Editor’s Note: Irene Lewis-McCormick is a graduate student in health and human performance. If you would like to ask a fitness-related question, please send an e-mail request to: [email protected].

Q: I am interested in knowing more about fitness for children. What can kids do as far as weight lifting goes, and what types of activities should they not be involved with?

A: Forget “new math” — children need to master physical education. The situation in public schools is precarious, as more and more schools across the country are dropping P.E. programs. One out of four of U.S. children gets no physical education in school.

To add to children’s inactivity, a lack of safe, supervised environments to play means too many children spend after-school hours alone playing on the computer or watching television. According to a report by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 14 percent of children ages 6 to 14 years old are overweight.

This is translated to mean an over-fat body composition, which may lead to adult-obesity. Obesity among children is at an all-time high.

The problem is further exacerbated because inactive children grow up to be inactive adults. Children who learn to enjoy physical activity are more likely to develop lifelong fitness habits.

At every age, girls are less active than boys. However, exercise helps females to build strong bones and develop a positive body image.

Current guidelines for exercise recommendations from the CDC and the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) for elementary school-aged children include:

• Children should accumulate at least 30 to 60 minutes of physical activity each day. Up to several hours of physical activity is better.

• Children should participate in a variety of non-competitive activities at various levels of intensity.

• Daily activity should include 10 to 15 minute periods of vigorous exercise.

• Extended periods of inactivity are inappropriate for normal, healthy children.

Children should learn skills for lifetime fitness, including swimming, hiking, jogging and bicycling. Team sports are fine, but too many children grow up with team sports only to be sedentary spectators in adulthood.

For a long time, strength training was considered “dangerous” for children. However, just the opposite is true.

According to some experts, strength training places too much stress on the growth plates in the bones and could stunt a child’s development. But recent research has proven this is not true.

Consider the young gymnast who jumps off a balance beam and lands with a force almost three times her body weight.

If you consider the force placed on the bones during such sporting activities, this far exceeds the force placed on bones during strength training.

Resistance training programs enhance children’s strength, motor fitness skills and athletic performance, as well as prevent injuries.

The National Strength and Conditioning Association has come forward with a position statement on resistance training programs for young children. The position states that resistance training programs are safe, as long as they are supervised and well balanced.

Even so, any exercise program for children should focus on fun rather than rigid goals.

Attention span is an important consideration too.

Children as young as 6 years old can strength train, as long as they can follow directions to focus on proper form and technique.

Only an adult should spot a child, and the program must be supervised by an adult at all times.

Children can work out two to three times per week, performing one set of seven or eight simple exercises at 10 to 15 repetitions.

Single-joint moves, such as biceps curls or leg extensions are better suited for children, as opposed to multi-joint exercises, such as squats or lunges for young lifters.

For resistance, children can use two- to five-pound dumbbells, rubber tubing, or body weight exercises such as push-ups or chin-ups.

According to the position statement, children should avoid overhead lifts, as this can cause them to lose their balance.

Children also should avoid bench-press exercises, which can be dangerous if they lose control of the weight.