Why You Need a Push Up Bench For Your Child:
The Push Up Exercise requires an individual to press approximately 70% of their body weight. Most youth athletes do not possess the strength necessary to do a proper push up (full range of motion). Most youth athletes will attempt "elbow benders" or stick their butts up in the air and cheat their way to the number of reps they are attempting to accomplish. The athlete can become very frustrated by this and often will quit because of a lack of success. The Push Up Bench transfers the weight normally on their hands to their feet-making them lighter and making proper push ups easier. Now the youth athlete can start out pushing only 28% of their weight, which allows for perfect push up technique. Youth experience immediate success which helps motivate them to stick with it. The Push Up Bench has 20 levels ranging from the 28% push up to a steep decline push up near 100% body weight. By achieving the reps on each level the athlete is motivated to break through each barrier! The Pull Up Exercise is another difficult one to do because it requires youth to pull 100% of their weight up. The Push Up bench also works for assisted pull ups.
Benefits:
1. Increased Muscular Strength & Endurance
2. Reduce Injuries In Sports and Recreational Activities
3. Improved motor skills
4. Improved sports performance
5. Improved bone density (hardness)
6. Improved self esteem!
Body Weight Exercises
The number one priority in strength training for preadolescent and adolescent youth is safety- Period. In my opinion, strength training is a great way to help boys and girls become more physically fit and improve their athletic ability. I do not, however, believe that children should lift weights for a number of reasons I'll go into later on. Once boys and girls go through puberty and begin to develop physically and emotionally into young men and young women, thats when a supervised weight training program becomes appropriate. Until that time, body weight exercises can provide plenty of resistance while children develop physically and emotionally. The Push Up and Pull Up are great resistance exercises using only your body weight. The biggest reason I am opposed to weight training at this age is the possibility of damage to the growth plates, which in turn could limit the potential growth of the athletes limbs. Youth, especially boys, have a tendency to push heavy weight or weight they are not ready to handle. Body weight exercises are built in safety because you can't overload yourself or put yourself in danger by using too many weights.
Biological and Chronological Age
The biological age (physical and emotional) of boys and girls varies wildly between boys and girls of the same chronological age. Children don't grow at a set pace. Children can grow a lot in a short amount of time and then not grow at all for some time.
Training Age
It is important to understand that training age, or the amount of time an athlete has spent strength training, has a tremendous impact on the rate of growth and development. The beginner in strength training always has the biggest gains. The longer children workout, the slower the gains will come. This is true of almost any strength training routine including weight training. One of the keys to breaking through those barriers is variation of strength exercises. Variation means doing different exercises so that your muscles are continually being challenged so they don't get used to the same routines.
Source: Essentials of Strength Training and Conditioning.
Experiences
My daughter, Saje, is 12 and has been using the Push Up Bench for over a year. This piece of exercise equipment has helped her stay competitive in softball, basketball and football. Because she enjoys contact sports, the Push Up Bench has helped her become physically stronger as she competes against boys. As she gets older and the competition becomes stronger, the Push Up Bench will be an important piece of exercise equipment in her regimen to keep her in step with the competition.
Danae-Iowa
Free Strength Workout
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