Body Weight Exercise for Kids?

[Choto]

New rebel here, just starting out and have a long way to go (like 150+lbs to go).  My household (me and 2 sons) finally seems to be recovering from a long round of illness and I'm turning my mind toward fitness now that no one's puking, dying of asthma, or rocking a fever.  Later this week or early next week I'll start my daily walks (yeah...I'm *that* close to rock bottom).  After a week of that, I'm going to start throwing myself at the Nerd Fitness body weight exercise routine.

 

My question to all of you is: is it okay for my 8yo and 6yo kids to try to join me in this? 

 

I plan to do my walking when they're at school so I can maintain a comfortable pace and I don't have to stop every two minutes and be like "Hey, quit chasing that random neighborhood cat / staring at that puddle / barking at that dog/ etc."  But when I get to the body weight exercises, I'll be doing most of them in my apartment in the mornings.  I can almost guarantee that it will be a case of monkey see, monkey (want to) do, and I just want to know if it's okay to go ahead and let them.

 

On the pro side: letting them exercise along with me would help them build healthy habits now, probably improve my accountability, and help them get stronger.  And my basic hypothesis with body weight exercise is that it's something that would be harder for my kids to hurt themselves with.  No heavy weights to drop on their throats if they get too tired and can't finish a set, etc.  Plus it seems to mimic the play kids already do anyway.  What's climbing trees if not some pull-up/squat hybrid, amirite?

On the con side:  I know very little about fitness for adults and even less about fitness for kids, so I have no idea if my little hypothesis is valid or not. 

 

So what say those of you who know way more than me?  Would it be safe/healthy/good to let my kids do the NF body weight routine along with me?

[Katinka]

Full disclaimer: I am not a parent. I wasn't going to offer any advise, just see what other people posted, but apparently no one has. That said, there are 2 kids at my gym who come to a HIIT class with their parents, and seem to have a lot of fun and do really well - they even lift 1 and 3 pound weights (I think they're about 6-8 years old, but I'm a horrible judge of how old kids are). My advice would be to run it by their pediatrician if you're nervous, but otherwise I'd say let them do what they want to, but don't force them to do anything. Seem slike a good parent/child bonding activity that also promotes a healthy lifestyle

[Waldo]

Very much a case of monkey see monkey do.

My 2 yr old has seen daddy do wall handstands; he can get up into a wall handstand himself.

He's seen daddy hang from the pullup bar and do pullups, he's amazingly adept at hanging from the bar himself.

Daddy is working on the monkey bars, but travesing the monkey bars is in fact amazingly difficult if you keep your elbows bent (and a very good precursor to training for 1 arm pullups).

I don't have any issue with bodyweight exercises. I am going to encourage it as much as possible. I'm fine with weights too as long as it can be done safely.

[Choto]

Thanks for the replies and the reassurance, guys. 

Time and logistics being what they are, I don't have many chances to get away when I need to do things my kids can't/shouldn't mimic.  Knowing that it's okay to do my beginners workouts and let them play along when they want will make following a consistent schedule much easier. 

[bgvanbur]

I can also second the monkey see monkey do behavior of kids.  My kids do wall hand stands, planks, push ups, squats.  They even do random movements and expect me to copy them   Kids also won't push themselves too much so there is little chance of them overdoing anything.  And many of the bodyweight exercises I do my first grader also does at gym at school so obviously they think it is safe too.

[allirep]

I can't exercise around the house w/o my 4 yr old wanting to join in.  Kids are more flexible and more daring than adults.  I've got my kids doing yoga.  

 

As long as they aren't doing something incredibly wrong w/their form - there is no harm in kids doing body weight moves.  If you are using a pull up bar, just hold their legs or have a chair handy. No falls. 

 

If you are looking for specific exercises - you can check out Everyday Paleo by Sarah Fragoso (try getting a copy from the library!). She has a whole chapter on exercises you can do w/your kids.  Complete with pictures.  That should set your mind more at ease.

[Lyra Rigby]

If doing simple bodyweight exercises goes over well with them, I'd try yoga with them as suggested above. Ballet workouts might be another option worth exploring if you're looking for something kid-friendly and challenging. I love flexibility based workouts though...not all people feel the same way as I do. However, it's worth noting that the more flexible you are, the easier it is to move and get into some positions during workouts. Which means you get more out of the workout, imo.

 

Back to the topic at hand....kids love climbing, doing cartwheels, and getting into impossible positions. I wouldn't worry about them doing a bodyweight routine with you. Heck, you could even throw some very light (1-2 lb) weights in for them and I bet they'd do ok. One other suggestion would be doing some CrossFit Kids stuff with them. They have some workouts listed by level ie preschool/elementary so you could see what kids are capable of doing and gauge your workouts appropriately.

[lyranedara]

My son really enjoys doing

with me. He likes learning the names for the movements, and playing along. Things like Flow Fit and TACGYM are also fun. He's 6, and has been "playing" with me for the last two years. My daughter is 2, and also loves trying the crawls with us.

[NemoTeacup]

I've got a one year old daughter and can't wait for her to start exercising with me! I think bodyweight exercises are fine, I remember doing sit ups and push-ups in elementary school, I'm sure bodyweight squats are just as safe. But yeah, running it by their pediatrician sounds like a good idea.

[Waldo]

Bodyweight squats.... Daughter not walking yet?

Kids don't really learn to get up and down via any method other than pretty much perfect form squatting until they are a few years old.

Bodyweight squats are definitely safe for kids. They do them anyway all the time, dozens of them a day.

[NemoTeacup]

*I meant I cant wait til my daughter is old enough to start exercising with me. My daughter's a little too young to be following instructions of any sort at the moment.