Children and Weights

[911PRINCESS]

Ok not sure if this is the right place to put this...but here it is.

I have a 9 year old son he won't be 10 until November. Anyway he is very active in soccer, basketball and baseball. He plays select soccer and just made a select baseball team. He REALLY wants to lift weights but I am not sure what to have him do since they won't let him in the gym not to mention I am not sure what exactly is safe for kids that young.
Also he is a big kid...I wouldn't say fat but he could lose maybe 5-10 pounds. But he does not eat crap...no candy, no chips, etc..
However something is obviously missing somewhere and I worry because he comes from an obese family on his father's side and honestly my mother's side too. Anyway what kind of eating program can I put him on without making it noticable to him so he only thinks it is healthy. I want him to eat good but I don't want to starve him, I don't even know what portions are for growing children.:scratch:

[Blondell]

The issue of excercise is covered here. :)

http://leanbodiesfitness.com/showthread.php?t=10030


As for nutrtion, do you have any other children? If not, it'll probably be eaasier than you think. I've had to do it w/ my dd when I noticed she was beginning to put on extra weight. I made her portions smaller (although, she really couldn't tell) while still allowing her to have the things that she likes. Another thing that I did was cut back on the total amount of cals that were in the food that I cooked for her by lowering, and at times omitting, fats/sugars etc. Keeping fruit and veggies around will come in handy when he wants to snack. BE SURE TO HAVE HEALTHY OPTIONS THAT HE LIKES.

[Meechel]

while my dd is petite I still try and mix up her healthy meals and still allow junk stuff also.

She LOVES pb cc concoction! She also likes red peppers, blackberries, strawberries and lots of veggies just because she saw me eating them and I asked if she wanted to try them.

Many times I tell her she can have a snack but the she has to have a healthy one earlier in the night.

It sounds like your son is very active....I thought I heard some where that 13 was ok age for lifting for boys :shrug: maybe someone else will pop in with that answer.

[DarkAnimal73]

at that age just make sure they are active , little children can pretty much run off anything...its the inactivity that gets them(Dvd's Video games Etc)



I take my little ones to the gym and help them mess around ,its gonna plant a seed so when they do get old enough to acctually start being serious..it will be a fun thing for them and plus that i love watching my 5 year old telling my 10 year old that his form sux:wink:

[pixie]

I take my little ones to the gym and help them mess around ,its gonna plant a seed so when they do get old enough to acctually start being serious..it will be a fun thing for them and plus that i love watching my 5 year old telling my 10 year old that his form sux:wink:

That's awesome! :thumb:

[kate22]

at one stage there was a rumour that lifting weights while still growing stunts growth- i'm not sure...

[911PRINCESS]

Thank you so much I didn't see that link.
We also have my husbands 9 year old son living with us and he is skinny as a stick! But I have talked to my husband, my parents and anyone else who feeds my son and told them that things are going to change. It is one of those things that everyone else feeds him like an adult but I don't but I am not home for dinner I am at school so now I have to lay down the law!
We have a huge fruit bowl in the fridge and they love it and there aren't chips in the house or candy so food wise we feed him good foods it's just that he is obviously being given too much!