Promoting fitness, health and physical activity is a hot
topic, especially at this time of year when many of us are battling to keep our
New Year resolutions. Such heightened
awareness inevitably leads to greater media attention with numerous ‘fitness
experts’ offering their opinion on the best ways to achieve your fitness goals
in 2013. Now for the adult population
this is fine – we can read what we want to and make informed decisions
regarding what is appropriate in the pursuit of health and happiness. A recent article published in the Times
newspaper (a link to the feature can be found here http://thetim.es/13PW3ll ) however chose to
deal with the fitness levels, or lack of, amongst a younger population. The article was entitled ‘How to test your
child’s fitness’ and suggested to its readers that even in children as young as
6 years old, fitness levels are ‘woeful’.
Upon reading the article I was concerned enough with the content to
contact the newspaper and request the contact details of the author. Unfortunately at present I have received no
reply. In the following blog I will
hopefully explain why some of the recommendations made in the article are
grossly inappropriate and highlight the dangers of the publication of such
guidelines.
The opening paragraph of the article asks concerned parents
the question, ‘how fit is your child really?’
It goes on to suggest that although they may appear energetic, modern
pursuits mean that most children are appallingly inactive. This appears to be scare mongering at its
best – even if you think that your child is fit and healthy....chances are they
aren’t. The findings are based on
research conducted in Central London where the author witnessed a woeful lack
of fitness amongst school children. What
may have been of greater use to the interested reader would have been
introducing one of the many scientific studies investigating physical activity
levels amongst children in the UK (the results from a longitudinal study
conducted in Scotland can be viewed here http://1.usa.gov/WfzdP6
. These are well designed, rigorous and
often longitudinal in nature providing accurate information on the health status
of children. The main issue with
proposing the ad hoc assessment of fitness within youngsters is that fitness,
as a construct, is very difficult to measure.
This is perhaps why the research has focused predominantly on levels of
physical activity. We only need look at
the London Olympics to see a myriad of athletes, all fit in their own rite with
completely different physical qualities.
Physical activity on the other hand is something that we can measure
with a little more accuracy and has fringe benefits of improving self efficacy
and mental well being. So rather than
worrying about whether your child is fit, simply ensure that they engage in activities
that get them moving and on a regular basis.
My second point is concerned with the contention that we
should, as parents, be assessing our child’s fitness. The aim for any child involved in sport or
simply active play is first and foremost enjoyment with movement excellence
coming a close second. This means that
they should be able to perform movements in all three planes and through full
range of motion with poise, balance and control. Developing skills in movement excellence
ensure children develop a solid base of movement skills which allow them to
train more vigorously and intensely as they get older. The majority of these movement skills will be
developed by allowing children to participate in playful activities which
involve jumping, skipping, throwing, catching and running without any
structured ‘training’ or requirement to test their ‘fitness’
My final point concentrates on the appropriateness (or
otherwise) of the recommended exercises to determine whether your child is in
fact fit or not. There are 10 exercises
in total, each with guidelines as to what your child should be able to achieve
at different ages – it is this which raises an important question. How many children has the author assessed in
order to generate norms for different ages and what is the variability in day
to day performance? This second point is
critical and something which anyone who advocates assessments of physical
capacity for children should be aware of.
Physical performance can change from day to day without any real changes
in fitness – this is what we call variability.
Any test therefore of physical capacity has to take this into account
and state how much change in performance should be apparent before it is
accepted as a ‘real change’. No such
recognition of variability is made in the assessments recommended. Perhaps the most worrying aspect however is
the complete inappropriateness of the exercises for children. In one exercise the author suggests that your
child should be able to perform continuous shuttle runs over 20m for 60s,
touching the floor at each end and taking between 3-4s to complete each 20m
shuttle. Now to put this into
perspective, professional adult footballers with whom I
have worked took around 2.5s to cover 15m in an all out sprint from a
stationary start. Take a moment to think
about that. The Times suggest that
children should be able to sprint faster than professional adult footballers
and not just once, but continually over the course of a minute. I suspect that few children will score highly
in that fitness assessment.
The most important aspect of sport and/or physical activity,
especially where children and adolescents are concerned, is that it be
enjoyable. It is this enjoyment which
will foster long term adherence to a lifestyle that promotes healthy choices
and the benefits that come with regular and sustained exercise. It is also worth remembering that we do not
necessarily need to be ‘fit’ in the sense promoted in the aforementioned
article to reap the benefits of a lifestyle which includes regular physical
activity. In the age old anecdote, a
little goes a long way.
