Exercise Programs for

Children
CORRESPONDENCE EDUCATION PROGRAM # 19
 How to Complete this Program
Thank you for choosing Exercise ETC’s RACE correspondence program for
your continuing education needs. To earn your CECs/CEUs you will need to
read the following article, “Exercise Programs for Children.” After you
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© 1998, 2002 by Exercise ETC Inc. All rights reserved. 2

 Learning Objectives
After reading “Exercise Programs for Children,” you should be able to:

1. Justify the need for exercise programs in children and list several
societal factors which have contributed to the decline in physical
fitness among children.

2. Describe the four basic components of a children’s program in terms

of goals, time and appropriate activities.

3. Understand several games and or activities that can be used in a

children’s program to warm-up, cool-down or develop fitness.

4. List several suggestions that will improve class management.

5. Identify lifestyle risk factors for children and games and activities that
would help to reinforce a healthy lifestyle.

6. Understand the role of parents in regards to lifestyle and offer

suggestions for improving the lifestyle of the family.

7. Understand the physiological differences between children’s and

adults and their limitations in regards to training and outcomes.

8. Understand basic programming guidelines for children in order to

develop safe and effective exercise programs for children.

© 1998, 2002 by Exercise ETC Inc. All rights reserved. 3

Exercise Programs For Children
The Unfit Generation
The goals of a children’s fitness program are to promote the idea that exercise and
physical fitness are important to their health and well-being and to instill a lifelong love
of physical activity. As children incorporate physical activity in their lifestyle they are
more apt to adopt other behaviors that complement their healthy lifestyle. In the last
several decades, there has been a decline in physical activity in children with far reaching
health consequences:

• Surveys have reported that one third of all youths ages 10-18 are inactive.
• Since 1960, obesity has increased 54% in children aged 6-11, and 39% in
children aged 12-17.
• Forty percent of children aged 5-8 have at least one risk factor for
cardiovascular disease. It has been estimated that between 30 and 35% of
school aged children are at risk for heart or circulatory disease and
premature deaths as adults.
• Finally, only 32% of children aged 6-17 meet minimum standards for
cardiovascular fitness, flexibility, and muscle strength and endurance.

Societal Influences on Fitness

Fitness Professionals need to be aware that there are a number of societal influences that
have contributed to the decline in children’s levels of physical fitness. These influences
include the following:

• Poor parental role models

Poor health habits tend to run in families. Currently, 59% of the adult population
does not do enough physical activity to maintain good health; overweight/obesity
has reached epidemic proportions. It is important to stress to parents that they
have the greatest influence on their children. Involve parents in the programming
as often as possible by holding an informal meeting immediately before or after
exercise time so they will not have to take extra time from their busy schedules.
A newsletter is another easy way to pass out education, suggestions and
information to parents. Stress to them the importance of establishing good health
habits in the home such as limiting the use of fast foods, encouraging good eating
habits, being active on a daily basis, avoiding smoking, avoiding the use of
illegal drugs and alcohol abuse. Parents need to limit the amount of time spent
watching television. The average child watches television approximately 24
hours per week. There is a direct correlation between time spent viewing TV and
activity level. In addition, children are 8 times more likely to eat while watching
TV.

© 1998, 2002 by Exercise ETC Inc. All rights reserved. 4

 • Latch key children
As greater numbers of women continue to work outside the home, the number of
children who are on their own after school has increased. With no one home to
supervise what they eat, they often choose foods lacking in nutrition and high in
calories. In addition, many lonely children use food for solace. Suggest to
parents that they may want to limit the number of snacks they buy; they can also
prepare healthy snacks in advance for the child to eat after school. Remember that
children tend to eat what’s available. If Mom buys junk food the kids will eat it; if
Mom buys healthy snacks and lots of fresh fruit, kids will eat that.

• Dysfunctional families
Rising divorce rates and the increase in single parent families have placed more
demands on the caretaker’s (generally Mom’s) time. More meals are eaten
outside of the home, often from fast food restaurants; packaged products have
become the main staple of foods consumed at home. Restaurant and packaged
foods tend to be higher in fat, sodium, and calories and lower in nutritional value.

• Sedentary leisure time activities

Technology has created a shift in how American children’s spend their leisure
time. Computer games, the Internet and an ever increasing menu of TV
programming are constantly pulling children away from more physical pursuits.

PHYSIOLOGY OF CHILDREN
For the most part, the same basic exercise physiology principles used for adults can be
modified and applied to children as well. Fitness Professionals working with children
should be aware of the differences in their cardiovascular, respiratory, and
musculoskeletal systems in order to develop safe and effective programs.

Cardiovascular System
Children have a lower maximal and submaximal cardiac output, stroke volume, blood
pressure, blood volume and hemoglobin due to their smaller body size and heart volume.
A child’s heart is only about 30% of the size of an adult heart; to compensate, children
have higher average heart rates. Average resting heart rates in beats per minute are as
follows:

YEARS HEART RATE

6-10 96 BPM
10-14 85 BPM
14-18 82 BPM

© 1998, 2002 by Exercise ETC Inc. All rights reserved. 5

A child’s phosphagen energy system is similar to that of an adult and they are well suited
to intermittent activity with short rest periods. Activities that require short, intense bursts
of energy followed by a brief rest, such as games and relay races, are well suited to
children. A child’s ability to work in the glycogen system is somewhat compromised due
to a lower concentration and utilization of glucose and glycogen.

Respiratory System
Children have smaller, immature lungs. In children ages 5 to 8 the lungs are only 20%
developed; this results in an increased ventilation oxygen cost due to an increased rate
of breathing.

Children have a lower absolute VO2 Max than adults. They also have an increased
submaximal oxygen demand for activities such as walking and running due to the
increased oxygen cost of breathing. Because of their immature lungs, improvements to
the aerobic system are somewhat limited due to their immature cardiovascular system.
Before puberty, boys and girls are equally capable of performing, and often girls out-
perform boys. This changes after puberty, however.

Musculoskeletal System
The bones of children are smaller and more fragile. Epiphyses, or growth plates, are
active and vulnerable to injury. The growth plates at the distal radius and ulna, and at the
femur, tibia and fibula do not close for males until age 18-20 and for females until age
17-19. Gains in muscle strength are possible in children, however strength training is
ineffective at producing hypertrophy: until adolescence there is insufficient testosterone
and human growth hormone to produce significant muscular growth.

EXERCISE CONCERNS
Thermoregulation
Children are at high risk for heat illness due to their immature cardiovascular system.
Their risk is higher because of their greater surface area, increased metabolic cost for
certain activities, immature sweat glands, and increased core temperature to initiate
sweating. Like adults, children can acclimatize to heat, however, they are slower
physiologically and faster subjectively. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP)
recommends minimizing intensity and duration initially, and increasing intensity
gradually over 11-14 days when exercising in the heat. In addition, children should wear
light weight absorbent clothing, avoid rubberized sweat suits and drink 100-150
milliliters of liquid every 15 to 30 minutes. Exercise should be deferred in very hot,
humid environments.

© 1998, 2002 by Exercise ETC Inc. All rights reserved. 6

Overuse Injuries
Factors that contribute to injuries in children include:

• Abrupt increase in frequency, intensity and duration of exercise,

strength;
• Flexibility imbalances;
• Non-supportive footwear and running surfaces;
• Misalignment of lower extremities;
• Immature systems and growth tissue.

According to the US Consumer Product Safety Commission, the most often injured
sites for children are:

• The head and face up to age 4;

• Arms for ages 5-14;
• Knees and ankles for ages 15 and up.

FITNESS TESTING
Fitness testing for children should focus on establishing a baseline against which to
compare the child’s progress, as opposed to making value judgements about the child’s
fitness level: “Your strength is excellent.” “Your cardio capacity is poor.” Fitness
testing for your young clients will generally be more subjective than objective.

Body Composition
Body composition testing should be done with caution as children are extremely body
conscious and like to compare their results with others. Labeling a child as “obese” or
“over fat”, or even using terms like “chubby” or “baby fat” could lead to low self esteem,
social isolation and perhaps, eventually, an eating disorder.

Tape Measure Skinfold Method

• Measure triceps and calf with a tape measure
• Boys: Add measurements; multiply by 0.735; add 1.0
• Girls: Add measurements; multiply by 0.61; add 5.1
• As a general rule, when body fat percentage are in the high
twenties/low thirties the child is over fat.

Health Related Fitness Tests

If you are training a child, the health related fitness tests below are ideal as the child is
only competing against him/herself and not some predetermined standard. Use whatever
results the child gets as a baseline to chart progress at 60, 90 or 120 day intervals.

© 1998, 2002 by Exercise ETC Inc. All rights reserved. 7

 1 Mile run/walk test
• Tests aerobic fitness
• Have the child cover 1 mile on a flat surface in as short a
time as possible

Sit-and-reach test
• Tests the flexibility of low back and hamstrings;
• Place a yardstick on the floor between the child’s legs,
with the numbers increasing as they move away from the
child and the heels at the 9 inch mark on yardstick;
• Have the child reach as far as possible on the yardstick
while keeping the knees slightly bent;
• Record the 4th try as the child’s score.

One minute sit-up test

• See how many sit-ups the child can perform in one minute.
• Alternate method: have child do crunches for one minute.

Pull-up or flexed arm hangs

• If child can’t do at least one pull-up, use flexed arm hang;
• Palms face away from body;
• Count how many pull ups the child can do OR time how
long the child can hang.

Athletic Fitness Tests

Sports conditioning for children is currently one of the hot trends in fitness training. The
following tests are considered standards that young athletes should strive for in order to
develop athletic fitness.

Average 50 yard dash times (in secs)

Age 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17
Girls 7.5 7.5 7.2 7.0 7.0 7.0 7.1 7.0
Boys 7.5 7.2 7.0 6.7 6.4 6.2 6.2 6.0

© 1998, 2002 by Exercise ETC Inc. All rights reserved. 8

Shuttle run
• Equipment: 2 blocks of wood 2” X 2” X 4” each, and a stop
watch
• Procedure: Make 2 parallel lines 30 feet apart and put the blocks
of wood behind one of the lines. The child starts behind the line
without the blocks, runs to the opposite line, picks up one block
and brings it to the opposite line. The procedure is repeated with
the second block. The timer is stopped as the child crosses the line
with the second block.

AGE 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17
Girls 10.5 10.3 10.2 10.0 10.0 10.0 10.2 10.0
Boys 10.2 9.9 9.8 9.5 9.2 9.1 8.9 8.9

Vertical jump
• Equipment: Chalk and a wall
• Procedure: The child stands with one side to the wall
(usually the dominant side) with heels together and feet flat
on the floor. Child reaches up as high as possible making a
mark on the wall with the chalk. The child then jumps as
high as possible making another mark on the wall making
another mark on the wall with the chalk at the peak of the
jump. The score is the distance between the two marks.
Allow 4-5 trials and take the best score.

AGE 9-11 12-14 15-17

Girls 15 15 16
Boys 15 18 24

EXERCISE PROGRAMMING
GUIDELINES
Children do not respond well to a watered down adult fitness program. Twenty minutes
of continuous treadmill walking or stationary biking may prove to be part of a successful
exercise program to an adult exerciser, but will most certainly fail for a young child
because they lack aerobic endurance and tend to get bored. The two biggest reasons
children join an exercise program are to have fun and be with their friends. Why do TV
shows, computer games & video games appeal to children? They are exciting, easy to
play and watch, offer achievable goals, challenge different ability levels, are frequently
updated and consist of elements and characters children are interested in.

It’s important for the Fitness Professional to know what’s popular with children. If you
have kids of your own you probably already know what kids like to do and what the

© 1998, 2002 by Exercise ETC Inc. All rights reserved. 9

latest trends are. If not, consider using sources such as the Disney Channel, Nickelodeon,
or take a walk through Toys R Us. In addition, “borrow” someone else’s kids: Take a
niece or a nephew or a friend’s child out for an afternoon and see what makes them
“tick.” In order to gain their attention and keep their interest, exercise programs for
children will need to be camouflaged in the form of games and fun activities. The
emphasis should be on having fun, NOT on winning or working hard.

Program Structure
A child’s program should consist of a warm-up, cardiovascular and strength
components, an educational segment and a cool down.

Warm up
The warm-up should last anywhere from 3 to 5 minutes and consist of a game or two
just to get the child moving. Some simple warm-up games include:

• Follow the Leader: Designate a leader; you can do this by making a

paper star and placing it around a child’s neck, or use a sticker or hat
or a baton. Have the leader stand in front and perform a movement
which all the children must copy. At your signal the star, the leader
chooses another student whose movement is copied. Continue until
all students have had a chance to lead. This game can be also played
during the fitness component phase of the program. Adding some
music always adds a festive air to the activities!

• Builders and Bulldozer: Divide the children into two groups

designating one group as the builders and the other group as the
bulldozers. Scatter small cones throughout the exercise area, some
standing and some on their sides. At your signal the builders run
around standing the cones up and the bulldozers knock the cones
down. After about 30 seconds or so switch roles.

• Tail Tag: Each child has a strip of cloth or paper tucked into their
waistband to represent a tail. The object of the game is to collect as
many tails from others as possible while eluding other children’s
attempts to grab theirs.

Educational Component
• This should be a short lecture lasting no more than several minutes.
The purpose is to introduce or teach the children one small concept
that deals with fitness or health. Some examples include:

© 1998, 2002 by Exercise ETC Inc. All rights reserved. 10

• The dangers of cigarette smoking, learning good eating habits and
positive health behaviors. Be sure to use things such as pictures,
props, and handouts whenever possible and be careful to present the
topic on a level that is appropriate for the age group of your child.
You can use this component to create a theme for the whole class.

• The food guide pyramid could be the focus of your educational

component. You may want to give out blank copies of the food guide
to the class and have them draw appropriate foods for each category.
During the warm-up, cool-down and fitness component you could
incorporate the nutrition theme into some of the games for that day.

• Another fun game is to have the child name a food and have the
children use their bodies to imitate the food. For instance jello is soft
and wavy so they can relax their limbs as they sit, stand, or lie on the
floor. Breadsticks are hard and crunchy so they can walk with very
tall with stiff arms and legs.

• Draw a pyramid on a piece of cardboard with the food group lines

drawn but not labeled. Set up a relay race using small cards with one
of the major food groups from the pyramid on it and place them at the
opposite end of the floor. Each team member will run to the opposite
end of the floor, pick up a food group category card, return and place it
in its proper place on the pyramid.

Cardio & Conditioning Games

• To increase cardiovascular endurance have the children place a
piece of newspaper against their chest, drop their hands and run
around the room trying to keep the newspaper in place; the paper
will stay on only as long as they keep running.

• A variety of relay races can be used to promote cardiovascular

fitness. Some examples include: Hopping on both feet or one
foot, walking while balancing something on their head, walking
with a ball between their legs. You can also try to place a ball
between the backs of two team members and make them keep the
ball in place while they walk. Walking an obstacle course, on all
fours, or while walking on their hands with a partner holding their
feet (wheelbarrow) are all great, good fun.

• You could create a strengthening, flexibility or combination circuit

by placing pictures of various exercises on the floor around the
room and have a child stand at each picture/station. On your
signal, after completing the exercise, they go to the next station.

© 1998, 2002 by Exercise ETC Inc. All rights reserved. 11

 • A good game to strengthen the upper body is “Hand Hockey.”
Partners face each other in the up phase of a push-up. Using a
bean bag or wad of newspaper as a puck, the object of the game is
for one child to push the puck between the other child’s hands
while they maintain the up position of the push-up.

Cool-down
• Use games and activities that incorporate muscle strengthening or
stretching. One advantage of ending the program with a stretching
activity is that it reinforces the idea that stretching always follows
physical activity.

• The cool-down should last anywhere between 5 and 10 minutes

and is also a good time to review the main points from the
educational component.

Program Management
If you are conducting an exercise program for a group of children, one of your most
challenging tasks in conducting a children’s program is keeping the program under
control. Children tend to get hyperactive when they’re excited, and boredom leads to all
kinds of trouble. The following are suggestions for keeping your children under control:

• Get the children moving as quickly as possible. One way to do this

is to establish a routine that the child will go through the minute
they enter the exercise area.
• In a class environment, design games and activities that require all
children to participate at the same time. Allowing some children to
stand around while others are moving can have disastrous results.
During relay races and elimination games, have a planned activity
that is to be performed while they are waiting for their turn or they
are “out”. When performing strength activities, focus on the time
of each set rather than the number of repetitions so each child will
start and end at the same time. If you are using equipment or
props, make sure you have enough for each child to avoid having
some children standing around waiting for their turn.
• Keep groups small in number. It is much easier to control 4
groups of 5 than one group of 20.
• To avoid frustration, make sure you demonstrate all exercises,
movements and activities as the children practice with you.
• Have an established signal for starting and stopping. This can be
verbal such as red light for stopping and green light for starting or
auditory such as a whistle or a hand clap.

© 1998, 2002 by Exercise ETC Inc. All rights reserved. 12

 • To quickly organize the class into groups, try passing out stickers
of different animals, superheroes, sports teams or ribbons of
different colors. Then when you want to form a group, simply
announce all the bears line up here, the tigers here etc. This
system can be used for getting out and putting away equipment
also.

• Keep the length of the class appropriate for the age group. Most
Fitness Professionals are geared to a 1 hour class format, however
this may be too long for younger children. For ages 3 to 8 a total
class time of 30 to 45 minutes is ideal.

CHILDREN’S HEALTH
PROGRAMMING GOALS
Health goals for children are similar to those for adults in that they should be aimed at
promoting good health and preventing conditions such as diabetes and cardiovascular
disease. Therefore, programming should be aimed at eliminating, or minimizing, the
following risk factors:

Inactivity: Fitness levels of children are directly linked to cardiovascular risk.

Hypertension: The follow guidelines will vary based on developmental age and
body weight.
HYPERTENSION VALUES FOR CHILDREN

< AGE 6 110/75

AGES 6-10 120/80
AGES 11-14 125/85
AGES 15-18 135/90
(Joint National Committee on Detection, Evaluation, and treatment of
High Blood Pressure)

Cholesterol: The American Health Foundation recommends cholesterol testing

for all children between the ages of 2 and 6. The American Academy of Pediatrics
recommends testing between the ages of 2 to 6 only with a family history. Guidelines for
children include the following:
Moderate High
Age Risk Risk
Total Cholesterol Boys 5-18 183-202 > 203
Girls 5-18 192-216 > 217

© 1998, 2002 by Exercise ETC Inc. All rights reserved. 13

TC/HDL Ratio Ages 5-14 Ages 15-19
BOYS GIRLS BOYS GIRLS
Recommended < 2.9 < 3.1 < 3.7 < 2.9
Moderate Risk 2.9-3.3 3.1-3.4 3.7-5.1 2.9-3.6
High Risk 3.4-3.5 3.5-3.7 5.2-6.1 3.7-4.2
Very High Risk > 3.5 > 3.7 > 6.1 > 4.2
(National Cholesterol Education Program, Lab Note, April l990, p. 3)

Obesity: According to a USA Today poll, 19% of boys and 18% of girls 9 to 11
years old said they have been on a diet; 13% of boys and 27% of girls age 12-13 say they
have been on a diet. Controlling body fat while promoting a healthy self-image should
be a goal of any children’s fitness program.

Smoking: More than 3,000 teenagers become smokers every day: Forty one
percent of girls ages 16 to 17 smokes. The US Surgeon General has predicted that 5
million of today’s children’s will die prematurely of smoking related disease as adults.

There are a number of games and activities that can be used to reinforce a healthy
lifestyle:

• The Risk Factor Game can be used to introduce the risk factors to
your young client(s). During the educational component, discuss
various risk factors and assign a physical movement that would
imitate the physical response in the body of that risk factor. As the
class walks in a big circle around the room, you call out a risk
factor and they respond with the movement previously assigned.
For example: Smoking -- class will cough as they continue
walking; high blood pressure -- have class jump up and down;
stress -- students run/walk in a frantic manner; obesity -- students
walk very slowly; and high cholesterol -- students walk in a
crouched position to demonstrate a narrowed space.

• Cigarette Chain Tag is a game that can be played to reinforce the

dangers of smoking and its impact on the cardiovascular system.
Have several class members be “it” (they represent smokers) and
they form a chain. The chain chases and tags other class members
who then are added to the chain. As the chain becomes longer, the
slower it becomes and the more difficult it is to tag the remaining
members of the class.

• Another simple activity that can be very effective at teaching and

establishing good health habits involves having the group line up
across at one end of the room. You will ask a variety of questions

© 1998, 2002 by Exercise ETC Inc. All rights reserved. 14

 pertaining to good health habits and reward each positive answer
with a step forward. The first person to reach the other side is the
winner. Some examples include: “Did you eat breakfast this
morning?” “Did you brush and floss your teeth?” Other examples
include questions pertaining to the number of hours of sleep they
received last night, number of fruits and vegetables eaten
yesterday, how much time they spent watching television, how
much time they spend in physical activity, and how many times
they ate fast food last week.

Aerobic Endurance
Goals of this component include preventing obesity and reducing risk factors. The
ACSM guidelines for adults in terms of frequency, intensity and duration are
appropriate for older children. (Frequency: 3-5 days per week; Intensity: 60-90% MHR;
Duration: 15-60 minutes) For younger children, the focus should be on keeping them
active rather than improving VO2 Max. Activities that require moving the whole body
such as walking, swimming, and biking are best to maximize total energy expenditure. If
you have ever observed children at play, you have noticed that their play tends to be
anaerobic: periods of highly intense activity followed by periods of low intensity rest.
The child’s exercise program should follow this model.

Muscular Strength & Endurance

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that strength training programs for
children should be conducted by trained adults. These programs should consist of high
repetitions and low resistance to emphasize muscle balance, flexibility and proper
technique. Muscles that tend to be weak in children include the triceps, hamstrings,
abdominals, rhomboids/trapezius, hip abductors, and the tibialis anterior. Children
should avoid weightlifting, power lifting and bodybuilding until they reach full maturity:
too strenuous strength training can damage epiphysel plates

Flexibility
Flexibility exercises should be held to the point of tension for 15 seconds or longer, and
be performed 3 to 7 days per week. Even though children will often gravitate naturally
toward ballistic stretching, the focus should be on slow, controlled static stretching.

Conclusion
Training children can be very rewarding and very frustrating. The most important
consideration is that the program should be fun and structured without being rigid. It
helps if the Fitness Professional is a bit of a kid themselves! The ability to laugh, to be
spontaneous and have fun while instilling good habits and reaching good goals is a rare
talent. The ability to teach children to enjoy physical activity and make a healthy lifestyle
a life-long goal is a rare gift.

© 1998, 2002 by Exercise ETC Inc. All rights reserved. 15

 Bibliography
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American College of Sports Medicine. (2001). ACSM’s Resource Manual for

Guidelines for Exercise Testing and Prescription. Philadelphia: Williams and Wilkins.

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Persons with Chronic Diseases and Disabilities. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.

American Council on Exercise. (1999). Clinical Exercise Specialist Manual. San

Diego, CA: American Council on Exercise Publisher.

American Council on Exercise. (1996). Personal Trainer Manual. San Diego:

American Council on Exercise.

Bross, Cindy. (1993). Fit to Try! An Activities Guide for Health-Related Fitness.
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Faigenbaum, A., Kraemer, W. et al. (1996) Youth resistance training: position

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Hunter, G., Bamman, M. and Hester, D. (2000). Obesity-prone children can benefit
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National Strength and Conditioning Association. (2000). Essentials of Strength Training
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© 1998, 2002 by Exercise ETC Inc. All rights reserved. 17

 CEC/CEU Test for “Exercise Programs for Children”
1. The two biggest reasons children’s join an
exercise program are:
A. To get fit and have fun
B. To have fun and be with their
friends
C. To get fit and be with their friends
D. To get fit and lose weight
2. Which is/are true in regards to activities
such as walking and running for children?
A. Compared to adults there is a
higher oxygen cost
B. Compared to adults there is a
lower oxygen cost
C. Compared to adults they have the
same oxygen cost
D. B and C
3. Which of the following does not contribute
to the increased risk of heat illness in
children?
A. Immature cardiovascular system
B. Immature sweat glands
C. Initiate sweating at a lower core
temperature
D. Increased surface area
4. Which of the following activities would be
most appropriate to include in an exercise
program for young children?
A. Twenty minutes of continuous
bench stepping
B. Twenty minutes of low impact
aerobics to music
C. Twenty minutes of
walking/running around a track
D. Twenty minutes of games and
activities that promote fitness
© 1998, 2002 by Exercise ETC Inc. All rights reserved.
5. Which of the following is/are true in
regards to the duration of a children’s
class?
A. Generally it should be longer than
a typical adult class
B. Generally it should be shorter than
a typical adult class
C. Generally it should be the same
length as an adult class
D. A and C
6. Which of the following is/are true in
regards to children and resting heart rates?
A. They are higher than adults
B. They are lower than adults
C. They are the same as adults
D. They are more irregular than
adults
7. Blood pressures in children tend to be:
A. Higher compared to adults
B. Lower compared to adults
C. Dependent on developmental age
and body weight
D. A and C
8. The most often injured body part for
children ages 5 to 14 is:
A. The head and face
B. The knees
C. The arms
D. The ankles
9. Which of the energy systems are children
best physiologically equipped to work in?
A. The aerobic system
B. The glycogen system
C. The phosphagen system
D. A and B
18
10. Which of the following statements is/are 15. The US Surgeon General has predicted that
true? _______________ of today’s children will
I. Children get greater die prematurely of smoking related
increases in VO2 disease:
with conditioning
than adults A. 1 million
II. Children are capable B. 2 million
of gaining strength C. 4 million
with a resistance D. 5 million
program
III. Children hypertrophy 16. Which of the following do NOT influence
in response to unhealthy lifestyle and eating behaviors?
strength training
IV. Children have greater A. Dysfunctional families
aerobic endurance B. Latch key children
than adults C. Sedentary lifestyle
D. School-based fitness programs
A. I, II, III, IV
B. I, II, IV 17. Growth plates for boys do not close until:
C. II and III
D. II only A. Age 18 - 20
B. Age 20 – 25
11. Tests for athletic fitness include the C. Age 12 - 15
following except: D. Age 15 – 18
A. Pull up or flexed arm hang
B. 50 yard dash 18. In children ages 5 to 8 the lungs are:
C. Shuttle run
D. Vertical jump A. Fully developed
B. 80% developed
12. Administering the sit-and-reach test to a C. 20 % developed
child, you would have them place their D. 50 % developed
heels at the ______ mark on the yardstick
19. Children’s watch TV an average of ____
A. 15 inch each week:
B. 12 inch A. 12 hours
C. 10 inch B. 18 hours
D. 9 inch C. 15 hours
D. 24 hours
13. Percent body fat can be determined in
children by taking skinfold measurements
at the: 20. Strength training programs for children
should include the following except:
A. Tricep and calf for boys only A. Supervision by trained adults
B. Tricep and thigh for girls only B. Weightlifting and power lifting
C. Tricep and calf for both boys and exercises
girls C. High repetitions and low weight
D. Tricep and thigh for both boys D. An emphasis on muscle balance
and girls

14. Appropriate racing distances for children

ages 5 to 10 would include the following:
A.A half marathon
B. A 2 mile fun run
C. A 10K race
D.None of the above

© 1998, 2002 by Exercise ETC Inc. All rights reserved. 19

© 1998, 2002 by Exercise ETC Inc. All rights reserved. 20