In the video you're about to watch, a 4 year old kid is exercising under the wise (or maybe not so wise) guidance of his grandmother, and mother I presume.
Click here to watch the video:
Now don't get me wrong, I think it's great that kids get lots of physical exercise, but having such a defined exercise "goal" as strength training at such a young age is undoubtedly going to rob this youngster of socializing and unstructured play that will further his athletic development down the road more than his current narrowly focused routine.
I'll admit though, he's doing the best stuff for a kid if you're to do strength work... all bodyweight exercises, no actual weight lifting. But...
The problem I see is that those instructing him, seem not to be leading by example in any way, but rather to be simply enabling his young obsession.
If his exercise routine were only 15-20 minutes per day, it wouldn't be the end of the world, but by 4 years old, managing 1,500 pushups in just 40 minutes... I imagine he's spending at least 40 minutes if not more each day training for such a feat... and of course it's all under the (*ahem*) wise guidance of his expert "in-the-trenches" family members.
As a coach, and as a father, as much as I hope that my kids grow up to embrace strength training as a means to develop a strong and healthy body, I will only encourage it as a means to improve performance in another physical activity (sport)at first.
I will strive to encourage my kids to try many different sports, and become a team player, and at the right age, introduce appropriate strength and conditioning workouts to facilitate improved performance in their sport, and not just for the sake of setting records at young ages.
Coming from India, and judging by the apparent state of dis-repair of the gym they're in, probably a poor part of India, I wonder if this is the parents way of trying to get publicity, in hopes of somehow garnering financial support from what their child is doing.
My thoughts are that if the parents hadn't pushed the kid to keep at it so much, he might have gotten bored with it and just wanted to go play with the other kids. Although he does seem to be enjoying himself in the video.
I don't agree with this kind of thing... but maybe I'm off base.
What do you think?
I'd love to hear your comments on this topic. Please leave them in the comments section below.
