Fitness is a Family Affair

Here’s a stat most of you probably already know - childhood obesity has more than doubled in children and quadrupled in adolescents over the past 30 years. The Centers for Disease Control reports that in 2012, over a third of children and adolescents were overweight or obese. We can blame this on many things like the increased amounts of

processed foods and refined sugars that stare at us in every aisle of the grocery store. We can blame this on technology such as video games, iPads, cellphones, etc. We can blame this on our work demands and not having enough time to get to the gym. However, instead of looking at what to blame, let’s look at what can we do about it. The greatest thing we can do for our children is lead by example.

This is exactly why, at CrossFit Kazam, we encourage you to bring your children with you to the gym. We have an area where they can watch safely and witness their parents or siblings giving it their all every single day. Every time a child steps into our gym at Kazam, they are inspired by the people around them. I’ve seen kids watch an adult class and start to do the exercises or stretches on their own. Yes, many of you have probably witnessed this and I bet you can agree its adorable! BUT, have you thought about how much CrossFit has actually impacts their life? These kids are learning life skills such as perseverance and determination; and in the meantime, their love for fitness and health will continue to grow. No, kids from the ages of three to twelve aren’t going to understand that they are preventing type 2 diabetes by exercising. They also aren’t thinking about what it’s going to feel like to get out of bed when they are 70 years old. They generally want one thing—to have fun. It’s up to us to combine that fun with fitness. As a parent, coach, teacher or role model working with children, our goal is to make that happen—BIG fun—broad, inclusive and general just like the workouts. We do that by creating the right environment where each child feels special, has the ability to learn, enjoys participating, is comfortable interacting with us and other children and feels a sense of community. I love our atmosphere at CrossFit Kazam where our members, parents, coaches and kids are all supportive of each other.

I hope to see all of our Kazamily at Family Fun Day on Saturday, April 1st during our normal CrossFit Kid’s class times. I will have a fun partner style worked planned so that parents can do the workout of the day (WOD) with their kids. All workouts can be modified to meet your needs so whether you do CrossFit or not, you can still join us and have fun! After the WOD we will play a friendly game of parents vs. kids dodgeball!