HEALTH Tackling childhood obesity

LOOK WHAT I CAN DO?Young children marvel at their new-found ability to climb and jump.

Tackling child obesity


Thinking beyond team sports

Personal Trainer
Paul O'Brien

Part 2
What role will exercise need to play in defeating the health pandemic of our day – obesity? Why aren’t all children partaking in some form of physical activity? How does what we mean by ‘exercise’ need to evolve to play its part in children’s lives?
These are important questions. Passing on a better world to the next generation must surely mean handing them a healthier one! But a lack of physical activity, poor diet and a distorted sense of values are endangering today’s children to the point that many of them may not be around to receive the better world we wish to pass to them.
The evolution of exercise must begin with a radical attitudinal adjustment. We must strip away all the hype, the myth of the modern day sports superstar, the desire to ‘make it’ in the sporting arena, the lure of material riches beyond both comprehension and usefulness. That exercise has become almost synonymous with sport and sport with power, wealth and fame has muddied the waters. I believe it has made physical activity a much less attractive proposition to many children. The spoils of the sporting superstar have filtered down to the grass roots level – the latest jersey, the new boots, the look, the association, the win-at-all-costs mentality. What happened to ‘fun’, ‘exploration’, ‘laughter’ and ‘invention’?
The first task, therefore, is to rescue exercise from the monster of modernism. To boil it back to basics. What is exercise? My definition would be: ‘exercise is the physical expression of the body’s innate desire to move’. Yes, we possess an amazing gift that is designed to run, jump, crawl, roll, walk, climb and fall. Of course, sports are an expression of this but they are not the only expression. We must learn to love our bodies for the basic but amazing abilities they give us. Look at a young child as they marvel at their new-found ability to climb and jump. Recapturing this sense of wonder about our bodies will create a mind shift in our attitudes to physical activity. In turn, our natural expression of this attitude will be passed to our children.
How do we achieve this mind shift? I believe we must allow ourselves to explore our bodies abilities as we once did. Try taking up climbing. Or what about an adult gymnastics class? Anyone know of one in the area I can join?! Try a new activity every month. It’s also important to spend time in silence, listening to your body and reacquainting yourself with it. Meditation and yoga are two excellent disciplines for this. Mindful exercise is another. Whatever you do, do yourself a favour. Get to know your body again. Be creative. Learn to experience the joy of movement. Your body will thank you and so will your children.

Paul O’Brien is a personal trainer and life coach based in Westport.