A Family Affair

My son turned 13 last month and is already over  five feet eleven inches tall.  He has worn size 34 mens pants for the past 3 years and at one point wore my dad's size 36 and they didn't fall off of him. Over the course of the past year I have watched his kind of loose "baby fat" really morph into the makings of a tall, lean, adolescent machine.  He's thinning out and getting so much stronger.

He loves the thought of becoming more athletic. (For years he couldn't run due to exercise-induced asthma) and he also lacked the motivation to really stay active.  The past couple of years, as I have become so much more active I have also watched him really step up and become much more physically active.

He'd much rather be outside BMXing, skateboarding, running, doing Parkour (he is good at it), or having airsoft battles with the neighborhood kids than anything he could do inside.  He also has decided he likes the way his muscles are starting to take shape and he wants to actively participate in his fitness goals.  KEWL!

I took him to the fitness center yesterday where we both did treadmill time for 30 minutes, then I showed him the art of crunches including reverse crunch, bicycle crunch, circle obliques and regular 'ole crunches. At his age and while he is still cranking out surges of hormones, I don't think it's a great idea to do much in the way of weight training.  But using his own body as the resistance, there's a ton he can do, and that we can do together.

I am going to work out a schedule and include:

• push ups (3 different positions - hands in front of the face, hands on the outside of the body, and close to the chest to build muscles safely and work out different parts of the arms and chest)

• planking (to strengthen the core)

• pull ups (I can't try these yet due to a torn supraspinatus and tendonitis in the shoulder)

• squats

• lunges

• burpees

• calf lifts

• leg lifts

• treadmill

• elliptical

• recumbent bike

• stretching

• mountain biking (there are many greenways in Knoxville, fortunately)

(If you know of other good exercises or activities suitable for a 13 year old warrior, please feel free to put them in the comments below.)

I think doing this together with him is going to do so many good things. It will help motivate and push both of us, build in some good quality talk time, and build a strong common foundation which can be hard to establish between a mom and son during this really challenging stage of life. It can only be good for his self-esteem, too, to make a plan and work towards it and then feel and see the results of his own efforts.

And of course, this could get me a nomination into the mother of the year 2013 race. hahahah I kid. But speaking of races, he told me last night he wants to register for both the Warrior Dash and the Susan B. Komen 5K race with me this year. AWESOME! Looks like we have some goals and path to get there.

This whole fitness/health/wellness/diet/exercise thing is becoming a family affair. And I like it!

Carly

(Here is a link to some crazy parkour if you are curious. He can do a few of these moves but I sure don't want him doing them all! Yikes!)  Parkour sampling on YouTube