teen fitness

An Important Prelude To Adult Health

Arlene Becker, Greg Kapper

As important as are the childhood years to forming good habits in fitness and nutrition, so are the teen years. Many teens, of course, are involved in sports activities in school and after school, or who do physical activities like biking, roller blading or swimming, and that’s great. However there are still a number of teens who don’t participate in almost any physical activities, and instead spend too much of their time in front of the television or using computers for game playing or for chatting with their friends, time that they could be working on keeping physically fit. 

Greg Kapper, the manager of fitness services at North Shore Elite Fitness and Racquet Club in Glendale, and a former high school coach, is very concerned about fitness for everyone, and has become a specialist in teen fitness. He feels that teens should keep moving. “Exercise has evolved and continues to evolve, but the number one thing is that  people should keep moving.”  He emphasized, “Even if children aren’t involved in organized sports, then in order to reach that population we need to find activities that they can engage something they’ll pursue into adult hood.” He continued, “Unfortunately  we’ve seen childhood obesity double in last ten years, and amongst teenagers as well. Sixty-one percent of the childhood and teen population is overweight or obese. The multitude of diseases that have become connected to overweight has been verified by medical research.”

He went on to say that even teen food habits are not the best they should be. “Of course, fast food restaurants have been around for awhile, and while some of them are offering somewhat healthier food, our food portions are bigger. The old saying, ‘chew your food many times before swallowing’, is a good one. Don’t eat in a rush or gulp your food. Try to drink water rather than soda. There’s a huge amount of sugar in soda, which is neither good for your health or your teeth. Try to minimize fried foods and unhealthy snacks. Eat more fruit, and salads.” 

Kapper gave some tips on how to overcome inactivity among teens. “Try to get your teen to find something they’ll have fun doing, that they’ll have fun moving, and get them to be responsible for their health. It could be organized sports, or anything they might like, like biking. Instead of driving to school, buy them a cool bike and have them bike there. If you yourself are a fitness buff, then sign them up for your health club as well, and maybe you can get them to join you. Make fitness a family activity. There are a number of special programs now for teens at fitness centers. Here at Elite, knowing how important teen fitness is, we’ve started a program called T.N.T. (Teen Nutrition and Training), for kids between the ages of ten and fourteen.  The program is for junior high students who want to learn more about training and nutrition. The program is a way for us to orient young people on how to use the fitness center, and the proper way to use the machines and weights. Training in proper techniques is important, both to maximize the effects and to see that teen don’t hurt themselves by improperly using the equipment. The program introduces the student to all the different modes of exercises that can benefit them the most, as young teens are constructed differently physically than adults.”

“Kids want to do things that are fun, and our goal is to show them that working out can be fun.  We want to see them become relatively fit. The program also goes over the guidelines of good basic nutrition, which is very much an important part of a healthy lifestyle.”

Kapper also felt that parents are a very important part of their children’s healthy lifestyles. Try to get them into an organized sports event.  “ Fitness activities are great ways for parents to bond with their kids. Go for nature walks, take a family skiing trip. Even if you, the parent, doesn’t ski now, you can try this sport as well. It’s a great winter sport in Wisconsin. Both downhill and cross country are great exercise sports, but cross country actually uses more calories than downhill. Snowshoeing is another fun winter sport for fitness.”

Even chores can be good workouts. Have your teen mow the lawn, help carry in your groceries, put up storms, and just in general help out physically around the house.

A long time ago kids were in great shape as they walked to school, chopped wood, and did other physical activities in their daily life. While few kids chop wood anymore, they can walk or bike to school, to the store or to their friends’ houses.

Now is the time to really get your children motivated to have a healthy lifestyle now and in the future.  When they are young and learn about and integrate these good fitness and nutritional habits then the habits will segway into a very healthy adulthood

Greg Kapper can be reached at North Shore Elite at 414-351-2900