What’s It All About & Why Does it Matter
As a professional in the personal training game, you know that working with kids can be an insanely fun way to amp up your client base. They’re silly, exciting, (usually) love a good challenge, and are
That being said, every kiddo is different, and sometimes, it can be hard to motivate them. The solution? Group classes! For most kids, it’s a super fun way to get them out to take a reprieve from their shyness, make new friends, and most importantly, take a healthier approach to life!
Why is Group Fitness a Great Choice for Kids?
There are endless benefits to group fitness classes for kids! Here are a few of our favorite reasons to add kiddo group classes into your personal training repertoire!
They Can Make New Friends
This is such a good reason to add in group classes for kids. Being a kid is hard – there’s teasing, bullying, and all-around unpleasantness to deal with. So, if you can provide a safe, positive space for kids to make friends, get healthy, and learn to be kind, then you’re doing them (and the world) an enormous service! Your group class is about more than just being physically healthy – it’s providing a safe space for friendship!
It’s Fun and Healthy All At Once!
Group classes are opportunities for kids to have a blast, shake out their sillies, and work on their health all at one time! Group classes are something for kids to look forward to, an exciting place where their friends are, and an incognito way to ensure that children are getting the exercise they so desperately need!
It Motivates Kiddos!
Group classes motivate kids to be healthy and work hard, but they also teach kids about accountability at a young age! Often, kids don’t know how to motivate each other (or alternatively, they don’t know how to be motivated). Group classes are a great way to teach these skills in a healthy, safe environment.
Variety Matters
Often, kids don’t find their way into fitness because there’s nothing available that interests them! Offering a variety of classes allows each child to find something they absolutely love, which opens up a new path to fitness they never would have found without you!
Teaches Kids That Fitness Matters
While you can certainly instill this idea into kids’ heads in a different way, group classes are a fun, exciting, and easy way to plant this seed.
Fun Group Classes for Kids You Can Offer
Kiddo Boot Camp
Most kids like a good challenge, and for those who absolutely love crawling around, jumping, and expending all their energy outside, boot camp is an awesome choice! Try to set up fun obstacles, utilize fun elements that get them messy and dirty (like mud – the parents will love that), and put together some silly contests for a healthy (read: fun, not harmful) dose of friendly competition.
Kickboxing for kids
If you’ve got a group of kids who love cardio and flailing around but also want to learn something valuable, try out kickboxing! It’s a great way to shake out all the energy, get to calorie burning, and encourage moving around, but it’s also a healthy way to get kids hooked on the structure of group classes!
Silly Zumba
There are few kids out there (especially the younger age groups) that would turn down a dance party. Zumba is a huge success as a group class for kiddos because it’s all about shaking out those sillies, getting moving, and having a blast while doing it! Pick out some great, kid-friendly soundtracks to get everyone excited and encourage total silliness! This gets those kiddos moving and shaking and ensures they’re having a total blast while doing it!
Yoga for kids
It’s never too early to teach kiddos how to find their breath, stretch correctly, and enjoy the benefits of yoga. You’ll have to go into this with a little patience to ensure that it’s kid-friendly (it’s unlikely you’re going to have an entire group of kiddos willing to lay still and quiet in Savasana for ten minutes post yoga lesson), so choose your yoga lessons to make it as kid-friendly as possible.
Strength Training for kids
This is the perfect thing to offer to the kids who are too old to shake out the sillies but are too young to hit the weight room by themselves. Offering group classes for late kiddos to early teens can be a great way to encourage strength training, teach proper form, and help to harbor a healthy appreciation for the gym as they grow older.
The main point here? Offering a ton of different kid classes is going to be the key to getting children excited and parent’s motivated to getting their kids involved. If you can only offer a single class for kids, it’s not likely to draw in as many kids as you need to host a super fun and healthy group class program! Try to get certified in a few fun, exciting, and healthy classes so that you can offer great group options to kiddos with lots of different interests.
