Functional Fitness Kids/Teens
- Pre-school: 3-5 years old.
- Kids: 6-12 years old.
- Teens: 13-17 years old.
Functional Fitness Kids is not simply a scaled down version of Functional Fitness, it is entirely absolutely Functional Fitness geared and designed for a special population and the specific developmental needs of that population. (Neurological, cognitive, motor)
Since Late 2004 Functional Fitness Kids has been Forging The Future Of Fitness and is currently in over 400 gyms in North America, Australia, Europe, Africa, India, Japan and Panama. Functional Fitness Kids is a strength and conditioning program that is specifically designed for kids and teenagers and helps them develop a lifelong love of fitness. In a group setting, children and teens participate in fun and engaging workouts that deliver measurable results and prepare them to be well- rounded athletes. Functional Fitness Kids workouts consist of constantly varied, functional movements that deliver a fitness that is broad, inclusive, general and scalable for any participant at any level.
What Does this mean ?
This means that, for the most part, no two workouts are the same, so kids and teens never get bored and the novelty of each workout keeps them excited about participating.
The functional movements involve exercises that are fundamental to all things that kids need to do when they play-pull, push ,run, throw, climb, lift and jump. All of the movements are taught safely and effectively under the close supervision of thoroughly trained Functional Fitness Kids Trainers.
When fitness is defined as broad, inclusive and general it means that participants will become well-rounded athletes who will be better at any and every sport that they play because Functional Fitness Kids doesn’t coach them to be good at just one thing.
Our workouts will increase physical competence in 10 fitness domains:
- Endurance
- Stamina
- Strength
- Flexibility
- Power
- Speed
- Coordination
- Agility
- Balance
- Accuracy
With workouts that are scalable, Functional Fitness Kids can equally benefit a person who is less active or an accomplished athlete by tailoring workouts so that each participant is challenged just enough to deliver measurable results and personal athletic progress.
We offer a wide array of classes for different needs of our kids
We encourage parents to allow our Functional Fitness kids certified trainers to find the appropriate class for each child. Although many children may be advanced physically often they might benefit from the attention and activities offered in their appointed classes.
Please trust we have the experience to place them in the proper class, and will transfer your child as they develop skills accordingly.
Breakdown of Classes offered:
Functional Fitness PRESCHOOL
Class length is about 20 to 30 Min
This class is appropriate for children who are within the ages of 3 to about 6 years old. We focus on building their core strength, and learning proper functional movements. Class in not based on intensity, more on proper technique, and individual attention to each child in a high priority. Our biggest challenge for this age is a short attention span, therefore classes are based on games and making fitness fun for them. Classes involve:
- Warm-up often games which include gymnastic (body weight) and Mono-structural (running and or jumping) movements
- Skill work: we break down simple movements and teach them the proper techniques
- WOD (Workout of the Day) again, gymnastic and mono-structural movements. About 5 to 10 min long. More often they are AMRAPS (As many rounds/reps as possible) in a given time frame
- Game time. All games involve Functional Fitness movements. Examples include hot potato and Red light/green light. Our focus is on Having fun while reinforcing movements learned.
Functional Fitness KIDS
Class length is about 45 min to 1 hour
This class is based on making fitness FUN. An appropriate class for kids 6 to 12 years of age, or extremely physically advanced Preschoolers who also have the ability to follow directions, and be attentive in a large class setting. Class is based on Intensity, proper techniques, and some movements are loaded with either PVC pipes, and or light weights (e.g 2 lb dumbbells) We focus on building physical competence in all 10 fitness domains, by incorporating a fast moving class structure. Classes for this age group are often structured as follows:
- a) Warm up often include WU-WODS (warm up work outs), long runs, relay games, or obstacle courses.
- Skill Work: we introduce 3 different skills every 6 weeks. During which time we break down and do progressions, our focus is teaching them proper technique.
- WOD (Workout of the day) can be structured for time or for task. Meaning, WODs can be do what you can in an allotted amount of time, or complete this task in the fastest time possible. Kids love competition, however we make sure no one wins or looses.
- Game time: for about 3 to 5 min in play dodge ball or freeze tag, Games are a bit more aggressive in nature in comparison to a preschool class. But always include burpees, squats, pushups, or any other entertaining gymnastic movement.
Functional Fitness TEENS
Class length is about 45 min to 1 hour
This is an appropriate class for teens ages 13 to 17 or extremely advanced kids. We focus on making fitness fun, however this class is more serious in nature. Teens like to be taken seriously; therefore classes are similarly run to adult classes. Teens also have more adult based problems for example flexibility therefore we include mobility work. As their bodies continue to grow we are presented with challenges that are different to the adult population, therefore proper supervision is exercised, and technique is hard pressed. We focus on building physical competence in all 10 fitness domains, by incorporating a fast moving class structure. Classes for this age group are often structured as follows:
- Warm up often include WU-WODS (warm up work outs), and/or long runs, sprints, jump rope, rowing, and a wide array of mobility and gymnastic movements.
- Skill Work: we introduce different skills, We break each movement down into different progressions to work efficiently at each of the teens levels. We focus heavily on proper technique.
- Game time: about 5 min of game time appropriate for this age group.
Nutrition for kids in 150 words
Our goal with kids isn’t to get them on the zone, but to get them to think and make good choices about what they eat. Our goal is to teach them very basic concepts, sugar is bad, protein is good and you need to eat some in every meal. Nuts and seeds are good fats. Eat them, don’t avoid them. Pasta, white bread, and white rice are not that good for you, stuff that’s red, yellow, green and found in the fruit and vegetable aisle is good for you. Eat a lot of it.
Look at your plate, make a fist, eat that much meat every meal; turn your hand over and fill it with nuts and seeds, eat that much good fat, fill the rest of your plate with stuff you found in the fruit and vegetable aisle. Fill your plate this way at every meal, don’t eat more.
Courtesy of Functional Fitness Kids