Get Healthy With Coach Sarah: 2014

Introducing Shaun T's Fit Kids™ Club

Joe Wilkes
Featured By Team Beach Body Coach Sarah Thawley

It's tough being a kid. I know firsthand what it's like to be the last one picked for kickball, if you get picked at all. And how easy it is to forego organized sports for an after-school session with the Atari (for our younger readers, that's an old-school Wii), accompanied by a plate of Double Stuf Oreos and a big glass of sugary Kool-Aid. Hip Hop Abs® creator Shaun T knows firsthand what it's like to overcome the weight issues of youth as well. When he started college, he saw the proverbial Freshman 15 balloon into the Freshman 50. And with a nine-year-old sister, he knew he wanted to create a workout program that would appeal to kids, so she wouldn't become another statistic in the growing childhood obesity epidemic. The result of his research led to the creation of Shaun T's Fit Kids™ Club.

The rise of childhood obesity

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the percentage of overweight children aged 6 to 11 has doubled in the last two decades, and the percentage of overweight teenagers has tripled. And at least one third of our kid nation is now overweight or nearly overweight—that's 25 million kids. Adult health problems such as hypertension, high cholesterol, and type 2 diabetes (which used to be called adult-onset diabetes) are now shared by children. Obese children also often suffer from sleep apnea, which has been linked to memory and learning problems. And obese kids have a 70-percent chance of being obese adults. Besides the health problems, there are the emotional issues to consider as well. Life isn't easy for a fat kid. The social discrimination against overweight children by peers is substantial and can contribute to low self-esteem and depression.

There are many social and lifestyle changes that have contributed to the decline in children's health: increased time spent sitting in front of computers, video games, or television (three to five hours a day on average); the decrease in funding for physical education classes and athletics in schools; and the proliferation of fast food, junk food, and high fructose corn syrup. But the reasons behind the rise in obesity among children are largely the same as for adults: too many calories consumed and not enough calories expended through exercise.

Fit Kids Club to the rescue

Shaun T wanted to be part of the solution to the childhood obesity crisis, and that's why he developed the Fit Kids Club workout program. The program contains two 25-minute routines, combining dance and light aerobics designed for kids of any age and any fitness level, but, most importantly, designed to be a lot of fun. It's a way to get your kids up and moving without having to drive them to soccer practice or to the Y—for parents extremely short on time. These workouts are fitness and fun combined. No matter how bad the weather, how busy the kid, there's always time for a 25-minute homework break to pop in a DVD and groove it out with Shaun T. Former U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Richard Carmona has said that even a relatively small amount of exercise, like walking for 30 minutes five times a week, can greatly benefit weight maintenance and cardiovascular health. And Fit Kids Club is a whole lot more fun and productive than walking.

Also, Fit Kids is about more than just working out. It's about adopting a lifestyle that includes healthy eating, regular exercise, and treating the body with the care it deserves. It's about creating lifelong healthy habits. The four rules of Fit Kids Club are:

I will respect my body and keep it healthy.
I will exercise 3–4 times a week.
I will eat healthy foods to give me energy.
I will drink more water instead of soda.

It sounds simple enough, but motivating kids to follow these rules creates incredible benefits and habits that will last a lifetime. And the key to motivating kids to exercise is making it fun. We've seen time and time again that no exercise regimen can be successful if people don't enjoy doing it, and kids are no different. The great thing about Fit Kids Club, like all of Shaun's programs, is that it doesn't feel like a workout. Your kid will simply feel like they're just dancing. Dance Dance Revolution is great, but Fit Kids Club is even better. It's a full-body workout while learning cool moves like the Hustle, We're Cool, Body Jam, Snake It, and Smooth Groove. The workout is not just boring calisthenics; kids will learn new steps for the next school dance.

Healthy food choices

When Shaun T went to college, he figured out quickly what a good example his mother had set for him. Without Mom to provide healthy square meals with fruit and veggies, Shaun quickly began sliding down the slippery slope of pizzas and Big Gulps and piled on 50 pounds his freshman year. Creating healthy eating habits and teaching your kids how to make healthy choices is the other half of the equation in fighting obesity. Fit Kids Club addresses this with healthy snack tips and a guide for kids on how to read nutrition labels.

Teaching kids how different foods affect their bodies and teaching them the marketing tricks and traps that lure them into making unhealthy choices gives them the power to make the right decisions when parents aren't around. It's important to learn early to avoid trans fats, high fructose corn syrup, unhealthy additives, and other calories that are either empty, or worse, toxic. If you never develop the taste for these ingredients, you'll never have the cravings later in life. It's also an easy trap, especially with growing children, to just say they can eat whatever they want, since kids often don't appear to be gaining weight, no matter how much they eat. But even if they're not gaining weight in adolescence, they're developing habits that can cause significant weight gain and the accompanying health problems as they enter adulthood.

Exercise—learn it, live it, love it!

When I was growing up, physical education consisted of a rigorous regimen of dodgeball and square dancing—not the stuff of champions (and I might add, the opportunities in my life to bust out my square-dance moves have been few and far between). I think the phys ed curriculum (for schools lucky enough to have one) has improved slightly since then, but it's foolhardy to depend on your school system to provide your child with a healthy level of activity. Schools will point to recess as a form of exercise. My grade-school recesses were spent playing marbles or engaging in some amateur form of schoolyard gambling like flipping quarters—activities that, while sometimes profitable, were hardly calorie burners. Not all children's recesses are as misspent as mine were, but the point is that recesses aren't organized physical activity, and most only last 15 minutes or so, not enough time to realize any real cardiovascular benefits.

Kids need to learn to engage their bodies in regular physical exercise. It should become a part of their daily routine, just like doing their homework or brushing their teeth. Parents would never let their kids' teeth fall out because they didn't feel like brushing or going to the dentist, but parents may often overlook the fact that their kids may be spending hours on the couch letting their bodies atrophy. And we possibly let kids get away with this lethargy because, after a long day at work, we don't feel much like exercising ourselves—understandable, but not without consequences for our bodies. Studies show that the next generation may be the first to be less healthy and have a shorter lifespan than the previous. We can combat this by leading by example—exercising with our kids and teaching them the link between exercising regularly and feeling good. And, both parent and child will benefit!

There are a million excuses not to exercise or eat right. I've heard them all and I've made them all—I'm not exempt. For my part, I'm planning on getting all the kids in my life hooked on Fit Kids Club—it's cool, it's fun, and it's healthy. And it gives kids the power to take responsibility for their own physical well-being. It's the perfect time-saver for those with too little to spare. Just pop in the DVD and press play and groove it out with Shaun T.

Fit Kids™ Club - Kids Get Their Groove On with Shaun T

Fit Kids™ Club - YES! I'd like to get Shaun T's Fit Kids™ Club workout program today!

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Get down and get fit with Shaun T's Fit Kids Club workouts for kids ages 7 and up! It's all about sweat, strength, and FUN with mad awesome dance moves that keep you healthy and energized! It doesn't matter what your size or shape is—or even if you can't dance. Shaun T will teach you cool, new steps with rad music so you'll be rockin' out in no time! These workouts are so much fun, you won't even feel like they're exercise!

Fit Kids™ Club - Get 2 Totally Rad Workouts

Fit Kids™ Club - Groove It Out - Cool Moves

Get your groove on with Shaun T and the Fit Kids, doing cool dance steps like the Hustle, We're Cool, Body Jam, Wind & Toss, Bounce & Swipe, and Basketball. You'll be having so much fun, you'll forget you're exercising! It’ll become the best part of your day! (25 minutes)

Get funky while you get healthy. Shaun T shows you new hip, hot steps like The Hey!, Snake It, Pound & Hop, Dust & Wave, and Smooth Groove. Learn the coolest moves and get in great shape at the same time! Work it out every day with Shaun T and the Fit Kids. (25 minutes)