Kid, Teen, Family 15 Minute Workouts

We’ve started this out with the videos so you can get right to it if you would like! Please also take the time scroll down past the videos to learn the WHY behind why our children and teens should stay active and strong. If you want other ways to stay active yourself, as a parent, check out our Parent Park Workouts our our Family Fitness Tips and Resources! You can also get creative and make your own time based workouts here!

Kid, Teen, Family 15 Minute EMOM Workouts Playlist

Kid, Teen, Family 15 Minute EMOM Workouts Introduction

Lower Body Kid, Teen, Family 15 Minute EMOM Workout

Upper Body Kid, Teen, Family 15 Minute EMOM Workout

Core Kid, Teen, Family 15 Minute EMOM Workout

Cardio Body Kid, Teen, Family 15 Minute EMOM Workout

Full Body Kid, Teen, Family 15 Minute EMOM Workout

Now, more than ever, it can be challenging for your children to get their recommended 60 minutes of DAILY moderate to vigorous activity as recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO). Check out the link for the science behind this recommendation and some ideas of how to make it happen.

Usually, children and teens get a fair amount of this activity in at school with PE and Recess and with extracurricular activities such as sports. The COVID-19 pandemic is significantly limiting a lot of this activity. In order to help, we have created 5, 15 minute workouts that are appropriate for the whole family. As you can tell from the videos, even 3 year olds can participate, although 5 year olds might be a better starting point!

We chose to utilize an Every Minute on the Minute (EMOM) style workout to make it quick, easy, and fun. Each routine consists of 5 exercises, you perform 3 rounds of. Most exercises are performed for 40 seconds with 20 seconds of rest, except the cardio exercises are 30 seconds each. Trust us, that’s plenty of time! Each routine requires no, to minimal equipment.

The Smart WOD Timer is an easy timer to use to help keep track of time, however, any timer set to 15 minutes works.
Here’s the Smart WOD Timer on Google Play and Apple App Store.

Two common myths to debunk before we get going:

You must exercise with perfect form
- Sure, there is a “better form” with any exercise (check our out 7 Foundational Movement Patterns blog for more details on this), but the main problem in our society is that we DON’T EXERCISE ENOUGH, not that we exercise “wrong”.
- The younger the kid, the less you should worry about their form. Do they have “perfect form” on the playground or playing with their friends? No. This is the consideration when doing exercises where 15 or more reps can be done – see recommendations in #2 below for heavier/harder exercises
- Recommended “form focus” by age
  - Elementary Age: don’t even mention form
    - For the most part; you can teach our 7 Foundational Movement Patterns and occasionally pick 1 thing to focus on, but mostly focus on moving and having fun!
  - Middle School: pick 1 thing they can focus on for each exercise
  - High School and Adults: go ahead and focus more on form; check out our detailed descriptions of each exercise as you need; they should pop up as a link to click on with each video and it will take you to one of our videos describing proper form with each exercise
Strength training is bad for kids
- This is absolutely FALSE. Strength training DOES NOT harm growth plates, stunt growth, or cause any of the rumors out there.
- Don’t believe me, the American Pediatrics Association agrees!
- This doesn’t mean they should perform max, all out lifts out of the gates
- Strength Training Recommendations:
  - Start with a weight they can perform at least 15 reps of
  - When progressing to heavier weights, have a Physical Therapist, Athletic Trainer, Personal Trainer, Coach, or other exercise specialist work with your child to ensure proper form to do so

Since these workouts are only 15 minutes in length, we encourage you to find other ways for your kids to stay active. Suggestions include:

Tag
Follow the Leader/Simon Says
Sports
I spy: run to the object that is spied
Obstacle course
Play on a playground
Sports and Yard Games
Walking, Hiking, Biking, Swimming, Running

With that, we are now ready to rock! At the top of this blog is the playlist with all the videos. Below that, will then be each video individually. Have an awesome time improving your fitness and strength!

That’s it! We hope you find these videos helpful and most importantly FUN for your kids and the whole family! Feel free to make up your own EMOMs and don’t forget to get outside and PLAY!

Happy Playing!

Dr. Dane Happeny, PT, DPT, OCS
Doctor of Physical Therapy
Board Certified Orthopedic Specialist