Common Fitness Myths About Kids Debunked: Must-Read for Preteen Years

Introduction

Exercising regularly keeps the body fit and mind active. Regular physical activity is a must for people of all age groups and can have long-lasting health benefits. For kids, regular exercises ensures fitness and stronger immunity. Also, kids need a lot of energy to carry out every day activities. While a part of this energy is accumulated from good food and a balanced diet, the other part comes from regular physical activity. Physical activity such as perpetual exercising allows a kid to work on their stamina and also reduce the likelihood of fatigue. By being more focused and energetic, a child can fulfill all obligations easily.

Both diet and physical fitness play crucial roles in keeping a child fit and in the finest form. These are also sustainable measures of ensuring that a child remains in optimal health condition for the longest time. However, because of a lack of proper information, there are a lot of unsolicited myths related to the fitness of kids. Lack of proper information or wrong information can have negative implications specifically when it's related to fitness and diet. Hence, parents must always refer to evidence-based findings for making decisions related to their child's fitness.

Common Myths About Kids Fitness

Here are some common fitness myths about children that need to be debunked.

• Cardio Is the Best Exercise for Kids

While it's true that cardio helps kids maintain their physical fitness, cardio is not the best form of exercise for kids. It is most definitely not the most effective approach specifically for fat loss. Being involved in a lot of heavy cardio-based exercise exercises for a long time may affect a child's energy. Kids should engage in a more holistic fitness regime that focuses on muscle building as well as burning calories through different forms of exercise exercises. It is a safer way of losing weight.

• Strength Training Restraints Height

One of the most common myths related to children's fitness regime is that strength training is bad and affects the growth of a child. This is most definitely not true. There is no such evidence that proves the claim that strength training obstructs the natural growth of a child. Children can indulge in strength training under the guidance of a trainer or an adult. They should be assisted while lifting weights and should only lift weights by their body weight.

• Stretching Heals Injury

While stretching is a great pre-workout exercise, it doesn't help with healing injuries at all. A person should stretch if they want to increase flexibility and work more on agility. However, to heal injuries, it is always good to refer to a professional doctor. The doctor can guide the kid correctly regarding the healing process. Continued indulgence in stretching to heal injuries can worsen the case.

• Playing Evening Sports is Enough

Kids must try to participate in regular physical activity for at least 60 to 90 minutes to stay fit. If a child spends sometime in the evening playing with friends in a park sporadically, that doesn't fulfill every day's physical workout requirement. To fulfill the regular physical exercise requirement, it is extremely important to become a part of vigorous activities and exercises. This doesn't have to be just limited to sports but can also be dance activities, household chores, or other recreational activities that require physical movement.

• Exercise Should Be Draining

Physical workouts for kids don't have to be extremely draining and painful. A good workout doesn't mean that a child has to be uncomfortable throughout the whole session. While it's good to have a proper and challenging physical exercise regime, the child must also enjoy the exercise. This helps and develops a lifelong habit of working out and indulging in physical exercise. Try not to make exercise a punishment for your child.

• Calorie Deficit Is Good

A kid's meal should be properly balanced and have all the necessary nutrients such as important vitamins, minerals, and a significant amount of protein. If a child wants to lose weight, then cutting calories and making them eat less food can have extremely negative consequences. At any cost, children should be given proper and nutritious food. Parents must try to inculcate clean eating habits among children and keep them away from unhealthy food. However, cutting calories is never the solution to reducing weight.

• Rest Should Be Avoided

There is nothing wrong with taking some rest from workouts and physical exercise from time to time. Kids especially need proper rest and a break from physical activity for muscle recovery and to regenerate the mind. Hence, the idea that rest needs to be avoided when it comes to physical exercise shouldn't be acknowledged by parents at all. Parents should also encourage their kids to take weekly breaks from exercising and spend some time relaxing and regenerating to get ready for the upcoming week.

Conclusion

Physical fitness lets kids follow their dreams wholeheartedly. Giving your kid the right kind of nutrition and encouraging regular physical activity helps in keeping them fit and fine. Parents must try to stay away from unauthenticated sources of information that are false and stick to factual information that is backed by medical postulations.