By Eric Heinz
A balanced approach to children’s physical health is the key to the KidFit programs hosted by BeachFit CrossFit in San Clemente.
KidFit started as a summer program but eventually progressed into year-round classes.
Kimberly Sherwood, owner of BeachFit Strength and Conditioning, said she has taught children’s classes before and recently started working with Kim Fitzgerald, owner of Body Balance By Kim.
“We started working together with some of our adult athletes and decided to start working with kids because a lot of kids need both better movement and strength and conditioning,” Sherwood said. “A lot of them need a lot of recovery techniques and rehabilitation techniques either from being too one-sided or from not moving around a lot.”
Sherwood said being too heavily involved in certain sports can cause certain problems for young children. While physical activity is a good thing, when children push themselves too far it can imbalance their bodies. Children who aren’t as active also can have issues. Growth spurts can also cause some problems.
“We have kids who are sports superstars and then we have kids who really don’t like athletics,” Sherwood said.
About a dozen children currently participate in the program. The age groups range from 7 to 10 years old and 11 to 14 years old.
It’s not just athletes who come to the classes.
“We have an opera singer who comes in here and she has huge lung expansion and we help her to be strong in her body,” Fitzgerald said.
Sherwood said the difference between working with children and adults isn’t that different.
“With kids, I’ll ask them questions, and some kids will try to push themselves, but (any problems) are very easy to see because their movements break down,” Sherwood said. “I want perfect technique, and when their movements start to break down, I’ll notice it.”
One child who is involved in the program suffered a stroke last year and had limited mobility in parts of her body. Sherwood said the child has progressed since joining KidFit.
“The best part of KidFit is teaching them about their bodies and setting them up for life to be physically fit,” Fitzgerald said. “We’re setting up skeletal alignment and proper movement and muscle memory.”
Fitzgerald said its essential to make sure children start becoming aware of their physical aspects to ensure healthy habits in the future.
“The sustainable body concept is teaching them how to maintain health and fitness, and to me I think the fitness industry needs to change,” she said. “Instead of telling people to listen to their bodies, (the industry) tells them to push through—‘no pain, no gain’—and these sorts of things. We listen to pain as a signal from their body, and I teach how to listen to that signal so theycan fix what’s wrong.”
The workouts also take out the competitive nature of sports and focus on a collaborative effort in getting into the best shape.
Sherwood and Fitzgerald also teach children about the anatomy of the human body so they know what to look for in the event of injury.
“What’s cool about this is you’re never always the best and you’re never always the worst,” Sherwood said. “The kids quickly learn that everyone is good at something.”
The classes are taught Mondays, with structured workouts and skill-building, and Fridays, with teambuilding workouts.
For more information about KidFit, call 949.388.9699 or visit www.beachfitsc.com/training/crossfit-kids.
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