Fitness for Kids - Sliding Exercises

My name is Margie Weiss and this is Kids Cardio Conditioning. What we have here is two options of a cardio activity, it's not a jumping activity, so a child who doesnt like to jump up and down, or can't for some reason, can definitely go back and forth and still get a cardio work out. It's great for ice-skaters, speed-skaters, because you actually simulate the action of going side-to-side on the ice, but its also really good for any athlete because inner and outer thigh strength is critical for balance and quickness and thats what this works. Its real safe on the knees because as you go back and forth, your knees arent going past your toes, they're staying with in the range of your feet. If you dont a have a slide -- this is a commercial slide, and you can buy this on the internet usually. It used to be the rage in the fitness industry but then kind of went out of favor because it's a little bit tricky and people were afraid of balance, but it's really fun as long you lean forwards. Most kids love this exercise because they can go fast and it's real safe for them. If you dont have a slide, if you got paper plates you can do the same thing, because what Rye (ph) is going to do is the same thing that Olivia is going to do in a bigger motion on the ground. Obviously, you wouldnt do this on a carpet, you may not be able to slide. You want a flat surface for this one, and you want some good solid shoe.

When you are on the slide, on the other hand, you dont want to wear your shoes, because if you put your shoes, number one, they are not going to slide, but number two, the grip and the grind of stuff thats on the bottom of your shoe will ruin the slide because it is a plastic, more smooth surface designed for sliding and not standing still and getting a grip. So, first what Rye (ph) is going to do is she is going to just step to the side and then bring the foot together and then step to the side and foot together. Defensive position is always leaning slightly forward, you dont want to be back here, hard to keep your balance, so you want the child to get the shoulders forward, tuck the belly in, squeeze the glutes and then slide side-to-side. Yeah, so she is nice and easy and low, side-to-side, and there you go.

Then, if you want to go beyond that, we are going to go on a actual slide. So, Olivia is going to slide and then slide and if you notice my hands are on her waist, so I can assist her getting side-to-side and she can get back and forth. Somebody who is brand new might not be able to get back and forth, so what you can do with that person, stop it here, she just turned around this way towards me and I am going to help her with my arms because the arms will help you to get across. She will slide and she will slide, so I can actually help her to get to the edge; two more, one, and two, yeah. The slide is slippery in the middle but where this black rubber is, it's not slippery. So you want to get to the non-slip side, so that you have something to push off of. Now, what Olivia was doing -- as she stands back here for just a minute off of it, she was doing a basic slide, but you can do what's called an athletic slide which for your more advanced case is to lean over and go as fast as you can, side-toside. Now, this floor is kind of slippery, so it's a little bit hard to move around, but if Olivia stands right on the edge, you can kind of anchor that slide in, so that way the person is moving, can go side-to-side. Do that for ten minutes, you are going to feel it here, here, here every place and you're hot. So, you can do a lot of different things on a slide, thats just basic movement, side-to-side and it's a really good easy and fun exercise for kids rather than just running outside, this is slightly different because it gets some different muscle groups, that they may not have used in the past. So, these are the slides or the paper plates.