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Youth Empowerment Center News

SANTA MONICA, CALIF. - The Boys & Girls Club of Acoma Pueblo is now working with Impact Nation, a non-profit charity for kids.

Students across the nation who participate in the Impact Nation program can now select Acoma Boys & Girls Club to receive donations from fundraising events.

Impact Nation's goal is to give tomorrow's decision makers a voice today, and a chance to have a visible impact in their own communities. Each school will select students to make a short film or music video of their choice. The films or videos will be screened at a school fundraising event and 100 percent of the proceeds will go to the school and local charities chosen by the students.

The children themselves will choose which charities to pick as potential beneficiaries and, after a final vote by the entire school body, will decide which charity will receive the funds.

In addition, a panel of judges chosen by Impact Nation will review all of the short films and music videos and pick the 10 best entries. A viewing audience will vote online to select a winner.

The Boys & Girls Club of Acoma Pueblo is an after-school youth development agency that provides activities in education and career development, health and life skills, sports, fitness and recreation, service learning, the arts and character and leadership development. It strives to inspire and enable young people to dream and achieve their potential through cultural and spiritual values. Membership is open to all youth ages six to 18, and membership costs only $5 a year per child. Transportation is provided to children living in the Acoma area.

For more information, call (505) 552-7313.

Today's fitness experts say that supervised exercises with equipment geared to kids can be beneficial

By Cynthia Lambert Nehr / Special to The Detroit News

Physical therapist Britta Ottoboni works with 12-year-old skater Amanda Hrbacek from Houston at the Detroit Skating Club.

10 tips for safe training

Dr. Nancy White, a Henry Ford family physician who is also board certified in primary care sports medicine, has the following suggestions for youth and parents to implement a safe program:

Young strength trainers should:

1. Always use the proper technique.

2. Stick to free weights since most machines are not built for smaller children.

3. Rest one to two minutes between sets.

4. Rest one to two days between workouts to allow the muscles time to heal.

5. Practice good hydration by drinking plenty of water to nourish the muscles and the rest of the body.

6. Practice proper warm-up, cool-down and stretching.

Parents should:

1. Make sure your child is properly supervised at all times.

2. Not allow your child to compete against other kids in his or her weight training group or with his peers.

3. Make sure your child knows the correct breathing techniques for strength training.

4. Make sure your child communicates with his or her trainer, letting the trainer know how the exercises are feeling; it is particularly important to let the trainer know if he or she is feeling sick.

Fitness club policies

• Bally's Total Fitness: Child must be 14 or older to enter weight room. Exceptions can be made for special needs and are based on an individual basis.

• Lifestyle Fitness: Child must be 12 or older to use the weight room.

• Powerhouse Gym: Child must be 14 or older to join club or may work out with parent or trainer at ages 12 and 13.

• YMCA: Children 13-16 must be accompanied by an adult; children age 17 and older can work out by themselves.

More information

Before you let your child start any new fitness program, you should choose qualified resources for information. For your child's strength training, this can mean finding a qualified trainer and keeping up on the latest research. To help with these issues, here are some resources:

• http://www.nsca-lift.org

• http://www.acefitness.org

• http://my.webmd.com

• You may also want to check your local library or bookstore for books specifically written to guide younger participants.

Strength training has come a long way in the last couple of decades. In the past, lifting weights was thought of exclusively as an activity for men to help them bulk up and look more buff. Then women got into the mix, using it for a number of reasons, including as an aid in weight loss and to help in the prevention of osteoporosis. Now, it's the kids' turn.

Kids?

"Yes, children are doing strength training now," says Dr. Nancy White, a Henry Ford Family Physician who is also board certified in primary care sports medicine. "There are so many benefits to all children. It can train the muscles to act appropriately and efficiently, it can prevent sports-related injuries and can improve sports performance."

The benefits are emotional, mental and social as well. Youngsters who start strength training at an early age tend to have better attitudes toward fitness, including improved self-esteem, mental discipline and socialization skills, according to the American Council on Exercise (ACE), a respected authority on the benefits of safe exercise and good nutrition ( www.acefitness.org).

White agrees.

"Doing strength training enhances a child's self-esteem," she says. "If they do the training in a group, it can build camaraderie."

Parents may remember talk from their childhood of weight lifting stunting growth or injuring bones. But doctors say such fears are outdated.

"There were some scientific papers in the '70s and '80s that claimed that kids who lifted weights would have stunting of bone development," White says. "But when they went back and looked, those results were based on kids who were doing excessive amounts of weight lifting with poor technique."

Cedric Bryant, chief exercise physiologist for the San Diego-based ACE, says fears originated from a poorly designed study in the 1960s looking at children in Japan performing heavy physical labor.

"If you find someone telling a parent that weight training for kids is dangerous and could possibly stunt their growth, that person obviously has not stayed on top of the current literature," he says.

Now, Bryant says, researchers recognize that typical childhood activities, including running, jumping and climbing, actually put a greater load on the musculoskeletal system than what a child would experience in the weight room. So weight training is considered safe when guidelines are followed.

That doesn't mean 10-year-olds should try to toss 100-pound weights in the air, of course. Avoiding excessive amounts of the exercise and poor technique is a primary caution issued by trainers to parents of children who want to hit the weight room. It is essential that your child be able and willing to follow strict instructions. Failure to do so could cause mild to serious injuries.

If a child is asked to do too much, too soon, one serious potential injury is damage to a growth plate, says Dr. Vinaya Gavini, a pediatrician with Providence Hospital in Southfield.

A growth plate is the area of growing tissue near the end of long bones. According to the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, the growth plate determines the future length and shape of the mature bone and is the weakest area of the growing skeleton. In a growing child, a serious injury to a joint -- something that would cause a sprain in an adult -- is more likely to result in damage to the growth plate.

Growth plate injuries can result from a fall or injury, but also from overuse, such as weight lifting.

"Putting too much stress on a growth plate can damage the tissue and actually stop the bones from growing," Gavini says. That can potentially lead to a difference in the length of the limbs.

To avoid this kind of injury, the key is to start slowly -- perhaps with just a broomstick, rather than an empty weight bar -- and add weight gradually, one pound at a time, Gavini says.

Unfortunately, no chronological age is given as a guide to what is a good age for children to start because it depends on the attention span and maturity of each child. In general, experts agree it is unlikely a child younger than the age of 7 would be able to effectively start and maintain a strength-training program.

"One of the organizations that is very helpful is the National Strength and Conditioning Association," she says. "The majority of medical information comes from there on this subject. ACE is another resource."

ACE recently published a book regarding strength training for children, titled "Youth Strength Training." In it, the authors -- Avery D. Faigenbaum and Wayne L. Westcott -- dispel the myths, discuss the benefits and offer suggestions at how to begin a strength training program.

But if your child is ready, there is one clear starting point that experts agree upon.

"A parent tends to want to make a kid into an NFL football player, so a professional trainer is best," Gavini says.

White agrees the best way to start is to go to a fitness trainer or athletic trainer who is qualified to teach resistance training. Britta Ottoboni, a physical therapist who specializes in athletic training and sports medicine, works with many of the skaters at the Detroit Skating Club on building their strength without adding bulk.

"Today, there are still some people concerned that strength training will close the growth plates in children," Ottoboni says. "Some parents may say that they don't want their child to lift weights because of their old beliefs.

"Can a child get injured? Sure, if they are not doing it correctly."

What Ottoboni has helped parents and skaters realize is that a child can lift weights and do strength training without adding bulk that would be detrimental for a competitive skater. William Brewster, 15, is one case in point. At 5 feet tall and 85 pounds, he has been strength training for the past three years.

"I feel stronger on the ice," says Brewster, a freshman at Bishop Foley High School.

"It helps me do the harder jumps. I'll feel sore after some of the workouts, but I think it's helped me."

One sure way for a child to invite injury is to use an adult-sized weight machine.

Although some manufacturers are starting to develop weight machines that are proportionate for those who are smaller in stature, most health clubs stick with the standard adult size.

"When little kids get on adult-sized machines, it puts pressures at certain places where it shouldn't," Ottoboni says. "This is where a child could get injured."

Ottoboni suggests the use of free-weights, the weighted medicine balls, stability balls, tubes, bands and using body weight. Lee Stafford, a Detroit police officer who also has been a fitness trainer for the past 20 years and currently works out of the Powerhouse Gym on East Jefferson Avenue in Detroit, agrees with Ottoboni about the best tools for younger strength trainers to use.

"A lot of times, the ego comes into play," Stafford says. "The guys will use too much weight on the bench press, then they get sloppy, their form is improper, they're arching their back."

That kind of sloppy technique can lead to serious back injuries that will, at the minimum, force the child to stop working out temporarily. Stafford stresses that the amount of weight is not as important as how much concentration is being applied to each movement. This way, you get the maximum amount of benefits with each lift.

"You want to squeeze and stimulate the muscle," he says. "Take a lighter weight and make it work."

Since many junior high or high schools still do not have weight rooms that are accessible to all students, finding a place to do this training could be a challenge.

Most franchise health clubs do not permit children younger than the age of 12 to go in the weight room. Smaller, privately owned health clubs may be more willing to make exceptions.

Another option would be to have your child do his or her strength training at home.

"You could buy some basic equipment and have a trainer come to your home to show your child," Stafford says. "Another option is to check with various civic organizations. Sometimes, if you get enough people, you can have a trainer come in. But you don't always need equipment to get a good workout. There are plenty of natural movements such as push-ups, sit-ups and jumping jacks that work very well."

In the end, perhaps the most important benefit of strength training for kids is that nearly anyone can do it. It doesn't require a great deal of coordination or athletic skill.

Instead, it takes focus and discipline and the results come quickly. This, the experts agree, makes weight training a great activity for overweight or obese children.

Trainer shows 6 safe moves for kids using a resistance band

Fitness trainer Lee Stafford, shown at right, has worked with young strength trainers in the past and strongly recommends the use of auxiliary equipment such as weighted medicine balls and resistance bands. A resistance band, he says, can accomplish the same things as working out in a weight room with much lower incidence of injury.

Resistance bands can be purchased at most local sporting goods stores and are available in different colors, which represent different pounds of resistance. A trainer at the Powerhouse Gym on East Jefferson Avenue in Detroit, Stafford demonstrates a number of exercises kids (or adults) can do with the resistance bands to help increase strength. If you find you are losing form, switch to a band with fewer pounds of resistance. You should be able to do at least 12 repetitions of each exercise. If this is too hard, switch to a band with lower resistance.

Biceps: Make sure you keep your elbow stable so that you are working the biceps. Make sure the motion is smooth, contracting the muscle on the curl, then resisting the band when lowering the lower arm.

Shoulder press: Maintain good posture when raising arms in the air, and remember not to lock your knees. Again, make sure this is a smooth movement and remember to breathe out when raising your arms up, breathe in when lowering them.

Triceps: Keep the upper arm stable so that you will work the triceps. Using slow movements, push back with the band and feel the resistance in the muscle. Bring it back to the starting position and repeat.

Leg extension: The leg extension will work your quadriceps muscles. On the extension, bring the lower leg up slowly, then lower back down. Make sure you maintain good posture so you are not using your back.

Leg curl: The curl will work the hamstrings. Make sure you keep your upper leg stable to maintain good form and prevent injury. Slowly bend the knee, bringing the lower leg up, then slowly lower it.

Chest: You don't need a resistance band to work the chest muscles because a push-up does the trick. If you are doing the full push-up, be sure not to drop your hips or pop them up in the air; instead, keep your body in a straight line. The less-advanced version is to keep your knees on the ground but still keep the trunk and upper body in a straight line.

Cynthia Lambert Nehr is a Metro Detroit freelance writer. Tracy Boyd, a Los Angeles freelance writer, contributed to this report.

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Youth Empowerment
Lorraine Bowman, President
4249 Manzanita Drive
San Diego, California 92105
info@empowering-youth.org