What is CrossFit Kids?
Just as CrossFit benefits adults of all ages, the same can be said for kids — training for kids versus adults varies by degree, not kind. There are countless CrossFit Kids programs held in thousands of affiliates and over 400 schools all over the world serving youth athletes — some who are training for another sport and some who consider CrossFit their primary sport or outlet for movement. Whatever the goal, the program offers kids a head start on a healthy lifestyle encouraging a love for fitness and an understanding of the impact of nutrition.
CrossFit Kids was created in late 2003. The prescription for youths doing CrossFit is the same as for adults: constantly varied functional movements executed at high intensity (relative to the individual). The difference is the time one takes before entering high intensity. For adults, the process can be a couple of weeks to a month or more before we start to do more reps or start to push a little harder. For children, we have five to seven years before we need to think about pressing the intensity. The Kids program is informed by research in the fields of exercise science, behavioral science, molecular biology, and others, always ensuring the methodology evolves as we learn more about kids and fitness.
The program combats some of the largest health problems facing our youth today including childhood obesity and Type 2 diabetes. As a result of the agricultural and industrial revolutions, humans today move less and eat more highly processed foods with loads of added sugar. History shows that our children are likely to adopt habits they saw growing up, so if a lack of movement and poor nutrition is the lifestyle of their elders, children are statistically more likely to live a similar unhealthy lifestyle into adulthood. One of the goals of CrossFit Kids is to break the cycle of passing on poor behaviors by instilling in this and future generations of children a positive association with exercise, a desire to be fit, and a goal to live a long, healthy life. CrossFit Kids teaches foundational movement patterns, providing children with a portion of their prescribed amount of exercise for the week, improving muscular fitness, engineering endless opportunities for success, and discussing roles for food while keeping the class and its information fun and engaging. As an infinitely scalable program, CrossFit Kids can also bring the benefits of physical activity to disadvantaged populations.
CrossFit Kids classes always have an aspect of unpredictability; they are constantly varied. There is a consistent structure to the class, but what happens within each of the components of the class is what changes. Classes are built on a foundation of age-appropriate short segments that allow goals to be accomplished within them and are not too long to lead to boredom.
The methods used to teach movement within this program are broad, general, and inclusive — meaning anyone can learn, from the youth athlete to the kid who’s never been exposed to exercise. CrossFit Kids participants will learn movement patterns for the squat, deadlift, press, and more, through age-appropriate progressions and games with their own body weight or equipment that is easily managed by the age group.