment it uses a person’s body weight as a means of propulsion. As children naturally perform plyometric type exercise in their play, they are therefore well equipped to engage in such a program during childhood.

The exercises seem to require little or no effort but have benefits ranging from dramatically increased muscle and bone strength, to weight loss, and in very short periods of time.

Pmp programs are known to improve motor skills with a series of activities, which in turn increase a child’s learning ability, and although some require equipment, there are many that do not, as is also the case regarding plyometrics. Such a program would:

• have relatively few costs to implement;
• could be conducted inside or outdoors;
• use basic equipment that primary schools already have;
• deliver wide-ranging results in a short timeframe

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Given the current discussion on childhood obesity, this concept sounds like an ideal program for primary school children – we’d love to hear if anyone knows of such a program and if it is working?