In 1995, Brandy Cruthird was a girl with a dream. She looked around the community where she grew up and had returned to live after college, and she noticed something missing. Like many urban communities, Cruthird's hometown of Roxbury, Mass., lacked the fitness facilities that most suburban communities enjoy. Cruthird also recognized the need for a pioneer who could help deliver her community from the effects of unhealthy diets and sedentary lifestyles.
Cruthird opened the Body By Brandy fitness center in 1996, but during the next 10 years she began seeing another crisis in her community. Through her work as a physical education teacher in the local school system, she became very aware of the epidemic of childhood obesity. She also witnessed many schools cutting the physical education programs that have been a staple in most schools for years.
"No one was paying attention to the burden this is going to put on the healthcare system and the impact it's having on children's psychological development," Cruthird says. Once again, she knew that she could offer her much-needed skills to the future of her community--the children.
Through her relationship with Blue Cross Blue Shield, which had funded a fitness DVD she created, Cruthird was able to secure partnerships with the United Way, Children's Hospital of Boston and Good Sports, Inc., a regional non-profit organization that distributes sports and fitness equipment in low-income, urban areas. These partnerships funded Body By Brandy 4 Kidz, a gym aimed at teaching school children about nutrition and exercise.
But don't let the kid focus fool you--the gym is not a playground. There are serious strength-training and cardiovascular machines, appearing to be the same as adult gym machines but in miniature.
The equipment, designed by ProMaxima Fitness, at Body By Brandy 4 Kidz is designed especially for children ages seven to 16. Each machine uses resistance training--rather than weight training--to help strengthen muscles and burn calories without the risk of injury. They also feature kickplates for adjusting the seats so the kids do not pinch their fingers.
Josh Kuklak, who runs Fitwize 4 Kids in Carmel, Ind., says that the equipment in his gym, made by Hoist, is also stringently made to be safe for children's use. "You can stick your hands inside the machines when someone's using the kickplate. Even if they let go and let it slam down, there's no way it can pinch you--it's pinch-proof." He also explains that users won't get in over their heads with weight. "There's no way that a kid can get into a predicament where 'oh my gosh, it's too heavy, I have to let it go.'"
Safety is just one extra consideration for gyms that emphasize the use of strength-training and cardiovascular equipment for children. Growing bones require different considerations, as well. For this reason, the machines encourage compound movements, Kuklak says, which reduces force on any one joint. The machines don't allow for isolation exercises.
The concept has been well thought out since the initial popularity of children's gyms. British newspapers tracked the trend in the United Kingdom in 2001, saying that parents were signing children up at these facilities in high numbers as 30 percent of Britain's children were overweight at that time. There are now about 80 children's gyms in Britain.
And the United States is catching up. Children's gyms are making their way into many communities nationwide. Backing the claim of popularity, The Tennessean newspaper reported in May that the number of people under the age of 18 joining gyms has increased 200 percent in the last 15 years nationwide.
Kuklak, who opened his branch in September, says that kids are interested because it gives them an extra option. He says it is important to offer children activity choices to keep them interested. "General play is great and I encourage that," he explains, "And there are a lot of kids that just may not be good at a particular sport so they don't get the exercise that they need. Going to the gym, whether they're doing cardio or strength training, is a great source of getting rid of energy in a constructive way rather than sitting in front of a Nintendo and pushing buttons with their thumbs."
John Rutigliano agrees that activity is best off the television screen. He's the chief operating officer at ProMaxima. Rutigliano believes that youth activities are less accessible because they now revolve around more organized sports and playing fields are often surrounded by fences with locked gates.
"We have to encourage them to develop better habits as children by sending them to after-school programs at fitness centers," Rutigliano says. Rutigliano, who also holds a master's degree in exercise science, feels that being healthy increases children's confidence and self-respect, and "Just because you're not an athlete doesn't mean you can't be healthy." Like Cruthird, Rutigliano believes in the mission of helping kids create good habits that will carry on into adulthood.
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