Fit Kids Can Still Be Clumsy
And kids with low fitness levels can have good motor skills.
Are you a fitness professional who was also clumsy as a child? Turns out that while many fit kids also have well-developed motor skills, kids who are less coordinated can be equally aerobically fit.
Researchers examined data from 332 children ages 7–11. “Our study clearly demonstrated that aerobic fitness is not linked to motor skills when body composition is properly taken into account,” said lead study author Eero A. Haapala, PhD, faculty of Sport and Health Sciences at the University of Jyväskylä in Finland. “The key message of our study is that even a child who is unfit can be motorically adept and the heart of a clumsier kid can be as fit as her or his more skillful peer.”
Look for the study in Translational Sports Medicine (2020; doi:10.1002/tsm2.198).
See also: Fitness Helps Kids Who Need It Most
Shirley Eichenberger-Archer, JD, MA
Shirley Eichenberger-Archer, JD, MA, is an internationally acknowledged integrative health and mindfulness specialist, best-selling author of 16 fitness and wellness books translated into multiple languages and sold worldwide, award-winning health journalist, contributing editor to Fitness Journal, media spokesperson, and IDEA's 2008 Fitness Instructor of the Year. She's a 25-year industry veteran and former health and fitness educator at the Stanford Prevention Research Center, who has served on multiple industry committees and co-authored trade books and manuals for ACE, ACSM and YMCA of the USA. She has appeared on TV worldwide and was a featured trainer on America's Next Top Model.
