Fitness for Kids - Upper Body Strength

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My name is Margie Weiss and this is Kids Cardio Conditioning. What one of the things that children needs is upper body and core strength. An easy way to do that, a fun way to do that without using weights is to use their bodys weight, and this activity again is something that I am sure they have done in preschool, it is called the wheelbarrow. We are going to put a little bit of different twist on it. Rye (ph) is going to go down on her hands and then she is going to lift one leg behind her, so that I can catch it and then her other leg is going to come up behind her. I can stand in between and I can put a foot, pretty far under, so that I am stable, my feet are fairly wide in a lunge position, so that I am not going to fall over, and what we are going to have Rye (ph) do notice that her tummy is tucked in -- you trying to tell her pretend like you have a penny in your hips and squeeze it nice and tight, so that your back is very solid and your shoulders are away from your ears, and she is going to walk four steps forward. So, she will take a hand one, two, three, four, then she is going to come backwards four and we have to have light enough hands -- just do that one more time. Our hands are light enough that were not going to throw her or pull her in either direction. Then what we do is gently sit one leg down and the other. Now, an option for this which is a little bit harder and you may want to do it on a mat when you are first trying it with your child. So, we are going to have the child lean forward slightly and then come back. This really works the upper body of the shoulders and the chest muscles. Obviously, you do not want to push the child so far forward that they do a nose plant because that hurts, so you want to go just a little bit and then come back just a little bit. When you come back you dont want to come back too far, because if youve got their hands out in front of them and their shoulders back here, theyre going to fall down, their belly is going to drop.

So, it is a minor motion, it is a little bit harder, its more for an athlete somebody who needs the quick strength for either skating or basket ball or hockey using their upper body strength, this is a really good exercise. So, we are going to go up with that one leg, then the other leg. Again, I am going to have my foot way underneath her and all I am going to do is tip her forward just a little bit and bring her back. Its the shoulder angle that were changing. Her tummy is tight, her hips are tight, her legs are tight and she is breathing and there you go, lets do a few more, over and back, its very slow and controlled and when you are finished, you never want to just let the persons leg drop one foot at the time so that they can get back down, so that is safe for their knees. Thank you, Rye (ph). Thats it for the upper body the wheelbarrow.

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