Strength, endurance, balance, coordination, and flexibility are improved through functional exercise, which can facilitate daily activities and reduce the risk of injury. Strength training (also called resistance training) is a way to build muscle and strength using free weights, kettlebells, weight machines, resistance bands, or a person's own weight. Children and teens may want to do strength training to improve athletic performance, treat or prevent injuries, or improve appearance.
Functional Fitness
Kids is a strength and conditioning program that is specifically designed for children and adolescents and helps them develop a lifelong love of physical exercise.The new data supports the use of functional training for young people and shows that it is more effective in improving physical fitness than traditional physical education. Functional Fitness Kids workouts consist of constantly varied functional movements that offer a broad, inclusive, general and scalable physical state for any participant at any level. All movements are taught safely and effectively under the close supervision of carefully trained Functional Fitness Kids trainers. With scalable training, Functional Fitness Kids can benefit both a less active person and an experienced athlete by adapting the workouts so that each participant faces sufficient challenges to provide measurable results and personal athletic progress.
Since the end of 2004, Functional Fitness Kids has been shaping the future of fitness and is currently in more than 400 gyms in North America, Australia, Europe, Africa, India, Japan and Panama. Functional physical activity will help children develop overall body strength and, at the same time, establish core strength, mobility, flexibility and coordination. Functional Fitness Kids is not simply a reduced version of Functional Fitness, but it is fully oriented and designed for a special population and the specific development needs of that population. At the end of the study period, functional strength training participants experienced significant improvements in functional motion screen, squats, push-ups, and flexibility compared to participants in traditional physical education classes.
For more information on functional fitness and its importance, see my full blog post on functional training here.
