After reading about childhood obesity in the news and arguing with her son to put down the remote control and pick up a baseball bat, Sally Nanas decided to take matters into her own hands.
Nanas, a mother of two from Sterling, will open Fitwize 4 Kids, a health club designed for children between the ages of 6 and 15, in August.
"My son’s favorite thing to do is sit in front of a screen," she said.
Nanas said there are a lot of programs out there for children 7 and under, and for teenagers, but there is not much out there for children her son’s age who do not want to participate in organized sports.
Her plan is to create a fun atmosphere for children to work out in, with bright red walls, multi-colored exercise balls, minitrampolines and a number of rewards.
Fitwize 4 Kids, based in northern California, uses specially designed youth fitness training equipment, made up of seven weight stack and body-part weight resistance machines and two benches.
The equipment is not only smaller than adult-size equipment. It is also designed to engage several joints at once, Nanas said. The equipment provides substantially less force on the joints than adult-size equipment, greatly reducing the likelihood of damage to growth platelets.
There will be several trainers on hand at all times to make sure children use the equipment properly.
Nanas’ son, Anthony, 12, tried the equipment out at a Fitwize 4 Kids in Maryland.
"It was pretty easy," he said. "There were a bunch of trainers there who taught me how to use all of the equipment."
The best part of Anthony’s work out, he said, was the minitrampolines between workout stations.
And after he finished his work out, he was rewarded with "DDR," or Dance Dance Revolution, a video game controlled by the player’s feet.
Nanas said gym-goers are rewarded for leading healthy lifestyles with points in order to obtain prizes, like iPods and bicycles, and time on Dance Dance Revolution because, while it’s a video game, a player has to move their feet in order to win.
"A working-out atmosphere is not enough to have a healthy lifestyle," Nanas said. "We include a very robust nutrition program."
FITWIZE 4 KIDS is not only a health club, but also a learning center, Nanas said.
"We definitely don’t call it a gym," she said, "because it’s so much more than that."
There will be a nutritionist on staff to teacher children, and their parents, healthy eating habits.
"If the parents aren’t on board, the kids aren’t going to be on board," Nanas said. "It’s one thing to get your kids to work out. It’s another to get them to eat well."
In addition to weekly newsletters with healthy facts and tips to conducting a healthy lifestyle, Nanas plans to conduct hour-long workshops led by the nutritionist on staff on a monthly basis. The nutritionist will speak to children and parents during the first 30 minutes. Then, the children will be sent to work out with trainers, while their parents get an opportunity to ask questions and talk about implementation of the plan.
Gayle Cowden, a mother of two from Sterling, said she has a hard time getting her children to eat healthy.
"There are so many temptations out there," she said. "Especially when you go out to eat. It’s getting better, but for the most part, the children’s menu is pizza, chicken fingers and fries."
She said she would be most interested in the nutrition workshops, in order to pick up tips on how to get her children to eat healthy, as well as instill healthy practices in them.
"To keep them healthy right through adulthood," she said.
ALL OF THE hands-on help comes with a price.
The quick-start enrollment package, which includes an enrollment fee, nutrition seminar and some Fitwize goodies, costs between $109 and $129, for one to two weeks. After that, parents can select between bronze, silver and gold packages, which cost between $109 and $139 per month, for six months to one year.
"I will go take a look, see what it’s all about," Cowden said. "It sounds like a good way to get the whole family thinking about being healthy."