By Dan & Jennifer Polimino

Last week, we began exploring what our friend's 10-year-old son could do this summer in preparation for fall football. We talked about new research from the American College of Sports Medicine revealing that it may be safe for children under 13 years of age to begin lifting weights. If you'd like to read this article, go to our Web site at www.GreatShapeUp.com and click on archives.

Now to our friend's question. Our advice is that there are plenty of exercises a young boy or girl can do with his own body weight as resistance.

For example, there is no better upper-body exercise than a pull-up, and this is a perfect age to get them started. Back strength is proportionate to body weight, meaning most kids at this age (provided they are not overweight) should be able to pull up their body weight. Problems occur when kids stop doing pull-ups on a regular basis and then their body weight exceeds their back strength. Very few adults can do a pull-up. Can you? Perhaps you did them as a kid, but now you can't even lift your chin over a bar once. Had you continued doing pull-ups as you grew there's a good chance you would have developed back strength in proportion to body weight.

Abs crunches are also great to help kids develop core strength, as are the old standby push-ups for chest, shoulders and triceps. For legs, we recommend lunges and squats with their own body weight.

Plyometric drills are also beneficial. Plyometrics are defined as a rapid contraction followed by a rapid expansion of muscle tissue and example would be sprints . Not only do these exercises build strength, power and speed without need for additional weight, but they are an excellent way to learn coordination and make the mind-body connection. But again, please have a certified and degreed professional design and supervise any workout for kids.

Book Dan Polimino to speak at your next meeting or event today. For program information contact us at info@BookDan.com, visit www.BookDan.com or call 303-683-4795.