Sculpting a Gym Just for Kids
Two Sisters Concerned About Youth Health Open Pr. George's Exercise Center for Children
By Lonnae O'Neal Parker
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, November 25, 2006; B01

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It is half-past four in the afternoon, and inside the Youth Visions Fitness Center in Upper Marlboro, the air is heavy with perspiration. The music is loud, and little (and not so little) limbs are pushing, jumping, lifting and stretching in varying degrees of time to the beat.

"Switch!" a voice calls out from the CD, and nearly two dozen kids move to the station on their left: the upright row machine, stationary bike or jogging pad -- gym equipment all designed just for them. It's a kids-only gym.

A light sweat covers the forehead of Marques McCoy, 12, of Upper Marlboro as he lifts the shoulder press high above his head. The sixth-grader, who is 5 feet 5 inches tall and weighs more than 200 pounds, has lost 15 pounds since joining the center in August. "It feels like my speed is getting real fast," Marques said, pausing to talk. "I'm proud of myself, (but) I still need to work on it."

"Switch!" yells the voice, and the kids jump to the next machine.

Tonya Manago, a former paralegal, and her sister Keitha Howerton, a social worker and assistant track coach at Charles H. Flowers High School in Springdale, got the idea for Youth Visions three years ago when Manago noticed that her daughter, then 6, was getting a tummy. "DeSha had started putting on some weight, and we had to make sure we could keep that under wraps," Manago said.

An estimated16 percent of U.S. children and adolescents are overweight, three times as many as in 1980, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The agency cites declining participation in school physical education programs and an increase in sedentary activities, such as watching television and playing computer games.

Obesity rates for black children exceed those for white kids, according to the CDC. Overweight children often become overweight adults and have higher rates of diseases such as diabetes, hypertension and stroke.

Manago and Howerton had just joined a gym when Manago recalled thinking: "They have gyms opening up everywhere for adults, but they don't have any for kids. Why don't we start a kids-only gym?" They saw the need as particularly acute in Prince George's County, which has a majority black population.

They didn't do anything until fall 2005, after Howerton started a local track club and noticed that a lot of the children had weight issues.

"They had difficulty running. They basically couldn't run halfway around the track," Howerton said. Parents were telling her that the kids weren't interested in sports and that they couldn't find anything during the school year to keep them moving.

"That's when we decided, 'Let's put this together; let's follow through and make this happen,' " Howerton said.

They tapped into their savings, took out loans, maxed out credit cards and refinanced their homes to open the doors in April.

In recent years, there have been movements in the region to reduce high-calorie treats in schools. There are teen fitness centers, exercise clubs and other kids-only gym programs, including Just Fitness for Kids in Manassas and Little Gym at several area locations, but Manago said she thinks Youth Visions is the only gym in Prince George's that features kids-only equipment -- the machines are smaller and adjust to fit a child's strength level.

The center is open to children ages 5 to 16. It has enrolled nearly 50 kids in its gym program, which is open from 4 to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 27 children in its after-school program. It also offers fitness-themed birthday parties.

After homework, the workout starts with a 10-minute warm-up, followed by an hour of circuit training and a 10-minute cool-down, then free time on the weight machines or at the indoor basketball court.

One girl sits at a television, watching a video as she rides a stationary bike. A group of kids does sit-ups that end in Rocky-esque punching exercises on the "ab-jabber" machines. And 5-year-old Nicholas Maclin, who bounces across the gym on a big red rubber ball, suddenly falls off and disappears underneath the ball before climbing out and getting back on.

Pamela Day, a librarian who lives in Upper Marlboro, calls Youth Visions a "great idea."

"Society doesn't have the exercise for children like when I was growing up," Day said. "We had kickball, volleyball, 1-2-3 Red Light," and not just during recess, she said. "You were constantly outside playing, not constantly in the house playing computer games, like they do now."

She was picking up her 6-year-old son, Dadrin, who is 4 feet 11 inches tall and weighed 120 pounds when he began going to the center in August. He now weighs 113 pounds, much of it smile.

Dadrin is clear about the center's appeal. "I like to play basketball, and I like when it's snack time," he said. Snacks are usually popcorn, granola bars, peanut butter crackers, bananas or apples, supplied by the center.

Manago, who has lost 33 pounds since the center opened, said that Youth Visions tries to keep the emphasis mostly on nutrition and fun so that the kids aren't just fixated on weight.

It's gratifying when a child comes in and can't do a sit-up or push-up but works up to doing 10. And it's moving to see self-esteem go up when the pounds come off, Manago said.

Alicia Lloyd, 9, said, "Ever since I was little, people used to make fun of me." The Upper Marlboro fourth-grader said she wanted to lose weight because "I don't want my whole life to just be me being big."

After nearly a month at Youth Visions, Alicia has dropped about five pounds and said that her family members, especially her 12-year-old sister, have noticed.

It feels good, she said, smiling shyly.

"It makes me feel ecstatic!"

Facts on Kid's Health
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1. The average child gets less than 15 minutes of vigorous activity a day.

2. The average U.S. child gets approximately 43 minutes of moderate physical activity a day.

3. The average U.S. child spends 20% of his/her waking time watching TV.

4. Obesity and superobesity are up 36% and 98%, respectively, in the past 20 years.

5. The average child consumes at least 20 ounces of soda pop a day.

6. The child of today is less fit and more fat than the child of the 60's.

7. Thirty-six percent of the children get daily physical education; 36% get two or fewer days.

8. Nine out of ten parents think their children are fit, when only one out of three are.

9. At age 10, 45% of young people say they participate, or intend to participate, on a non-school team.
Among 18-year-olds, the figure is 26%.

10. Thirty percent of youths (10-19 years) have negative or neutral attitudes towards physical activity.

11. In a typical physical education class, only 27% of actual physical education time is devoted to motor
activity.

12. The average heart rates in a typical 30-minute physical education class range between 90 and 129
beats per minute.

13. The older girls get, the less likely they are to work out.

14. Grade school students are 24% more active than high schoolers.

15. Asian and Hispanic girls are notably less active than girls of other backgrounds, including African-
Americans, Whites and girls of mixed heritage.

16. Children exercise less as they get older, boys about 3% less each year; girls, 7.5%.

17. The most popular physical education offerings for grades 7-9:

Boys:

1) basketball
2) calisthenics/exercise
3) baseball
4) football
5) jogging

Girls:

1) basketball
2) calisthenics/exercise
3) volleyball/jogging
4) jogging
5) baseball/softball

18. The two biggest reasons kids participate in sport and exercise are fun and socialization.

19. About 42% of middle school students consider themselves more fit than their peers. Sixteen percent
rate themselves as not as good.

20. Thirty-six percent of middle school students say that they think that kids who exercise do better in
school, about one-third are not sure, and 28% disagree.

21. Fifty-four percent of students claim that their physical education class is very important to them.

22. About 50% of all students report that physical education class time should be increased in the middle
school.

A few Statistics:
Kids Gain Weight, Lose Exercise

· The proportion of U.S. children ages 6 to 11 who are overweight has increased from 7 percent in 1980 to about 16 percent today.

· The proportion of high school students attending daily physical education classes decreased from 42 percent in 1991 to 25 percent in 1995. That figure was 33 percent last year.

· Seventy-two percent of ninth-grade students, but only 39 percent of 12th-grade students, attended physical education classes in 2005.

· Teenagers in the United States are more likely to be overweight than those from 14 other industrialized nations.

Sources: U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Youth Fitness Links
American Council on Exercise

FITNESS TRENDS

Youth Fitness & Obesity Institute
American Council on Fitness Education
Just Run!