Can anyone suggest some great games/drills for kid's boot camp

Hi Melisa. There are tons of games and drills that you can use. I guess a good starting point would be discussing what you are already doing? As a Youth Conditioning Specialist, I train (work with) a lot of kids of all ages (athletes and non-athletes). Relay races (of course) such as tennis ball suicides, ankle cuff relays, wheel barrows are fun and can be challenging. Medicine ball mini-tennis, games of tag (in a very restricted area which then challenges their agility and quickness), agility ladder drills (I use these a lot for both upper body and lower body exercises), mini-circuits/obstacle courses and much more are all great ways to provide a fun and challenging workout for kids.

If you'd like to contact me offline to discuss this further, please feel free.

I hope that this helps.

LaRue, CSCS
www.lecfitness.com
larue.cook@lecfitness.com

Hi Melisa I have taught celebrity kids in LA with this program format. I hope this helps!


5 components of fitness:

When designing an exercise program there are five factors to take into consideration:
Flexibility
Muscular endurance
Cardiovascular
Body fat
Muscular strength
Combining various components together during a single move ie. walking lunges with overhead reach (flexibility/muscular endurance) ice skaters with low center of gravity (cardiovascular/body fat) or box jumps (cardiovascular/muscular endurance) is conducive to functional movements. Muscular strength is the amount of force produced by a single repetition. This is essential when training adults since this is how one stimulates the CNS (central nervous system) keeping the neurological pathways efficient. For the sake of training children muscular strength can be compromised because children are still developing their CNS (this is why they want to get into everything). Instead, keeping them moving in all three planes of motion (saggital, frontal and transverse) will help with the development of the neurological system and prevent injuries in a young athlete.


Functional to movement:

The definition for functional is - practical: having a practical application, or serving a useful purpose
In the exercise world functional means, training in movements that apply to the imposed demands that are on the body in everyday life. How do we apply this to kids fitness? Stay away from stationary cardio, strength and static flexibility since they do not have practical application to their sport or daily activities. When developing an exercise program the 5 components of fitness are the backbone to your design, they are the “who, what, when where, why and how” to the coach. Coupling the components together serves a functional purpose. Rarely ever do we just stretch, curl max weight, repetitively work a single motion, or even just get our heart rate up without crossing over to another system. Even when you are at rest you are using more than one energy system, it is always a combination of two. There is consistently a combination of efforts being exhausted to perform a movement. Functional training is designed to breakdown the movements of the sport the child is in and couple the components that are most often used.

Below are a few sports and the predominant two components at work:

Gymnastics, flexibility/muscular endurance
Football, cardiovascular/muscular strength
Basketball, muscular endurance/cardiovascular

A strength and conditioning program for these sports would be dominate in the systems that are mentioned.


Injury prevention:

Injuries occur because of improper mechanics. This is initiated by poor motor recruitment. Poor motor recruitment happens because of muscular imbalances ie. stronger anterior muscles than posterior, stronger superior than inferior, poor proprioception etc. When creating sports specific programs there needs to be dominate movements in the primary planes of motion as well as a coupling of the components that are specific to the child’s sport. However, to prevent injuries a coach should include a balance of movements. Progressions of a program would be to increase the child’s planes of motion. The beginner phase is primarily in the saggital plane. A safe progression would be to add additional movements in the child’s weaker planes as the coach notices the student becoming consistent with the drills in the base movements.

Listed below are the primary reasons for injuries:

Poor flexibility
Muscular imbalances
Poor proprioception

Each of these risks can be spotted through the coach’s awareness of how the body is moving. Moving forward the coach will modify movements to correct the patterns. The coach’s job is to help the child with their development. This is a long process. The task is not to get them better in one session, but to see improvement in the child’s skills over a long term. Injury prevention is introducing a safe environment with effective drills that progress the child’s development.

Fitness Class Levels


Beginners: Beginners have 30 second intervals with a 2 minute active recovery between circuits.

Dynamic warm up
Butt kicks (saggital)
Inch worms (saggital)
Straight leg marching (saggital)
Jumping jacks (frontal)
Side lunge with disc on bottom of feet (frontal)
Carioca (cardio, transverse)

2. Balance/cardio/muscular endurance
Ninja stance single leg (progression eyes closed) (saggital)
Squat jumps (saggital)
Single leg toe touch (transverse)
Ice skaters (frontal)

3. Obstacle course
· 10 obstacles including pushing an object, pulling an object, low crawling, jumping and sprint to finish.



Intermediate: Intermediate exercisers have more stations than above with same 30 second sets and 2 minute active recovery between circuits

Dynamic warm up
Lateral lunge dynamic side to side (frontal)
Spider walks (frontal)
Frog jumps (saggital)
Carioca (transverse)
Passing a medicine ball side by side (transverse)
Marching straight leg (sagital)
Functional lunge (sagital)

2. Balance/cardio/endurance
Ice skaters (frontal)
Single leg toe touch forward, side and rear
Burpees
Fetch on hands and feet partner rolls med ball and exerciser chases ball and switch
3. Obstacle course same as above with 15 stations



Advanced:

Advanced is the same exercises as above with sets lasting 1 minute and active recovery for 1 minute



Physical Assessments

Pre-Pubertal students (ages 7- 12) should be assessed using agility drills and observation of specific exercises.

Locomotor competencies:
I will design a system of execution and function to varying motor skills (i.e., I will teach the student how to decelerate linearly and laterally). I will also begin stringing together change of direction patterns including acceleration and deceleration patterns. The testing battery for this age group is based on whether the students can produce and re-produce locomotor functions in practical situations.

Specific Strength Technique:
 I will start teaching the form, function and efficacy of certain lifts (i.e., squat). My assessment then is another RTA (Rate of Technical Ability) value of how well the students are able to produce and re-produce that exercise.

Physical Assessments Pubertal Students Ages 11/13-18:
Throughout puberty, the focus on movement efficiency and motor control is maintained as their functional efficiency can be significantly challenged during a growth spurt. Proprioception and kinesthesia, particularly the qualities of spatial awareness, motor coordination, balance and kinesthetic differentiation will be challenged. What was once a fairly simple drill or exercise can become quite challenging for them as they reacquaint themselves with their new body. A coaching tactic at this point is not to introduce new stimulus, instead focus on re-patterning the already familiar movements. In conclusion the assessment format of challenging locomotor competencies and a specific strength technique will be adequate.



Equipment:

· VIPR system

· Resistance bands

· Medicine ball

· Plyometric box

· Cardio dots

· Glider discs

· Optional TRX Suspension system / group training station

· Cones

· Agility ladder



If you have questions you can email me fit@mattwoodardfitness.com

Cheers!

Matt

I guess it all depends on what the goal of your kids bootcamp is: weight loss, skill formation, sport conditioning, etc.

In the past I've used team drills, with each team broken into stations. They then start and either (a) complete their station then move to the next one, (b) the first team member completes the first drill, then passes off to the next player or (c) the first team member completes the first drill, then continues on to the second player and completes the next drill with the next player, adding on as they go along. The children love the teamwork and competition style. Plus, you can use this style of drill for any bootcamp goal.

I have just started running some kids boot camp for ages 5-12. each drill lasts approx 4 mins as the kids want variety. I use obstacles like agility poles, hurdles and agility ladder. I use tug o war, tow rope and anything with an animals name in it. like tiger crawls, bear walk, seagull swoop or rob the nest with little bean bags. I do leap frog, tunnel ball, lots of ball skills with a partner. Sack race, star jumps, hoola hoops. I have a big boxing bag which the kids jump over as well. I hope this helps :) Maria

I love tunnel tag and races for kids games. Fun and functional.

Kid's love relay races! I like to use bear crawls, crab walks, and other full body movements that allow kids to do what kids love to do. Keep it fun. Games and sports are where it's at for youth.